And we're back. Well, I say 'we' because I think it sounds better, but it's still just me.
WiredJunkiee1100: Yes, Devil Survivor is an excellent game on the DS. And Shinji? Bad? Well, if you want to look at it in black and white, yeah. But keep in mind that even YHVH isn't a good guy here. And compared to some of the things out there (Nyarlathotep, Lucifer, Cain, and SEELE being worthy examples) Shinji's a relatively light grey. He's willing to get his hands as dirty as he has to though. But if you want a genuine hero, you'll have to wait for the guy that killed God to show up.
Deep Space Cowgirl: As of now, FMA: Brotherhood is officially one of the universes predating the current one. Crap like Truth and Philosopher's Stones are now a part of this story's canon. But don't expect any characters (well, none that were still around by the end) to be making an appearance. And yes it is, though Shinji found a… different method of dealing with his Shadow. And remember, DMC 3 and 1 are the only ones considered canon to this story, though elements of 4 (Order of the Sword, Pandora, Fortuna) are present. And for your willingness to persevere, I give you a quote from Day Six. "I'm gonna to do whatever I damn well please." Care to guess who?
Shinji looked at the dozens of papers showing equations, diagrams, basic compositions, the layout of the battlefield, and a dossier on his grandfather that covered most of his desk.
Then he looked at the disassembled kuda Naoto had given him.
He smiled.
'This could work.'
In Europe, Shinji grinned with pride at his new second in command.
Nero had managed to rally more than a third of the city's surviving population and most of the Order, stormed the base without injuring any of the soldiers who had been unaware of the true nature of the facility, and retrieved Shinji, Tamaki, Tadashi, their demons, and most of the prisoners.
Now? The 'defectors' had managed to acquire enough vehicles to transport the nine hundred people, well, not comfortably, but they had room enough to spare that important individuals like themselves had been able to convert entire vehicles into mobile offices without worry of complaint from anyone.
But even this wasn't why Shinji was grinning. Nero's belt now had a small leather holster with six small white tubes within it, none of which were really any larger than an average pen. He'd broken down the Order's oldest taboo without a second thought, and managed to persuade most of the others to do the same.
Nero had managed to convince the demon slaying force to ally themselves with ordinary demons, something Shinji had been trying and failing to do for years.
The young monster kept his grin as he put his arm around the shoulder of the young man whose adopted brother-father hybrid he'd killed only two days before. "I guess it's about time we see who we busted out, eh?"
If the slightest problem with his body didn't heal itself as soon as it came up, the young man sitting at his desk would have bloodshot eyes and dark circles under them. As it was, he just yawned before finishing a can of Mad Bull. As the caffeine gave him a needed pick-me-up, he smiled at the modifications he'd made to the two kuda in front of him. He really hoped he wouldn't need to use them, but if worst came to worst…
Two strong beats against his door came before Seta's muffled voice came through. "Get your ass moving Ikari! And for the love of Izanagi, tell your girlfriend to at least put on a robe before we leave!"
Captain Misato Katsuragi pulled on a pair of denim shorts before stumbling to her front door. She forced it open to begin yelling at whoever was waking her at the ungodly hour of 11 o'clock and paused as her half asleep-half hung over brain registered what she was seeing. A brown haired man with two knives on his belt, a blue haired woman wearing a cap who had a bust line easily comparable to her own, and what appeared to be… the bastard child of a panda, egg, and clown.
None of them seemed any more pleased at the situation than she did; though there was a chance it was due to the rain instead of her attempts to ignore them for the past twenty minutes.
Raidou Kuzunoha XIX said, "Captain Misato Katsuragi; depending on how cooperative you are, you are either being kidnapped or escorted to the trial by combat of Lord Shinji Ikari I, Raidou Kuzunoha XIX, Lieutenant Souji Seta, and civilians Kanji Tatsumi, Yosuke Hanamura, Yukiko Amagi, Rise Kujikawa, and Chie Satonaka." She looked at the woman's rather… relaxed attire, and asked, "Would you like a few minutes to change?"
In the end, the only preparation Misato needed was a can of her precious beer to wake her up. It would have only been a ten minute walk from her apartment to Shinji's home/office/base, but the summoner still summoned Oboroguruma for a ride, the hell with witnesses.
Misato followed her 'escort' through the building to find Shinji wearing a black coat in the style once favored by his father with a blue rose embroidered on the back.
In Kanji's defense, it had been a very boring week.
