20Sorry for taking so long. As said in my other fic, I am currently working on my finals paper for my university. As such, my time for writing fanfic is a bit limited. Also, a bit of writer's block during the fight didn't help.
Not counting that my other fic is my main writing priority, unfortunately for fans of this one.
I am happy to say that although it may look otherwise I broke the block and went back to writing the chapter before the Smash announcement.
IIIII
"Good morning Shinji. How are you feeling?" sounded Ritsuko's voice through the speakers.
"Training has been just as brutal as ever, but thanks for asking. How is Rei today?"
"She seems to be much better already."
"That's great, she seemed exhausted today."
"She seems exhausted every day since you two began being trained."
"Well, that is true, but this time I was able to tell."
Ritsuko muffled laughing escaped through the speakers.
"Well, time we go back to our training. Emergency exits, emergency energy resources, ammunition buildings placements, and recovery points. Do you remember everything?"
"Not sure…"
"Let's review these then. Be sure to remember that the Eva is fed energy though an umbilical cord and that without that it can only work for a minute at full power and five minutes at minimum activity. Do you understand."
"Yes, madam."
"Alright, let's continue from where we stopped yesterday. Activation Mode."
As soon as that was said, a screen with a five minutes time started counting. Shinji wasted no time on aiming with the riffle-like gun he was holding at the facsimile of the Angel he fought last time.
In Shinji's mind though, there was a voice announcing "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Angel Attack!"
He just couldn't take this simulation seriously. It was too much like that game.
Ritsuko sighed as he once again shot the angels faster than the Eva's aiming system. Not that the aiming system was fast anyway, but it still irked her a bit.
But he still missed from time to time, unlike the aiming system, she thought with a smirk.
Right on cue, Shinji cursed as he missed the core of an Angel a bit further away from usual.
"He is getting better," said Misato with a smile.
"He is still refusing to use the aiming system. He claims that in the time it takes to aim he would already have been attacked, and that at least missing gives him time to dodge."
"Makes sense to me," she agreed, and her eyes widened at the huff from Ritsuko. "Are you," she resisted laughing with all her might, "are you taking this personally?"
Her only answer was another huff and Ritsuko avoiding her eyes.
IIIII
Shinji fiddled with his new cellphone on the way to class. Three weeks in Tokyo-3 and the only contacts he had were misses Cereza and Jeanne, Rodin, Luka and the Ferinos, all of them whom he had on the contacts before arriving, Misato with who he was living and Ritsuko and Rei for work-related reasons.
He was feeling a bit lonely. At least he used to have Ed and Edna to talk with, even if they were older than him.
Maybe he should try to start a friendship with the class president? She acted friendly enough, even if out of politeness. …She was also the only classmate he spoke to actually. But wouldn't she get the wrong idea?
Man, getting friends is hard…
Oh, here he was. Everyone was already on their cliques, with only him and Rei, as far as he could see, sitting by themselves. Maybe she could be a better choice for first friend? After all they were already co-workers and trained together…
Even Aida, the other one usually alone, was talking with a friend and the class president. Funny, he didn't remember seeing that guy before…
Oh well, he had some time before the teacher arrived, time to listen to some music.
IIIII
History class was very different than what Toji was used to. Before, it was an old man that talked slowly and made people want to sleep as he prattled on and on about Second Impact. Now it was a very attractive blonde that knew a lot more about the subject, if her jokes about a horse as a roman senator, an emperor that declared war against the sea god and made his troops attack the waves and three popes that excommunicated each other were anything to go by.
But he would not be detained by a sexy and interesting teacher! Well, this time! He already asked some girls to ask for him if he was really the pilot, and if he was, he would pay for what his sister went through!
IIIII
Shinji was surprised more by the fact he got a message on his school-issued laptop than by the fact miss Jeanne tried to strike his head halfheartedly as soon as the alarm of the message sounded.
Everyone else in class but the new guy was surprised by the fact he avoided the strike. Oh, and Rei.
"No talking in class, by voice or computer," she said, looking directly at a group of girls on the back of the class.
The girls gulped.
"Sorry, m-Professor Jeanne," Shinji said, apologetic, as he read the message. "Someone is asking if I was the pilot of the giant robot." He promptly hit the "Y" key.
"Two weeks until someone figured out?" Jeanne asked, surprised.
Shinji shrugged. Most of the class winced. Toji glowered at the pilot.
