Creation began on 11-17-15

Creation ended on 09-04-16

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Beast's Day Out

It disturbed NERV's majority personnel to no extent that they were playing host to a genetic amalgamation of reptilian and human DNA that was like some sort of…pet or companion to the Third Child. Many of the men and women were afraid of it further when it was suspected that it was a surviving relic from Ultratech's glory days, meaning it had been around since before Second Impact. But the boy was hardly afraid of her, willing to be in the same room with her, despite her dangerous appearance (and Shinji actually had the gall to say that she actually looked nice once you looked past her brutish exterior).

What was worse than usual for them was that Shinji did worse than keep her in the quarters he lived in within the base. He went and gave the creature a name that gave her individuality because Project Riptor wasn't a name. It was a designation.

"At least he's agreed to pilot the Eva until further notice," said Maya to Ritsuko one day as Shinji was in the Entry Plug undergoing testing.

"Yeah, but he keeps a creature that people would rather keep in a cage or research installation…and it was Ultratech property."

"If Yuki-Onna has any substantial value, Shinji's likely to disregard her scientific potential."

"What? Yuki-Onna?"

"That's what he calls her now."

"Snow Woman?"

"It has a symbolic meaning. 'Snow'…because he's never seen snow, and 'woman'…because the creature is mainly female."

"It's actually an hermaphroditic organism; it's both male and female."

"Some reptiles can spontaneously change sex, and this hybrid is one of them?"

"Like I said, Ultratech property. Those guys knew more than we do at the moment."

Within the plug, Shinji thought about Yuki-Onna. He originally tried other names with her, such as Sora, Miyuki, Aki and Sakuya, but Yuki-Onna couldn't agree with those as her name. So he tried to search the Internet for a suitable name…and ended up looking at an encyclopedic entry for the fabled yuki-onna or snow woman from the myths…and that was how this Project Riptor became Yuki-Onna.

I may have blown whatever chance I had for a regular life, he thought, though that chance had been, more or less, taken the day his mother just up and died and his father abandoning him shortly after, but I hope that Yuki-Onna stays close.

-x-

"…So far, sir, she hasn't left the Third Child's quarters," said a Section Two agent informed Gendo over the phone, standing watch outside the boy's quarters.

"Try to keep it there until the Third Child returns, then follow them if they go out," Gendo ordered him.

Unfortunately, the door to the boy's quarters opened…and Yuki-Onna stepped out, surprising the agent so much that he dropped his cell phone.

"Grr… Your breath stinks." Yuki-Onna told him, and stepped away, carrying the Third Child's backpack in her right arm.

The agent picked up his phone and informed Commander Ikari that the creature was now on the move with the Third Child's backpack.

-x-

"Ahhh…" Shinji yawned as he stepped out of the men's locker room and into the hallway. "I wonder what the school is supposed to be like."

"Aaah!" He then heard a woman scream, and saw one running up the hall towards him…and past him. "Aaah!"

Shinji saw Yuki-Onna with his backpack and deduced that the woman was running from her, despite the fact that she hadn't done anything to him.

"Hey, Yuki-Onna," he greeted her.

"Grr… Hello," she responded, and handed him his backpack.

"Thank you."

-x-

"…How long do you think before the city's emptied out of people because of his pet and not the Angels?" Hyuga asked Misato as they were watching the surveillance cameras of the empty streets of the city as the Third Child and Yuki-Onna were wandering around.

"Unlike the Angels, this creature isn't large enough to make people want to send an army or extermination squad," Misato sighed, "and doesn't have an agenda that involves human extinction or has any affiliation with the Angels."

"If this thing had a nose ring, it'd be just like Old Lace."

"Old Lace?"

"Comic book dinosaur."

On the monitors, the reptilian/human hybrid pointed upwards in front of a building beside Shinji…and then did the unexpected: She got under Shinji and started to climb up the side of the building, surprising said boy as he held on tight.

"Whoa!" Hyuga gasped.

"Okay, send in Section Two," Misato ordered; she didn't trust this crossbreed as far as she could stomach it, even if Shinji said she was a female.

-x-

Shinji was surprised by Yuki-Onna's idea to view the city from up on high, and almost threw up from being carried by her up the side of a building. It was quite spectacular, having her just do something that seemed completely unlike a creature that resembled a dinosaur. But he couldn't deny the sight was impressive. The city, while clearly a technological development, didn't seem so welcoming, but was at least nice to look at.

"Quite a beauty, isn't it, Yuki-Onna?" Shinji asked, sitting on the ledge with her.

"Beauty… Beautiful," she said back, and then patted his head. "Friend…think…beautiful…I?"

She's asking if she's beautiful? Shinji realized. "Yes, Yuki-Onna… You are beautiful."

