Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z or Neon Genesis Evangelion and I make no money from this.
Chapter 2: The first battle.
Kole and Shinji continued to size each other up while everyone else waited for the fight to start. While Piccolo and Gohan were relatively relaxed, Misato was in a full panic. "Shouldn't you two help him fight this guy?" Misato looked at Gohan with pleading eyes while Gohan merely smiled at the situation. "Trust me Misato, Shinji does not need our help to beat this guy. This guy's power level is nothing compared to Shinji. I give this guy five minutes." Piccolo spoke up from the other side of the group. "Three minutes, max." Ritsuko was staring dumbstruck at what the fighters were doing. "How can they be flying? Its not possible."
Suddenly the fight started. Kole seemed to take control almost immediately. Shinji was subjected to a brutal assault of punches to his stomach followed by a hammerfist that sent him to the ground. Shinji staggered back to his feet and glared at Kole defiantly. Kole decided to gloat a little. "Is that all you have little boy? After all your tough talk before, this all you can muster? What a joke." Shinji began to laugh at his opponent. "What's so funny worm?" Shinji stopped. "This is!"
Shinji disappeared and when he reappeared his fist was buried in Koles stomach. Kole retched and some green blood flew from his open mouth. "How…how…how?" Shinji smirked at his opponent. "Only a fool uses his true power at the start of a fight. I let you get the first attack so I would know how much power to use against you." Shinji finished with a kick that sent Kole into the mountainside. As Kole staggered back to his feet he was trying to figure out what the hell just happened to him. 'He's just an earthling. How the hell can he have so much power?' A smile crossed the aliens face. "Lets see you stop this attack boy." Kole pointed his palms at Shinji and released a massive ball of blue energy. Shinji just floated there and let the blast hit him. The energy engulfed Shinji and exploded blanketing the area with black smoke. "That'll teach the runt to mock my power."
"Shinji!" Misato stared at the spot of the explosion with a look of disbelief on her face. 'How could Shinji have lost? Didn't Gohan say he would win?' Just before she burst into tears a glow began to light up the smoke. As it cleared Shinji was floating there with the same smirk on his face. "Don't you ever learn? You are no match for me. Just watch." Shinji raised both of his hands above his head. "MA-SEN-KO-HA!" A giant blast of golden energy headed straight for Kole. Kole tried to deflect it with another energy ball but failed. The deadly blast headed for Kole as he raised his arms in an attempt to shield himself from the full effects of Shinji's blast. When the dust settled Kole was barely standing. A huge chunk of the mountain was gouged away and the alien's armor was virtually destroyed.
Shinji smirked down at his handiwork while everyone except Piccolo and Gohan gaped at the destruction. Kole was struggling to stay standing as Shinji descended towards him. "Where are your insults now, huh? I thought you had more power than that." Koles's fear was self evident on his face. "Since I'm feeling generous I'm going to let you go this time. If you don't leave I show you what it's like to feel more than a tenth of my power. Tell whoever you're working for that this planet is off limits for them, understand?"
Kole managed to nod. "Good now leave, immediately!" Kole vanished as soon as the words left Shinji's mouth. He floated back to where the NERV personnel were gathered. They stared at Shinji like he had grown a second head. Shinji looked confused. "What? Is there something on my gi?"
X
A few hours after the battle with Kole, Ritsuko was reporting to Gendo Ikari. "Doctor, what is the situation with the Third Child and his…friends." Ritsuko seemed nervous under the commander's gaze but tried not to show it. "Well the tests on Shinji proved quite interesting. We took blood and tissue samples and ran DNA tests on both. It seems certain strands of Shinji's DNA have been replaced by Eva DNA." The commander looked disturbed at this announcement.
"How can this be possible doctor?"
"A similar incident has occurred before…"
"Do you mean Yui, doctor?"
"Precisely, the process has happened in reverse before so it could theoretically happen just as Shinji described."
Gendo seemed to think for a moment. "And his friends?"
Ritsuko cracked a smile. "When we tried to get samples from the other boy, Son Gohan, he freaked out. Apparently he has a large phobia when it comes to needles. We gave up after he caused significant damage to the lab he was in."
"What of the other one?"
"According to Shinji he is a Namek, a race that exists in the dimension where he trained. None of my staff were permitted to approach him. When they tried some invisible force pushed them back. We could not obtain any samples from him either."
"Very well doctor, that is all."
"Should we let them go?"
"Could we hold them against their will even if we wanted to? From what I saw they are incredibly strong and can produce energy from their hands. Somehow I doubt that even the Eva's could stop them."
