Beginning of the Belkan Conflict (II)
In the dark night of Tokyo-3, a small scream could be heard outside of an apartment complex. The shadow of a young woman could be seen panting hard and sobbing slightly, before the lights came on. They revealed her red hair, and her blue eyes, brimming with tears, looked over to a woman similar to her.
"Asuka dear, it's all right" "Mama..." Both held onto each other until Asuka calmed down enough to explain what happened. "It was a dream...I saw...them...all of them, they were running before something suddenly-" "Shh...it's all right, it was a dream, nothing more. They will come back, they can't be stopped."
Asuka nodded slowly and hugged her mother closer. The peaceful night continued in Tokyo-3, but at that moment, another city was fighting, with a surprise coming for the end of that battle.
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"Fire!" Shinji wasted no time and opened fire on the giant Newtech that was shooting it's own cannons. Each step it took shook the entire city incredibly, and large footprint could be seen deep into the street asphalt.
Shinji quickly ran behind a building but soon learned that even that couldn't protect him for very long. It wasn't long before the building collapsed completely and Shinji was forced to run again in order to dodge the rest of the fire coming at him.
"How are we going to get around this thing?" Shinji yelled as he fired on one of the Tomahawks. The Tomahawk quickly fell and exploded in the ground. Shinji would have felt calmer but a number of shots from the Goliath's cannons stopped that.
"There must be something we can do!" "The Factory!" Shinji looked back to see an R-Mechan running towards his location, carrying Touji on one hand. "We can use the factory to find some better mechs, or some upgrading equipment." "I'll keep this bad boy at bay while you Veritechs check out the factory."
"Touji?" "Yeah...Kensuke, drop me on top of the last destroid." "Are you kidding? That thing's still firing?" Kensuke couldn't believe what his friend was trying to do. Thomas's voice suddenly came on the radio, "I'll distract that thing, Shinji, Seer, you guys get into the factory!"
"Sounds like a plan everyone, Move out!" At once, Seer was on the move making his way around the Goliath. Shinji did so likewise, while Thomas fired warning shots all around the Tomahawk. Kensuke was quick to suddenly knock the Tomahawk down with another shoulder charge, then he dropped Touji off near the cockpit and backed off quickly.
Touji was inside the cockpit seconds later and was also destroying the remote controlling devices of the unmanned Mech. Touji took a look at the start up screen and said the title to himself.
"Tomahawk 41.7, program AI, Gata..."
"Gata? What are you talking about Touji?" "This is a pretty special Mech, Gata do you agree?"
A robotic male voice immediately answered, "Roger, Sir"
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"Well we made it in all right...let's keep a lookout for anything useful Knight" "Roger that Blood, I'll keep my eyes open." Shinji kept his weapon up along with Seer.
"How are you doing on ammo?...Captain!" "What?..oh, um I've got a few rounds left, it won't last forever, you?" "Same."
Shinji and Seer kept moving forward with their Veritechs, before shots rang out from above. Shinji and Seer quickly moved away and looked towards the top. Three Veritechs in Battleloid form looked down from the top of a complex structure. "Move around, maybe we can get a clear shot from behind, Knight."
"Roger" Both Veritechs quickly made a break for the back of the complex structure. Since it was made by steel pipes, a few shots running through would bring the structure down, but the Veritech's themselves would never be able to get through the structure itself.
When Shinji and Seer met up with each other behind the structure, an enemy Veritech fell from the top and began to fire on Shinji. Shinji fired, but ran out of ammo seconds later. "Damn! I'm out" He then charged and batted the enemy Veritech with the giant rifle.
Seer shot at the downed Veritech, but the Belkan suddenly got up and fired it's boosters to move back towards the structure. It crashed into the structure and turned off it's boosters, while Seer opened the final shots on the Belkan pilot before the Veritech exploded.
"gasp gasp I'm out too..." Seer took a deep breath before he looked over at Shinji. Shinji's Veritech shrugged before he pointed at the only metal shutter doors at the back of the factory. They both nodded and used their Veritechs to pull the shutters completely open.
Inside, Shinji and Seer saw an array of broken metals. However, at the back two long shield-shaped parts were seen under strong lights.
"Well...I think these are the only things we can find or use..." "We might as well then, Shinji I'll scan on it and you keep an eye open for enemies."
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"Tank! What are we going to do?" "Easy Razor, fire on the joints, that should weaken the machine enough to make them fall to the ground." "And if it doesn't?" "Then we'll make it waste all of its ammo!"
As the fighting continued, a group of reporters were looking at the sight from a safe spot. "Ladies and Gentleman this is Caron Enerstin, on BBC. Right now we can see the city, Lindsen, where a battle between the Osea/Yuktobania allies are now fighting the Belkan soldiers. At the moment we can see one gigantic machine moving and firing on a number of smaller machines. From radio transmissions, we've been able to find that the larger one is a Belkan machine, Goliath. The smaller ones are the Osea/Yuktobanian allies, one Veritech, two destroids, and an R-Mechan."
