Fly Me To The Moon

by Yorae Rasante

Raised by Bayonetta after the death of his sensei, Shinji has a much happier life. But, still unable to defeat the Third Angel by himself, in an act of desperation he makes a contract with Unit-01. Now that someone has access to both the mind of the Fruit of Knowledge and the power of the Fruit of Life, Paradiso and Inferno want him for themselves... at any cost.

1. In which a contract is made

This happens after Bayonetta2, so warning: I'll try to avoid them, but possible spoiler for the two games.

Also quite certainly spoilers for Evangelion, but let's be honest, most people online already know all about it even without watching the anime.

This time I'll avoid using honorifics, hope this doesn't drive anyone away.

IIIII

Shinji was… emotionless. He knew he should feel bad, but he didn't feel anything about the fact his sensei had suffered a heart attack…

Despite the fact he was only eight years old, he had already been taught enough to know how to take care of himself, so he doubted his father would waste his time and money sending someone else to live with him.

Still, out of respect for the person that raised him for five years, he stood there the whole ceremony as the nun kept reading from her book.

Then, out of nowhere, light came from the sky.

He looked up, scared. Were these the so-called "angels" that take people to paradise? Would they punish him for not feeling bad about his dead sensei?

So worried he was, he barely noticed the nun using a tombstone as platform to jump high in the air… until she disappeared out of nowhere.

And then the graveyard became a nightmare.

Thunderous sounds came in succession, as holes appeared everywhere. Tombstones exploded here and there, and so did the ground from time to time. The soft earth was filled with footsteps without people making them and depressions where things were being thrown around.

And then, after some time… it all stopped.

"Absolutely dreadful," sounded a voice in english, a language his sensei taught him due to his father's profession. It seemed unconcerned with what just happened, but disgusted with something, as if it had just stepped on a gum.

She was wearing formfitting black clothes, and on her hand were the ripped clothes of the nun that disappeared.

"I've been going through these so fast… couldn't they have let me keep at least some clothes? Such a lack of consideration."

Throwing the clothes aside, she turned to the boy, the only other person in the whole cemetery.

"So, little boy," she said in slightly accented Japanese, "when do someone come to pick you up? It isn't safe for such a young child to walk these streets alone in these times."

"I don't know, miss," he replied politely. "Sensei died, and I don't know if father will even send someone to take his place."

The woman's eyes widened behind her glasses, in a mix of confusion and anger.

"Well, until whoever he sends arrives, do you mind if I take care of you, child?"

His answer were wide eyes and quick nods. He did not mind being alone, not really, his sensei's company felt like he was left alone if he wasn't having lessons after all, but… he was scared. And this lady seemed to really care about him even if they just met, unlike his sensei.

"And what is your name, child?"

"Shinji Ikari, madam."

IIIII

Bayonetta was cursing inside her head as she followed the child to his apartment. Since when was she so soft to care about a kid she just met?

Besides little Cereza. And Loki. And in a way Luka, who she tolerated for years even if he hated her at the time for thinking she was the one to kill his father.

Oh no, she just noticed she had a soft spot for children.

Sighing, she tried to think of something else.

"So child, why were you living alone with… who was it again?"

"I don't know, really. Just sensei is all I knew. And since I was four, father abandoned me with sensei a bit after my mom's death," he said a bit bitterly.

Bayonetta wasn't sure if that was what happened, but she had no way to really know. Yet, she was going to ask Enzo soon if the name Ikari meant something.

IIIII

Five years since he met miss Cereza. That was how long it took before he got any news from his father.

And those news were just a letter. It was official-looking, but most of it was marked off, with a personal message on the side instead.

It would be nice if the message wasn't just the word "Come"…

Everyone was angry at this, even though Cereza and Jeanne tried to not show it. Luka was resisting cussing up a storm, while Enzo, who cared more about his children than about anything, didn't bother resisting.

"You are going anyway, aren't you child?" Cereza asked him.

Shinji nodded. Even if just to tell him to fuck off from his life, he had to talk with his father once more.

…Besides when visiting his mother's grave. It always felt like he was an intruder in something private when he met his father there, so they never talked then.

