Within a dark room, a looming silhouette of a laptop zooms ever closer to the screen, flashes of strange images hit the viewing apparatus the viewer is currently looking at.
From images of families and friends to the indeterminable faces of happiness and love, the images bombard you as letters fly across the shadows, each one bigger than the last as the screen turned on with a blue hue.
A hand, obscured by a black glove, began to type on the keys as the words began to form.
This set of letters was:
The Alterverse Files.
That was when a set of words appeared under the title in a brilliant ray of white and pink.
Lux Edition.
The screen showed some numbers before a file was introduced, marked:
Alterverse File #210- The Enlightened.
(Initiating origin file)
Xxxxxxx
-Japan, Tokyo-3, NERV basement-
Inside the dark and spacious basement is where we find a room that contained numerous tubes in it. Each one filled with a red fluid that seemed to bubble one in a while.
Footsteps were heard making their way towards them.
But it wasn't Gendo, but a normal looking man in a lab coat with a glazed expression on his face.
He looked at the tubes which each had a naked pale young girl in them with short blue hair.
As he walked, he understood that the idea of cloning a person for a currently unknown goal was foolish and that no one should tamper with the dead.
That's why he was here to make things right.
'By the savior.' He thought before walking down the basement of tubes and dead EVA's. 'To think one man would commit crimes worthy of Mara.'
He walked past the tubes and looked at the girl at the very end.
This girl was normal with short pale blue hair sporting bangs centered in the middle, red eyes, a small set of hips and a B cup chest, who was floating within the red substance. She also looked awake, but barely moved.
The man looked at the tank before seeing a control panel and began activating the release protocols. He saw a light beep above the capsule as the liquid inside began to drain out.
WOOSH!
And saw the girl drop to the ground as wires fell to the ground like decaying eels.
He walked over to her as the girl let out a mumble and began to move. "Hush."
She looked up while the man picked her up and held her like a baby.
"Up you go." He said while carefully walking away. "You don't need to be scared, a new life is in front of you."
She looked at him blankly while trying to process the data in her head.
'Hopefully this child will grow up in a safer environment.'
(A few hours later)
"What do you mean one of the Rei II has been stolen?" Gendo frowned while looking at the local blonde doctor.
"I mean she's gone. The systems weren't broken into or hacked, otherwise the alarms would have gone off."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Gendo frowned while fuming as hell inside. How could this happen so easily under his watch?
But unbeknownst to him, this simple action would change the entire history of the world.
(Many months later)
-Inner Japan, somewhere in the mountain tops-
In the grand mountain range of inner Japan, we find the entire area covered in snow and mist. An area that not many would be caught dead at.
Well...except for the buddhist temple at the very top of the mountainside, which looked very much abandoned and in disrepair if not for the smoke coming from the courtyard.
And it's where the figure was going while carrying the girl in a tightly wound up wool blanket to keep her warm.
The child slept like a baby as the figure walked towards the gates and knocked.
Knock knock!
Silence.
Knock knock!
"Who is it?"
"It is I, Orochimaru Saki."
"Huh?" said the figure from behind the gates. "The exiled one? Here? How unexpected of you to return after you turned your back on the Lord Buddha and embraced the world of science."
"I know, but I've come back for an important reason."
"What?"
"Open the gates and I will show you and your master."
"You will tell me first or I will let you stand out there in the cold."
He sighed. "I have a child, bred to become a weapon to destroy the Ten Realms, including our own."
The monk within went silent while looking very pale.
"I took her from a place worse than Naraka and the man who wishes for the end of all life so that your order can bring her happiness and love that she needs."
Silence.
"You must open the gates, this child needs warmth."
"Mmm…" the girl groaned in her sleep while moving her head a little.
"...very well." The monk said while the gates slowly opened, revealing an old man with tattered robes. "Come and I shall inform the master of your arrival."
"Thank you."
(Inside)
The child rested on the floor near a small fire while the man waited for the master to enter. "Zzzz."
'Gendo Ikari, what asura must you be to create life and yet treat them like a lowly sack of clay.' thought the man looking at the girl with a solemn expression.
"Orochimaru." said a very old man covered in dark tattered robes and was blind in one eye as he slowly walked in with a cane made of sakura tree wood. "It has been a long time."
"Yes, it has, master."
"But while you are banished for trying to turn most of your brothers into the slaves of Mara, I hear you redeemed yourself to the Lord Buddha, is that correct?"
"Yes, and I wish I came with better news, but I had no choice. This child, this innocent girl, I...please take a look."
