Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Chapter One: Revelations
"Well, it took you long enough to get moving," Asuka commented as Shinji finally emerged from his bedroom.
For a moment, Shinji considered snapping back that she was the one who most often needed to be roused in the mornings, and it was hardly a crime if he slept in every now and then. However, he found himself with too much good judgment and not enough nerve to make such a comment, as always.
"I'm sorry," he said instead. "I'll go cook breakfast."
Asuka responded with a satisfied nod and then walked off, presumably heading for the bathroom to take a shower. Shinji allowed himself a quick, guilty look at her legs, which were mostly left exposed by the oversized T-shirt she'd worn to bed, before he headed for the kitchen.
"Good morning, Shinji-kun," Misato greeted him cheerfully from her place at the kitchen table. "My, you're up later than usual."
"I, uh, must have been tired from having to study all day yesterday," Shinji replied, still feeling somewhat out of it.
"Hmm, Asuka woke up bright and early, and she needs much less excuse than you do to sleep in," Misato said as Shinji set the frying pan on the stove and broke a few eggs into it.
The Third Child's eyebrows went up at this statements and its implications, and he focused his gaze on the eggs, glad for the excuse not to look at Misato. Asuka, it seemed, had somehow managed to make their guardian believe she'd attended the tutoring session yesterday. How she was able to do this, he had no idea, since Misato was nowhere near dense enough to believe Asuka had gone if she'd returned to the apartment earlier than he had.
Then again, for all he knew, Asuka had somehow managed to return at the same time as he had.
Shinji frowned and tried to grasp at the memories he seemed to be missing. What he got were a series of seemingly random scraps.
An explosion and a wave of heat coming from it.
The wind whipping about him as he flew through the air, trapped in someone's iron grip.
Darkness and tranquility.
A completely nude girl descending toward him while he was immersed in some kind of liquid?
The Third Child shook his head slightly, dispelling the memories. They felt so hazy and dream-like that he wasn't at all sure that any of them had actually happened.
"Well, I guess it's true what they say," Misato mused aloud, fully pulling him from his thoughts. "Women really do have more stamina than men."
Shinji frowned in confusion, not immediately taking in the implications of that particular statement.
Then it hit him.
"M-Misato!" he sputtered, flushing crimson. "Nothing like that happened!"
"I know," Misato giggled. "I was just teasing you."
Shinji sighed in a long suffering sort of way. "I wish you wouldn't."
Thanks to his relatively late start, Shinji didn't have time for any breakfast aside from a piece of toast that he grabbed on his way out of the apartment. Despite this rather inauspicious beginning, however, the day proceeded normally, and was thus better than the previous one by leaps and bounds.
Indeed, fate was apparently being kind to him to make up for yesterday, because not only did he have no tests at NERV that afternoon, but he also got the apartment to himself after school. Misato had paperwork to catch up on and had gone to NERV, and Asuka had gone to the mall with Hikari.
"And Shinji gets to enjoy a little peace and quiet," the Third Child said with a rare sigh of contentment as he lowered himself onto the couch.
"Wark!"
Shinji looked down to see the apartment's resident water fowl sitting next to him. The Third Child put his SDAT on, then began to pet Pen-Pen on the head with one hand and pressed the button to start his tape playing with the other. He lay back and closed his eyes, the very picture of relaxation.
Hey!
"Ahh!" Shinji exclaimed in shock, jumping almost a foot in the air.
"Wark!" Pen-Pen squawked indignantly.
"Who said that?!" Shinji demanded, looking around wildly but seeing no sign of the woman he'd just heard speaking.
You're an excitable one, aren't you? The woman asked in a voice that Shinji found strangely familiar, then sighed. Why do I have to be stuck with such a jumpy little human?
"Where are you?" Shinji snapped, jumping to his feet and whirling about as he scanned the apartment.
Watching all of this, and hearing only Shinji's side of the conversation, Pen-Pen sweat dropped and then slowly backed away from the Third Child before making a break for the sanctuary of his fridge. Shinji didn't even notice him leave.
Geeze, you really are dense, aren't you? The woman asked, sounding exasperated. I'm inside you!
This caused Shinji to stop short in his frantic searching. "In-inside of me?" he stuttered. "How is that possible?"