Misato entered with a confused look on her face as she followed the other three into the room, not noticing as she crossed over a circle of runes chalked onto the floor. She rubbed her eyes to be sure of where she was before saying, "Ignoring the fact that I was dragged here without warning by…" she trailed off as she gestured to Teddie. "I thought this was a trial."
As the others gathered into the circle as previously instructed, Shinji turned with a flourish. "Yes, that's where we're going!"
Raidou looked at her cousin. "Well, I suppose it's good to see you so confident about this. Are you sure you don't want to borrow a couple of-"
"No." Alice echoed Shinji's protest before the young man continued, "We both know that I can only use demons I've contracted in this fight. That limits me to Alice, Rei, and Karina. Karina's psyche is based off of my mother, so they could attempt to argue that I was receiving aid from a fellow human. Rei's out for the same reason. That just leaves Alice, and I'm not going to even try shoving her into one of these." He held up one of the two kuda he'd spent the night modifying. "Besides, they wouldn't even take a Pixie in anymore. And since we have to start the fight without anything summoned, I can't bring her into the fight unless I use the more traditional methods of summoning."
Misato stored the statement about 'Karina', resolving to ask someone who was at least able to pretend to understand the Evangelions about it later.
"And I doubt the old man will be generous enough to give you time to draw an array." Alice added.
Kanji asked the question about a third of the people in the room were wondering. "Uh, how exactly are we supposed to get to this... Dark Tokyo?"
Souji and Naoto allowed Shinji to handle the explanation. The teen had the widest smile Alice had seen since Cheshire as he squatted with his palms flat against the ground. "Well, it's really just a simple matter of tearing open a hole in the universe."
The uninformed had just enough time to think 'What' before reality within the circle fell apart.
"Thank you, and welcome to the good fight." Nero shook Mr. Barton's hand as the Lilim in the corner nodded. The raven-haired alchemist nodded as he left the stopped armored truck.
Barton heard the cry of a dying girl just before Shinji left the trailer opposite him. The now nervous human asked, "I'm guessing he was… unreasonable?"
Shinji sighed before calling a team over to clean out the space so it could be used for something else. "It was a she… or as much as anything that's been that twisted can be identified as a particular gender. The poor kid was barely even sentient, and in pain every moment. Lacking the equipment and supplies held in that base, she would have just died slowly and painfully."
A grimace contorted Barton's unfortunately feminine features as he said, "I'd hate to have to make the decisions you do." With that, he walked away.
As Shinji approached the next trailer in the line, he muttered to himself, "Think how much you'd hate getting used to making these decisions…"
The moment he walked through the opening, he knew something was wrong. First of all, there were no indications of any kind of restraints on the subject. Second, there were no broken restraints justifying the first issue.
The fact that a twelve year-old Asian girl was lying flat against a bed hanging upside down from the ceiling was also rather disconcerting.
Though the child never so much as opened her eyes, Shinji could hear her voice directed solely at him. "I'm guessing you're the leader of the ones who rescued us from that place."
"Well well well, this is going to be quite the interesting little chat."
Misato was among the last to fall into the dimly lit room on the other side of the dimensional tear Shinji had made. Assorted groans, complaints of inter-dimensional travel, and a solemn oath to "Use the fucking Herald next time" met her ringing ears as the mascot of a department store helped her up.
Shinji had been standing since the first glance she'd had of the room, though she was unsure if that was because he was just that used to things like that or he was able to get upright before anyone else knew where they were looking. The boy was rubbing his hands across his body, and she realized he was saying something.
"-at your limbs are still attached properly and your own, haven't switched eyes or testicles or anything, got all your teeth, yada yada yada. And, oh yes, do be sure not to accidently walk through that crack in the universe behind you all."
Misato looked back to see that, yes, there did appear to be a crack suspended in the air giving off a nearly blinding white light.
"If you disregard this warning, please be aware that there is a slim chance that attempting to pass through there to a point in the universe that no longer exists could cause all creation to come crashing down around us, a slightly larger chance that it'll just destroy a relatively small part of the universe that we unfortunately happen to occupy, and I guarantee that you will be retroactively erased from history and everything you've ever done will be undone in the physical world and in the memories of everyone but the Gods of Time."
Eight Persona Users, NERV's Operations Director, the rightful Queen of Wonderland, and a Lilithian abomination of science and decency slowly stepped away from the part of the universe that Shinji had broken to make a door.
Finishing his self examination, Shinji clapped his hands together and began leading the party to the exit. "Alright, let's see where the hell we ended up!" He slapped the frame of the doorway, and heard a CRACK, echoed by rumbling from the rest of the structure.