"We can't let you go without protection, it's already dangerous to go alone," Rodin said. "Take these."

"These" were four handguns. They were masterfully crafted by Rodin himself, much better than the usual M1911, but still mere toys compared to the weapons Cereza and Jeanne could use. But again, those were especially made to withstand the extreme levels of power a witch could use.

As much as he wanted to be like them, he knew that the paths of an Umbra Witch was exclusive to females, and they had no knowledge of how one could go to become a Lumen Sage. Thus he was without a contract, and thus without most of the mystic powers, even if he had completed most of the training and was as good as a candidate could be right before taking one.

"Thank you Rodin. I will treasure them and do my best to keep them in shape."

"You won't need to do much. These babies may not pack that much power, but they do not lack my love. They look like your normal handgun, but they actually use spiritual energy to make the bullets and they are made of the same metal used in Scarborough Fair. Only the best for my clients."

"Thank you, mister Rodin," Shinji repeated, this time taking a deep bow.

"Thank Bayonetta. She was the one who commissioned them."

Shinji just turned around enough to face her and bowed again just as deep.

"Thank you, miss Cereza."

"Don't mind it child," she replied, flicking his head so he looked up from the bow. "Just keep yourself safe."

IIIII

And thus was Shinji waiting in the station after arriving through train, listening to his music player while looking around.

He was wearing modest clothes, black slacks and a white shirt, a pretty standard if stylish pair of glasses in his face. Despite being raised by Cereza the last five years, he had a much more conservative style than Luka and his adorned pair.

Anyways, he wasn't seeing anything special, just a girl a bit away on the road. Well, it was special in that there were no other people or vehicles around besides her, but nothing to be worried about.

That is, until a heavy wind blew on his face.

Looking around, he could see a few planes flying in his direction from behind a hill. Confused, he took off his headphone.

He could hear heavy footsteps. As in, Godzilla heavy.

And lo and behold, from behind the hill came a giant being, shaped like a giant headless person. It was a dark, sickly green, with a red orb in the middle of the torso and white bone-like markings, including something like a mask right above the red orb. It also had spikes coming from it's elbows. It looked, in one word, like something alien.

Already sure of it, he took off his glasses to look at the giant, and yes, it was visible for normal humans. So those were the so-called Angels.

As he watched, the Angel was hit with many missiles,with explosions larger than its head. But right before the smoke left a plane was hit, and Shinji could see the pink energy spike retract and come out back in its elbow. The plane fell near him, and was promply stomped by the giant.

Shinji smartly thought the better part of valor was to know when to leave the battle and turned around to escape.

But before Shinji could run away, the screeching of a braking car was heard behind him, and turning around a blue car was opening the door. Inside was a woman that, according to the picture that came with his father's letter, Misato Katsugari.

"Sorry for making you wait," she said as hello. Shinji replied with a "no problem" as he jumped inside the car and closed the door just in time as Misato started driving at full speed, avoided being stepped by the giant with a maneuver and went back the way she came.

Far away from the giant she finally stopped, observing the battle with binoculars. Seeing the planes leaving the battlefield, it was clear to her what was going on.

"They are going to use an N2 Mine! Get down!"

She then jumped on top of Shinji, using her body to protect him. Just in time as the bomb's impact threw the car through the road and on it's side.

"Are you alright?" she asked, worried.

"Yes, just a bit dusty. Why did we stop so close?"

"For safety. At this distance the impact threw us around, but if we were moving it would be much worse. It would take a while before we could be safe."

Shinji nodded, understanding.

"Help me turn the car back?" she asked, and Shinji promptly helped.

"Thank you."

"It wasn't a problem, miss Katsugari."

"You can call me Misato."

"Well, then you can call me Shinji," he said with a smile. "Uhm, could I use the binoculars for a bit?"

"Here," she said as she gave him them. Shinji just turned around and looked at the Angel.

"It is damaged, but still seems to be alive."

"This is bad…"

"Not that much… I mean, it is damaged, right? Can't they send more N2 Mines at it until it dies?"