It's a long story, the woman replied, suddenly sounding rather apologetic. Let's go. Everything will be explained to you when we get there.
Suddenly, Shinji's legs began to move, carrying him toward the door without any command from his brain whatsoever. The Third Child cried out, understandably finding this sensation incredibly unsettling, and struggled futilely to retake control of his body.
"Stop this!" Shinji yelled, waving his arms about, if only because he still seemed to have control of them. "You can't do this to me!"
Sorry, but this is the best way of making the situation clear to you, trust me.
"Trust you? Why should I trust you?!" Shinji demanded.
Well, you don't have much of a choice, for one, the woman replied dryly. Second, because seeing is believing, and I don't think you'll be able to swallow this otherwise.
"I can swallow a lot right now!" Shinji continued to protest, flailing about and trying fruitlessly to grab onto something to stop his feet from taking him out of the apartment.
Not this.
"You can't do this to me!" Shinji yelled, even as he was forced out the door against his will.
Soon afterwards, he found himself leaving the apartment building and stepping out onto the sidewalk. Shinji very reluctantly ceased his struggling against the woman who was apparently controlling his body. Section Two watched the apartment building whenever he or Asuka was home, he knew. However, the Section Two agents usually didn't pay enough attention to realize when he left unless he or Misato called them and told them as much beforehand.
Of course, if he made enough of a spectacle of himself by struggling, then not even Section Two could fail to notice him. And if there was one thing Shinji had learned since coming to Tokyo-3, it was that Section Two never improved a situation.
Ever.
Good, the woman said as he started to assist in the task of getting himself to wherever it was she wanted him to go. This will all go more easily if you just go along with it.
Infuriated, Shinji nearly snapped that this wasn't the reason he'd stopped fighting at all. Instead, he just let out a sigh as his anger rapidly morphed into resignation. There was no way of preventing this from happening that he could see.
"This had better be worth it," he grumbled.
Oh, it is, she assured him.
A few minutes of jogging brought him to the seedier, more run down part of the city, where Rei lived. Fortunately, his wayward feet didn't bring him to the First Child's apartment building, but instead to a junkyard filled with old cars that were good for nothing but scrap metal. Shinji walked up to a particularly high stack of junked automobiles, and his feet finally stopped moving.
Climb into the red one.
Shinji shrugged and began gingerly picking his way up the pile, heading for the sole red car in it. The presence in his mind seemed somehow surprised that he was following the strange request without questioning it.
Obviously, she either couldn't scan his memories or had opted not to do so, Shinji thought. Otherwise, she would have realized that being asked to get into an old car that was laying in a scrap heap wouldn't have thrown him for a loop.
Once you're told to climb into the giant purple robot you've never seen before and have no idea how to operate, it's kind of hard to phase you with weird commands alone, he had learned.
"Okay," Shinji said as sat down in the front passenger seat. "Now what?"
His head turned to the right, almost as if invisible hands had gripped it and forced it to do so, and Shinji's eyes widened at what he saw. Instead of another car door and the remains of another used up automobile, he found himself looking at a very strange, circular door that was embedded into some kind of white metal…thing.
Suddenly, the door opened with a hiss of hydraulics, and Shinji felt himself being pulled forward. He let out a cry and tried to resist, but it was useless. The Third Child was rapidly sucked into the entry chute and fell onto the floor below in an undignified heap a few seconds later.
"Ugh," Shinji groaned as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. "What the…?"
He trailed off as he looked around the large, dim chamber. It was a mostly empty room, with only a few pieces of furniture and equipment scattered around. Near one wall was some kind of command console and a chair, and in a corner was of glass pod, the use of which Shinji couldn't even guess at.
Shinji hadn't watched very many sci-fi shows in his day, but he couldn't help but think of those he had seen as he took in the room.
Then there was a humming sound and a flash of light. Shinji quickly jerked his head in the direction of a large alcove in the wall, where both were coming from.
He let out a cry of fright as a man-size figure that looked like a purple cockroach wearing black robes materialized within it. The Third Child quickly scooted backwards until his back was pressed against the wall.
"Oh god!" Shinji exclaimed, some dim part of his mind thinking that of all the possible ways he might have died, being eaten by a giant bug was probably the one he'd expected the least.
Then, to his amazement, the giant insect spoke.
