Rise of the Defender
by StraightedgeEpyon
Summary: Darkness falls upon the earth as the angels begin their attacks. But when there is darkness there is also light as a new Magna Defender rises to fight the darkness and protect the earth
I own nothing
Beta Read By TOAT
Chapter seven
"Prepare to feel my sting, Magna Defender!" the metallic beetle declared, powering up his horn.
Steelsting fired a electric blast at Shinji, which he narrowly avoided by rolling out of the way. Quickly, he shifted his sword back to blaster mode and fired off a few shots, hitting the beetle monster square in the thorax.
"Gargh!" Steelsting grunted, stumbling back. "Lucky shot."
"It wasn't luck!" Shinji retorted, shifting his blaster into sword mode again.
Shinji rushed forward, hitting a few horizontal slashes, pushing the creature back. Steelsting used his horn to parry Shinji's sword. The two were deadlocked for a brief moment.
Steelsting used his raw strength to push the defender back. Shinji slipped to the other side and side-flipped away, getting some distance, and the beetle creature powered up his horn again, this time firing on all sides in a circular motion.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Shinji rolled out of range, barely managing to avoid getting hit.
"I will destroy you and bring your head back to my Mistress as a trophy!" the creature cackled.
"Mistress?" Shinji repeated, getting back to his feet.
Like a wild bull, Steelsting charged forward again, only to collide with Shinji's blade again. Shinji easily maneuvered around the larger monster and slashed at his hard shell, barely making a scratch on its metal surface. The beetle monster swiped at the defender with his claws, but missed since the armored warrior was far more agile.
"Too slow!"
Steelsting snarled and opened his wing casings and flew into the air. He circled around the Defender, firing more shots before angling himself to attack. Shinji poised to defend himself, thinking on a way to turn this to his advantage, and a sudden idea came to his mind. Angling himself one foot back, his sword in a right-handed grip, and his two left fingers held up in a pointed-up position.(Obi Wan Kenobi's stance)
"I will crush your bones!" the beetle monster exclaimed
"Bring it, bug," replied Shinji.
Steelsting wasted no time, rushing, spiraling downward, lighting up his horn towards the Magna Defender. He got close enough, and Shinji stepped lightly, spun around in a horizontal swing spin.
"Yah!"
SLICE!
"Argh!" Steelsting screamed, dropping to the ground in pain as two of his metallic/organic arms were sliced off, green goo spraying everywhere.
Shinji saw the chance to end him once and for all before he could attack.
Steelsting flew high into the air, holding his stump of an upper arm.
"We'll meet again, Magna Defender!" the beetle creature shouted out, disappearing from sight.
"Next time, you're getting squashed," Shinji replied, sheathing his sword and went to pick up one of the metal arms he severed.
"Hmm…" Shinji mused, looking up into the air where the beetle monster disappeared.
From the distance on a nearby building stood Deceptica glaring at the Magna Defender, then smiled.
"I've only begun to weave my web Defender , by the time you realize what has happened it will be too late, and this world will be mine!" Deceptica declared before vanishing.
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(Next day at Nerv)
Shinji walked into his side of the locker room after a long, arduous sync test, although he was annoyed when Dr. Akagi grilled him because he was only a point behind Rei. No big deal, but they made it seem like a competition between him and her. But he could still properly sync with Unit-01, and that was the important thing (to them, not too important to him), not that he was in any hurry to get back into that piece of junk. He much rather prefer Torozord or any other Zord from Rangers past to fight the Angels, something that wouldn't cause him unnecessary pain.
His mind wandered back to Steelsting as he walked into the shower and turned on the water. He was unlike anything Shinji had ever seen and fought before, and he has fought dozens of aliens in space and what's more he was only a front for someone or something else possibly more powerful then he was, a Mistress
"Really hope Kendrix finds something from those arms I severed, I sense this is only the beginning." Shinji mused looking down
Turning off the water, Shinji got dressed in his black street clothes and walked out of the locker room. He thought about heading to the other sites in Fukushima to see what else he could find, but, sadly, Misato had him and Rei on standby for that day in case of a sudden Angel attack.
"Pilot Ikari," a voice caught his attention, and he looked up to see the sub commander, with a folder in his hand.
"Sub Commander, " Shinji addressed, remembering meeting him after his second Angel battle.