"Leave to badgering him about it between classes, everyone. Now, as I was saying…"
Rei wondered if today there was apple pie for lunch. Training this morning got her famished.
IIIII
Toji Suzuhara was readi for an impact. The impact of a fist with something. An impact between his body and the transfer student's.
He was not ready for the impact not to be between his fist and the transfer student's face, but between said student's fist and his own stomach.
"Sorry, was that too much?" the transfer student asked, and even Toji cound tell he was worried. Well, it wasn't for nothing, Toji could feel like puking at any time from that blow.
"What was that for, anyway?" the boy asked as if he didn't just punch him like a truck.
"His sister was hurt in the robot battle," Kensuke, who was watching at the side, answered for him.
"Well, that was stupid. Sorry about your sister, but I had no idea there was even anyone there. Why didn't you evacuate when a giant monster approached your house?"
"He had to blame someone," came a female voice from the side. It was a teacher he hadn't met yet. One just as attractive as Professor Jeanne. "He couldn't stand the guilt, and you were a convenient scapegoat. He just didn't expect you to be able to fight back."
Toji winced; that hit a bit too close to home for his liking.
The transfer student sighed, and asked:
"What does your sister have?"
"Um, mostly burns now."
He pulled something from his pocket…
A lollipop?
"This is herbal medicine," he said. "It will help your sister get better faster. I usually carry at least one with me. If it works for her, ask me for another tomorrow."
He was skeptical, but at least he would give her a lollipop, working or not.
The moment was broken by an approaching Rei.
"I got an emergency call."
"Why wasn't I called?" the transfer student asked, clearly a bit annoyed.
"They got my number memorized. They thought it was faster asking me for it than looking for yours."
The transfer student followed her as sirens started sounding.
"Let's go Toji," Kensuke said as he helped him get up.
IIIII
"Shinji, are you ready?" Misato's voice asked.
"We are."
Misato was still a bit surprised by the fact the Evangelion was not only alive, but sentient. Still, she resisted the urge to say anything.
"Launch!" she ordered, and Shinji and the Eva were sent to the surface.
This time, instead of being thrown right in the middle of the action by the elevator Shinji entered the fray inside a hollow building, which he exited on a roll to get behind another one and finally take a look at his opponent.
It looked like a giant wine-colored millipede, save for the fact it had only about three pair of legs in the front, some fork-like wings beside the legs and a triangular head that seemed separated, giving it a totem-like appearance if it was more solid.
Appearance that only increased as the long body became vertical save for the head that still looked ahead, like a snake preparing for the lunge. Shinji took note that that position put the core at clear sight and with no clear defenses… so it seemed obvious that it had something else to use. Was it a trap or was it still preparing to attack?
"Shinji, do like we talked about. Create an AT Field to negate its own and attack!" said Ritsuko.
IIIII
Toji was annoyed at being brought outside by Kensuke, but he had made a good point. It was a historic event that could decide the fate of humanity, so he'd better watch some of it in person.
Also, it was a chance to see how that guy really fought while in the robot. He still didn't know how to feel about the guy.
Thus he and Kensuke saw the purple giant jump to hide behind a building and then the air around it and the monster rippled.
IIIII
As soon as he used enough AT Field to make sure no barrier was between him and his target, Shinji jumped from his hiding place and shot a round of bullets… and stopped.
And as he expected, the bullets did not hit the Angel. They hit something, as they exploded with smoke and all, but they definitely did not reach their target.
Shinji saw a flash of pink of all colors, and tripped back to behind the building he was using as cover.
Just in time as something cut through said building, barely avoiding him.
As the building slid down, Shinji had a view of what the attacker was as he stood up.
Apparently, those wing-like protusions of the Angel held tentacles.
Pink lightsaber tentacles.
"Why is it always tentacles?" sounded the familiar british-accented voice through the speakers.
IIIII
"What?" Ritsuko did not squeal as she turned to look at the source of the voice.
"How did you get here?" Misato asked the women that appeared out of nowhere.
"Oh, we came with the child, you just didn't see us until now," Bayonetta said, Jeanne adjusting her glasses on top of her head.
Both were unfazed by the weapons now pointed at them.
IIIII
"I'm open to suggestions!" Shinji said as he tried to escape the whipping tentacles of his opponent.
He was doing pretty well, all things considered…
Or so he thought, until alarms started blaring and a time counter appeared in front of him.
"The umbilical cord was cut! The Eva started using the internal batteries! Activation time remaining of—"
"Child! You are on a time limit now! Stop running away and give him hell!"