"N2 Mines are hard to make. They are atomic bombs without the radioactivity. There aren't that many we can use."

"I think this is past the Godzilla threshold, Misato-san. I think a little waste of resources is justified."

"We have a backup plan still to use. If it fails, then we can use it."

"Project Evangelion, right?"

Misato looked at him suspiciously.

"I heard about it from a friend. What is it, by the way?"

"A friend? What kind of friend? That is classified information!"

"No one important," Shinji said, and shut up.

"Well, if you don't want to tell me it's ok…" she answered in a hurt tone. He was not buying it, and entered the car. The last thing in his mind was causing his friends trouble.

Misato sighed, and turned the key.

And again.

And again.

"The battery is dead."

"Let's take from a car nearby," Shinji said. "It's not like they are going to use it right now."

"I was thinking about a store."

"Whichever is faster."

IIIII

"So this is the train to Nerv," Shinji said as they entered. "Home of Project Evangelion."

"You know, if you don't want people prying in how you know about it, better stop mentioning it from time to time," Misato said, annoyed. "How much do you know, anyway?"

"Enough to put my sources in danger, not enough for my curiosity."

"Well, luckily for your curiosity, it seems like I am authorized to sate it a little," she said with a wink, handling him a "top secret" folder.

"I see. So he needs me for something."

"I guess you two don't get along."

"He abandoned me a few years ago with sensei, and didn't even send anyone to take care of me when sensei died. I meet him every year on the anniversary of my mother's death, but it is a solemn day and we don't talk then… are those buildings in the ceiling?"

"That's right. This is our secret underground base."

IIIII

"We've been through here twice," Shinji said. "Wouldn't it be better if I took the map?"

"No, don't worry! I am just finding myself. I can lead the way now!"

"…If we come here a third time, can I take the map then?"

"Don't worry, this base is big enough I doubt it will happen."

"Not filling me with confidence here, miss Misato?"

"What did I tell you about calling me miss?"

"Miss Cereza couldn't make me stop. Doubt you'll be able to."

After a while, they finally reached an elevator… just as a blond woman exited it. Shinji noticed she was wearing a swimsuit under her lab coat.

"Uh, hi Ritsuko."

"Captain Akagi, why do you insist in wasting my time? We are in a hurry!"

'Uh, guess that explained the swimsuit,' he thought, 'must have been called from the pool.'

"Is it him?"

"Yes, accordinh to the reports he is the Third Child."

"Nope, sorry I'm an only child," Shinji found himself answering.

"At least he has a sense of humor, unlike his father. A pleasure meeting you, Ikari. Ritsuko Akagi."

"Same here. Please call me Shinji. A sense of humor is the least you need with the friends I have."

As they progressed, the two women started talking about something called unity 01 being rebuilt and having unused equipment. And the chance of activation was in the dumps. Not exactly filling him with confidence…

And they finally arrived… in the face of a purple giant robot.

"This is humanity's Multi-Purpose Humanoid Machine, Evangelion."

"I see… so Evangelion is a giant robot…"

"This is unit 01. The last hope of humanity."

"A hope recently rebuilt and with untested equipment… chance of activation with nine zeros…"

"We have no choice. It is this or oblivion."

"…I like these odds."

"Good. Because you will pilot it."

Everyone turned around and looked upwards, where Gendo appeared.

"Father," Shinji said, without preamble, ignoring the fact he didn't speak to Gendo in years, "you do know that sensei died years ago right? I sort of didn't have the giant robot piloting training."

"Our other possible pilot is injured from a test accident, and the Evangelion units are very… specific about who can pilot them."

Shinji sighed.

"But Rei took seven months to synchronize with the Eva! It is impossible!" Misato said.

"All he needs to do is sit there. Even if there are few chances of him synchronizing, we have no choice."

Shinji was confused. How could a robot have problems with the pilot besides it's ability? And more importantly…

"The… Angel wasn't coming when I was called here. Why was I called?"

No one noticed the fact the name Angel wasn't used near him, apparently, since everyone looked at Gendo.