Alice facepalmed, having grown familiar with that sound. "I swear to Scathach, every damn time you touch something older than you that you don't own…"
"So," Shinji began while looking up at the child, "are you demon, angel, shadow, mix-"
"Human." The girl slid out from under her sheets, showing a very slim body with legs that seemed… twisted.
The monster frowned at the nude child. "No way. No human could manage to suspend a bed like that without any noticeable strain. Hell, they end up with nosebleeds just trying to bend spoons."
"I was born with an unusually high level of control, but you can thank the scientists for the level of power." She gave an indignant huff. "Their idea of a 'cure', apparently."
The abomination blinked in confusion. "A cure… A cure for what, telekinesis? You can't cure power like that; it's like trying to cure skin color, or having teeth."
"Yes," she agreed, "attempting to cure that would be something of an exercise in futility. But I was talking about my disease, not a fact of my biology. Well, I suppose technically they both are, but they were trying to cure the bad one, not the good one."
"Look, I realize that it would seem cruel to send a sick little girl out into what remains of the European countryside, but I can't let you stay here if you're going to get my people sick."
"Don't worry, it's not contagious or anything." Shinji leaned back against a wall. "Alright, you'll end up wanting to know most of this at some point or another; might as well get it out of the way. First of all, I've got Vrolik's Syndrome." Seeing the blank look on the monster's face, she used the more common name. "Brittle Bone Disease. Rare genetic disorder, no one knows what causes it, no viable cure, my bones have never developed properly, too much force and they shatter, my legs and ribs were cracking while I was in the womb. I learned to use telekinesis before I could opened my eyes, using it for years just to keep my bones from breaking and cutting my organs apart."
The monster nodded, it wasn't unprecedented for humans to develop unusual abilities of their own; Gods and Demons weren't the only paths to power available to humans, just the quickest. Though the statistical odds of telekinesis manifesting and Vrolik's Syndrome… that should only happen every four or five cycles of creation.
"Government found out about me when I was six, kidnapped me under the Paranormal Control Act of 2006, spent years injecting me with blood samples taken from a bound Angel to see what would happen. Didn't do jack shit about my bones, but I've got more raw power running through me on good days than most lesser deities."
Shinji tossed her his jacket, finally registering the fact that he was a physical manifestation of the negative aspects of a truly twisted mind even by demonic standards with the raw power to boot speaking with a nude twelve-year-old girl. Alone. "Just how much power are we talking here?"
The girl smirked. "Look outside."
He did.
They were under a lake.
Upside down.
He hadn't even felt the container shift.
The monster grinned. "Ooohhhhhh, I am going to like you!"
Mayumi Yamagishi, world's strongest psychic, grinned back.
The group in the Dark Realm looked at the bazaar they'd arrived in the middle of, completely ignorant of the fact that they had just been in a collapsing house which subsequently ceased to exist after several pieces fell through a hole in the universe.
In Tokyo-3, a large number of people standing and sitting in an empty lot wondered why they came there on their lunch break and had a sudden craving for Thai.
As a Pyro Jack floated by, Misato looked at the people that had dragged her along, shocked at their apparent nonchalance at a flying pumpkin carrying a lantern. She tapped Raidou's shoulder and whispered, "You guys saw that, right?"
"Saw what?" No one deemed worthy of being bestowed the name of one of the Kuzunoha's Four Great Summoners could have been considered stupid, but there were so many things the NERV Officer could have been asking about: the solid-white hippo that just walked into an alley on its hind legs, any of the stalls that had been set up, the auction in the middle of the street, the large black building with a glowing purple circle filled with arcane markings on its door…
Misato pointed at the Pyro Jack as it passed through the marked doors.
The summoner, mistakenly believing her to be pointing at the building, told her "That's the Cathedral of Shadows."
"A cathedral? So it's like some kind of church?"
Raidou considered the possible ramifications of telling her what the facility was for. "Yes, it's something of a meeting place for the local cults." She lied.
"And what about that?" She pointed at a man with a large briefcase and several folders open to viewing by passerby.
If Misato had kept her attention on the younger woman's face, she'd have seen a slight flash of shame before she answered, "That's a contract broker." Shinji noticed the man and paused in his stride.
"Contract?" Misato asked. "Oh, so he'd some kind of agent?"