"Greetings, Shinji Ikari," the bug said in a deep voice that Shinji found was oddly familiar. "I apologize for frightening you. It was not my intent."
"Oh, th-that's okay," Shinji said weakly, more out of reflex than anything else.
The giant insect inclined its head slightly in what might have been a tiny bow before it continued. "My name is Inspector Megius of the Space Federation, and I am transmitting this hologram from many light years away, in order that I may explain matters to you personally. Now, young Shinji Ikari, you must listen carefully to me."
Shinji just nodded dumbly.
"Last night, one of my subordinates dealt you a fatal injury while pursuing a dangerous criminal," Megius explained. "Behold."
Lights within the glass pod suddenly switched on, illuminating its interior. Shinji slowly stood and approached it warily. "No…" he breathed as he looked upon its contents. "No, it's impossible…"
Lying within the pod was…him. Or at least, someone that looked so much like him that even he couldn't tell the difference. This Shinji had been stripped to his boxers, and there were great, gruesome looking burns on his thin chest. His skin had taken on a gray, extremely unhealthy looking pallor.
"I realize this is not something that is easy to forgive. So, in order to preserve your life, your mind and soul were transferred into the body of the Federation officer responsible for the injuries you sustained," Megius explained.
A two dimensional window popped up before the hologram of Megius, showing the woman that Shinji had had such an unfortunate encounter with the other night, causing more flashes of memory to come rushing to the fore of his mind. She was tall, with a lithe, attractive figure that was nicely displayed by the blue and white leotard she wore, which somehow managed to be both backless and low cut without falling off of her.
Superior alien technology, Shinji supposed.
The young woman also wore knee high boots, one blue and one white, as well as gloves which went all the way to her shoulders, also one blue and one white. Her most striking feature was her long hair. The half on the right side was pink, while the half on the left side was a pure white.
In different circumstances, Shinji might have secretly thought this young woman was cute.
"This is Birdy Cephon Altera, an Ichis-class Altarian humanoid," Megius said. "Her species shares a great number of physiological similarities with your own, and we have altered her molecular structure so that she may transform into a perfect duplicate of your own body. Your day to day life will not change."
Shinji stared silently down at his hands. Perfect duplicate is right, he thought. I never even would have suspected if she had kept quiet.
"When Birdy is able to leave planet Earth, you will return to the Space Federation, and we will attempt to restore your body to health, so that you may occupy it once more," Megius said. "In the meantime, it will remain in stasis. We can only hope that you will cooperate with our investigation. Farewell, Shinji Ikari, and please, take care of Birdy."
"Take care of Birdy?" Shinji echoed softly, as the hologram faded and was gone.
Abruptly, a small laser that was attached to the ceiling fired, striking Shinji's hand harmlessly. A second later, a bracelet with a triangular device attached to it materialized on his wrist where the laser had hit.
"What's this?" Shinji asked.
It's a modulator, to keep your clothes from being torn when we change, Birdy answered.
"Change?" Shinji asked.
As if in answer, his hand began to shift, the fingers becoming longer, more graceful, and covered by a white glove. The transformation swept over his arm and then across the rest of his body. Shinji felt the strangest sensation of being pushed back into the recesses of his own mind, and a second later, Birdy rose to her feet, all visible signs of Shinji Ikari having disappeared.
"I will capture Christella Revi on this planet," Birdy said solemnly. "Please, I'm going to need your cooperation."
The Federation officer than fell silent, waiting for a response from her new "partner." She fervently hoped he would agree to help her, but at the same time, she braced herself for the very possible storm of fury.
What she got instead was dead silence.
"Shinji?" Birdy asked after a few seconds.
…
"Shinji?" Birdy said again, then groaned, "you didn't faint, did you?"
…
Birdy growled, then raised her hand and sent it rushing toward her own cheek for an open palmed slap. However, she relinquished control of their shared body a second before her hand connected, causing it to change back into Shinji's likeness.
The result was that the Third Child smacked himself in the face.
"Ow!" Shinji exclaimed, rubbing his now stinging cheek.
Sorry, Birdy said, not exactly sounding contrite. But you were kind of out of it there.
"That's, uh, okay," Shinji said, and moved his hand to rub his eyes, a pained look not caused by the slap Birdy had made him give himself appeared on his face.