"Would you follow me to my office? There are some things I'd like to discuss with you. It'll only take a few moments." he said.
Seeing no alternative, he reluctantly nodded and walked alongside him. Reaching his office, which was average sized, its walls were dull gray, a bookcase on the wall to the right, a few photos on his desk, some awards and doctorates on the wall on the left. Shinji took a seat in front of the desk while the old man took his seat behind it.
"Excuse the cramped accommodations. My office is not as large as the commander's." Fuyutsuki expressed, taking his seat.
Shinji waved it off.
"No trouble, sir. So what did you want to talk about?" Shinji asked, seeing him lay down the folder before him.
"You, of course. I read your file, pilot, and, so far, you seem to be making progress in adapting here, despite your…lack of military decorum." the sub commander said.
"It was an…adjustment, sir. I just found it hard to believe this was actually a paramilitary agency. Honestly, I thought something like this wouldn't exist in the real world, only on TV and in movies." Shinji said nonchalantly.
"And how do you feel about Nerv now?" Fuyutsuki inquired with interest.
"If I can speak freely and honestly?" Shinji asked.
"Yes, be honest." Fuyutsuki replied.
Reclining in the chair a bit, Shinji replied, "I don't like it one bit. I don't like this place, the Evas, the staff and the commander, mostly, sir. I had a good life in America, in Angel Grove, and suddenly, I'm yanked away from it all, and dragged here with no real explanation, and everyone here just expects me to be compliant, sir. That doesn't sit well with me, I have the right to know what's goes on here."
"I see. That's understandable. Personally, I, too, have been questioning the commander's decision to bring you here. Clearly, you were unwilling then and are obviously unwillingly now." Fuyutsuki said.
"That's partly the reason. The other part of that reason is that, well, the "commander" was willing to use someone injured to pilot that thing, and that's something you don't do. I understand it was a very intense situation at the time, but that's still no excuse for something like that, its inhumane." Shinji said, and to his surprise, the old man nodded in agreement.
"I'm inclined to agree with you, son. The truth is, we should have been better prepared for the situation at the time, and we took a huge gamble on you when the Angel arrived."
Shinji remained silent.
"I know it may not mean much now, but I'm sorry for that. The commander often employs dirty tactics to get what he wants." Fuyutsuki explained.
'That much I figured,' the boy thought.
"I am sorry for dragging you into this against your will."
"Are you apologizing for yourself, sir? Or the commander? 'Cause I would rather hear the apology from the commander himself. It would be stupid of me to blame you and everyone else here, I don't know what your motives are for being here, I probably don't want to, just understand that I don't blame you, just the commander."
Fuyutsuki studied the boy carefully. Clearly, he was much more than meets the eye. Before the sub commander could reply…
Ring Ring.
"We'll talk more at a later time. You're excused."
Shinji nodded and quickly went out the door, shutting it behind him.
"A giant hole in the ground where the some of the remains of the Angels were being kept in storage," said Fuyutsuki in disbelief. "You must be joking? Okay I'll be there at once."
However, Shinji outside was in earshot when the old man said that loud.
'Sounds like something I'll have to look into, a hole here and hole back at that storage place in Fukushima, that's hardly a coincidence it must have been those spider creatures.' thought Shinji, moving away from the sub commander's office, as the door opened and the old man left the opposite, obviously in a hurry.
Discreetly Shinji followed him all the way back down the lower levels, he was thankful that spaces were so dark, with his dark colors he could blend in easily underneath the large machinery and conveyors. Sure enough he reached a part where everyone of the Nerv staff gathered around the large hole was, he quietly ducked behind a large machine listening in on the chatter.
"Do we know what caused this?" asked the sub commander looking at large hole. "How in the hell did a large hole end up here, and near the Eva cages and supplies no less."
"We're just as baffled as you sir. Maintenance found this hole ten minutes ago." Ritsuko said she and Maya examining the hole
"This is a major breach of security if something small was able to get to us underground, then the angels would have no trouble in getting to us the same way, where we're most vulnerable. " Misato said
"I agree, Captain, however what concerns me was what was stolen, haven't those dead angels been fully disposed of yet?" asked Fuyutsuki getting a nod from Maya
"They were sir, but Dr Akagi had kept some remains in storage for research purposes, to find a more effective way to combat the angels in the future. " Maya explained on her mentor's behalf.