"We expected the Angel to attack sometime recently. We needed a spare. Your time was exceptionally good though."

Just then, the whole complex started trembling.

"It found us," Gendo stated matter-of-factly.

"Shinji, we need you to pilot it now."

Shinji thought for a while.

"Don't blame me if I get it destroyed."

"As long as you destroy the Angel too," she replied.

IIIII

"Don't worry," Ritsuko warned the panicking Shinji in the cockpit, "as soon as your lungs get filled with LCL it will provide oxygen directly.

Shinji took a tentative lungful before coughing.

"Warn me first next time! I feel… dizzy…"

"Stand up! Aren't you a man?" Misato tried encouraging him.

"Unfortunatelly… else I wouldn't need a giant robot to fight it."

"Uh?"

"Nothing."

A lot of colored lights appeared in front of Shinji's face, and everyone was talking gibberish. All he was able to understand was something about synchronization being at around 41 percent.

"This is low…" Shinji said.

"No, this is pretty good actually," Ritsuko replied. "Specially for your first time."

Shinji closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Of liquid. Damn was that weird to think about.

And then he felt lots of G in his body as he was sent upwards.

Next thing he knew, he was facing the giant angel.

"Are you ready, Shinji?"

"If I say no, do I get a tutorial on how to control this?"

Ignoring him, Misato ordered the Eva unlocked.

"Just concentrate on moving. Start by walking. Concentrate on walking now."

Shinji did so, making the robot take it's first step.

Then promptly fell face-first on the ground trying to take the second one.

"Ouch. That hurt…"

Next thing he saw was the Angel grabbing the robot by the face and lifting it.

By instinct, Shinji thought about pulling his legs to his chest and use them to kick himself away from the Angel's grip like he was trained.

The Evangelion suddenly pulled its legs to its chest and kicked at the Angel's face, freeing itself from its grip but falling on its back.

"I think I figured out how to control it…" Shinji said on the mic.

But before he could hear any answer he was forced to roll the Eva to the side to avoid an downwards punch attack by the pissed Angel, whose hand got stuck in the ground.

Taking advantage of it, Shinji willed the Eva to kick, making the Angel fall down and getting himself time to stand up.

The Eva. Getting the Eva time to stand up.

"It's getting hard to see the difference between my moves and the Eva's. And I'm pretty sure I felt that kick."

"It's the synchronization," answered Ritsuko's voice. "Don't fight it! The more in synch you get, the better it answers your commands."

The angel promptly stood up and charged the Eva… which simply jumped to the side at the last second, kicking its leg and making it trip and roll on the ground until it hit a building.

The Eva promptly jumped on top of the Angel and began kicking it's head, jumping away at a swipe from its claws before jumping back towards the rising angel with a hook on its face that sent the Angel back to the ground.

Then Shinji made the eva knee it in the orb in its chest.

The Angel went berserk, and threw a laser beam that threw the Eva backwards, exploding in a cross shape. Before the Eva could fall on the ground it was on top of the Eva, holding its face from both sides and spearing its temples with the bones coming out of its hands like it did to the plane earlier.

"The sides of the head are cracking!"

Desperately, Shinji mate the Eva punch once more on the Angel's core as hard as it could with both hands. That stunned the Angel, enough to let Shinji give a second and third pair of punches before it kept attacking. The Angel quickly jumped backwards, protecting the orb with its hands, and the Eva rolled to the side on a squatting position thanks to Shinji's training.

Then promptly jumped to the side, avoiding another laser beam.

"Guys, I really think the weak point is the orb, as stupidly cliché as it sounds!"

"Understood. Do your best to break it, Shinji!"

And Shinji did. The Eva jumped back in front on the Angel and jumped forwards on its hands, legs retracted, and spun in the air, giving a mule kick with all the strength it could muster.

Which would have probably broken the orb, if not for a purple hexagon wall that appeared in front of the kick.

"God damnit!" Shinji said, as every attack he tried with the Eva was stopped by the barrier. Every punch, every kick, every combination he could think of, they all stopped due to the barrier.

"Shinji, listen to me. This is an AT Field. The Eva can produce one too. You need to create one to negate the Angel's."

