Creation began on 06-28-18

Creation ended on 08-11-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Beast rejuvenates

Shinji awoke to the next day, remembering that he fell asleep in front of Yuki-Onna as she recovered on his bed, and found said girl asleep beside him on the floor, her left claw on his right side.

"Yuki-Onna?" He asked, and her left eye opened in front of his face, narrowing on him.

"Grrr… Awake," she responded, and then got up.

"Are you feeling okay?"

She flexed her claws and stood strongly on her legs, feeling a little better than before she fell asleep the second time to recover from her injuries.

"I am okay," she answered him.

-x-

Spending fifteen years wandering between life and death wasn't an easy way to live for her, but somehow, the phenomenon that became known to her as Second Impact caused the spiritual boundaries that kept the realm of the afterlife separate from the world of the living to become shattered in some places, allowing her to escape from a state of purgatory and walk the Earth like she used to. Or at least, almost like she used to. There were some rumors that started shortly after she had returned, something about a ghost girl haunting the streets of wherever she went, carrying with her a large naginata with a red ribbon tied onto its blade. Unfortunately, the rumors only traveled as far as the country of her birth, never spreading any further than that.

For the wandering spirit known as Hisako, this was no different from her previous purgatory: Inescapable and filled with dread. And it was this dread that brought her here for some reason. To this godless city that was called Tokyo-3.

"Something is coming," she spoke, standing on the road in front of the city. "There is unrest here…and I will cut it down."

The dark-haired woman, or girl, based on her looks, dressed in a tattered, pink kimono with white flowers and a red obi sash around her waist, walked into the city…and brought her despair along with her with each step from her bare feet.

-x-

"…We hope you enjoy your stay while you're here in Japan, Mr. Sabrewulf," a woman said to a man with an aged face and was as white as the very clouds in the sky.

"Thank you," responded Konrad von Sabrewulf, accepting his passport back from the woman and walking out of the airport just five miles outside of Tokyo-3. Who would want to come to this place after fifteen years? The whole country's ravaged by perpetual summertime. I'd prefer coming here when there are seasons.

In honesty, Sabrewulf was content to spend the rest of his life as a reclusive individual at his German castle back home. The fact that he received a mysterious letter from someone claiming to know what he went through over fifteen years ago with Ultratech, he was curious as to why anyone would want to bring up his involvement with such a corporation that promised him his salvation should he do one, not-so-simple task for them, which, against his bitter judgment, he managed to do…and never wanted to repeat. Still, even as he walked out of the airport towards his taxi, he couldn't help but wonder who would want him and why.

-x-

"…So, you have absolutely no clue as to who attacked you and why?" Misato asked Shinji, who was examining Yuki-Onna's arms after removing her bandages.

"No," he responded, "and as I said before, it wasn't me they were hurting. It was Yuki-Onna. They ignored me completely."

All NERV could really suspect that the attack yesterday had to have involved the Third Child in some sort of way, but to hear from the boy himself state that he wasn't a target made some think otherwise of a different reason this attack occurred.

"And she didn't hurt you as you were tending to her wounds?" Ritsuko asked him.

"If you're thinking that she would dare to hurt me just because a guy dressed like a blue ninja and a girl in a green leotard showed up out of nowhere and started this bull, you're as crazy as they were to do so," Shinji called them out; he doubt this would be the only time anyone would even suspect or suggest that Yuki-Onna was capable of harming Shinji just because of something like this. "Don't even think for a moment that Yuki-Onna would go there."

Man, he's very defensive of her, thought Misato, and then she noticed the way the hybrid was looking at her, as though she was offended by the mere thought. "What?"

"I…don't…hurt…friend," she declared to her, and then patted Shinji on his head again. "Friend…is…precious…to…me."

-x-

The gathered footage from the previous day still left much to be ascertained over the fight that left the Riptor hybrid considerably injured and requiring several hours to recover from.

"Whoever these two are," said Gendo to Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko and Misato (the latter two, who had finished their conversation with Shinji half an hour ago) in his office, "they might've came close to actually killing this creature."

"They didn't seem to have any fear or hesitation when facing her," Misato shared her assumption, seeing that the man in blue was hardly relenting with each blow he gave the hybrid. "Is it possible they've fought something like her before?"

"With Ultratech, it's possible that there were more of these members of the Riptor Project," Ritsuko suggested, "and this one is just another one they feel needs to be eliminated."

"Where is the Third Child now?" Gendo asked.

"Undergoing another sync test with Unit-01," the faux-blond answered. "The Riptor hybrid is present."

"It is possible that as long as these two are after it, they may try to infiltrate this facility, meaning its very presence here compromises our ability to do our mission to deal with the Angels."

"Except that its presence and perpetual involvement in the Third Child's presence here is what actually allows us to use the Eva to the full extent of its abilities," Fuyutsuki stated; he had to remind them that there was a reason Shinji even put up with being here so long as the hybrid was allowed to be with him here…and if they felt at risk with it here, he would walk away.

Put quite simply, they only had an adequate pilot for the Eva…so long as the beast was permitted to stay with them. If Gendo made the order to remove the creature, he'd risk losing the Third Child, compromising their use of Unit-01.