The Third Child paused for a moment, trying to collect his whirling thoughts, then sighed. "All right, let me see if I have all this straight," he said eventually. "You're an alien."
Yup.
"And you accidentally killed me last night," he said.
Well, since you're not dead, I didn't really kill you, Birdy pointed out defensively. But, basically, yeah.
"And to keep me from actually dying, you somehow transferred me into your body," Shinji.
Yeah.
"And now we can sort of switch back and forth," Shinji said. "We can be you or me at any time."
Bingo, Birdy confirmed. You're a pretty bright kid.
There was at least a hint of sarcasm there, but Shinji automatically thanked her for the compliment and continued. "So now you want me to go along with you, when you go chasing after the alien bad guy you were pursuing when you accidentally killed me."
Well, alien bad guys to be precise, Birdy corrected. There's more than one on this planet, and the one who pulled you into this isn't really the one I'm after. Geega's actually pretty small time. I just wanted to catch him because he can lead me to Revi.
"Okay, but I pretty much have it, right?" Shinji asked.
Yeah, Birdy said. So, will you cooperate with me as I do my investigation?
Shinji's answer was a snicker.
Shinji? Birdy asked, clearly taken aback by this.
The Third Child didn't reply. Instead, he snickered again, and again. Soon his snickers had become chuckles, which morphed into giggles, and then full fledged laughter that echoed within the confines of Birdy's space ship. Tears began to pour down Shinji's face, and his legs soon buckled. He felt no pain as he landed on the metal floor, and began to roll around and beat his fists on the floor as his already loud guffaws increased in volume.
Oh god, he's snapped! Birdy thought, wondering how she could hope to complete her mission if she had to share a body with a crazy person. Should I slap him again?
The Third Child might have kept laughing until he really did lose his mind, but it was the echo that snapped him out of it. It allowed him to hear how truly insane his cackling was starting to sound, and he realized that he had to stop. Shinji somehow began to get himself under control.
Shinji? Birdy spoke up again, once his gales of laughter had ebbed to a few infrequent chortles.
"Only to me. Only, only to me," Shinji commented to no one in particular, and one more giggle escaped him before he finally addressed his new companion."Listen, Birdy, I don't want to burden you, but I don't think you understand my situation. I can't just go with you to fight…space criminals whenever you want. People watch me all the time, or at least, they're supposed to. And if they find out what's happened to me, well, I don't think it'll be good for either of us. I'll be lucky if I don't have to make up some excuse to explain my absence from the apartment later."
People watch you? Birdy asked, obviously incredulous.
Shinji nodded. "Yes. Look, why don't you get us out of here? I need to show you something to make my situation clear to you."
The Third Child couldn't quite keep a hint of maliciousness out of his voice as he finished that statement, and Birdy couldn't help but feel a tiny prick of apprehension as she agreed.
"I'm telling you, Gomez, I can't identify him!" Geega exclaimed, exasperated.
The alien was back in his human disguise, and seated at a table in a rather small room. Spread out in front of him were pictures of all the male middle and high school students in the city.
Standing on the other side of the table was a tall man with blond hair and a thin, dark mustache. He was an extremely large man who always seemed to be wearing sunglasses, which only served to enhance his already formidable presence.
"Try, Geega," Gomez said flatly. "Revi-sama is due to arrive in Japan soon. I want to have the Federation officer neutralized by then."
"I don't see how it could help even if I could identify the brat," Geega said petulantly. "He's dead! I saw the Fed kill him."
"There have been no reports of a mysteriously murdered teenager in the local media," Gomez said levelly. "Nor of any disappearances. Therefore, we can only conclude she saved him somehow, and if that is the case, it's possible he could lead us to her."
"I can't identify him!" Geega repeated. "These damn humans all look the same to me! I can barely tell the males from the females! If not for the uniform the kid was wearing, I wouldn't even be able to tell he was a student!"
"Geega," Gomez said, not the slightest hint of emotion in his voice, "I don't have to remind you that you are the one responsible for the Federation officer tracking us to this planet."
Geega stiffened.
"Personally, in light of the previous services you've provided, I'm inclined to overlook your recent string of misfortunes," Gomez continued. "However, I'm not the one who makes those decisions. Revi-sama is, and she tends to be less merciful than I am."
Gomez headed for the door and placed his hand on the knob. "I suggest you do your very best to identify the boy before she gets here."