"Now someone has gotten to them." Misato said staring at the hole
"Or maybe its something else." Whispered Fuyutsuki
'It probably is, old man.' Shinji thought hastily retreating from his hidden spot.
"In the meantime, let's get this hole sealed up. Hyuga, Aoba, you two run a checklist on all of our inventory including armor and weapons for the Evas, we have to be sure nothing else was compromised."
"Yes sir," they both said
"Akagi, Katsuragi, a word." said Fuyutsuki and the two women walked up to him.
"Until we know what caused this, we need to keep a lid on it, the last thing we need is an investigation for this breach in security. The commander is already having a difficult time holding onto our funding as it is, this maybe the excuse the higher ups in the UN is looking for to cut us off, so until such time when he gets back from his business trip we keep quiet on this, and instruct everyone else to do the same, understood?"
"Understood." both women said
Fuyutsuki departed back to his office, but not before taking one last glance at the hole on the ground.
'What in the hell could have caused that?' he thought
(Under ground, undisclosed location)
Steelsting was seen getting new arms, one metallic and one organic, attached to his body. The metal arm was a tad painful to attach because of the part of him that was organic.
"Argh," he grunted in pain.
"Heh Ha, just as I expected, Steelsting, you couldn't get it done. The Magna Defender still lives." a voice cackled from the shadows.
The figure emerged from the darkness cackling, his body was purple, lean muscular, mostly metallic, and organic with purple and yellow striped pincers for hands on each arm, with four spider limbs on his biceps, his legs were also organic and metal, colored purple, and his head was medium-sized with a lined mask over his mouth and yellow visor eyes.
"He was lucky, Tarantulas! That's all it was!"Steelsting snarled back, walking out with newly-attached limbs.
"That better be all it was," said a smoother metallic voice, lowering himself from the air.
This figure was just tall as Steelsting, was mostly black with yellow lines, he had three prong, black talons for hands, two tentacle-like stingers on the back of the shoulders and his head was meduim-sized with yellow, glowing eyes.
"Would you have done any better, Hornet?!"questioned Steelsting, hearing the taller monster chuckle.
"But of course, my sting is much sharper than yours, brother," replied Hornet in a mocking tone
"Grrr." Steelsting growled, stepping forward in a challenging manner.
"Enough, all of you!" Deceptica shouted, stepping into the area.
Immediately, the trio bowed before her as she walked into the center of the room.
"My mistress, I-Argh!" the beetle creature was cut off when she fired a surge of electricity through his entire form.
"Silence! Do not speak unless I tell you!" yelled Deceptica, seeing the beetle creature nod in response.
"I did not expect you to destroy the Magna Defender as soon as you encountered him. You were only supposed to distract him long enough to acquire what we needed. We have it and more, Moldarach! I'm waiting."
A gray and black figure emerged, holding a box. He had thick pincers for arms, a long stinger on his back, a green gem in the middle of his chest, and metallic and organic legs, his head was smaller and scorpion-like compared to the others, three Spiderdrones behind him.
(A/N: I know the name probably sucks but until I or someone else can come up with a better name, that's what they're going to be called)
Dragged along several large, sliver containers to the room, and these containers had the Nerv insignia stamped on the front, Deceptica gently stroked the front of one of the container.
"Arrogant, foolish humans, to think that they could just dispose of something that might have other uses," she mused as her generals gathered around.
"Steelsting, if you wish to redeem yourself, draw out the Magna Defender and finish him!"
"As you wish, Mistress," he replied, flying out of the cavern.
"Mistress, what would you have us do in the meantime?" asked Tarantulas
Deceptica looked down in thought before responding, "Monitor your brother. Stay in his vicinity until otherwise ordered. Soon, it will be time to introduce ourselves, Moldarch! Come."
"Yes, Mistress," both Hornet and Tarantulas said in unison and they departed
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(Back at Nerv)
Shinji was outside, sitting on the patio of the break room listening to his music, minding his own business, trying to at least pretend to enjoy the scenery hidden in the Geo front, all while thinking who or what could've been responsible for the thefts in Fukushima, the medical clinic, Tokyo 3 university, now here in HQ.
'Whatever's doing this has to be related to Steelsting, I'll be ready for him the next time he shows up.' he thought
"Ikari," Rei spoke, stepping to the side, getting his attention.