X
The three in question were in the cafeteria waiting for Ritsuko to give them the all clear. Piccolo stood in a corner watching everything like a hawk. All of his senses were sharp expecting an attack from any direction. Shinji had told him about his father and Piccolo did not trust the man.
Everyone else was sitting at a table talking. Misato and Asuka were grilling Shinji for more information while Gohan offered the odd comment. Now they were on the subject of how Shinji got so strong.
"Well I just trained with Gohan and Piccolo. The more I trained the stronger I got."
Suddenly a loud rumbling echoed throughout and the two women stared at Gohan with a shocked expression on their faces. Gohan scratched the back of his hand and gave a small laugh. "Guess I'm kind of hungry." Shinji seemed to find this funny and couldn't stop laughing, even Piccolo managed a small smile. Misato shook off her shock and went to get Gohan some food. When she returned Gohan fell on the food like he hadn't eaten in years.
Asuka was horrified. "Does he always eat like this?"
"Actually for Gohan, this is pretty slow. What's up buddy?"
Gohan glanced up from his food. "Just trying to be polite."
Shinji was saved from answering by Ritsuko who arrived in the cafeteria. All conversation and eating stopped as the doctor moved to where the others were sitting. "The tests are finished and all of you are free to go."
Misato stood up. "That's good to hear Ritsu." She turned to look at Gohan. "Do you and Piccolo have a place to stay?"
Gohan stopped his eating again but Ritsuko was the first to speak. "It's already been arranged. We have secured an apartment in your building. We believed that it would be convenient to keep the three of you close together."
Gohan spoke up. "Thank you doctor Akagi. But you didn't have to go to so much trouble for us."
Ritsuko dismissed the remark. "It was no trouble at all. After all NERV practically runs the city."
Shinji was slightly skeptical at the ease of the arrangements. "How much did my father have to do with this Ritsuko?"
The doctor noticed the venom that crept into Shinji's voice when he mentioned his father. 'Seems his time away did nothing to ease the hatred he has for his father. I hope Gendo doesn't do anything to upset him. We might not be able to stop him if he loses control.' "I was the one who arranged it Shinji. Your father had nothing to do with it."
Ritsuko's assurances did nothing to appease Shinji however. "He better not try anything because I'm not in the mood to play his games anymore. Pass on that message for me Ritsuko."
X
In his office Gendo watched the security camera footage from the cafeteria and smirked at that last comment. "Just because you may be stronger now my son does not mean that you are above my power." He pushed his glasses further up his nose. "The 'games' are far from over Shinji."
X
The long night finally ended with Gohan and Piccolo settling into their temporary home. They had been invited for dinners at Misato's place and Gohan gratefully accepted. Piccolo, on the other hand declined and decided to explore the city. At Misatos Shinji had prepared a huge meal for his roommates and his guest. After Gohan's initial embarrassment at seeing Misato in her 'off duty' clothes the meal went as smoothly as it could with a demi saiyan present. The sheer amount of food that Gohan ate was astounding. At first Auska and Misato laughed at Shinji for the amount of food that he prepared. Once they saw how Gohan ate they were very glad. If Shinji had made any less there would be none for them to eat. Once the food was finished, in record time, conversation started up again.
"I'm glad I'm still able to cook after all this time. I haven't cooked a decent meal in years." Shinji looked relieved at this.
Asuka glanced up from what was left on her plate. "You mean you haven't cooked since you left? How come?"
"The simple answer would be that I didn't have time. Gohan and Piccolo pushed me really hard in order to increase my strength. The few nights that I had time to cook Gohan's mother wouldn't let me. She has a thing about cooking. Right Gohan?"
Gohan stopped rubbing his full stomach long enough to answer. "Yeah. Since she has to cook for two half saiyans she spends a lot of time in the kitchen. You could say it's the only thing that kept her sane all these years."
"What do you mean?" Misato joined the conversation.
"A few years ago my dad and his friends always had to fight any evil that threatened my world. Since the age of five I've trained to defend the world. My dad actually died twice during this time and I had to go to another planet once as well as being kidnapped by Piccolo for ones year's training in the wilderness. If she didn't have cooking during this time I think that she would have gone insane."
Misato, her question answered, returned to her beer.
"Shouldn't you be getting home Gohan? It's been a long day after all."
Gohan slowly rose from his chair. "Guess you're right Shinji. I'll see you tomorrow at five AM."
Misato spat the mouthful of beer she had all over the table. "What do you mean five AM? What's going on?"
Shinji looked puzzled for a moment. "It's just our morning workout Misato. Something wrong?"
