Episode 23 - Desperately Saban-ing Zeruel
It was a quiet start to the afternoon one day at NERV HQ. The pilots had just finished a test and were leaving their respective locker rooms, when three out of the four saw something out of the ordinary. Neither of them had noticed as they came in earlier, but now that they'd gotten refreshed after hours of testing, it finally became apparent to them:
Rei's hair was longer.
None of them had ever thought of picturing her with it, but yet there she was, the pilot of Unit-00, now with a beautiful azure waterfall flowing from her head in contrast to Asuka's blazing red firestorm. Even Asuka herself had to admit, Rei actually looked very stunning with longer hair.
"Holy Schnike," Asuka said softly and in awe.
"...Since when did you stop getting your hair cut?" Shinji asked.
"Two weeks ago," Rei replied nonchalantly. "I read somewhere that longer hair was seen as an attractive physical trait, so I decided to 'let my hair down'."
"Ooookay, but it normally takes longer for hair to grow out by that much!" Asuka pointed out. "And yet you say it's only been a two weeks?"
"Yeah, what's your secret, Ayanami?" Toji asked.
Rei, not wanting to disclose the truth of her origins quite just yet, gave them an answer with some hint of truth. "My family has good genetics," Rei replied.
"Must be really good then," Asuka said as she felt a strand of the blue locks. "And so shiny and voluminous...Did you-?"
"Yes," Rei preemptively answered. "I did utilize some of the products you and Hikari picked out for me. They appear to be doing their job quite efficiently."
"No wonder a lot of the guys at school have been droolin' over you lately," Toji said.
"It is my hope that there will be one guy in particular who will, as you say, drool over me once he sees for himself," Rei said in turn, a beatific smile beginning to appear on her face at the thought.
"And we all know who that guy is," Asuka whispered into Shinji's ear, who nodded in agreement. Even after all the months he'd been in the city, it still stunned them to see Rei with a schoolgirl crush much like the one Asuka had on Kaji; that it was Freakazoid who she was carrying a torch for made it even more surprising. Come to think of it, it seemed like she was the only girl at school with a crush on the wacky superhero.
"Oh, anyone want to join me in a minute?" Shinji asked as he started heading to the break room. "Lt. Ibuki's letting me feed Leiliel today."
"I still can't believe how much that Angel's been acting like a house pet," Asuka noted as she walked with him, the other two following behind. "Let alone with an appetite bigger than Garfield's and Scooby-Doo's combined."
Like some of the others at HQ, the pilots had been really shocked by the discovery of the 12th Angel's sweet tooth. Thanks to that, Ritsuko and the rest of her staff had made strides in understanding Leiliel's dimensional rift powers, rewarding the creature for its cooperation with food. Shinji had been asked by Maya to prepare a special treat for Leiliel, and he'd delivered as he took a container out of the break room's microwave and headed to the lab where she and the Angel were waiting. Shinji then set the container on a counter top and opened the lid, revealing the treat in question: homemade taiyaki, little fish-shaped waffles filled with sweet red bean paste. Using a pair of tongs, Shinji took one of the steaming taiyaki and lowered it into Leiliel's current dwelling: an ACME progressive terrarium, something Maya had ordered with Ritsuko's go-ahead. Once in, Shinji dropped the taiyaki, causing Leiliel to shift to portal mode in order to eat it whole. Eagerly awaiting its reaction, Shinji beamed with pride as Leiliel's orb avatar returned, this time with a big heart-shaped pattern present. In other words, Leiliel very much approved of the taiyaki.
"Something tells me you're going to be Leiliel's favorite person for a while," Maya said with a chuckle.
"Here, give them a try, I made enough to share," Shinji offered. Upon being given the invitation, the others each took a taiyaki for themselves and took a bite.
"Mmmm, these are good!" Maya commented.
"Yeah, Shin-man, ya hit the jackpot wit' these," added Toji, talking with his mouth full.
"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" Asuka said as she savored the taste, before planting a quick kiss on Shinji's cheek.
"Thanks," Shinji replied. He then briefly looked our way, a hand held to his lips in whisper. "The secret's in the filling."
An abandoned beach town on the Japanese coastline...
Zeruel was bored. Extremely bored. The inspection at the customs checkpoint had taken longer than it'd initially guessed, and it had gone through nearly every magazine in the abandoned store to pass the time. It'd taken 15 personality quizzes, solved 27 crossword puzzles, scoffed at 53 tabloids, and managed to correctly guess the punchlines of 4 MAD magazine fold-ins. It was at that point in its musings that something finally made Zeruel slap itself upside the head, as it finally realized something:
It had been royally had.