"What's up?" Shinji responded, taking one earbud out of his ear.
"You were a point behind in our sync test today," she said in a monotone voice.
"Yeah, I noticed," he replied in a non-caring tone. "It's just one point. No big deal."
"Being able to sync properly with the Evas is essential. You are aware of that, correct?"
Shinji gave a brief smirk.
"I'm reminded now, not like the fake blonde lady or Misato were just repeating the same thing earlier," he said sarcastically, though the term was still lost on her.
"Captain Katsuragi also mentioned that you ran inside a burning building recklessly. Is that true?" Rei asked, and he merely chuckled.
"Yeah, it's true, but I did so for a good reason."
"What reason is that?"
Taking off his other earbud, Shinji answered, seriously, "To help people. That was my only reason."
"Is that also the reason you defended that parent and child the other day?"
Shinji was surprised that she saw him in action.
"Yes," he said slowly.
"Why did you do it?" she asked him.
"Do what? Like, run head first into a burning building? Or save the mother and her son from those thugs?"
"Were you ordered to do those things?"
"I told myself to do those things. Not everything in life is about duty. Even if Misato or anyone else here, told me not to run into the burning building to help those people, I still would have done it. I wanted to help those people. I wanted to help the mother and her son because no one else would. I had no right to do less."
Rei just blinked at him in fascination. He would willingly disobey orders to help someone in need, endangering himself in the process. He was different from the commander; they were so different from each other. Shinji seems to care about helping others in need, while the commander focuses solely on his own goals in fighting the angels.
"You are truly not what the commander expected." the blue haired girl stated getting a chuckle from him.
"What you see is what you get. When I took your place, it wasn't about duty, Rei. I did it because they were going to force you in your injured state. That wasn't right. Regardless of the situation, maybe you should start questioning their methods. I know I am." he said
"We should not be questioning our orders, we must follow them. We must trust in Nerv." she said
"That's the difference between you and me, I don't blindly follow orders, and trust goes both ways, and the fact is they haven't earned my trust yet, and its mainly our lives they're playing with, I'm not doing anything without a good reason and neither should you." he replied walking off
Rei just stared at his retreating form, tilting her head, contemplating his words.
As Shinji walked out of the cafeteria, his morpher in his pocket went off.
Beep Beep
Seeing the coast was clear, he took it out and answered it.
"Kendrix, what's the trouble?"
("Steelsting is attacking uptown Tokyo-3 Hurry and get down there!") she said urgently.
"On my way," he replied.
Shinji began to walk fast towards the nearest elevator. Reaching it, he pressed the button furiously and waited until the doors opened. There, Misato and Ritsuko were inside bickering about something, both stopping when they saw Shinji in front of them. They stopped short when they saw Shinji in front them, and an awkward silence fell over them.
"I'll take the stairs," Shinji said in a deadpanned tone, closing the door before they could say anything.
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(Much later uptown Tokyo-3)
"Run, puny humans, run!" Steelsting cackled as he kept blasting everything in sight, making the people run away in terror.
"Where are you, Magna Defender?! Come out and face me!"
His wish was granted when he was hit by green blaster fire, and from the smoke the Magna Defender emerged, blaster drawn, ready to fire again.
"Looking for me?!" Shinji asked.
Steelsting growled, getting to his feet and faced off against his opponent.
"Ready for round two, bug?" he taunted.
"This time, I will destroy you!" the beetle declared, charging him like a bull.
Shinji quickly shifted his blaster to his sword and clashed again with Steelsting's horn. He avoided his claw strikes with a few back flips and clashed with the beetle's horn again, the beetle using his thorax and pushing the defender back. Before Shinji could react, he was quickly grabbed by Steelsting's arms and began to put the squeeze on him.
"Argh!" Shinji groaned in pain.
"Now, I will tear you limb from limb!" cackled the monster, applying pressure on his arms and body.
"Sorry, I like my limbs where they are." Shinji retorted, head-butting the beetle in the face, then followed up with a swift kick to the chest to free himself, then getting some distance away.
Steelsting fired several more blasts, destroying more property, and damaging the area. Causing more people to flee in terror. Shinji flipped out of the way to avoid getting hit by the rapid fire. Shinji began hitting various vertical strikes on Steelsting's organic parts.