With that, the big man departed, leaving Geega alone with his ominous statements hanging in air. Geega sighed and turned back to the series of photographs, though he held no real hope that he'd be able to accomplish anything by it.
Shinji and Birdy both kept silent as the train descended into the ground, speeding into the Geofront. The Third Child was brooding over this new, unbelievable situation he'd found himself in on top of being a pilot. Birdy was just waiting with unusual patience borne out of a reluctance to further stress her new partner. She wasn't at all sure that he wouldn't go completely crazy with more provocation; for that matter, she wasn't entirely certain he hadn't gone completely crazy already.
Then the train emerged from the dark tunnel into the main cavern of the Geofront. Shinji, out of habit, turned to look out at the skyscraper-like weapons blocks which hung down from the ceiling, since there was no battle occurring at present.
Woah! Birdy exclaimed. Your people built this?
The Third Child looked around the car before making a reply. Fortunately, it wasn't time for the base's day shift to leave or for its night shift to come in, so he had the whole car to himself.
"Yeah," Shinji said. "I mean, I guess so. Who else could have built it?"
You'd be surprised, Birdy commented cryptically. Still, I'm impressed. I wouldn't expect to see anything quite like this on such a primitive world.
Shinji chuckled weakly, realizing he should probably take some kind of offense at this slight against his entire planet but not quite having the will for it.
"Hey, do I have to speak aloud to you?" Shinji asked. "Can't we communicate telepathically or something?"
Not without our minds fusing into one, Birdy replied. You'll just have to learn to speak softly.
"Oh," was Shinji's only response.
The Third Child found himself actually relieved by this knowledge. Sure, it would be a pain to have to always speak aloud whenever he wanted to tell Birdy something, and he'd have to be careful, lest people see him talking to the air and think he'd gone completely bonkers. However, if he couldn't even speak silently with Birdy, then there was no way she could read his mind, the possibility of which had been worrying him.
A few minutes later, the train had taken them to the great pyramidal building that lay roughly in the center of the Geofront floor, and Shinji was swiping his card through the reader that would open the doors.
What is this place? Birdy asked as he walked inside.
"The special agency NERV," Shinji answered softly.
He hoped that if anyone caught him muttering to himself in this manner, they'd just assume he was being deep in introspection.
Then again, he had no idea whether he regularly came off as the deep, brooding type or as a pathetic kid who might or might not have a few screws loose, so he counted himself lucky that no one was around to hear him.
The Third Child made his way to the EVA cages, with Birdy remaining silent. At least, until he actually arrived at his destination.
What the hell are those things?! She exclaimed in shock.
Shinji couldn't keep a small smirk off his face, but the gravity of his current, bizarre situation soon caused it to melt away. He looked around, seeing no one nearby.
"They're called Evangelions," Shinji said. "NERV built them to fight these monsters called Angels that are attacking us. I pilot the one that's in the middle."
B-but why do they have you piloting one of those things!? Birdy demanded. You're a kid!
"Only kids can pilot EVA," he answered. "And only a few kids at that. I don't know why. That's just the way it is."
That's insane!
"Maybe," Shinji said, "but it's our only means of survival."
Birdy was silent at this information for a long moment, apparently digesting this information.
I guess things are going to be more complicated than I expected, she said.
"Yeah," Shinji agreed, not bothering to point out that this was about the biggest understatement of the century.
You know, Birdy said after a few moments of silence, there's something kind of…familiar about those things.
Shinji frowned. "Familiar? Have you seen Evangelions on another world or something?" he asked.
No, Birdy said. I'm sure I'd remember it if I ever encountered something like one of those things. But still, I feel like I've seen or heard of something similar. I just can't remember.
"Well, if anything comes to you, please let me know," Shinji said. "I wouldn't mind knowing more about what EVA really is, that's for sure."
Sure thing, Birdy agreed.
"So, now do you understand why I have people watching me all the time?" he asked, getting back to addressing the reason he'd come here.
Yes, Birdy said, then seemed at a loss for further words.
His task completed, the Third Child headed to an elevator that would take him back to where he could board another train and return to the city. He found Lieutenant Aoba already inside the car when he entered.
"Hello, Shinji. I didn't think you had any tests today," Aoba commented with mild surprise.