Without looking away from the man, Shinji answered before Raidou could get a work in. "He's a fucking slave dealer. Ready made contracts with captured demons that keep them from ever raising a hand against the master who in truth is too incompetent to work out a contract for themselves!" A surge of black lightning was emitted from the spire atop the Cathedral, accentuating his claim perfectly as everyone on the street turned to look at him; a few in shame, but most with either amusement at what they perceived as naivety or insulted by his claim that they couldn't work out a contract for themselves.
A 'helpful' passerby stopped to deliver some healthy advice. "Listen kid, I'm not disagreeing with you, but you should really get out of here. There's a lot of nasty characters around today; there's gonna be a death match with some kid trying to take the title of a Kuzunoha. Hasn't been one for ages, and these guys wanna see somebody get cut… And most of them don't seem like the type to care who."
Shinji let out a low chuckle as he pushed the man out of his way. "Thanks, but I can handle myself."
The contract broker gave a barking laugh. "Handle yourself? Against me? Don't fool yourself ki-"
Shinji lashed out with Shamshel, forcing the man to stop and scream as his stomach was torn open. "Know your place you two-bit slave peddler. This is little street, this city, this fucking world, is mine." He turned back on his path. "And I don't like slavers."
A gangly teen started shouting at his back. "You can't just attack merchants in the middle of the street! I'm gonna get a Kuzunoha after you! You'll never be safe again!"
Shinji smirked before placing his hand on Naoto's shoulder. "Handle this for us, would you? We're going on ahead."
The diminutive woman adjusted her cap and smiled as the others continued on. The threatening child turned his attention to her. "What're you lookin at me like that for, bitch? You want me ta report you too?" She couldn't help but chuckle at the fool's ignorance. "Stop laughin at me! Who the hell do ya think you are?"
She calmly drew her pistol and aimed it at the dark sky. "I'm Raidou Kuzunoha XIX," she paused before finishing the declaration, "bitch. Who the hell do you think you are?" She pulled the trigger. "Yamato-Takeru."
The white-clad swordsman casually swung his sword in a wide arc, sending several glowing tags raining down upon the gathering crowd.
Naoto dismissed her persona and summoned a Badb Catha to fly her to Dark Tokyo.
A white haired man missing his left arm in a white cloak covered in light blue spots stepped out of an alley, watching as the woman flew away, and sighed with relief. "That was close." A list and pocket watch floated out of his pocket with no apparent effort on his part. "Really need to be more careful about this. I should probably get out of the country until the Ark." He consulted the list. "Have to meet with that jackass in America before then anyway." He paused for a moment, as if listening to someone who wasn't there. "You don't want to see him? Well, too bad. This isn't a democracy, and I'm the King." He consulted the list again to be sure he wouldn't do something that didn't happen last time. "Alright, gotta make sure I've had this thing for a couple of days before the meeting, but get him here and hidden before the shit with Kirijo. Once I've sent him on his way, go to Italy and kill Conquest and the idiots. Then I just need to get on the ship and stay away from him." He groaned as he shoved the open watch and crumpled list back into his pocket. "Always the one you don't see. Huh. Then again, that's the only one it could have been."
Misato nervously looked at the young girl in blue shorts and a white tank top sitting to her left as they settled into the last of the Unicorn drawn carriages Shinji had led their group to. Deciding to take the opportunity to interrogate the (former?) pilot, she began questioning the teen. "So, Rei; what exactly is going on?"
"We are currently en route to Old Tokyo."
The older woman was understandably disturbed at the reply. Tokyo had been reduced to a nuclear waste during the Resource Wars. "But… wouldn't that kill us?"
"What do you mean?"
"The radiation!"
"As it has been explained to me, radiation poisoning would not be a life threatening threat. However, I have been assured that there is no risk."
"How can radiation poisoning not be a risk!"
"Why would you expect radiation? To my knowledge, our destination has never been exposed to any incident involving nuclear fallout."
Misato couldn't help but blink at that. How could one of the children NERV entrusted to pilot the Evangelions not know what happened to Tokyo? "Rei," she asked slowly, "where do you think we're going?"
"I have been informed that the official name of our destination is Dark Tokyo, though most refer to it as Old Tokyo."
"Dark Tokyo? What the hell does that mean?"
"It is the dimension Shinji-sama referred to as the Dark Realm's equivalent to Japan's former capital. As I understand it, this world is a near copy of our own barring certain discrepancies, such as the Coliseum we will soon arrive at so my master may fight his way to a position too important for his political enemies to risk moving against him."
"What?"