Fuming, the Angel of Might unleashed a deafening roar and smashed the customs checkpoint to smithereens, along with the guard droids. Now more determined than ever, Zeruel then began to head towards Tokyo-3 as it followed the mysterious call once more.
The Freakalair, minutes later...
A beeping from the Freak-a-puter caused Freakazoid to drop his magazine and look up at the alert on the screen.
"R.O.D.D.Y., is that-?" Freakazoid started to ask.
Looks like the Angel's on to us, Kensuke theorized.
"Aye, laddie, it was gonna happen sooner rather than later," the cyber-Scotsman gravely indicated. "Let's hope our repainted, retrofitted and re-armed tinker toy's up to the task."
"Oh, it'll be up to it, all right..." Freakazoid said with a knowing grin.
Central Dogma, moments later...
"All personnel, battle stations, Level One. Prepare for ground-to-air intercept."
"Target status?" Fuyutsuki asked, bracing himself for the coming struggle.
"Currently advancing," Shigeru replied, "it's already penetrated the Komagatake Defense line."
The minute Zeruel entered the city limits, all manner of artillery unleashed a full volley of firepower on the immense Angel, all of which failed to so much as scratch it, even without it deploying an AT-Field. Zeruel, in turn, unleashed a powerful beam blast that decimated the defenses, as well as penetrated the first eighteen layers of armor above the Geofront.
Makoto was stunned by this show of force, until his attention turned to the arrival of Misato on the bridge.
"The EVAs won't make it topside in time for a ground-level intercept," Misato solemnly declared. "I want all four EVAs positioned for combat inside the Geofront, directly in front of headquarters." She figured that this fight was going to be more brutal than the previous ones, and silently prayed for the pilots to be safe as EVA Units 00 through 03 were launched to the target destination. "Pilots, you'll engage the target as soon as it breaches the Geofront. Be careful out there, is that understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" all four pilots replied.
Meanwhile, Zeruel unleashed another beam blast, resulting in another massive explosion that broke through to the surface of another part of the city.
"We're getting pulverized here!" Shigeru shouted. "One more hit and it'll have breached all the armor layers!"
Misato stared at the screen with grim determination. We're counting on you guys...she thought to herself.
One blast later, and Zeruel finally broke through, floating down towards the lake of the Geofront. Stationed far from the opening, the four EVAs awaited its approach, weapons at the ready.
"Here it comes..." Asuka warned.
"Man, I can't believe we gotta fight that thing!" Toji said with wide eyes, before swallowing.
"We warned you about getting into this," Shinji reminded his friend. "You know, part of me's kind of sorry about doing this, considering how friendly we've gotten with Leiliel."
"Don't dwell on it," Asuka said. "I don't think we can magic our way out of this one, and something tells me Mr. Killing Machine here's not in the mood to be reasoned with."
Shinji held a standard pallet rifle, Asuka carried a grenade launcher, Toji had a rocket launcher, and Rei was equipped with a positron rifle. All had their sights on the ever-approaching Zeruel.
"Fire away!" Asuka shouted, as she and the others let loose a full salvo of ammo and artillery against the Angel of might. When the dust cleared, it became apparent that they were in for a tough one, as Zeruel continued forward.
"Reload, quick!" Asuka barked alarmingly as the EVAs quickly retrieved fresh ammo and weapons from the cache that'd just emerged near them. "Don't let it get any closer, no matter what!" The quartet soon fired off another volley at Zeruel, which again proved ineffectual.
Asuka, these tactics aren't working, Kyoko Zeppelin-Sohryu warned as she communicated with Asuka from within Unit-02's core. You'll need to get in closer to try and breach its defenses!
No kidding, Asuka thought back. "Are we even neutralizing its AT-Field?"
"I don't think it's even got its field out at all!" Shinji replied.
"He is right," Rei added. "I have not seen any hexagonal patterns since we began firing at it."
"Then that means it's got really thick skin," Toji noted with a worried tone of voice. "Yeesh! We're basically fighting Fort Knox here!"
When the dust from the second volley of firepower cleared, Zeruel, having landed on the ground, unfolded paper-thin protrusions from its shoulders into a pair of flat-looking arms.
"What the-?!" Asuka wondered upon seeing this development.
Zeruel then sent its arms flying towards the EVAs, slicing off a good portion of the forest greenery as it did like a gigantic lawnmower.
"DODGE, QUICK!" Shinji cried.