The old man looked at the child while seeing her face. "She is a sweet child, but what is with the bandages?"
"This child was...cloned or created from a dead woman's cells, and she was one out of approximately ten billion." Orocimaru frowned. "She was the lucky one, her mind wasn't brainwashed to serve that...asura incarnate. But her body wasn't fully developed either, she is malnourished and her body is slowly decaying from the tank she was in."
"And just how did you come onto this information?"
"I stumbled upon it from the notes of a colleague of mine, a Ritsuko Akagi, NERV's head scientist and the one that created both her and…." he sighed. "The Evangelions, who look like giants made of metal but are actually...giant humans that are supposed to be piloted by humans and are…."
"Are what?"
"Powered by a soul, imprisoned within a core. And there are four already created with nine more in production."
The ancient man frowned. "A blasphemous affront to the cycle of reincarnation."
"I know, and that is why I left with this child. If I can help her become happy as a normal child, maybe her soul will find peace and perhaps become a Bodhisattva or obtain Buddhahood in the future. The world needs one after the events of the Second Impact as NERV calls it."
"A horrible event none will forget, one that we can only hope the souls lost have found their way with the great Buddha himself."
"Yes." he sighed. "But Gendo, he and some organization I could not learn about, wants to cause a Third Impact and cause all the souls, both living and dead, to fuse into some kind of asura to do the most blasphemous to both our sacred laws and that of every religion on the planet, to resurrect his wife at the cost of breaking the cycle of reincarnation itself."
"Zzzz." the girl snored lightly as the two men felt pity on her.
"Has word gotten out about them?"
"No, no one but a select few within that organization know about the true plan for humanity. They all believe that the EVA's will defeat the 'tensei' and stop the impact." Orochimaru frowned. "But with this child gone, they will keep on schedule and proceed to use another of her and two others, but I could not gain access to those files."
The master then saw his former student bow to him.
"Master, please allow this child to be raised in the Order of the Daitengu, I beg you."
"You mean have her raised in our teachings?"
"Yes, train her, give her happiness and please, give her possibly to be enlightened. This child was born as a tool but I believe she can be something more than what her creators envisioned her to be. This is all I ask, I may fall to the path of the tengu and never become one with Lord Buddha, but I want to leave a single good deed upon this already bleak world of Mara."
The master looked at him and then the girl while rubbing his chin.
"I beg you master, give this child a chance to live."
"Mmmm." he looked at the child and sighed. "Very well, we shall raise the child as our own, but do remember we are a wandering group of monks, she will have to learn all of our ways, including being detached from any single trace of home or shelter in our pursuit of salvation and enlightenment."
"I understand." He said while the child groaned in her sleep.
"Now, you can stay here for the night but in the morning, you must leave and never return to the temple."
"I understand, master."
The old man turned and slowly made his way out of the room. "She will be raised well, I promise you that my old student."
"Zzzzz."
"Sleep child, your new future shall grow with love." Orochimaru said while rubbing the child's head.
(Many years later)
The birds chirped on the mountain side as we see several monks returning from their pilgrimage and enter the monastery to train for another pilgrimage into the wide and cruel world. All of them ready for meditation or to do their daily chores.
But near the gold coated statue of the Buddha, we find several monks praying in unison as the head monk rang a singing bowl and held incense in his right hand.
The monks kept this up while we notice a man running up with a letter in his hand, frantic and in fear.
"Need….to...deliver...message!" He panted while swinging open the doors and ran towards the head monk. "Father Juyaia, I….I have terrible news…"
"What is it?"
"NERV has...brought Adam to….Tokyo 3…" He panted while handing him the letter. "The tensei have followed and...ha...their plan is starting….ha…."
The man's eyes widened in shock before steeling as he stood up. "This is serious."
"And...they...have summoned someone...a boy...called...Shinji Ikari and….some girl from the fallen Fatherlands…." He panted.
"Summon Rei Kannon." The head monk said. "The Time has come."
"On...it." He said before running out.
'I prayed this day would never come. But it is her karma to face the shadows of her past.'
(In the courtyard)
"Ha!"
"Ha!"
"Ha!"
"Ha!"
The monks were doing various stances and strikes while keeping their breathing steady.
All the while maintaining their forms and posture, as some of them were using poles, spears and long katanas on wooden dummies.
"Ha! Ha!"
The man ran to the courtyard while looking ready to pass out, again. He then ran towards one of the monks nearest to the diverted mountain falls, who was currently meditating under the roaring pressure of the cold mountain water.
WWWWOOOSSSHHHHH!