She removed her right claw from his head and placed it on his shoulder.

"Friend…beautiful…too," she told him.

"Uh… Thank you."

-x-

"…It looks like she just wanted to show him a good view of the city," went Shigeru on the bridge.

"It doesn't seem like this thing wants to hurt the boy at all," Maya added, zooming in on the recording of the boy and the crossbreed on the roof.

"…Friend…think…beautiful…I?" They heard the dinosaur say to Shinji.

"Yes, Yuki-Onna, you are beautiful," they heard him say back to her.

"Friend beautiful, too."

"Uh, thank you."

Misato turned to look at Ritsuko and asked, "That's a creepy conversation they're having about beauty, isn't it?"

"And the creature asked him," the faux-blond responded. "Strangest thing, this animal shouldn't be capable of speech. At least not with a snout. And the vocal cords should be incapable of basic speech, yet this thing is speaking."

"Well, given Ultratech's apparent mastery of genetic engineering, they probably didn't expect it to be able to talk." Shigeru expressed. "Or it could be adapting, evolving."

"Oh, come on!" Hyuga expressed, not at what Shigeru suggested, but at what Yuki-Onna just did with Shinji. "Thrill seeker!"

Yuki-Onna, with Shinji on her back like a rider and his horse, jumped off the building and into the air, free falling and landing on the roof of the building across the street from it.

Shinji, who seemed terrified of the stunt, held on for dear life, and looked like he couldn't believe that she just did that, and then continued to hold onto her back.

Yuki-Onna then ran and jumped off onto the next roof that led down to the streets.

"If only this creature were dead," went Ritsuko, being scientific, "we could understand how its brain and nervous system work."

"You didn't want to study her piss, and now you're interested in studying her?" Misato asked.

-x-

Shinji was frightened at first by Yuki-Onna's method of getting off the building rooftop, but he wouldn't deny it was only at first. The travel to the ground was fast and unlike an elevator. A breeze in your face, behind your back, the world beneath your feet as they dangled from one building top to another.

Yuki-Onna seemed to know exactly what she was doing, where she needed to dig her claws into, which building to jump to, how fast she needed to move and so on.

-x-

"…These are other files salvaged from Ultratech?" Ritsuko questioned Gendo, who showed her folders of other projects the old corporation had been working on before Second Impact. "Project Fulgore? Project Spinal? Project Cinder?"

"If you can, see if anything of what was done in Projects Fulgore and Spinal can be introduced to the Eva program," he ordered her. "Also, we may need to study this Project Riptor more thoroughly in order to discover what the creature is capable of, as it is an unstable factor we may have to deal with later .on "

Fuyutsuki, who was in the office with them, however, was having doubts that NERV should try and pick up where Ultratech left off when they went out of business, even if it was to improve their Evas or add more security to their personnel forces.

"Ikari, this may not be the right choice," he expressed his opinion on the subject.

"We need to be ready for any other unexpected encounters like this crossbreed that the Third Child has become attached to," Gendo declared, unconcerned with any ethical issues regarding what they already did in NERV.

"You think this relic of Project Riptor would harm him?"

"It hasn't so far…but that doesn't mean that it won't at a later time. Certain predators will manipulate their prey."

Somehow, it doesn't seem like the creature is manipulating your son.

-x-

"…Grr…" Shinji heard Yuki-Onna groaned as he saw her looking at a series of framed photos on display in a picture shop, pressing her head against the glass.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, noticing the pictures were of tranquil settings with people (probably families, even) on friendly outings.

Yuki-Onna thought of her past before she met Shinji, back when she was around men and women in white, like the woman they saw here underground. Before they ever met, she didn't think of the time where she was bred to be a weapon of some sort for whoever made it possible for her to exist. But there were these moments, flashes or instantaneous recalls where she saw people she never saw, heard things she never heard…and said things she never said before. It didn't make sense to her back then…and it still didn't make any sense to her now, knowing bits and pieces of things or places she was never supposed to know…and then trying to speak when it had been impossible in the initial attempts.

"Yuki-Onna?" Shinji asked her again, but she didn't respond. "Yuki?"

"It…hurts…thinking…" She uttered, raising her claws against the glass. "Mem…memories."

"Memories? You mean…it hurts to think about memories?"

"Memories…not mine."

Not yours? Memories that aren't yours? What are you talking about?

"Faces…never seen… Voices…never heard… Things…never did…" She continued.

Faces, voices…and things never done? Maybe it's something to do with her past.

He reached out to her head and she looked at him.

She removed her left claw from the glass and placed it on his shoulder.

"Let's get outta here," he suggested.

To be continued…

A/N: I don't know when the next chapter will be posted, but you get a glimpse at Riptor/Yuki-Onna's inherited genetic memories from the human DNA in her hybrid makeup.