Shinji's One Wish
By: SWZ
Shinji makes a wish for a family upon a shooting star which gains him a better family made up of various people from other universes
Beta read by Traitor of All Traitors
I own nothing
Chapter 13
Setting the stage
Shinji was sitting alone underneath a tree next a large pond outside the castle, enjoying the quiet. Ever since the confrontation with NERV three weeks ago, his thoughts have been consumed, after hearing what Makoto Hyuga said about everyone making sacrifices in the fight against the Angels.
'Easy for him to say. He nor the rest of the Bridge Bunnies weren't the ones forced to fight them. It was always me along with Rei and Asuka.' Shinji thought angrily.
Shinji wondered why they would say something like that? Were they so incredibly arrogant? Did they think themselves above everyone, just because they've been entrusted with protecting humanity from the Angels? After everything they had forced him through, wasn't he entitled to a little selfishness? Did he really have to sacrifice everything for NERV? Especially since they've proven to be ungrateful and he originally wanted no part in their war in the first place.
Shinji had done everything they asked and more, asking for nothing in return. Just thinking about it frustrated him. He so was deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice his mother floating down behind him.
"Shinji, is everything alright?" Ororo asked, getting his attention.
Turning to her he replied, "I don't know."
His mother sat beside him.
"What troubles you, my son?"
"I-I just feel so frustrated. I think back to everything I did for NERV, risking my life multiple times, while they stayed safe underneath their bunker, and Misato and the others had the audacity to say I'm happy for the wrong reasons." Shinji explained, feeling his mother wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a comforting fashion.
"I never asked to be part of NERV, Mother. I never asked to pilot the Eva. They blackmailed me, shamed me, made me think I was supposed to do it, regardless of my feelings. I can say I sorely misjudged Misato. She and Gendo are more alike than I originally thought. All they did was manipulate and use me."
"I know, I know. Your father and I have fought against many organizations like NERV in the past, and they fell in the end due to infighting or manipulation from within." Ororo said sagely. "Gendo had crossed many lines to achieve his own ends, not caring for the consequences. He believed himself to be exempt from the consequences of his actions, and a mindset like that is very dangerous and it could spread to others like wildfire."
"There was a point where I thought that, by giving up everything, NERV would at least respect me. That Gendo would finally acknowledge me, and see me as a son, but I should have known that would be nothing more than a pipe dream."
Ororo tightened her hold while Shinji leaned in enjoying the feeling of his mother's comfort.
"It was a dream, nonetheless, but men like Gendo care nothing for the dreams of others, only their own." Ororo stated, feeling her son relaxing in her hold.
"I've had nothing my entire life, but I get something that I can call mine, and they say it's wrong. Is it, Mother?" Shinji asked while his mother shook her head no.
"No, it isn't, my precious boy. They say that because they're scared. All NERV has is their fear of death controlling them. That fear is slowly consuming them, bit by bit. You fought for other people, asking nothing for yourself in return, unlike those two girls."
"Asuka and Rei? Asuka… She does it 'cause she likes the attention, but Rei on the other hand might not be so different from me."
"How so?"
"Eva is all she knows. Gendo has put it into her mind that she can be replaced. Life can never be replaced." Shinji said. "She wasn't given a chance, or a choice."
The weather controlling mutant pondered that for a moment.
"Do you want to give her one?" She asked him.
Shinji glanced at her.
"What?"
"Do you want to give her a chance? You said so yourself Rei wasn't given a chance or choice. And from what we've already gathered, NERV isolated her most of her life. No one should live like that." She stated.
Shinji looked down, knowing that feeling.
"I -I think we should. Mostly because, out of everyone at NERV, I strangely miss her the most." He replied.
Ororo merely smiled while helping him to stand up.
"I'll talk to your father about this. Knowing him, he'll agree to it. Unlike Gendo, he seeks to see a precious life grow, rather than stomped out." Ororo expressed, leading him back to the castle.
(With Shadow in the jungle)
It was mid afternoon as Shadow Ikari was running across the large jungle part of Animaria at his usual super speed, he absolutely loved the feeling of running, as it gave him a sense a freedom, away from the noisy castle and away from the family. He stopped midway and heard the sounds of loud rustling from the bushes nearby, Shadow cautiously took a step forward, then an orange, bikini-clad figure popped out.