"Rei Kannon!" He yelled. "Rei Kannon, your presence is required!"
From within the waterfall, a tall woman with long pale blue hair that went to her sides, a F cup chest and wide ass, and wearing dark brown and black robes and some blue mandala beads around her neck, sat in a meditative position with her eyes shut.
"Rei!"
She opened her right eye, which seems to now have a dark green color with a small red iris, and smiled. "Father Sai, how are you this fine morning?"
"You are needed."
"Oh? Why?"
"It's of utmost importance."
She slowly got up and walked down a set of rocks. "I see, it is the will of the Lord Buddha."
(Later)
She sat next to her master while the letter was in between the two of them. "Father Juyaia, is this all true?"
"Yes, an asura has decided to bring forth a plan of destruction, and this boy seems to be the key along with the tensei."
"Shall I look for him?"
"It is your choice, but I warn you, the world outside these mountains are full of temptation. Only a strong soul can escape the grasp of Mara and stay pure."
Rei nodded. "I understand, after all you have trained me to become a healer of evil within these lands, it is natural of you to worry of my well being."
"Rei, you must not be tempted."
"I will not Father Juyaia, after all the Lord Buddha is smiling upon me every time I wake up and every time I slumber. I am well protected."
He looked at her silently and nodded. "Very well, I wish you best of luck. Gather what you will need on your journey."
She bowed. "I will, and don't worry. I will return with the boy, as long as it takes."
"Then go my child and may the Lord Buddha protect you in these troubled times."
Rei nodded while getting up and walked away, leaving the man alone.
'Stay safe my granddaughter.'
(At the gates)
Rei looked outside the gates while holding her bag as the monks stood there to wish her off.
"Stay safe Sister Kannon."
"Don't let Mara tempt you."
"Stay on the path of Buddhahood."
She smiled while in her hands was a long staff with several bronze rings on the sides and with a tengu's wings carved onto the sides. "Thank you fathers, I will return and stay on the right path. The Lord Buddha wills it."
The monks bowed to her as Rei started to walk down the mountain side path, through the snow and ice as they prayed for her safe return.
"And now we wait."
"And pray the world keeps her pure."
(A few months later)
-Tokyo 3-
The cars and trucks honked in the distance as people walked down the endless streets, with Rei walking by and seemingly interested in the lights and colors.
'Such interesting ways humanity has, but not as colorful as the fathers told me from their pilgrimages.' She thought while stopping for a moment to look at a hat stand, with one hat having a 'Hello Kitty' mascot on it. 'Hmm, I wonder if this is an idol they worship.'
"Want one? It's only fifty yen." said the shopkeeper.
"Money is irrelevant in the cycle of reincarnation." She said sagely as she pointed to her komusō, which was hanging from her neck so she could breath a little. "And this is more comfortable then this neko."
"Um ok? Do you still want one? It's popular with the girls."
"No thank you." She said before giving him a paper talisman from her sleeve and gave it to him. "But I bless you with good luck, as per the love of the Lord Buddha himself."
"Uh…." He said while seeing the woman walking away. "...weirdo."
Rei smiled while happy to do a good deed while looking for the NERV building known as Central Dogma. "Hmmm, I wonder where it is…"
As she looked around, the sound of a car came from right behind her as a blue Renault Alpine A310 drove towards her and-
BAM!
Knocked her to the ground while the hood seemed to get totaled from the collision.
"My car!"
Rei groaned while getting up and brushed herself a little as the woman looked mortified. "That was odd, a metal horse. Still that did hurt a little." 'Thank the Lord Buddha for physical training.'
"Oh my god I'm so sorry!"
She turned to her and saw a young boy in the front passenger seat, confused and lost. "It is fine, but why were you racing with this metal horse?"
"Oh right! No time, Shinji you are needed at Central Dogma. Now!"
"Shinji?" Rei blinked while a loud alarm was heard in the distance. "Wait, you're Shinji Ikari?"
"Uh, yeah?"
She walked to him and held his hands together. "I see, you're the one Father Juyaia spoke of. You must come with me for your salvation."
He lightly blushed at the contact while the woman slapped them away.
"We don't have time for that, there's an angel about to attack the city!"
"...angel?" She cocked her head to the side at the strange terminology. "What's an angel?"
"The thing about to level this place if we don't get out of here!"
"...eh?" She looked lost as the car started up and sped away, only for her to make an unbelievably long jump and landed on the passage's seat behind Shinji. 'Best keep quiet until I get to Central Dogma.'