"What are you doing? He has no battery remaining! He should retreat!" sounded Misato's angry voice.
"He has five minutes and counting. It should be more than enough."
"I'll retreat if I get to the last minute, Misato."
"Agreed."
"Ritsuko!"
"This talk is just wasting time. Either he fights or not, and he was sent there to fight."
At Ritsuko's words, Shinji decided to ignore them from now on. He had something more important to worry about.
Like the energy whip going right to his leg!
He quickly jumped back to avoid it, but it wasn't enough. Thankfully, a well-placed shield took care of it.
Cool, he could use shields while on the Eva!
With this new knowledge, he lunged at the opponent, twisting between the whips, making a quick shield here and there when he couldn't. A couple of strikes to the torso couldn't be blocked, but with the adrenaline he could easily push through the pain. Before anyone noticed, he was already by his opponent's side, the Eva's hand glowing with charged power unnoticed by Shinji—
"Duck now!"
Shinji didn't bother doubting the command, so used to them during training, barely avoiding an attack from another tentacle – a much thicker, plant-like tentacle, that missed the Eva by an inch and struck and destroyed a building by its side.
IIIII
"What was that?!" Ritsuko yelled in confusion.
"Justice, a Sequi of Iusticia. An Auditio, amongst the most powerful of the angels of Paradiso." Bayonetta replied, eyes glued to the screen.
Misato quickly activated her special spectacles, making the angel visible to her.
It was a big white ball, with the face of an old man with its mouth opened, a tentacle coming from said mouth with a childish face on it, and two other, plant-like barbed tentacles with monstrous mouths on the tips.
"How… Why didn't our equipment make it visible? The scanners could see the angel by themselves!" Ritsuko asked as she turned on her own spectacles.
"Your scanners were processing the data before showing you," Jeanne answered. "The cameras show the image with direct capture, so it is shown as it is – without a filter. And even if they used a mirror like some do, it would only work on demons, angels are different. The only reason your filter works for both is because it makes Purgatorio itself visible."
"And since you couldn't see them before, you got used to ignoring them in your scanners. The wonders of the human mind," Bayonetta finished.
Ritsuko pinched her nose, trying to calm down.
"And what can we do now?"
"We can do nothing. It's all on his hands now." Jeanne answered. "Me and Cereza could deal with the Justice just fine, but with the time it would take to get there chances are it would already be over either way."
Bayonetta refused to say anything about this, crossing her arms in annoyance.
Witch Time would probably get them there in time, but if it affected the angel and it adapted to it like they usually do during a long one the child would be in much bigger trouble.
IIIII
'I am in much bigger trouble,' was all Shinji could think when he saw the angel.
Fighting an Angel was a challenge. Fighting an angel, was too for a normal person, specially an Auditio, no matter how easy misses Cereza and Jeanne made it look.
Fighting both at the same time, on a time limit and fighting not just for his life but the whole humanity's?
He jumped to the side to avoid one of the mouth tentacles, unfortunately getting away from his position inside the Angel's guard – and back on the effective range of its whips.
Four minutes and ten seconds remaining.
He avoided a whip tentacle and used a shield to deflect the second mouth one… but not enough to avoid being hit on the shoulder and thrown to the ground.
"Shinji, retreat now!"
"I can't!" he answered as the Eva stood up, "The Justice won't let me!" The hit didn't get through the armor, but he could still feel his shoulder a bit numb.
Better than the hits in the torso. The adrenaline of the time had already left, and those ones were deep enough to go past the armor. They hurt!
"Shinji, there is a progressive knife on the left pylon!" sounded Ritsuko's voice.
"Thanks!" he says, whipping the knife out as he avoided the pink tentacles once more.
Three minutes and fourty seconds.
He avoided the big tentacle, hitting it with the knife, not expecting it to cut but at least to push it aside, so thick were the hides of Auditios supposed to be. To his surprise, the knife did penetrate the tentacle, making blood sprout from it into his face.
IIIII
"Well, that's interesting," Jeanne commented after seeing the knife penetrate the Justice's hide. "Don't you think, Cere…za?"
Bayonetta was not there. No one even noticed her leaving.
"Shit!" Misato cursed, drawing Jeanne's attention back to the screen.
IIIII
It was in fact such a surprise he almost left himself open to take a hit from behind from the Angel. Stumbling to avoid them, he evaded two more strikes, but the damage was done, not being able to avoid the Justice's mouths clamping on his shoulders and lifting him from the ground.