"And how do I do it?"

But before Ritsuko could answer, the Angel noticed the lack of progress of the Eva and decided to be… creative.

Next thing Shinji felt was a force like a wall hitting him at high speed, as the Eva was thrown back by the barrier that the Angel decided to use like a battering ram.

Before Shinji could raise the Eva again, the feeling came again, this time from upwards. Noticing how much trouble the Eva was having with the AT Field, it was clearly the best weapon to use against it. So the Angel was trying to use it to crush the Eva.

And it was working.

Shinji tried his best, but could not make the Eva make even a small movement. He could feel the pressure it was going through, and was surprised it was still moving.

So Shinji decided to do something he never did ever since miss Cereza and Rodin told him stories about the Trinity of Realities.

He prayed.

"I don't care if you are from Paradiso. I don't care if you are from Inferno. I don't care if you are from here in Chaos. Please, someone, anyone, help me.
If I die here… Then everyone else will probably die too.
Please, help me protect them. I'd do anything. I'd pay any price.
Someone… Anyone…

Help me! Please!"

Back in the Geofront, everyone was dismayed. It was too late. The Eva's armor was cracking. Shinji had no idea how to form an AT Field to combat the one on him, and in these circunstances there was no way for him to use it even if they told him how.

Those who believed in something, followed Shinji's example and prayed.

It was hopeless. The only hope of humanity was a miracle.

And then someone answered.

Gendo smiled. This wasn't what he had planned, but he could work with it.

The pressure he was feeling was gone so suddenly Shinji felt like he was bouncing from the ground. Taking a glance upwards, he could see two of the orange field classing. He could tell it was two from the fact the hexagonal (or was it octagonal? Well, honeycomb-shaped) waves the contact between them made had two different sources.

Whatever, he could stand up now. And he somehow felt like he was the one standing up, like if the Eva's body was his own.

In the back of his mind, he heard the scientists screaming something about impossible and a hundred percent synchronization, but he had things more important to care about.

Like punching an Angel's Core in.

Kicking off from the ground, he advanced on the Angel with the left arm extended, and as expected his hand was stopped by yet another barrier. Yet he was barely slowed, as he punched through the AT Field with a bit of his own concentrated on his right hand.

He could imagine the Angel would be wide-eyed if it was a human as Shinji lifted it with his left hand, for it took a few seconds before it started struggling. More than enough for Shinji to charge energy to his right hand.

He just had to say it as he punched upwards, through the Angel's Core:

"Shoryuken!"

IIIII

Everyone at the Geofront was watching astounded as the Eva stepped back into the elevator, slouching slightly. Shinji's synchronization was a hundred percent.

Perfect synchronization. Unwavering, just… perfect. That was supposed to be impossible.

Everyone watched as the pilot moved through the catwalk in front of the Eva as it was locked once more, raised a fist and moved it to his back.

Then the Eva answered, and they fist-bumped.

That was impossible. Yet they all saw it happening.

That was it. Gendo had to have a talk with Shinji.

…As soon as he woke up, because he just passed out right there on the catwalk.

As they took him to the infirmary, no one noticed that the shadow on the wall was EVA-01's.

IIIII

Shinji woke up in the morning.

He had no time to sleep. He had to contact miss Cereza now.

As he looked for some sort of pay phone, he passed through a nurse carrying a girl his age that seemed to have had some sort of accident. She had light-blue hair and red eyes. It was the girl he met on the street right before the Angel attack. Who'd have guessed?

It took him half an hour until he met someone he knew so he could ask for directions. Unfortunately last time Misato seemed even more lost than he was now.

"What are you doing out of the bed?" she asked in a happy tone.

"Oh, I was just looking for a phone. I want to tell my friends that I'm alright."

"I see… Come, you need a checkup, you can call them later."

Shinji sighed, but didn't argue.

IIIII

Misato's worry was unfounded. I had just been exhaustion, apparently.

And thus they were going to the elevator to leave the Geofront when they met Gendo when the door opened.

They just stared at each other for a bit.