(Later)
-NERV, Central Dogma-
Rei watched the car stop in front of the imposing building before tapping the woman's shoulder. "Can you explain what an angel is? My faith doesn't recognize angels."
"AHHH!" she screamed while grabbing at her chest. "What are you doing here?!"
"I am here to visit." She said calmly. "So what are angels? And will you allow me to take Shinji to our temple?"
She was about to grab her gun when some soldiers grabbed Shinji.
"You are needed, now." One said while dragging him away.
"Hey hey! Let him go!" The woman yelled while running after them, with Rei right behind her, calmly speed walking next to her.
(A bit later)
-The EVA hangers-
Shinji gulped while looking around him, with the woman now known as Misato, next to him and the strange woman nowhere in sight. 'Just what is going on here?!'
That's when all the lights turned on.
Revealing his father on a big screen while seeing giant monstrous mechanical monsters on either side of the room.
"Welcome to Central Dogma, Third Child."
He was about to say something when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Rei right next to him.
She smiled and coughed. "Asura Gendo Ikari, SEELE member and destructive killer of karma, I say hello." She bowed. "And wish you the love of the Lord Buddha, despite your actions against the Ten Realms."
Gendo looked down at the girl with surprise, but didn't show it. "Who are you?"
"Kannon." She smiled. "Wandering monk. And I'm here because you have a key to the realm's destruction. More specifically a singularity, am I right?"
"And what are you doing here in NERV?"
She pointed to Shinji. "I'm here to take Shinji here back to my temple and raise him as a monk. Afterall, he doesn't need to be in that giant humanoid causing the Third Impact right? I mean he's a sweet innocent child without love, how is that a good thing for the Ten Realms if he loses his mind from his future battles?"
Gendo narrowed his eyes and looked at Misato. "Major Katsuragi, removed this girl at once."
"Yes sir." She said before getting hit on the head by Rei's staff. "Yeow!"
Rei looked around before pointing her staff at Gendo. "If you won't let me take him peacefully, I will be forced to take him with violence, if the Lord Buddha permits it that is."
"Hey! We need Shinji more to fight the angel." frowned Misato pulling her gun out. "Now drop the stick or I'll make you."
She smiled before throwing the staff in the air and pulled out two small blades from her sleeves and made some non lethal cuts on Misato's arms before grabbing the staff with her cleavage.
"AH!" She cried out while dropping the gun as Rei slashed at some guards nearest to her and did the same non lethal slashes on their limbs.
"Gun her down." Gendo ordered the remaining guards.
They raised their guns at the woman before Shinji moved in front of their aim.
"Stop! Don't shoot!"
"Stand aside Third Child."
"No father."
He narrowed his eyes before seeing the woman grabbing another blade from her sleeve and threw it at the screen, breaking it in the process.
"Can't have that asura making this boy sin for his karma." Rei said before slashing at the guards and making them fall to the ground. "Shinji, do you really want to stay in this place or find salvation with my order?"
"Well...the truth is, I'm still confused on what's going on." He admitted.
She placed her weapons back in her sleeves and held out her right hand. "Then shall I teach you the truth of this world?"
"Uh...I...I don't know."
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Misato groaned while recognizing the alarm. "Shit! The angel is here, Shinji! Please get into the EVA!"
"Come with me!"
Shinji looked at both while his anxiety and stress took over and he started to slip between conscious thought and unconscious bliss. He then fainted as Rei held him like a princess in her hands.
"Oh you gotta be kidding me!" Misato cried out.
Rei smiled at the sleeping boy as she looked and felt a strange connection to a tall humanoid with orange armor, a single white dome on its head and a single red eye, right in the corner of the deep pit. 'Why? Why do I feel….a karmic connection with this giant?'
"Put the boy down. Now."
Rei looked at Misato before something clicked in her mind as her eyes turned red and caused the LCL below to rise up and formed a set of stairs leading to the giant. "...what a miracle! The Lord Buddha has granted me power over this foul slime of the western gods!" 'Praise be the great savior!'
Misato's jaw hit the floor seeing this. 'What the fuck?!'
The woman stepped on the liquid stairs before reaching the giant's eye and chanted a single prayer of salvation.
Creak….creak….
The arms began to rise up along with the head as the eye began to glow and blink.
'How is she controlling Unit-00?! She's not even a pilot!' thought Misato while the large EVA began to lightly shift.
The EVA then broke its restraints and held out its right palm as Rei jumped on it.
"Noble giant of metal and man, allow us safety from the tensei's and the forces of Mara and I shall grant you salvation." She smiled. "For even a creation of an asura deserves the Buddha's love."