Everyone did as he said and did their best to avoid the razor-thin, razor-sharp appendages. When Unit-01 and Unit-03 peeked up from behind a ridge, Zeruel's right arm quickly swiped just above their heads. It was then that part of Unit-01's horn, cleanly-sliced by the arm, fell off, making both Units' eyes widen.
"Nhaaaaah!" Shinji and Toji both let out, doing their best Curly imitation. Unit-02 and Unit-00 then appeared beside them and hoisted them up by the back of their collars before they could attempt to run.
"Knock it off!" Asuka ordered in a Moe-like fashion. "C'mon, ya chowderheads, get back in there!"
From his melon patch, Kaji watched the battle, worry on his face and both sets of fingers crossed. "C'mon, kids..." he said to himself. "You're all we've got. We really need you now..."
Before Zeruel could charge up another blast, one aimed directly at the black pyramid-like building that was NERV HQ, it was suddenly interrupted by a shout from below.
"NOT SO FAST, TALL, DARK AND UGLY!"
Perplexed by the suddenness of that statement, Zeruel looked around for the source.
"Down here, metal-mug!"
Zeruel, confused, finally looked down. In Central Dogma, Makoto had any nearby cameras focus in on where the shouts had originated, and soon found the individual they'd come from, surprising not only the staff, but also the pilots.
Standing between the two warring, gigantic forces of destruction was Freakazoid, a big confident smile on his face and his chest forward.
"How the heck did he get down there?!" Ritsuko asked alarmingly. "Wait, forget that, why's he there in the first place?! He'll be killed!"
...And everyone's worried? Gendo thought to himself, uncaring with regards to the superhero's fate. What can he, for all his power, do against a creature such as this?
Rei, a very concerned expression on her face, turned on Unit-00's speakers.
"Freakazoid, get out of here!" she pleaded. "The Angel will atomize you! Please! I can't bear the thought of losing you!"
"Don't you worry about little old me," Freakazoid replied, undeterred, as he got into a variety of strangely Sentai-ish super-poses. "I didn't come to this fight without bringing the right hardware and firepower to bear. Get ready..." Freakazoid then got out an object from behind his person; it resembled a silvery belt buckle, with a gold coin bearing his face in the center. "'Cause it's time for some Freakazord power!"
"FREAKAZORD?!" wondered all four pilots and most of the key staff on the bridge.
-X-
Kensuke took a moment to address us directly from the Freakazone, his hands clasped together almost as if showing reverence.
"To the fine folks in the legal department of Saban Capital Group," he said pleadingly, "please please PLEASE don't sue us! I mean after all, parodies are in fact covered under the fair use doctrine, right?"
-X-
[Suggested music: the Freakazoid theme song, if done in the style of Haim Saban and Shuki Levy.]
Freakazoid then held the buckle in front of him, as a quick-cut put him in a circle surrounded by static bolts, bordered by the frame of a larger version of the buckle.
"Super-mega-Freak-Out!" he shouted very dramatically. Flashes of light then appeared over him as his costume changed. Soon, he had a white diamond under the logo on his chest, the buckle was now on a white belt around his waist, and red diamonds were now on his gloves and boots. Additionally, a grinning metal face mask underneath an opaque visor was on his face.
The pilots then heard a noise coming from the rail lines leading into the Geofront, and were surprised to see two strange-looking bullet trains power through the tunnels. Both were red in the middle, with a white front and back car book-ending each. Then the sound of powerful jets was heard as a large flying fortress entered through the massive hole that Zeruel had created, and rendezvoused with the bullet trains, which leaped off the tracks with the aid of some jump-jets underneath their chassis. All eyes then bore witness as the vehicles underwent an astounding transformation. First, the two sets of trains split in half, with one pair turning into a pair of arms, and the other becoming legs. The flying fortress then shape-shifted into a torso that surprisingly looked very familiar, in particular, to Shinji, Misato, Ritsuko, and Gendo. Soon the limbs joined together with the body, and a blue, masked head emerged from a cavity in the neck. A compartment on the back opened to add a large black piece to crown the head, and surprisingly was modeled after Freakazoid's hairdo. Freakazoid himself then jumped a great height, somehow landing in the robot's cockpit. The combination/transformation now fully-completed, the large robot, eyes briefly flashing bright, got into a heroic pose at its pilot's command. The Freakazord was ready to fight.
"No way..." Shinji said with awe.
"It's-it's-" Misato started to say in disbelief.
"Jet Alone?!" a shocked Ritsuko finished.