"Oh, I didn't. I…left something here and came back to get it," Shinji lied, rather lamely.
"Oh," Aoba replied with a shrug.
Silence reigned in the elevator for the next several seconds, broken only by the repetitive clicking of the counter.
So, Birdy spoke up abruptly, how did you get stuck with the purple robot?
"What?!" Shinji snapped, offended at the slight against his EVA despite himself.
"I didn't say anything, Shinji," Aoba said, clearly confused. "Are you feeling all right?"
Mercifully, the elevator reached the floor Shinji wanted just then, and the doors opening with a ping.
"Must've been my imagination," Shinji said quickly "See you later, Aoba-san."
With that, the Third Child made a hasty retreat, practically sprinting out of the elevator, down the hall, around a corner, and out of sight.
Aoba sighed as the elevator doors slid closed again. "Is it too much to ask for one of the pilots to be normal?" he mumbled to himself.
Stop being such an idiot and get in already! Birdy snapped.
Shinji just blushed in response.
After leaving NERV headquarters and returning the apartment, the evening had gone about as smoothly as Shinji could have hoped for. Birdy had kept quiet most of the time, offering only the occasional comment. Neither Misato nor Asuka had noticed anything unusual about him, or at least, if they had, they hadn't said anything.
Which was good, because if they had, Shinji might have immediately informed them that he was most certainly not currently sharing a body with an alien from outer space.
So, dinner had gone well, but now Shinji was facing a new situation, namely bath time.
"Um, can you close your eyes?" Shinji asked as he stared down at the full tub, still fully dressed.
My eyes are your eyes, Birdy responded. If yours are open, then so are mine.
"Oh," Shinji said, hesitating as he wondered if he could effectively bathe while blind.
Look, we're going to be together for a while, so you have to get used to this, Birdy said reasonably.
Shinji still couldn't quite bring himself to move.
If you don't get undressed and get in, I'm going to switch with you and do it. I wouldn't mind a bath, Birdy said, running out of patience, a commodity the Federation officer had never had in abundance anyway.
The very thought of watching as Birdy bathed caused Shinji to break out into a fresh blush, and the Third Child reluctantly began to disrobe, soon sliding into the tub.
"Ahh…" he breathed as the warm water enveloped him and began to relax him.
The bath apparently had a similar soothing effect on Birdy, because when she spoke again, there was no trace of her previous annoyance in her voice.
So, it seems like you've got it pretty tough, huh?
A small, rueful smile appeared on Shinji's face. As embarrassing as having a girl inside his head while he washed was, he had to admit that it was nice to have someone to talk to; it kept his mind from drifting to things he'd rather not think about.
"Yeah, I guess so," he answered.
Shinji, Birdy said, after a brief moment of silence, I understand that you've got your own responsibilities, but I can't just abandon my search for Christella Revi. Besides, we can't leave this world to see about getting your body repaired until the situation here resolves itself, one way or another, and capturing her it the best way of making that happen. Also, if she's allowed to run around unchecked, it could have terrible consequences for this city, or maybe even the entire planet.
Shinji sighed. Between his duties at NERV, school, and fighting the never ending battle to keep the apartment presentable, he led a very busy life. However, it wasn't like he was occupied every second of every day. If he needed to sacrifice what little free time he was able to come by in order to get his real body back, then there was nothing to be done for it, unfortunately.
"I understand," Shinji said. "We can…work something out, I guess. Section Two is pretty bad at keeping track of me, so unless we do something stupid, I don't think they'll ever discover us. But you can't just body snatch me whenever you feel like it." He added firmly.
Okay, Birdy agreed. And…thanks.
Shinji smiled. "Welcome," he said, allowing himself to slide a little further into the bathtub until his nose was just above the water.
He wanted to relax while he could, because he had a strong suspicion that things were only going to get more insane in the future.
Poor Shinji. He didn't know the half of it.
Author's Notes: This chapter was mainly "housekeeping" to get everybody, including Shinji, up to speed on what exactly has befallen the hapless Third Child now. The fun will, hopefully, begin in earnest next chapter.
I realize that Shinji's response to discovering his new situation might have come off as a bit OOC, but really, I think that if something like this happens to a person, on top of the kind of crap Shinji already has to deal with, they're going to become hysterical no matter who they are. This isn't the kind of thing that would push Shinji into a blind rage, and it's way too early in the timeline for it to cause him to break down crying, so hysterical laughter seemed the best way to go. Keep in mind, it's the kind of laughter you do because you have to or you'll totally lose it.
