The Angel known as Tabris was confused.
At first, he and his fellow Angels believed they would win for sure. Zeruel had met no resistance while he laid waste to the city and afterwards, had dug himself deep down below the earth, to where the humans' headquarters were lying.
To their surprise, they did not only find no trace of any humans in the main base of NERV, but also no trace of Lilith and Adam.
Zeruel had been furious, so furious that he destroyed the whole complex by himself, and afterwards, he climbed back out of the ruined underground complex and smashed the rest of the buildings the pitiful humans were living in.
In the end, there was no living human left in both Tokyo-3 and Tokyo-2.
But still, Lilith and Adam were missing.
Realizing that they would need a careful investigator instead of a rampaging monster, Tabris and the others recalled Zeruel, and Tabris took on his human form he had planned to infiltrate the humans with, should Zeruel turn out to be defeated. He completely searched through the entire ruins, and just like Zeruel before him, he found nothing. Despaired, he sat down in the middle of the destroyed complex and wondered if this was truly the end. He and his brethren wanted to rule the earth instead of the humans... but without Adam and Lilith?
In his despair, it seemed to him as if everything around him turned darker and darker... until he realized that it was no mere illusion.
And just when he contemplated calling upon his fellow Angels, the darkness cleared in front of him... and he realized that, somehow, he was standing in the middle of a thicket, with high blades of grass rising up all around him.
He shook his head. This was making no sense. Why would he, all of a sudden, be in the middle of the woods instead of the destroyed complex of NERV?
It was then that he heard human voices that were close to him. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but maybe he could use these humans to find out what was going on. They would never suspect that he was an Angel.
And so he called out in a loud voice: "Ivysaur!"
He blinked. Did he really say that just now?
The human voices became silent, and then, footsteps were approaching his current position. In-between the trees, two teenaged boys appeared... but they somehow were bigger than him.
It took Tabris a while to realize that not only was he smaller, but also walking on all fours. And there was an unusual weight on his back...
The taller of the two humans grinned as he pulled out a red and white ball. "All right! An Ivysaur! I didn't know there were still some in the wild... I've got to make use of that chance."
"Hurry, before it runs away," said the smaller boy.
Tabris watched with confusion when the tall boy threw the strange ball to the forest floor in front of him, and in a flash of light, a strange creature appeared.
The muscular figure flexed its biceps. "Machop!"
"Okay, Machop, use Seismic Toss!" the tall boy commanded.
The Machop tried to grab the Ivysaur with his muscular arms, but Tabris somehow managed to dodge. While he was used to walking on two legs instead of four, he had no problem getting used to his new, quadruped stance. If anything, Angels were extremely adaptive.
He somehow managed to move the strange object on his back... and he stared in surprise when a pair of mobile vines appeared in front of his eyes.
"It's about to use Vine Whip!" the trainer shouted. "Quick, use Low Kick!"
"Machoooop!"
'Vine Whip, huh?' Tabris thought. 'Well, if I am some sort of plant creature now, I better make use of that fact...'
Swiftly, his two vines wrapped themselves around the Machop's feet and threw him down to the floor. With a loud cry of "SAUR!", he hurled the Fighting-type against a tree.
'Let's see what else I can do...' Tabris thought to himself. 'Vines and... leaves? Oh well, why not?'
Two of the razor sharp leaves attached to the bulb on his back detached themselves and flew at the fallen Pokémon. Machop cried out in pain when the Razor Leaves cut into his skin. He then fainted.
"Machop, return!" the trainer called and pulled his Pokémon back into his Pokéball. He fumbled around with his belt. "Damn, where do I have Arcanine? I need a strong Fire-type..."
'Sorry to disappoint you, human!' Tabris thought. 'You won't get me that easily.' And he turned around and ran away.
"Awww, nuts!" he heard the voice of the smaller trainer. "It got away!"
After that extraordinary event, Tabris wondered about his current situation.
He was trapped in a form he had never taken on before, he was in a forest far away from any big city, as it seemed, and the humans here acted as if meeting with such a strange creature as he had turned into was nothing unusual. Not to mention how that muscular humanoid had come out of and vanished into that curious ball.
He tried calling for his Angel companions, but he couldn't sense them anywhere... which was strange, since an Angel was supposed to feel his living brethren from anywhere on the world. Either this meant that the other Angels were somehow, dead, or... he wasn't on Earth anymore.