The two tentacles started trying to rip his arms off, while the thicker, faced one tightened around his neck. The Angel's tentacles did not stay idle either, flaying the Eva's back.
In despair, Shinji trashed around, trying to hit the tentacle on his arm to cut it like he did the one on his neck, but it seemed they were more resistant than it.
Three minutes and ten seconds.
His back was on fire, his vision was going dark, but Shinji forced himself to move. He could not stop. To stop was to die.
But he could barely use his arms, and his legs were far from anything he could use for leverage.
Time to go crazy and make a desperate action.
He lifted his legs, holding his knees as close to his chest as possible, created a shield in front of him where no attack was going. And held the shield.
Then he kicked the shield with both legs as hard as he could.
He was flipped around, escaping the tentacle mouths' grip. Before anyone could make sense of what happened, he was back on the ground, shoulders ruined but free. With the adrenaline, he stabbed the tentacle still around his neck, making it recede back in the Justice's mouth – unfortunately, taking the knife with him.
No time to worry about that. It seemed making shields that stayed took a lot of battery. One minute and forty-eight seconds.
He was unnarmed, his shoulders were ruined so his arms were unusable.
That left him with his legs.
Legs are more powerful than arms due to holding the weight of the whole body, but need more precision and balance. He wasn't as good at legwork as misses Cereza and Jeanne, and Rei was almost reaching him at that point. He put it in his mind to change this as soon as he was able to.
Because he was going to be able to.
He turned around and charged the Angel, ignoring the whipping he was getting. His mind would not let his body give in to the pain. He jumped, his knee hitting the Angel's Core.
It sent the angel backwards in the air, the core cracked.
Before it got too far away, Shinji jumped, the Eva spinning in the air as its leg snapped in the Core's direction. He concentrated all his energy in the kick, willing it to break through the core.
The orange energy covering the leg was barely noticeable, but it did its job, reinforcing the kick and making the leg cut through the core.
Twenty-three seconds.
No time to fight the Justice. Shinji kicked the ground, aiming to the closest elevator to the Geofront.
He was tired. He was very hurt. He just spent a lot of energy in that suicidal kick.
Most people would give him a break due to this. But neither would misses Cereza and Jeanne when he got back. Because the tentacle that just threw him backwards like a ragdoll was just proof that the enemy would not either.
Because, you know, it just didn't.
Spinning in the air, he had just enough time to see where the Eva would fall…
Right on top of two people.
Before he could hit them, he used the remaining energy to build a shield on the way. He could feel his cheek breaking, but that was enough to avoid hitting them. For as much good as it did…
Thankfully, his last vision before the energy ran out was a familiar black panther jumping on top of his head.
IIIII
Toji looked at the robot on his side, eyes wide. He was half glad he listened to Kensuke and came to see the robot battle, despite his feelings about the pilot, but…
First the dude seemed to be doing well, but then he seemed to struggle with nothing. He thought it was control problems, until the robot floated! That was when he and Kensuke figured out at least half the opponents were freaking invisible!
Then, after the robot was able to defeat the visible one, it was knocked on top of them! If it wasn't for the orange barrier he was sure the robot made, since it was using others like it during the battle, they would have been squashed.
And to finish things off, a panther of all things jumped on top of the robot and… disappeared.
Explosions and things breaking out of nowhere.
And suddenly, that new teacher walked out from the top of the robot carrying a giant metal tube like if it was nothing and settled it on the ground.
"Wha-what's going on?" asked Kensuke, camera forgotten.
"What does it look like?" the teacher answered, clearly in a bad mood. "I'm retrieving the pilot!"
She opened the capsule, and pulled out the new guy, clearly uncounscious and with a darkening bruise on his face right where the robot had hit its own shield. For some reason, Toji doubted it was a coincidence…
IIIII
Ritsuko and Misato looked at the screen, eyes wide. And they weren't the only ones. Even Gendo was surprised, although he hid it better than most.
Shinji using the AT-Field to create solids he could interact it was a surprise, but not too much of one. After all, the Angels could, as shown by the previous one, and the main point of the Evas was that they had AT-Fields like them.
Using the AT-Field to increase the strength of a kick was less expected, but still understandable… somehow.
A black panther jumping on top of the other angel at racing car speed and transforming into a woman to kick it in the face though, no one expected.