It let out a low growl before slowly arching it's legs down and jumped right through the ceiling effortlessly. This led to smashing through the reinforced steel and shaking the building.
"Oh boy...Ritsuko isn't going to like this."
(Outside)
-The Sea of LCL-
The EVA landed with a thud on the building as it spied a tall and thin humanoid body, long arms that went below its knees, elongated legs and feet that seemed disproportionate to the rest of its body, a single red core in the center of its solar plexus, bone like ribs and with a bone like head similar to a bird with a long beak, in the distance as it was fighting some UN forces.
"Giant." Rei said to the EVA. "Please guide us safely through that battlefield and protect us, I will assist if you so wish."
The EVA didn't speak, but it crouched and took off sprinting at the being.
The angel took notice of the EVA before getting kicked in the face as Rei kept holding Shinji tightly.
'You will stay safe, I promise.' She thought while the 'giant' kept on attacking the angel and making sure it couldn't strike back with rapid kicks and a rapid punch of its left fist.
The angel stumbled back and fell down on the ground with a crash.
The EVA kicked it in the core as Rei took notice of its pain and threw a talisman at it, which didn't work but got the angel's utter confusion.
"I apologize, being of Adam, but you have attacked humanity for the sin of one asura, please go back to your realm and let us pass. We mean you no harm, but if you continue your assault on this city, I will be forced to send you into the wheel of reincarnation." Rei said while trying to end this fight peacefully.
The angel tilted it's head, but made its way back up.
"Please, return to your realm." She pleaded again. "I do not want to kill or harm you, the Lord Buddha loves all in this universe, even you. So please leave this place in peace."
The angel raised its arm out to the EVA, only for a beam to seemingly extend out of it and hit the head of the robot.
It crashed to the water's below as Rei jumped in the air and allowed the LCL to form a platform.
She sighed with sadness before her eyes glowed even brighter and the 'water' started to wrap around the angel and started to strangle it. "I am sorry. But you chose the path of hate."
CRACK!
The angel's body began to crack from the pressure of the LCL as the EVA took the chance and ripped out its core before squeezing it.
Rei dropped the angel as it's body began to sink into the LCL as she made a small prayer to it. 'May your next life be full of peace and love.'
The EVA extended its right palm as Rei stepped on and it continued its trek across the waters.
"Giant, go to the north. Your salvation is within that location." Rei said while looking at Shinji. '...he is cute. But no, I can not fall to simple material desires. Unless...yes, of course, this desire is spiritual and pure, thus I must act upon it.'
The EVA stood up before turning and made its way north.
(Many week's later)
-The monastery-
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
"Master, do you feel that?"
"Yes." The head monk said while not flinching. "It seems Kannon has returned."
"But then why is the ground shaking?"
"Perhaps she has bought a souvenir from the outside world."
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
The rest of the monks ran out and saw a giant walking towards the gates as it stopped and placed Rei on the ground as she held a boy in her hands.
"I have returned." Rei smiled. "And I have brought my new acolyte with me."
Shinji groaned while finally waking up from his weeks-long stress coma. "Ugh…"
Only for him to notice his position and blushed.
"I see, and you have brought...more."
Rei nodded. "The giant wants salvation as well, so I brought it here. But I must get this boy clothed and washed, he needs to be ready for training."
"Understandable." One monk said while Rei walked into the temple and looked at Shinji.
"Don't worry my disciple, you will be loved here just as I have. So rest and tomorrow we will get your body and mind fixed from the hardships and temptations of Mara."
"...nani?!" He cried out in shock.
'You will be happy, the Lord Buddha wills it.' Rei thought with a compassionate smile.
(End of origin file.)
The file screen vanished while showing an image of the being as several stats appeared below it, loading at an alarming rate.
(Accessing data….data found.)
Bio: Within this timeline, the clone Rei II was spirited away from NERV and is raised and trained by a group of wandering warrior monks. They take her in and help her find both peace of mind and independence through training and spiritualism that allows her to break from her conditioning and become a better person as a result.
Personality: is more talkative with a devout belief in Buddhism and eastern cultures, instead of the western religions that NERV follow. Is also strangely attracted to Shinji and thinks he's in need of salvation.
Powers: knows and has trained in various martial arts along with having mastery over non gun based weapons and a strange ability to control LCL with her mind, but other than that she's still human, although she can summon her EVA without being near it and can control it through LCL manipulation.
Franchise: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Fate: to travel the world with Shinji and obtain disciples in the process.
Alter Level: 6
(Ending log.)
The screen turned off as it became dark as night once again.