"That man approached me with this duty," Shinji had told them, "not the other way around."

Why are we even discussing this? Misato wondered. It's not like we're in any danger by having her here. If they're just after her because of her status, they'd have a hard time just trying to get through the front door.

-x-

Yuki-Onna wasn't as dumb as she probably was before meeting Shinji, so she could understand that her presence in this underground facility was causing problems, simply because the assault upon her the day before had involved Shinji's presence. But Shinji put up with the people that felt she was dangerous, even though Yuki-Onna had confessed to eating human corpses before they met. He couldn't see any reason to fear her beyond their initial and second encounter when she came after him.

"You're looking much better, Yuki-Onna," Shinji told her as he took notice of her back and head injuries appearing smaller than yesterday when they were inflicted upon her.

"Fast healing," she responded as she sat with him in the fountain garden of the base.

"Your…reptilian heritage, Yuki-Onna, which is probably how you were able to survive. You'll probably be all better by the end of the day."

Yuki-Onna then raised her claws up and looked at them.

"Reptilian," she uttered.

"Human, too," he reminded, putting his hands over hers.

"Not in appearance."

"I see you…and I see you as human…even if you don't look it. You speak like people do when they're old enough to talk, you feel pain and express it when you do, you feel happiness and understand things, ask questions when you don't, and…you didn't want to fight those two people that attacked you yesterday. Some people, and that includes you, don't want to fight all the time, and you don't have any reason to want to fight with anyone…but…maybe you should fight back when you're placed in danger when you can't walk away."

"Fight back?"

"Only when you can't walk away, when the people that choose to mess with you and talking does nothing. Maybe you hit them somewhere…and when they're stunned, you get as far away from them as you can."

"Friend smart."

-x-

"You two," Sabrewulf grunted when he met Jago and Orchid at the park in Tokyo-3. "I thought I'd never see you again after that ridiculous tournament over twenty years ago."

"Funny how nothing works out the way you want them to," Orchid expressed while Jago bowed his head to the elder.

"While you've been enjoying a life of humanity, we've been searching for any trace of Ultratech's shadows," the ninja then informed him. "We found one such shadow here. You remember Riptor?"

Sabrewulf's eyes twitched as the memory of the hybrid dinosaur's claws slashed at his werewolf form during their battle.

"I thought that abomination was dead," he told them.

"The one we encountered back then is dead," Orchid revealed. "The one we saw yesterday is a new one…and it was with a fourteen-year-old boy."

"Since when does a teenager end up in the presence of a hybrid like that…and has yet to end up its dinner? Is the boy still alive?"

"Very…but when the creature got away from us, it left with the kid. He was…worried about its safety."

"And the creature itself, did it ever try to fight back?"

"It seemed like it didn't know how," Jago expressed. "It just ran off with the boy when the opportunity presented itself."

Sabrewulf swore he wasn't going to get involved in this mess with Ultratech again, even if the corporation was a thing of the past. Whatever these two were going to do about it, they had to do it without the aid of a former member of the damned.

"We are all members of the damned," they heard a girl's voice say to them.

"Who's there?" Orchid demanded.

Standing by the lake, or rather, on the water of the lake, they saw the spirit of Hisako, her kimono flowing around her as though a breeze were acting up, her naginata in her arms in front of her.

"My name is Hisako," she introduced herself to them, "and there is unrest in this soulless, godless city…and it must be cut down."

Jago felt an unusual aura emanating from this girl and realized that she was a member of the dead.

"You're dead," he revealed, "nothing more than a ghost of a young maiden cursed to walk in the land of the living until you return to the realm of the dead. We'll deal with the hybrid beast."

"The monster that you mentioned was called Riptor? The dinosaur that walks among the people…is not a part of the unrest that exists within this city where the gods are not welcome. There is something else here…more dangerous…and it calls all shadows to its deep void, seeking to be whole once more."

"There's something else here in this city, more dangerous than a Riptor?" Orchid questioned.

"It wanders throughout the streets, even now, at this very moment, looking for the shadows to fill its void. It will not rest…until all the shadows are within its void. We are all but shadows it will seek out."

Then Hisako vanished from the lake…and behind Sabrewulf!

He moved away from her before she could do anything and almost thought he'd have a heart attack.

"I never should've come here," he admitted.

"It was not these two that summoned you here," she revealed. "It was the source of the unrest in this city that called you here, Mr. Sabrewulf. It calls all from the shadows to its void."

-x-

Looking at herself in the mirror, Yuki-Onna saw all traces of her injuries nonexistent on her body. Her lacerations and damaged flesh had all regenerated. She was fully healed. Then, she turned to look at a sleeping Shinji, who had passed out on his bed, and returned to lie on the floor beside him.

She decided to take his suggestion to heart. The next time she was attacked…and simply walking away or talking wouldn't resolve the matter, she would defend herself only to get away. She would fight back to the best of her abilities, but not to inflict harm upon anyone that was life-threatening. It would be just to escape and not to suffer at their hands.

"I will fight back," she told herself before drifting to sleep, affirming her new conviction.

To be continued…

A/N: Uh-oh. Now we got to wait for what's going on to make itself known. What could this unrest be?