"A workout? At five AM?"
"Yeah."
"Fine just don't wake me."
X
The next morning came swiftly and Shinji, true to his word, did not wake Misato when he left. He and Gohan flew to an isolated mountain region for their daily spar. Once the fight was over Shinji had a favor to ask Gohan.
"Gohan I need you to do something for me."
"What?"
"I need you to look after Misato for me."
"Why?"
"Kole saw everyone we were with last night. If he, or any of his friends, comes back they might go after Misato and the others to get at me. If you go with Misato you can look after everyone else at NERV too. If you're doing that I can look after Asuka and Rei at their school. That way everyone will be covered."
"What about Piccolo?"
"He could just be on alert. That way he could help either of us if we get into something that we can't handle without leaving anyone without some kind of protection."
"Good plan but how do I convince Misato to let me tag along with her."
Shinji thought for a moment. "Just ask her for a tour of NERV. Say that you're interested in all that high-tech stuff. That way she'll get Ritsuko involved too."
Gohan seemed satisfied. "You know Shinji, you're smarter than you look."
Shinji smiled for a few seconds until the comment sunk in. "Hey." Shinji retaliated by blasting Gohan into the cliff.
X
So far Shinji's plan was going without a hitch. Misato was delighted to take Gohan on a tour of NERV and Shinji was currently watching over Asuka and Rei from the school roof. To the casual observer Shinji looked like he was oblivious to all that was going on around him. In fact he knew everything that was going on in the school and the nearby surrounding buildings.
When lunch finally arrived Shinji decided to personally check up on Asuka. He finally left the spot that he had occupied for the last few hours and gently floated down to the schoolyard below. Shinji picked a spot under a large tree and waited for Asuka to emerge from the school. He didn't have to wait long. Almost as soon as she left the school building she spotted Shinji leaning against the tree.
She changed course to intercept him and quickened her pace. "What are you doing here third?" was the first thing that came out of her mouth and Shinji smiled. Same old Asuka, blunt and direct.
"Can't I sit here? Or is this the personal domain of the great second child?" Asuka was shocked. Shinji never used to talk back like this. Maybe he had changed after all. Maybe he wasn't the same Shinji she had teased only two days ago. She reacted to this information the only way Asuka knew how, with a threat. "Quiet third child or I'll do something that you will regret."
Shinji actually laughed out loud at this. "Asuka I don't think that you could even touch me, let alone hurt me. It's been a long time since I was cowardly Shinji Ikari. Three years with Gohan and Piccolo changed me. Your petty threats don't scare me any more." This scared Asuka. Shinji had become the person she wanted him to be. He had finally grown a backbone and she didn't have a retort to throw back in his face for that remark. She was saved from having to answer by the arrival of the class rep.
"Asuka, who is this?" Asuka was still too shocked to respond to Hikari. She was still pondering the new Shinji in her mind so he answered for her. "I guess I look a bit different from two days ago, eh Hikari? After all its not often that people age three years in a day." Hikari was surprised and she examined the man again. The hair and eyes looked familiar to her. "Shinji is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me." Hikari was just as shocked as Asuka. 'How could this be Shinji? Three days ago he was a shy, quiet boy. How could he become this man in three days.' Hikari's brain was in overdrive trying to process this new information.
Two new additions to the conversation made their entrance while the girls were silent. "Hey class rep, what's up?" The loud voice of Toji Suzahara called out as he approached with Kensuke Aida in tow, along with his ever-present video camera. "Who's this guy?" Toji eyed this stranger carefully. After all it wasn't every day that the class rep was hanging out with a guy.
"Long time no see Toji, Kensuke. How've you been?" This confused the two boys even more. After all, this guy looked at least two years older than them and they didn't have any friends in the older classes. Kensuke's camera was analyzing the stranger from every angle possible while his brain was trying to put a name to the face. Luckily for them the stranger clued them in to his identity.
"You'd think that my two best friends would be able to recognize me no matter what my age. How could you forget me, Shinji Ikari?"
Toji and Kensukes eyes bugged out and they collapsed into a heap at Shinji's feet. "What? How?" was all that came from Kensuke while Toji merely gurgled.
Shinji laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Guess this is going to be a long story."
X
A long explanation later and the friends weren't as shocked as before but they were still surprised. Shinji could fly? He could destroy planets with his life energy? It was a lot to get used to and they pelted him with questions. Shinji answered as best he could. Suddenly he held up a hand and the questions stopped instantly.