Fans of the Birdy the Mighty OVA will note that the second fight with Geega did not occur on schedule. This is because that encounter allowed Gomez to discover what had happened to Birdy. I want to keep Shinji's identity and fate a secret from Revi and her underlings for a good while yet. Besides, much as I liked Birdy the Mighty, it bugged me how the bad guys had this knowledge almost from the get go, then used it to try and get at Birdy through Tsutomu a grand total of once, and near the end at that. I intend to resolve this and a couple of other issues here.
Paladin13, I'm hoping to write this fic in such a way that readers don't necessarily need to have seen Birdy the Mighty. I can't say it would hurt, though. I have no plans to bring any other anime into this, since weaving two together looks like it's going to be enough of a challenge by itself.
Ominae, I've seen a few episodes of Decode, and so far I have to say that I prefer the OVA. OVA Birdy generally seemed nicer than Decode Birdy, who didn't seem to care much about the ways she was disrupting Tsutomu's life and kept telling him to suck it up and be a man at the beginning. Really, I think the last thing Shinji needs is one more person telling him that. I do plan on sprinkling in bits of the Decode series here and there, though.
As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers. Now for some fun!
Omakes!
Unfair
"Shinji?" Birdy asked after a few seconds.
…
"Shinji?" Birdy said again, then groaned, "you didn't faint, did you?"
…
Birdy growled, then raised her in and sent it rushing toward her own cheek for an open palmed slap. However, she relinquished control of their shared body a second before her hand connected, causing it to change back into Shinji's likeness.
The result was that the Third Child smacked himself in the face.
"Ow!" Shinji exclaimed, rubbing his now stinging cheek.
Hey, that was pretty fun! Birdy commented. I think I'll do it again!
Shinji's hand abruptly smacked him in the face again, seemingly of its own accord.
Smack!
"Hey! Stop that!" he demanded.
But it's such great stress relief! Birdy chuckled, forcing him to hit himself twice more.
Smack! Smack!
"Ouch! Damn it, God, what did I ever do to deserve this?!" Shinji cried.
There was a rather pregnant pause.
"Oh, killing your Angels," Shinji said. "Right…"
Smack!
Patterns
"Um, can you close your eyes?" Shinji asked as he stared down at the full tub, still fully dressed.
My eyes are your eyes, Birdy responded. If yours are open, then so are mine.
"Oh," Shinji said, hesitating as he wondered if he could effectively bathe while blind.
Look, we're going to be together for a while, so you have to get used to this, Birdy said reasonably.
Shinji still couldn't quite bring himself to move.
If you don't get undressed and get in, I'm going to switch with you and do it. I wouldn't mind a bath, Birdy said, running out of patience, a commodity the Federation officer had never had in abundance anyway.
"Woah, really? That would be awesome!" Shinji exclaimed. "Now, make sure to take extra care when washing your brea—"
Smack!
Shinji rubbed at the red, seemingly self-inflicted hand-shaped mark on his face. "I am beginning to see a pattern emerging here," he said, giving a rather meaningful look in the direction of the fourth wall and the author he knew dwelled behind it. "I don't like it."
True Self
It's a modulator, to keep your clothes from being torn when we change, Birdy answered.
"Change?" Shinji asked.
As if in answer, his hand began to shift, the fingers becoming longer, more graceful, and covered by a white glove. The transformation swept over his arm and then across the rest of his body. Shinji felt the strangest sensation of being pushed back into the recesses of his own mind, and a second later, Birdy rose to her feet, all visible signs of Shinji Ikari having disappeared.
"I will capture Christella Revi on this planet," Birdy said solemnly. "Please, I'm going to need your cooperation."
The Federation officer then fell silent, waiting for a response from her new "partner."
Oh god, Shinji breathed.
"I know it's a lot to take in," Birdy said. "But—"
This is wonderful! Shinji exclaimed.
"What?" Birdy asked, incredulous.
This is, like, the way I always thought I looked on the inside, you know? Shinji gushed. And now I look that way on the outside, too!
Birdy face faulted. "I don't think I like this development…"