-X-
The scene then quickly cut away to Paul Harvey in his study, leaning on his desk.
"Just what is Jet Alone, the large robot that now bears the new moniker of the Freakazord? How did Freakazoid get his hands on this gigantic fighting machine that he will ride into battle against the 14th Angel?
Jet Alone was a battle robot originally developed by Japan Heavy Chemical Industries as an alternative to NERV and the Evangelions, operated by remote control and powered by a nuclear reactor. Wanting to eliminate possible competition, Gendo Ikari ordered Ritsuko Akagi to sabotage the Jet Alone's demonstration by infecting the programming of the colossal robot with a computer virus. The robot soon went out of control and began heading towards a major city, with its core on the verge of a meltdown. Shinji Ikari, in Evangelion Unit-01, was sent to intercept the robot and keep it distracted while Misato Katsuragi, in a HAZMAT suit, would venture inside Jet Alone to manually shut it down. Successful in their endeavor, the threat was neutralized, and Japan Heavy Chemical Industries was humiliated for all their trouble, forced to send their creation into storage on government orders.
Freakazoid, upon learning of the robot from Kensuke Aida, met with JHCI CEO Shotaro Shimamura in order to acquire Jet Alone for his purposes. With the offer of royalties and a generous 60-40 split of the profits from toy sales and other forms of merchandising-in a separate deal negotiated with Takara-Tomy-an agreement was made and Freakazoid soon owned the mighty mechanized marvel. Then, within the span of a week, Freakazoid and his allies rebuilt, repainted, and rearmed the Jet Alone, transforming it into the new, highly-toyetic robotic rumbler you see today, with, among its many myriads of features and gimmicks, a new power source no longer deadly to humans. For instead of nuclear or petroleum-based substances, the Freakazord is powered by fuel created from a combination of clearanced toys from The Dark Knight Rises and unsold copies of all three books in the Twilight, Maze Runner, and Hunger Games series.
And now you know...The Rest of the Backstory. Good day!"
-X-
The scene cut back to the battle at hand, the Freakazord in a fighting stance as it faced Zeruel.
Freakazoid's face mask retracted as he spoke into a mic: "All right, tough guy-you wanna dance? Well..."
At the press of a button, a couple of speakers emerged from the Freakazord's shoulders.
"Let's DANCE!"
[Suggested music: "We Like to Party" by the Vengaboys.]
To the shock and astonishment of all eyes within the Geofront, the Freakazord then began dancing exactly like the old man in the commercials for Six Flags theme parks.
The mouths of all human observers hung open, gobsmacked by the strange, almost-surreal display in front of them.
Zeruel, jaw also nearly on the ground, was just as dumbstruck. It briefly looked our way and held up a small sign with only one thing printed on it:
WUT?
While it was distracted, one of the Freakazord's flailing arms hit Zeruel right in the gut, knocking the wind out of it and making the Angel wheeze in surprise. It couldn't believe what'd just happened-how could it have harmed it without having generated an AT-Field? Unknown to all present, Freakazoid had also equipped the Freakazord with a small design addition that Naoko provided using some specs 'borrowed' from SEELE, involving an alloy based on the material of the Lance of Longinus. It had been applied as an undercoating beneath the Freakazord's superstructure, meaning it could tangle with Angels without a problem.
"C'mon, guys, join the party!" Freakazoid urged the other pilots.
The EVAs looked at each other, confused and unsure of how to respond.
"Seriously?!" Asuka asked. Her question went unanswered as she took notice of a new occurrence: her EVA tapping its foot along to the beat. It proved to be infectious, as soon Unit-01 started bobbing along, followed by 00 and 03.
"Oh boy..." Shinji said. Soon as he said that, all four EVAs joined the Freakazord in the 'Six Flags dance', with each step landing another blow to Zeruel. The Angel tried fighting back, only to miss with every swipe as each mecha bobbed and weaved out of the way. The staff in Central Dogma continued on in their current state of speechless, astonished observation. Even Gendo was utterly baffled and bamboozled by what he was witnessing. To him, this was definitely not part of the scenario.
All of a sudden, the music paused with a start, as the Freakazord stopped mid-fight/dance, baffling the Angel and the humans. Freakazoid took note of the pinging sound throughout the cockpit. He then noticed a flashing light on the dashboard.
"Uh-oh," he said. "Something tells me I really should've addressed this design flaw before taking it into action." He then shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, well." He then spoke into the mic to address all combatants and observers. "'Scuse me a minute, folks, looks like my mecha's gotta make tinkie!"