"Come out Piccolo, I know you're there." Everyone else looked at him like he had grown another head. As they looked at each other trying to decide who would call the mental hospital they received another shock. A tall green man actually floated down from the branches of the tree.
"Still sharp kid. I didn't think that you could sense me with my ki suppressed that low."
Shinji grinned at his teacher. I almost didn't but you're ki spiked slightly when you moved, just enough for me to detect it. After all the ki of a tree doesn't spike."
"Not bad. Your control is pretty good for just three years training."
"Well I did learn from the best."
Now it was Piccolo's turn to smirk. "Flattery won't get you out of a sparing match."
While this was going on Shinji's friends stared open mouthed at Piccolo. After all its not every day that you meet a seven foot tall guy, who's green, can fly and is apparently good friends with Shinji.
Asuka finally noticed their discomfort. "Relax, its just Piccolo. He's one of Shinji's teachers."
Shinji decided to give his friends a real show. "Piccolo, how about that sparing match?"
"Where?"
"How about the baseball field?"
"Lets do it."
Shinji turned to his friends. "Piccolo and I are going to have a spar on the baseball field. You guys are welcome to watch but don't walk onto the field while the match is on. You could get hurt."
Shinji and Piccolo rose into the air and headed for the field. Asuka stood and prepared to follow. "Come on. I don't want to miss this. Shinji's last fight didn't last that long and I want to see a good one."
The four teens headed for the field and when they arrived Piccolo and Shinji were preparing to start.
X
Shinji glanced around the field to make sure that no innocent bystanders were in the way. Finally he turned back to Piccolo. "Lets make this a good one Piccolo."
Piccolo nodded and reached for his turban. After removing it he tossed it toward the edge of the field. His cape soon followed. Both fighters assumed their stances and prepared to fight.
The stood still for about a minute with Asuka growing more impatient with every second. "When are they going to start?"
As if to answer her question both fighters phased out and reappeared locked together in the center of the field, neither willing to give an inch. Suddenly Piccolo lashed out with his left foot and knocked Shinji onto his back. He attempted to hollow up with a punch to his downed opponent but Shinji was too fast. He caught the descending fist with his left hand and retaliated with one of his own. The punch caught Piccolo in the gut and knocked him back a few feet. Shinji returned to his feet with a handspring and assumed his stance again.
"Nice warm-up Piccolo. How about we kick it up another notch?" Without waiting for Piccolo's answer he powered up. A white aura flickered around him as his ki began to rise. Piccolo responded in kind. His own aura forming around him as his ki rose to equal Shinji.
X
Suddenly the fight almost became too fast for the spectators to follow. The skill that was displayed by both fighters was astounding. The fighters drew gasps from their onlookers as they took to the air, still exchanging blows. While the fight seemed to be in Shinji's favor, Piccolo was an experienced fighter with decades more experience than Shinji. During a lull in the fight he decided to step it up again.
"SPLIT FORM." Suddenly Shinji was facing two Piccolo's and things weren't looking so good any more. Two Piccolo's meant twice as many attacks to defend against and Shinji couldn't stop them all. A pair of kicks caught Shinji off guard and doubled him over. A pair of elbows then hammered down on Shinji's back and drove him into the ground. As he stumbled back to his feet Piccolo merged back into one body and decided to end the fight.
As he drew his right hand back ki began to crackle around it. Suddenly he thrust the hand forward and shouted, "DESTRUCTIVE WAVE!" A large golden ball of ki sped toward Shinji. He raised both his arms and caught the ball. Shinji began to slide back as the ball continued to push. After sliding back a dozen feet Shinji dug his heels in and with a burst of power he tossed the ball into the sky where it exploded harmlessly. Shinji smirked up at the floating form of Piccolo.
"Not bad. Now its my turn." Shinji floated up until he was level with Piccolo. He extended his right arm until his right palm was pointed at Piccolo. His left hand then grasped his right wrist and he began to concentrate. A swirling ball of purple ki began to grow in front of his palm. After the ball was the size of a basketball he launched it at Piccolo. The ball was relatively slow moving and Piccolo dodged it easily.
"Do better kid. It's not fast enough to hit anything."
Shinji was still smiling. "It wasn't meant to hit you."
A small explosion was heard behind Piccolo and he turned to see what it was. The ball had split into hundreds of thin ki beams that curved around and headed toward Piccolo. The speed of the beams had been upped considerably and Piccolo was hard pressed to dodge them. After dodging a few he was hit in the back by a beam and this slowed him down just enough for the rest to hit. Piccolo was engulfed in a large purple explosion. As the smoke began to clear, Piccolo fell from the air and he landed on his back.