"Ha! Gotcha!" Tigra cheered, tackling Shadow to the ground.
"Tigra!" Shadow cried in surprise.
"The tiger has caught her prey." Tigra purred playfully, pinning him down.
"I knew you were there."
"Of course you did. Don't bother struggling. When a tiger catches her prey, she never lets go."
"Well, since you caught me, is this the part where you eat me?"
Tigra merely smiled, leaned in close, and licked his cheek, surprising Shadow.
"I'm full of surprises."
He suddenly grabbed her waist, and flipped her over, getting a surprised giggle from her.
"You think I'm not?"
Then the tiger girl flipped Shadow over and pinned him down again, straddling his waist.
"You most definitely are. You have a roguish-yet-boyish charm about you, and I find that fascinating." Tigra purred. "Maybe that's why I'm still here on this floating rock."
"Along with a lot other super-powered girls, and a strange family." Shadow said.
"You don't consider us freaks like everyone else who would below?" Tigra asked, feeling Shadow shift to look into her eyes.
"My mother is a mutant, my father is a master assassin ninja, Kikyo and Kagome are priestesses, Kusano makes plants the size of buildings and Shinji was a robot pilot blackmailed into working for an evil, arrogant military organization. And I have super speed, and chaos powers, The people who've seen me action already consider me a freak in a lot of aspects."
"But you look normal."
"What is normal, anyway? A lot people have their own definition of normal. Us, me I know, we're far from what people consider normal. What do you consider normal, Tigra?"
The tiger girl looked at him with a shocked expression; no has ever asked her that.
"I-I don't know, everyday gets stranger and stranger," Tigra answered while the Ikari boy smirked.
"And that's what life is to me. One strange thing after another. There's no such thing as normal." Shadow said.
"Then…you don't consider me a freak?"
"No."
Tigra smiled again and licked his cheek again.
"I wasn't quite sure before, but now I know I'm liking this family and this island everyday." Tigra said, continuing to lick his cheek.
"But most of all, I like you."
All Shadow could do was laugh, as he was enjoying the feeling. Unaware that the two were being watched by a certain, purple-skinned mutant and blonde-haired girl wearing a green swimsuit, who looked on in jealously.
(Nerv HQ)
It had been a very busy three weeks for Nerv. Ever since the newly-minted Ikari family introduced themselves and basically severed all of Shinji's ties with them, there was a flurry of activity. The commander had ordered the intelligence department and every Section 2 agent to use every eyeball they had to find them.
It was clear that he was extremely angry at the fact that not only did they take the Third child, but he was also angry that they also changed his name back to Rokobungi, not that the Ikari name was ever his to begin with, since it belonged to his late wife, who's soul was no longer in Unit-01, which Gendo didn't know yet. Add to that, the change in name was iron clad, an official memo was mysteriously sent to the UN regarding the change. They wondered how they did it? What resources they had? Did they have connections within the UN to make that happen?
Kaji had kept an ear to the ground with his contacts, but stayed vigilant, since the very last thing he would do was get the attention of the Dragon Ninja.
The sub-commander was doing everything in his power to talk the commander out of finding the family and provoking the fabled, deadly ninja assassin in any way.
But Gendo wouldn't listen. He could care less about the stories around that man, Gendo would make him pay for his humiliation and take his wife. Meanwhile, Misato was still nursing the very-obvious bruise on her cheek and her sore jaw, courtesy of Shinji's cousin, Hydra. She felt humiliated, to be hit like that in front of her subordinates, and it really hurt her pride, her reputation and credibility. But it wasn't just her pride. Asuka's pride took a hit when the German girl was double-teamed at school and knocked unconscious for the whole day. Her bruises were so massive, no matter how much she tried covering them up with makeup, it was obvious they were there. Since then, the Second Child's been angrier than ever, the only upside was her sync ratio shot up because of it.
As for Rei, she's been more subdued than usual, due to the commander isolating her further. Her thoughts drifted to Shinji, the blue-haired girl wondered where he was at the moment, and was he truly happy with his new family. She sat by herself in the locker room, holding a pair of blue neural clips that belonged to Shinji that she took from his locker.