"We need to talk," Shinji finally said. "Alone."

"Agreed."

And thus the door closed.

Misato wisely said nothing.

IIIII

In the end, Shinji couldn't make his call. Something others considered more important had to be taken care of first.

Something in his tone about being used to living alone must have affected Misato, because she decided to take him to live with her.

Right now, they were driving to… somewhere, she was talking something about a welcome party. Shinji didn't care much about it, it wasn't like he had any friend in Tokio-3 to party with yet.

In the grocery store, people were talking about moving from the city. He couldn't blame them, but… why did they think Tokyo-3 had any more chance of being attacked than any other city? It wasn't like this was the second attack or anything like that.

Oh well. Misato took him to the top of a hill, to see the town during sunset he guessed.

"It feels… empty," Shinji said. They had seen only a few people on the way there, and looking from there it didn't seem like it had much. Was this supposed to be the new capital of Japan?

"It is time," Misato said.

And suddenly it didn't feel so empty. Because the buildings were growing from the ground.

"The buildings on the ceiling…"

"That's right. This town is a fortress to fight against the Angel attacks, Tokyo-3."

"You talk as if you had been expecting an attack for a while. Even more, you talk as if you were sure they would attack here…"

"That is classified info, even I am not supposed to know that much about it. I'm not sure why they'd attack here, but we already knew of their existence."

"The Katsugari expedition?"

Misato gave him a look.

Shinji shut up and looked at the city.

"How much do you know about it?"

"Not much. It was in Antarctica. It was where the first Angel was fought or something. It caused the event known as Second Impact. More questions than answers."

"I was there. Yet you already know as much as me."

Shinji shrugged.

"One day you need to present me to your sources."

"No thanks. Don't want to get them in trouble."

"Come on, I swear I won't tell anyone!"

Shinji thought for a bit.

"There is a bar they go to sometimes, if you promise to keep quiet I could take you there someday."

"Yes! Thank you!"

IIIII

In the end, a bar was the right word to say to get her to leave it alone for now… because Misato was clearly an alcoholic judging by the contents of her fridge and the way she was gulping beer down during their "party".

On the other hand, she was a very happy drunk, it seemed.

And thus he was going to take a bath…

Was being the keyword, as the bath was occupied.

By a penguin.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know there was someone else here."

The penguin just raised its hand as if to say it was alright and left, its towel drapped on its shoulders.

IIIII

"Good morning, miss Misato."

"Good morning Shinji. Are you going somewhere?"

"Ah, yes. I was going to have a walk, maybe go to a park or something."

Misato nodded. Actually Shinji was lying though, he wanted to call miss Cereza but didn't want to do it in Misato's house and be overheard.

"Oh, I got an idea! Did you make that call to your friends yet?"

Oh, there goes that plan. "No, not really."

"Well, how about I get you a cellphone?"

"That… counds good, actually," Shinji said.

"Good! Let's go, I know a store with the best ones for cheap!"

In the end, Shinji went with the one that fit his clothing style the best, a classic black one. While she chose it, Misato was on her own phone, talking apparently with Ritsuko.

He waved the phone for her to see his choice, and she promptly gave the cashier her credit card and paid for it while still talking.

"I'm sorry Shinji, it looks like I'm needed at Nerv."

"Don't worry miss Misato, I understand."

"Oh, let me give you my number! You can call me if there is any problem!"

And so they exchanged numbers, Misato left on her car, and Shinji had the walk he had said he woud take.

And as soon as he was alone in a park, he took out the new phone and called a number almost no one else knew.

IIIII

"You just called the Gates of Hell. For when you want to make a deal with the devil."

"Hello, Rodin? Is miss Cereza there?"

"She is here," Rodin said. "Bayonetta, for you!" was all he said before throwing her the phone.

Which she caught in midair.

"Long time no talk child. But if you called Rodin, guess it is not just to tell us you are fine."

"No, miss Cereza. I… think I made a contract."

"Oh, you found out how to become a Lumen Sage?" she asked curious.

"No, not with an angel… not that kind of angel at least…"

Those words sent a chill through Bayonetta's spine.