Bayonetta wasted no time, ripping the mouth-tentacle off and exposing the Justice's heart. Then she cut it in two with her magic-reinforced hand, just like Shinji did with AT-Field in the kick earlier. As with the Angel, the angel died almost instantly, the energy that formed it solidifying into halos that Bayonetta absorbed.
As the black-clad woman moved to the fallen robot, Ritsuko turned to Jeanne, annoyance clear in her voice.
"How long were you going to keep secret that you are able to fight them like that?"
"And why would we do that?" Jeanne answered back annoyed herself, "It's not like it would matter for your fight."
"Wouldn't matter? Wouldn't matter?" Misato said angrily. "If you two can fight them yourselves, then we don't need to use children to do it!"
"This is humanity's struggle. It does not involve either Paradiso or Inferno," Jeanne replied matter of factly. "As such, we cannot interfere unless we want to involve them."
"But Shinji—"
"Is a loophole. He is right now a member of both sides, and as such of neither. So all four sides are free to attack him if they wish to. Trust me, if she could Cereza would not let Shinji get near either kind of angel, but we cannot touch your kind."
"But she just…"
"That was an angel from Paradiso, not the ones you are fighting. I… actually am kinda annoyed that she saw this loophole and I didn't."
At that point they saw Bayonetta taking Shinji from the Eva… and go pale.
For Nerv she disappeared, but Jeanne could feel the effects of Witch Time. Which was surprising, since it was pretty taxing. It is the reason they usually only use it for a few seconds during battle.
"Bayonetta speaking," came the voice during the intercom. "Please bring whoever takes care of the health of the pilots to the medical room number—"
Before she even finished speaking Ritsuko and Misato were already moving. Gendo thought better though, anything important Ritsuko would tell him later.
Ritsuko was not calm, as she made clear when she shoved the door open. Inside, her first thought was annoyance at seeing pieces of ripped plugsuit thrown around… until she noticed they were covered with blood on the inside.
In the bed, an unconscious Shinji was naked but for bandages covering most of his body above his waist. The bandages were red in many places, especially on his shoulders. Bayonetta was massaging his throat, making him drink a green liquid.
"What is going on?"
"Couldn't find an IV drip, went with the basics," the black-clad woman answered. "This is the same thing we gave the other earlier, just in liquid form."
Ritsuko grumbled a bit, no matter how unscientific that was it had proved to work.
"That's not what I'm talking about! How was he damaged like this?"
"Weren't you watching the battle?" Bayonetta replied in a condescending tone. "I was the one that rushed to help him, so you know more than me."
"None of the attacks penetrated the Eva enough to reach the pilot. All he should have got is some mental feedback from the Eva's pain, but not be hurt himself," Ritsuko said in an accusing tone.
"Oh, really?" Bayonetta said. "And why would he get mental feedback, my dear?"
"Because they are controlled mentally, and the communication goes both ways. It's why he can see through the Eva's eyes, and why synchronization between them is so important."
"And pray tell, what is his synchronization currently?"
"It is always at a hundred percent."
"And why is that?"
Ritsuko grit her teeth, both infuriated by the woman and by her next words: "I don't know."
Bayonetta sighed, as if speaking to a particularly slow child. "Because, my dear, they are not connected through your equipment anymore. As far as they are concerned, when they wish so they are one and the same. That is the nature of their pact. It is why the Eva is so responsive, and is why Shinji can use this… ET-Field by himself.
"AT-Field," Ritsuko corrected. Then her eyes opened wide.
"Do you mean… But this is scientifically impossible!"
"As is most of the new things you were presented to ever since the child arrived in your town. We are dealing with angels and demons here."
"What are you talking about?" Misato interrupted, annoyed and worried.
"Misato," Ritsuko said softly, "if, as far as they are concerned, they are one and the same… damage to the Eva—"
"Is damage to the child," Bayonetta finished.
IIIII
And the chapter is over. Sorry it is short, but I thought it was the ideal place to stop. Plus, you know, the writer's block during the battle.
For those curious, I am planning to base Shinji's fighting style in DMC3's Dante using Beowulf. I think it is a good combination with Rei learning Bayonetta and Jeanne's fighting style. Asuka… I'm not sure about her yet.
Besides the fighting style… I don't think I will give him anything else than what was already presented up to this point. He can do quick shields, longer-lasting but more energy-consuming shields able to withstand him jumping (or falling) on them, and can increase the strength of his attacks. Plus, as human weapons, he got four guns (yes, he uses mainly Hikari and Yami for now, but he has a set of four). The Eva I think is already good enough to go.