"Ikari, where are you? Are you truly happy?" she quietly asked herself, though, deep down, Rei wished to see him.
Little did she know, she was being watched, on camera, by a certain cyborg who heard and made a note to have a chat with her later if she could.
"Hey, Wonder Girl! You in here?" Asuka called, walking into the locker room. Rei quickly hid the neural clips inside her locker and proceeded to change into her plugsuit.
"So, you are here after all? Why am I not surprised?" Asuka said sarcastically, walking in hoping to get a reaction out of her, but didn't.
Rei continued to ignore Asuka as she talked, as she proceeded to change. Rei's thoughts drifted to Shinji again, but not just him, his sisters, his brother, his cousin, his grandparents and his new mother and father. How was it possible for him to gain an extensive family in a short amount of time? Rei finished dressing and proceeded to leave until a hand grabbed her shoulder.
"Hey! Are you listening to me?!" Asuka snapped and the blue-haired girl brushed her hand off.
"Tell me, do those bruises still hurt? "Rei asked her.
Asuka growled at her. She would've hit Rei for that, if not for the alarms going off.
"We should hurry to the cages." Rei said, taking off.
"Hey, wait for me!" Asuka called.
(Outside)
The 14th Angel was making its way to NERV HQ, destroying everything in its path with impunity. As it was making its way to the Geofront, Unit-02 appeared with two pallet rifles, and began to fire. But it did nothing to slow the Angel down. Unit-00 attacked it from the right flank, The Angel retaliated by shooting its eye beams. Rei raised her AT Field, but it barely held after two shots.
The Angel disarmed Unit-02 with its paper-like arms with ease, which infuriated Asuka to be disarmed so easily. She picked up her rifle and began to fire again. The Angel closed its core to protect it. The Angel powered up its eye beams to incinerate Unit-02's head, until…
THWACK
"Raggg!" the Angel cried as it was hit with a large energy kunai from above.
"What the hell was that?" asked Asuka.
Her answer came in the form of a large, mechanoid black dragon (Shadow Dragon dark version of Dragon Gundam) robot with dragon claws built into its forearms, along with a sword strapped behind its back, had landed in front of her, folding its arms. A communique went across the line, and there appeared the masked face of Ryu Ikari, the Dragon Ninja.
("We'll take it from here, young lady,") Ryu said.
"Who the hell are you? And what do you mean "we"?"
Her answers appeared before her when a large, gray , white and black robot with a large, black cloak around it with a shield on its left arm, landing on her right. Asuka recognized its face as the same one Shinji piloted. Then a large dark crimson robot landed in front of Unit 00, it had dragon wings, gold claws on its forearms, a small shield with a whip chain housed in it. It had a green gem in its chest, and its face was nearly identical to the white winged robot Shinji piloted against the 13th angel.(A/N Epyon)
("Are you alright, Rei?)" Shinji's voice came through the communique line, from the red robot.
"Shinji, is that you?" Rei asked, never using his first name before.
("Yes, Rei, it's me")
"YOU ARE NOT STEALING THE GLORY FROM ME!" Asuka roared.
("Shut your mouth, red devil, before I knock you into next week.") Shadow's voice came through from the black-cloaked robot.
"It's you!"
("Yeah, me. For the record, my sister Kagome apologizes for what happened, but I don't, since you clearly need a good kick to the head to bring you to Earth.")
Asuka growled in fury. She was about to retort until Ryu in the dragon robot cut her off.
("Enough. Shadow, Shinji, remember why we're here.")
("Yes, Father,") they both said.
("Now, as for you two young ladies, I strongly recommend that both of you return to your headquarters, immediately.")
Rei was silent, while Asuka continued to fume at Shinji's ninja dad telling her what to do.
Ryu from his Gundam, stared at the Angel with an annoyed look underneath his mask.
("You disgusting creature.") Ryu said, unsheathing his sword; on the outside, his Gundam did the same.