The giant beetle swiped at the defender with is claws hitting him only once. the armored warrior clashed his blade with the beetle's horn, putting them in another deadlock. Steelsting charged up his horn to briefly shock Shinji, but it served to surprise him, and he side flipped out of the way, breaking the deadlock.
The defender materialized four black darts, and tossed them with total precision at the beetle only to have little effect, Steelsting fired an energy blast at the building he was under, Shinji barely had a enough time to roll out of the way.
"I will tear you to pieces Defender!" Steelsting shouted
"You will try." Shinji replied, his sword held up above his head, angled back.
Steelsting powered up his horn for another blast in response to that, and Shinji rushed forward, charging up his sword with a blue energy and jumped into the air.
"Sh-yah!" Shinji cried, slashing down diagonally into the thorax of Steelsting,through one end to the other, cutting him in half.
Surges of electricity coursed uncontrollably all over Steelsting as Shinji landed behind him. Steelsting exploded in a flash of fire. With the finesse of a samurai, the armored warrior slowly sheathed his sword and looked back at the spot where Steelsting stood, making sure there was nothing of him left, it was green goo all over the ground.
"You're exterminated bug."
Hearing whimpering and crying. Shinji walked up to a ruined building and found a father and daughter huddled together, taking cover from the monster's attack. The two looked up and instantly cowered away.
"It's okay, you're safe. The monster's gone now." he spoke assuredly.
The man looked to see if Steelsting was truly gone and sure enough, he was and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you for saving us. Who are you?" he asked him.
Shinji looked down in thought for a brief moment before answering, "I am the Magna Defender."
(Across the upper buildings)
"Steelsting has failed. No surprise there." remarked Hornet, watching the battle.
"Indeed, we must take great care in not underestimating the Magna Defender," Tarantulas said. "He's stronger than he seems."
"Brute strength won't be enough to destroy him. Steelsting's failure made that clear. But we still have the element of surprise. He only destroyed one of us. He won't be so fortunate next time." said Hornet eager to face him now
"We'll have our chance, Hornet. Come, we must return. Mistress said something about creating the ability to make us fully grow giant sized through the remains of those dead creatures the humans called "Angels". " Tarantulas said, walking away.
Hornet looked at the Magna Defender again once more.
"We will meet soon, Defender." said the monster before flying away.
(Later that day at the outpost)
"No! No! this can't be! By the Galatcabeasts, how could I have been so stupid?! Why didn't I see this before?!" Kendrick shouted shooting up from her chair from her computer looking at her screen
"The program I used wasn't my Wildcats ... it was Deviot's!"
There on the her screen were trace amounts of his treacherous code after studying him extensively after his destruction she can recognize it anywhere , he had been thorn in galaxy ranger's side all throughout their fights with Trakeena and her insect army for months while they were fighting. It was only after Deviot's demise that she scanned and researched every bit of his code, as a " know yourself, know your enemy" type thing.
It was only after Terra Venture's fall and the first Astro Megaships destruction, Kendrick assumed that the data she collected on Deviot, Villamax, and all other monsters she and the others had fought was lost, and any and all trace of him was lost forever.
"What have I done? In an effort to help Shinji, I may have inadvertently brought a new threat to the earth." the former pink galaxy ranger said in a remorseful tone
Kendrix turned and walked away from her screen in absolute shame. When she went outside, an image of a spider appeared on her screen briefly before vanishing.
End Chapter
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End Notes: Here is Rise Of the Defender C7, I said I would make it more Ranger esq in the last chapter. The monsters: Tarantulas was taken from Beast Wars, Hornet was inspired from Yellow jacket from Ant Man and Moldarch was inspired by combo of Skyward sword and Beast Wars Scorpnox. Rei' s conversation with Shinji was part of her development, she now sees fully he's completely different from Gendo, almost a boy scout like and will begin to question Nerv and herself. Now Kendrix realizes what she's done and will work to uncover Deceptica's plot. Next chapter will be the Jetalone, should Unit 01 face it? or should Defender Torozord face it? Keep in mind if you say Unit 01 then Shinji will be like "Screw you, I'm doing this my way." Basically something of a maverick. Also Shinji will meet the mother and child he helped in the next chapter cause they will be integral to the story. Big ups to TOAT, for his beta reading, read and review and may power protect you.