Not such a strange concept for a race of space-travelling entities, but unusual nonetheless. And now, that he had seemingly lost all of his Angel powers, what was left to do?
While he was pondering, he had walked through the woods, and he only looked up from the ground when he noticed that the forest ended and he was standing at the side of a dirt road.
He could also see a small group of humans approaching his position. Remembering how the other two humans reacted upon seeing him, he hid among the shrubs that were growing next to the road.
He realized that the humans were two young girls... and they were accompanied by a bunch of more strange creatures. A huge butterfly, an equally-sized, yellow-furred rodent and a bipedal turtle with blue skin.
And the strangest thing was... when he listened to their conversation, he realized that he could understand the weird language the unusual animals were talking in. Could that be because he was now a similar being as well?
He was even more surprised when he heard the names... names he had learned inside out for his infiltration mission.
They were the names of several employees of NERV.
Maya - that was Maya Ibuki. He also recognized her face, even though she was much younger than before.
Misato - that was Major Misato Katsuragi. But how did she get turned into such a creature. Possibly the same way he was transformed...
And Ritsuko - that was Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. Tabris frowned. If the humans were transformed as well, did that mean that there was some other force at work?
He had to find out what happened, and staying close to the group of transformed NERV employees was the most logical step he should take.
Staying out of view, he followed them as they continued to walk along the road.
After safely arriving at the surface, Fox realized that the Climate Control Center on Fichina was protected by a shield. That wouldn't be much of a problem, if he didn't have to go in there to activate the generator that would end the blizzard.
"Looks like you'll have to find all the shield generators and destroy them," Peppy said.
"I guess you're right," Fox nodded. "No time for subtlety, I'm going to have to blow them all up."
He jumped in surprise when he heard the soft clicking of a weapon next to him.
Rei was crouching next to him, holding her blaster ready.
"I then suggest we hurry, Commander!" she said.
"R-rei?" Fox stuttered. "When did you...? What are you doing here?"
"Helping you on your mission," she stated. "It is much more efficient if we take care of the generators together. As long as the blizzard is storming, I wouldn't be able to help in any way."
Fox sighed. "All right... but next time, you better inform me earlier, understood?"
She nodded. "Understood."
"Could you hurry up and do it already?" Falco complained. "We're just spinning our wheels here!"
"Careful what you wish for, Falco!" Fox said and jumped down the cliff. Rei followed him.
Of course, this meant that Rei would also have to use a Landmaster, but since they had a few spare Landmasters in the Great Fox hangar, that wasn't much of a problem.
Handling the Landmaster didn't trouble Rei more than the Arwing controls did. In no time, she was rolling through the storm, squashing smaller Aparoids underneath her vehicle's wheels and blasting the bigger ones with the tank's huge turret.
In no time, both Fox and Rei had each reached one of the three generator towers.
"I reached my destination," Rei said.
"Me too," Fox replied. "Okay, aim for the weak part of the tower, but watch out for any Aparoids that might show up."
"Yes, sir!" Rei said and started shooting.
After the tower was destroyed, it seemed to her as if somebody was whispering to her.
'Rei... Rei, we need you... you are our sister... come and join us...'
Rei winced and rubbed her ears.
"What's wrong, Rei?" Peppy asked via communicator. "If you have destroyed the tower, then head over to the entrance of the Climate Control Center. Fox will join you after he has taken care of the last generator.
"I... I'm on my way," Rei muttered. She shook her head. Was she hearing things? Was her subconsciousness tricking her?
She certainly hoped so... because she didn't dare to think about the other possibility...
"One of the Wolfens has docked on the big ship," Katt said. "The other two are still circling it. But at least they stopped firing."
"Well, then I guess I'll have to go on board as well," Yui answered. She had waited for a chance to test out this battle suit...
"B-but if you leave your ship... what will become of me?" Olimar squeaked with worry.
Yui smiled. "Why, you still have your Pikmin... and R.O.B. can protect you, too." She looked at the little robot. "I can count on you, right?"
R.O.B. nodded. Olimar sighed. "Well, okay, I guess I have no other choice..."
"I will keep the others busy while you go inside," Katt said.
"But... can you take on two of these ship by yourself?" Yui asked in a concerned voice.