The shadow Dragon Gundam slashed at the body of the large Angel, causing it to scream out in pain. The Angel shot its eye beams, but the Gundam suddenly projected multiple images of itself that surrounded the Angel. Confused, it tried striking all of them, but only hit illusions. It was suddenly struck from the back, knocking it face/body first into ground by the dragon robot.
(Nerv Bridge)
"I-I can't believe they have more of those robots." Ritsuko gasped.
"How is this possible?" Fuyutsuki questioned. "Where do they get their technology?"
"But why in the hell would they come now?" Misato asked.
As if answering Misato's question, a communique went across the line and appeared the faces of Shadow and Shinji Ikari.
("We have come here to chew bubble gum, and kick ass.") Shadow smirked. ("And we're all out of bubble gum.")
(" Please listen, you have to pull Asuka and Rei back now.")
"You are in no position to make requests, Third child!" Gendo snapped from his seat.
("Yeah, the way that was voiced was a request. The way I'm voicing it, its a demand, old man. Those girls would only be in the way of our oh, so badass ninja dad, something which you're not.") ("So shut your mouth and get them out here!")
"You insolent punk!" Gendo sneered.
"Are you saving us just to make us look bad, Shinji?!" Misato asked.
("While it is a pleasant bonus, no. I don't want anything bad happening to Rei and Asuka because of your carelessness and selfishness Misato. So, please, pull them back now.")
Gendo burrowed his brow in thought. He remembered Shinji piloting Unit-01 for Rei when she was injured; then during the Fifth Angel attack, he noted the genuine look of concern for Rei when he thought she was hurt after its defeat. An evil smile spread across his face as the dark commander came up with an idea.
"Units-00 and 02 engage those machines," Gendo coldly ordered.
"You can't be serious?!" Fuyutsuki gasped.
("You sure you want go down this road?") Shadow asked, hoping the old man was serious.
"Units-00 and 02, you are to disarm and capture those robots, immediately!"
"Yes, sir." Asuka replied with a grin.
"This isn't gonna end well." Misato whispered, looking at the screen.
"No, it's not ," Ritsuko added.
They watched as the red-winged robot stepped back from Unit-00 as it got up and stood opposite the red Gundam. While Unit-02 stood up opposite the black Gundam. It was at that point the black Gundam opened its cloak, then it pulled something from underneath its rocket engine, revealing it to be a large, twin, green beam scythe.
"How come I don't have one of those?" Asuka asked.
("Really? You're working for, possibly, the cheapest organization on the planet, and you're asking why you don't have one of these?") Shadow said. ("Seeing as you don't know what this guy is, I'll introduce you. he's called Deathscythe Hell.")
"I don't care!" Asuka spat. "I'm going to turn it to scrap for what you did to me!"
Rei looked at Shinji's red Gundam with a look between remorse and regret, as if she didn't want to comply with the order.
Shinji's face soon appeared on her line, the look he was giving was saying he didn't want to fight her, either.
("I will not fight you, Rei,") Shinji said to her.
"I- I," Rei stammered, trying to get the words out, until the commander shouted out.
"First Child! I gave you an order! You will obey it!" Gendo shouted.
Unit-00 readied its rifle and aimed it at the red Gundam.
"I'm so sorry, Shinji," Rei apologized.
Shinji said nothing, but readied his Gundam to defend itself.
Shadow moved his Gundam next to his brother's Gundam ready to fight.
("Can't say we didn't see this coming little brother,") Shadow said
("It still doesn't make things any easier.") Shinji replied back
Unit-02 moved next to Unit-00. It was certainly a sight to behold. Titans vs titans. Bio-mechs vs. Space mechs (which Gundams pretty much are). The sons of Ryu vs. the child soldiers of Nerv.
Who will win?
End Chapter
End Notes: Next chapter it's gonna be the actual fight, I just wanted to build up it properly and clearly. Ryu will be fighting against Zeurel, obviously. Deathscythe vs. Unit-02 and Epyon vs. Unit-00. I'm not going try to make all Civil War like or Dawn of Justice-like. Also as you can see I'm fleshing out Shinji and Shadow's respective harems slowly with some more girls to go who should be next? And on another note I'll be redoing a couple of chapters, Thank you to TOAT for beta reading, thank you so much for reading, please leave a good review and be cool.