Freakazoid then pressed a button, signaling a large structure to appear from under the ground. It looked like an EVA's weapons locker, but had a moon shape cut out in the top-center of the door. The Freakazord then made a beeline for the structure, at which point all eyewitnesses were finally clued in to what its destination was, which made them blanch:
The structure was a mecha-sized outhouse.
The Freakazord stepped right in and closed the door behind it. Just when everyone heard a zipper being undone, Freakazoid spoke again.
"Aw, nutbunnies, out of toilet paper!"
A zipper was heard being pulled back up, and the Freakazord then ran out of the outhouse and back to Zeruel. It then grabbed the left arm of the Angel and ran back to the outhouse, shutting the door behind it. Once again a zipper was heard being undone, followed by Freakazoid humming and whistling as he went about his business. A minute later, the humming/whistling stopped and was replaced by the sound of a toilet flushing, and all eyes saw Zeruel's arm zipping by, unfurling at a rapid pace as the Angel's appendage got sucked down the drain. Zeruel's eyes bugged out in disbelief as it watched its arm continue to unfurl, until finally all that was left was an empty roller in its left shoulder socket.
The Freakazord then stepped out of the outhouse, having washed its hands and dried them off with a large paper towel that it crumpled up and tossed into a compost bin. It then returned to its spot in the showdown and got back into position, facing the now strictly-North-paw Zeruel.
"Annnnd, resume!" Freakazoid said as he pressed 'play' on the dashboard. The music resumed, as did the dancing, and with it the pummeling of Zeruel. After a few minutes, Freakazoid spoke up again:
"Song change! Now let's do the 'Cha-Cha Slide'!"
"Oh, noooo..." Misato and Ritsuko both groaned, as they each did a face-palm; Kaji, all the way in his watermelon patch, did the same thing. The song made them think of the one thing they looked forward to the least whenever they went to one of their mutual friends' wedding receptions.
[Suggested music: "Cha-Cha Slide" by DJ Casper.]
The lyrics blasted from the Freakazord's speakers as it and the EVAs surrounded Zeruel, their arms outstretched.
Everybody clap your hands!
*CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP*
The Freakazord and the EVAs did indeed clap their hands-in and around Zeruel's face, leaving the massive Angel dazed, till it fell on its back. It then endured the alternating steps, stomps, hops, and criss-crossing that came with this particular staple of weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs, only with the Angel of Might being the dance mat for the mechas.
Freakazoid: "Song change!"
Zeruel somehow managed to get itself back up before Freakazoid continued, as it wobbled a bit, unsteady on its feet.
Freakazoid: "Let's give him a 'Butabi Special'!"
[Suggested music: "What is Love" by Haddaway.]
As soon as the familiar electronic bars of the club favorite, the Freakazord and the EVAs started bobbing their heads like Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan and Jim Carrey, which then turned into headbutts that knocked Zeruel senseless. For the Angel of Might, this felt nothing like a night at the Roxbury.
Freakazoid: "Song change!"
Upon hearing that, the mechas all pulled back, leaving Zeruel to stumble about.
Freakazoid: "Now for the Macadamia!"
In Central Dogma, the staff became greatly confused by what he'd referred to.
"Uh, doesn't he mean the 'Macarena'?" Shigeru asked.
[Suggested music: "Dot, The Macadamia Nut" from Animaniacs.]
As the title song blared from the Freakazord's speakers, all mecha quickly shifted steps to the beat of the parody of the famous 1996 one-hit wonder.
"Great, it's my senior prom all over again," Makoto said as he shook his head.
The only difference between the two dances was the amount of cartoony mallets involved with the Macadamia-as Zeruel found out, much to its dismay as it got wailed on from all sides. Stars danced around its head as it continued to be unsteady on its feet.
Freakazoid: "Song change!"
Regaining some of its bearings, Zeruel face-palmed, as if it were saying "Not again!".
Freakazoid: "I'll let this guy speak for himself..."
Wondering just what he was talking about, the staff and pilots got their answers when the following blasted out of the Freakazord's speakers:
Oppa Gangnam Style!
Soon the mechas started moving like Psy, with the addition of random punches socking Zeruel all around.
"This is seriously one of the weirdest Angel battles I have ever seen," Maya commented, a large sweat drop by her head.
After a few minutes of K-pop-styled thrashing, the mechas all stopped. The Freakazord then took out a large coil of ACME progressive cable and quickly ran some of it around the dazed Zeruel's legs. He then tossed the other end over a trio of exposed I-beams sticking out of one of the openings the Angel had made in the armor layers, and hoisted Zeruel up. The confused creature was now hanging upside-down a few feet above the heads of all present mecha.