He raised his head just enough to see Shinji. "Not bad kid, you win."
X
"How long have you been working on that?" After a quick senzu bean Piccolo was back on his feet and he and Shinji's friends were seated in the shade of a tree.
"About six months. I got the idea from your scattershot technique. I call it my positron burst technique." Shinji responded from his position opposite Piccolo.
"It certainly works well enough. I'm surprised we didn't see you practicing it."
Shinji smiled at his mentor. "I made sure that you and Gohan were somewhere else when I did. I wanted it to be a surprise. Just do me one favor and don't tell Gohan about it. I want to test it on him in our next spar too."
"It should be interesting to see what Gohan can do to counter it. Don't worry, I won't tell him. It should be a good show."
"Thanks Piccolo."
On Shinji's left side Kensuke was going over his footage of the spar, slowing it down in places so he could fully appreciate the fight. After watching it for a third time he looked at Shinji with awe. "Shinji could you teach us to fly and fight like that." The hopeful tome in his voice was unmistakable. At the mention of learning to fight like Shinji, Toji's full attention was on Shinji too.
Shinji seemed to consider it for a minute. "Sorry guys. I don't think that you would like to learn the way I did. Piccolo was a tough trainer."
"How were you trained?" Surprisingly this question came from Asuka. "You didn't tell us much about it last night."
"Well, when I was learning to fly Piccolo had a simple method to ensure that I mastered it as soon as possible. He threw me off a cliff."
Thinking it was a joke his friends burst into laughter. After about a minute they noticed neither Shinji nor Piccolo was laughing with them.
"You're not kidding, are you?" Once again this came from Asuka.
"No. He really did throw me off a cliff."
Hikari was the next to speak. "That's horrible. How could he do that to you?"
Shinji was touched by her concern. "It was after a few weeks of training so he knew that it wouldn't kill me. Still hurt like hell though."
Shinji finally let out a laugh. "At least I picked it up fast. I'd hate to know what he would have done if I was a slow learner."
Piccolo answered with a smirk. "I would have taken you one mile up and dropped you."
While everyone was shocked and repulsed at what Piccolo would have done, Shinji was still smiling. "Yeah I figured it would be something like that." Noticing the looks of disgust on his friends faces Shinji decided to defend Piccolo. "Look guys, Piccolo may seem harsh in his training methods but he would never, I repeat, never do anything that would kill a student of his. The training had to be that harsh. I only had three years to increase my strength. If Piccolo hadn't been that harsh I would have asked him to stop being so soft on me."
Shinji's friends regarded Piccolo in a new light with this new information. Hikari spoke up again. "I'm sorry for doubting you Mr. Piccolo."
Piccolo merely shrugged her off. "You didn't do anything that deserves an apology. You were merely concerned for your friend."
Suddenly the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. "Come on Asuka, Kensuke, Toji. Class is starting." Hikari had dropped back into Class rep mode.
As they were being dragged away Kensuke and Toji promised to see Shinji later. After they were gone Piccolo looked to Shinji. "Another spar, kid?"
"Sure. But we better take it easy this time, we don't have an endless supply of senzu beans."
"You got it kid."
X
Meanwhile far away from earth a different conversation was taking place. In a dark room the warrior Kole knelt before a large throne that was shrouded in shadow. A figure was seated there. All that could be clearly seen of it was a white skinned, long fingered hand. Kole was telling of his defeat at the hands of the earth boy.
"And than he told me to leave, my lord." Kole had finished his story.
A sound like a long breath was heard from the shadows. "And this boy said that he was only using a tenth of his power?" The mysterious figure asked.
Kole nodded eagerly. "Yes my loed, but I believe he was bluffing. Just give me one more chance and I can beat him."
A low chuckle was heard. The metal walls of the room made it echo so it seemed to be coming from everywhere. "You have failed me Kole. I have no more use for you. If you lost once then you will lose again. Goodbye." The white hand lifted until the palm was pointed at Kole. Suddenly if fired a ball of red ki that streaked at Kole. He tried to protect himself with his arms but it was no use. The blast hit and Kole was vaporized, not a trace of him remained.
The hand pressed a button on the armrest of the throne. "Send another fighter to earth, a stronger one this time." A voice came from the speaker next to the button. "At once my lord."
"Taking this planet may be more enjoyable than I first thought." Another low chuckle reverberated around the chamber as the button was released. "Much more enjoyable."
XXX
Well that was the second chapter of my story. Thanks to all the people who reviewed the first chapter and convinced me to continue this story. Keep reviewing and send me your comments, complaints or suggestions for the story.