"The group you may know as the Human Instrumentality Committee will have the people you have met today executed if Shinji-sama fails to earn the protection of Izanagi-no-Okami."
"What!"
"However, he, and the others, shall be granted a pardon if he is able to defeat his grandfather in combat to the death."
"What."
"Are you sure you'll be able to win?"
Shinji smiled at the small girl across from him. "Remember who you're talking to. I've been fighting Devil Summoners for years, though none of his caliber. But I'm confident in my abilities. And besides," he withdrew the pair of kuda from his jacket, "I could always use these if I really get stuck."
"Are you sure the cost would be worth it?"
He sighed. "Honestly, I'm not looking forward to having to deal with what I could lose, but I'm counting on the fact that there's very little left that wouldn't give me an upper-hand."
As Alice felt the carriage begin to slow, she asked, "You do realize that not everyone learns the same thing, don't you?"
Shinji opened the door at the entrance he would enter alone. "I'm counting on it." He jumped out and entered the arena, leaving the others to find seats.
The onyx seats were filled to the brim, hosting humans and demons alike. It was to be expected, really. This was the first time since Raidou XIV that members of the clan had actually fought with intent to kill. Past the obsidian circle isolating the battlefield, seats rose in a manner similar to the Roman Coliseum.
The interior of the arena, however, would never be mistaken for a battleground created by any civilization.
Any human civilization, at any rate.
The field itself was a perfect circle, with a radius of 350 meters ensuring space for anything either participant could summon. The ground was littered with ponds, trees, sand, and barrels filled with ink. But that was not the most unusual aspect of the arena.
The only ways to enter it were to jump from the spectators' seats, or along one of the two narrow paths (measured 83 years prior at 32 cm in width) which stretched from two opposite sides of the arena to the perfectly flat top of a crystal pillar. Seven torches aligned with the seven-pointed star were burning for the first time in decades. In the center of the star, a crow's wing overlapped an image of the sun. For the first time in decades, the blaze of ambition burned bright.
It was obvious that the pillar was not meant to be stood upon, and to fall from atop the high path to it would be inconvenient for a demon, and fatal to humans.
As an old man with a green cloak draped over his shoulders and a sword on his left hip strode onto the narrow path from a hole in the wall, a male voice echoed out, "Welcome, ladies, gentlemen, she-things, and beings of ambiguous gender, to the Second ever Succession Battle!"
Though there were no speakers that the voice could have been coming from, most accepted the voice as an integral part of the Coliseum, or just thought a wizard did it.
There were, however, a small number of people who recognized the voice.
Kanji turned to the only other person he knew had heard the voice before. "Ain't that…?"
Yukiko sat rigidly in her seat as she replied, "That's the cat from the other day."
Naoto blinked from the row in front of the two, turning around asking, "How do you know Gouto?"
"It jumped into my car when we got into Tokyo-3." Kanji answered. "How do you know the talkin cat? It your pet or somethin?"
"He is Gouto-Douji, my great-great-great-"
"On the Eastern Path, weighing in at 57 kilos, Minatoooooooo Kuzunohaaaaaaaaa XXXIV!" The crowd cheered the summoner as he approached the circle.
"-great-great-"
"On the Western Path, weighing in at 475 kilos, the only man to ever face down the Hito-Shura in one-on-one combat and live to tell the tale," well, he did die a little. Okay, he died a lot- Fine, he died repeatedly and needed daddy to bail him out. And he hasn't actually told anyone the full story. "Shinjiiiiiiiii Ikaaaarrriiiiiiiiiii!"
"-great-great-"
Shinji appeared in the western opening, eyes closed and breathing deeply.
"-great-great-great grandfather."
Had Shinji not leaped straight from the opening to the edge of the circle, someone likely would have asked how that was possible. Instead, their attention was diverted to the child who weighed over half a ton and jumped 340 meters in a single leap.
"Well old man, you actually learn this ritual like a good little boy, or did you bastardize a forced summoning?"
Stone-faced as ever, Minato withdrew a silver knife. "I'll give you a moment to plead for your life."
The demon smirked at the summoner as he withdrew his own knife. "You're the one that'll be begging old man." The two cut into their palms in sync, tossing their knives aside and slamming their bloody palms against the ground.
"That in His holy name you shall bare witness,
And choose one who may serve in his name,
We summon you to act as our sacred judge,
YATAGARASU!"
Flame erupted from the center of the circle as a three-legged crow flew out, engulfing the pair.
Next time: Shinji and an old man beat the hell out of each other in front of a couple of thousand people.