"Now then, time for the real fun part!" Freakazoid said as he pressed another button. Soon, another structure like an EVA weapons locker emerged from the ground, and opened up. The pilots gaped at what they saw inside, and at Freakazoid's nudging, took one each of the objects within. Upon closer inspection, a label identified them as ACME progressive piñata sticks. On seeing these through the cameras, a number of sweat drops appeared by the heads of the staff on the bridge.
Freakazoid then held out four blindfolds for each of the EVAs. Almost reluctantly, after looking at each other briefly, each EVA took one and tied them around their heads, covering their eyes.
"Ready? Annnd...GO!" Freakazoid signaled. Soon the EVAs started making their way towards the hogtied and upside-down Zeruel, who'd just regained its bearings. Its eyes then bugged out (with the accompanying sound of a jalopy's horn) as soon as it realized what the EVAs were about to do.
"That's it, that's it," Freakazoid said with an encouraging tone, "getting warmer...warmer...annnd...you're there! Give 'em a good whack!"
Soon the EVAs started whacking Zeruel with the sticks. It was unbelievable: after giving them such a hard time, the 14th Angel-what had been, to them, the physically-strongest of the menaces they'd had to face-had been reduced to a king-size piñata. A few techs cringed a bit at each hit, while back on the battlefield, more and more cracks started to appear on Zeruel's core. Zeruel had been too dazed to engage the protective armor plate that would normally shield its core even without an AT-Field. Finally, Asuka's was the stick that landed the final *WHACK!*, which shattered Zeruel's core. The four EVAs lifted their blindfolds to see Asuka's handiwork, but then the pilots realized what was going to come next.
"Hit the dirt! AT-Fields to full power!" Asuka shouted as all four broke into a run to get as far away as possible.
The Freakazord joined them in ducking into a makeshift trench, just as Zeruel finally exploded in a great flare of light. The shockwave was enough to rattle HQ, causing a few of the staff on the bridge to stumble. When the dust cleared, the EVAs and the Freakazord peered over the ridge of the trench, and saw the shallow crater left in the wake of Zeruel's destruction. It took the stunned staff in Central Dogma a few moments to realize that the Angel had been defeated, and the whole bridge soon erupted into cheers that could be heard in the EVAs' entry plugs. The pilots, on the other hand, merely breathed a sigh of relief.
"Pilots, great work out there," Misato congratulated over the comms. "Once you get back, we'll need to debrief you. After that, go home and get some rest-you've really earned it." She then turned on the external PA for HQ. "Freakazoid, on behalf of all of us-" Gendo grumbled as he got up from his perch and headed to his office. "Well, most of us, let me just say: thank you. You were a big help to us today."
Freakazoid smiled as he then spoke into his mic. "No problemo, Major, all in a day's work," he said, before adding with no small amount of ham, "And now, away I go!" With that, he activated the deployable thruster pack on the back of the Freakazord, and the giant robot soon flew through the opening out of the Geofront, another mission accomplished.
To be continued...
**Author's Note(s)**
Pretty unconventional way to depict the battle with Zeruel, wouldn't you say?
Rei growing her hair out longer is a detail I lifted from Tribun's "Going Another Way", a good story if I do say so.
The taiyaki bit is inspired by a favorite food truck of mine that specializes in the pastry, with a variety of unusual fillings in addition to the traditional red bean paste on its menu.
The battle with Zeruel sees another Three Stooges shout-out, partly-inspired by the episode of MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch that pitted them against the Three Tenors. (It's one of my favorite fights.)
The main set piece of the battle, the rebuilt Jet Alone, is all one big spoof of the Power Rangers franchise. It's also a callback to a segment from Animaniacs, season 3, episode 1, "Super Strong Warner Siblings". (The show also is also paid homage with my inclusion of the song from season 5, episode 2.) The whole 'defeat by dancing mechas' was all me. The 'Butabi Special' and use of Haddaway's song refers to the late-90's Saturday Night Live sketches where Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan play the club-hopping Butabi brothers, who would then headline their own movie spinoff with 1998's A Night at the Roxbury. [The headbutting is a nod to another of my favorite Celebrity Deathmatch fights, Bill Murray vs. Chris Kattan.]
For an artist's rendition of the Freakazord, see my latest DeviantArt submission. On the site, search for 'NERV Freaks Out: 'The Freakazord'.'