"That kind of angel… Child, this is serious. Did you make a pact with…"

"A cyborg artificial Angel… I had to pilot it to stop another Angel, and I was losing because it could create forcefields I couldn't counter by myself…"

"Save it. Explain me more when I get there. Enzo! Where did Shinji go to?" she called as she hang up the phone.

This was bad.

IIIII

Back then, when Bayonetta researched the name, Ikari did mean something.

It was the family name of the scientist Yui Ikari, and thus became the name of her husband Gendo. Yui had died nearly five years ago while working on Project Evangelion, and her husband became the callous leader of Nerv, whose official but classified (it had cost Enzo some favors to find out) purpose is to fight Angels. Who apparently were the responsible for the event known as Second Impact.

Which in turn took Bayonetta to talk to Rodin while Shinji was at school, since he assured her that is was not an event caused by either Paradiso or Inferno.

"Angel is a misnomer; they don't even look like the real thing. But since no one who actually knows is in the right circle, it stuck," said the blacksmith.

"You see, it has been a while since Armageddon. And by 'a while' I mean 'before humanity'.
You see, between the creation of the Trinity of Realities and the birth of Humanity, there was another race here. But they were dying, so they thought, 'hey, let's try making a race that will last!', and thus the Seeds of Life were created."

"Was Aesir from this race?" Bayonetta asked, taking a sip from her drink.

"Not sure. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, maybe he was a merge of the whole race. Doesn't matter. Those are gone now.
What does matter are the Seeds of Life. As in, more than one."

That caught the woman's attention.

"So, do you mean these so-called Angels came from a second seed and are trying to take control of the world?"

Rodin nodded, with an eerie smile.

"The Seeds fought for which of them would give fruit, one with the Fruit of Life giving raw power and long life and the other with the Fruit of Knowledge and skill."

"And the Fruit of Knowledge won," Bayonetta nodded. "But why did the other Seed act up and cause the Second Impact then?"

"Because you humans are clever, but stupid. Not knowing what you are dealing with, your first instinct is to poke at it. And by poking at the Seed, it woke up."

Bayonetta sighed. "Just what we needed, a third race wanting to take over humanity."

"Well, at least this time the rest of humanity can do some of the work. They are native from this side of the Trinity, after all."

"You seem to know a lot about them. Been doing some research?"

"Well, something tells me these guys would not be so good to have as neighbors as humans, so I've been keeping an ear out. Won't do much else though. This is a Chaos dispute, so everyone is in agreement that unless they have something to gain they won't take sides."

"Nothing new there, then. Anything else I should know?"

"Well, there is one thing. You know the story of the Garden of Eden?"

"Humanity had consumed from the Fruit of Knowledge, so fearing what it could become God threw them away from Eden and guarded the Fruit of Life with archangels wielding swords of fire.
You think someone will try to get the power of the Fruit of Life for themselves."

"Think? It probably already happened. You humans are a greedy bunch. Now, try is one thing, they can try as much as they want.
The problem is if they succeed."

"What happens if they succeed?"

"Humans are considered weak by both sides, but their souls have potential. The so-called Angels are powerful, but make terrible recruits, mostly only caring for themselves."

IIIII

Shinji was calm. He had just contacted miss Cereza about his contract, so she should arrive soon to figure out with him what he can do with it.

Right now, he was taking a walk at the park while listening to music. The best thing he could do to relax, as far as he thought.

So why was he so tense? As if something was stalking him…

Instinctively, he jumped over a bench just in time before it cracked.

IIIII

"Someone who is both? Baby, you are looking into prime material there. The agreement?"

IIIII

He quickly wore his glasses, finally being able to see his opponents.

He was surrounded by angels. Real angels, from Paradiso.

But the one who had attacked him was a demon.

Despite being on opposite sides, it didn't seem like they just met there by coincidence. And the angels definitely didn't seem to have tried defending him when he was attacked.

Quickly, he put his hands inside his pockets, drawing out the two of his handguns that he nicknamed Hikari and Yami.

"Let's rock."

IIIII

"Consider it bust."