Katt grinned. "Two Wolfens? That's nothing! Really, you should know me better than that, Sammy! I'll show them that Katt Munroe is a space pilot to be reckoned with."
"Okay, good luck to you then," Yui nodded.
Katt smiled. "Same to you." And then her Cat's paw zoomed at the two Wolfens that were still flying around Spaceville. "Hey, Jerk Wolf, time to party!"
Pardus gasped when out of nowhere, an unknown space fighter appeared. "Wh-what? Boss, we are under attack!"
"You better not mess with us, whoever you are!" Gecko hissed.
"Wow, who are you goons?" Katt asked while dodging Gecko's shots. "Did you steal those Wolfens or does Wolf allow any idiot to join his team?"
"You flea-infested pest!" Pardus growled. "I'm gonna show you that we are not like those losers!"
"Keep her busy for now, boys!" Lupe was speaking on a private channel, so that only her teammates were hearing her. "Another ship has docked... I think I need to take care of a little meddler..."
Lupe lowered her communicator and pushed the mayor back. Tortimer stumbled against a wall and groaned.
"Looks like you're in luck... I have to take care of a little problem before I can take care of you worms. But remember this, I will be back... and if you decide to try anything foolish, keep in mind that my friends are still out there, and your defenseless little can is at their mercy."
She gave the assembled animals a feral sneer, then she left the room.
Sable shivered. "What are we going to do, mayor?"
"I don't think there is much we can do, my dear," the old turtle sighed. "We just can hope that whoever entered our ship is more friendly than this woman."
"We should have kicked her butt!" the fox named Crazy Redd grumbled. "We clearly outnumber her."
"A-are you crazy, Redd?" Gracie yelped. "Did you see that gun she carried? She would have killed us!"
"You're right, I have no intention of dying either," the pigeon Brewster nodded.
"Cowards..." Crazy Redd muttered.
Tortimer sighed. "I am afraid neither of us is used to violence... and I will never encourage it. For now, all we can do is hope that she doesn't come back."
"I'm still scared..." Sable whispered. "Tom, you'll protect me, right?"
No answer. "Tom? Oh no, where did he go?"
Yui was slowly walking along the dark corridors of the ship. She didn't run into a single person, neither friend, nor foe. She felt pretty content in her robust Power Suit and with her massive arm cannon at her side.
"The suit is constructed to absorb even deadly shots," she reminded herself. "As long as the energy cells still have power left to sustain the suit, I will be fine. And back on the ship, I have refilled my missile launcher, so there's no need to worry. Calm down, Yui, you've been part of a giant battle mech for quite a long time, you know how to fight."
And after she told herself that, she felt a bit more confident.
When she heard a short hiss to her right, she instantly turned around and aimed her cannon at the dark corner of the corridor. "Who's there?"
"Please, don't shoot! I'm one of the good guys!"
Now Samus could see a small raccoon in civilian clothes. Relaxed, she lowered her weapon. "Are you a crew member of this ship?" she asked. "What happened?"
"My name's Tom Nook," the racoon explained. "And that bitch of a pirate and her two flunkies attacked our peaceful village for one reason: She wanted a certain artifact I happened to acquire on my journeys. She even went as far as to threaten to destroy our ship if we don't hand it over."
Samus frowned. "Well, I don't think they would destroy it as long as this artifact is still aboard, not if they want it that badly."
"Yeah, I already figured as much," Tom Nook sighed. "But most of my friends are... easily startled when faced with sudden violence."
"No need to worry, I'm here to help. Do you know where she is right now?"
"She was in the town hall when I snuck out," Tom explained.
"Okay, then I'll just have to see if she's still there. If she holds your friends as hostages, it will be tricky... but I will find a way."
"You're quite something, lady!" Tom said. He was impressed, for once. "Who are you, anyway?"
Yui grinned. She started to love this role. "I am Samus Aran - bounty hunter!"
Tom grinned. "Sounds like the kind of person we need. Okay, come on, I'll show you the way."
And together, they hurried down the corridor.
"Say, what kind of artifact is it they were after?" Yui asked, out of curiosity.
"Aw, just some stupid magic wand," Tom grumbled. "Some old geezer gave it to me... but the only thing he told me is that it's magical and that it's called 'Lip's Stick'..."