"Good! That'll do for now, they want us out of this place so that we can get somewhere safer." The reporter, Caron Enerstin nodded before she spoke, "Well, I was hoping for some more great news to give, I want to make that anchor position you know." "Yeah I know Caron, don't worry though, you'll get you're chance."
Caron sat in the back when the third member of the crew called her to listen to the earphones. "What is it? Bill" "Just trust me!" As Caron put the earphones on, she noticed that the transmissions were military transmissions.
-"Suzuhara!...we can't krrr much more of this!" "Easy there Kensuke, just stay clear krrr -f the fight, we'll hand- krrr" Caron looked over at Bill but he kept his serious look, making her continue to listen.
"Where the hell is Ikari and Reins? Damn it, was Nerv krrr this b krrrrr"
Caron took off her earphones with wide-eyes and looked over at her friend. "Did they say what I think they said?" Bill grinned, "The Suzuhara kid, is known as Touji Suzuhara, one of the employees of Nerv. Kensuke Aida and obviously Shinji Ikari also have a strong connection to Nerv. That Reins guy must be their commanding officer or something."
Caron would have said something, but Bill had gone onto a computer and brought up a few files from it to show to Caron. "Take a look at these and you'll how big this news will be for the world."
Caron's surprise could not be hidden as she read the first few sentences of the personal file of Shinji Ikari. "PILOT?"
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"Well, there aren't any booby traps on it. It's safe to pick up." Shinji sighed in relief, and then noticed that Seer was about to pick one of the shields up at that moment. "You sure you should do that?" Seer stopped at Shinji's voice, before he answered "No choice, we'll need weapons to take over this place and we're out of ammo. We might be able to use this and to find out more about it I have to attach it to the Veritech and then scan."
Seer then proceeded in picking up the shield and placing it on the left arm of his Veritech with the sharper side pointing to the ground, he then started the scan. "Hey Shinji…" "Yeah?" "After this, let's name our Veritech's, I get the feeling we'll be with these babies for a long time…"
"Yeah, I'm for that, I'm sure we can get the rest of the squadron to agree to it too." "We'll be considered crazy for a while though." "Aw, to hell with them." Shinji finished with a chuckle.
However, he stopped when Seer hissed as he took a sharp breath. "What's up?" "The scan's done……pick up the other shield 'cause it's payback time!"
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The battle outside of the factory was beginning to take a new turn. The Goliath had taken much damage from the two offenders, and one distraction. The joints and the armor were weakening, and it wouldn't be long before the whole things fell apart. In fact, it was barely holding together at the moment, with smoke coming from two cannons, and sparks coming from one joint, Gambilton was not looking at a chance in surviving without reinforcements.
"Gata! Report on anything new entering the area the minute it comes into the radar!" "Roger sir." Touji kept his Tomahawk at a constant pace, not stopping for a second for fear of being shot by one of the remaining cannons at the disposal of the Goliath.
"Sir, enemy units coming from the factory. Three of them." "Damn! Kensuke, give me a radar scan!" "Roger!"
Touji maneuvered his Tomahawk until he had a clear shot at the other leg of the Goliath. But before he could fire, Kensuke called in "Confirmed. Three enemy units moving in from the factory entrance."
Touji could not react before his Tomahawk fell to the ground from a sudden impact that he didn't see. "Impact confirmed on armor" Stated Gata in a monotone voice "Damage minimal, ability to continue battle: 94.3."
Touji grimaced as he pushed his Tomahawk into a standing position. "Razor, help me out." "On the way Tank." Touji and Glenn found three Veritechs in guardian mode.
"Move away!" Touji was quick to comply with Thomas' order, knowing that he was unprepared to fight three Veritech fighters with his machine. The Tomahawk quickly ran to the closest building away from the factory, while Thomas stayed behind and fired on the three enemy Veritechs and the missiles that they fired.
Thomas moved into Battleloid mode and ran to a nearby building for cover, all the while firing bullets at the enemy. He failed to notice that the Goliath was not out of commission just yet. As the Goliath began to turn towards Glenn who had decided to help in the attack against the Veritechs, Touji opened fire from the other side, hoping that he could get a lucky shot to hit the only leg join still operational.
"No Good!" "Razor, move away, that Goliath will have you on radar lock, any second now." "I can't leave; the enemy Veritechs will get away!"
At that moment a flash of red light appeared beside one of the Eurasian Veritechs. The right arm, the one carrying the gun, suddenly fell off while the Veritech itself made a move to escape from the danger.
"Let us handle these guys!" Shinji came out with his Veritech, a shield on the left arm and a small contraption in his right hand.
The three Veritechs immediately began to transform in order to find a safe place to regroup. However another red line suddenly appeared and began to cut through one of the Veritechs while it was transforming. It cut the Veritech in two, and caused an instant explosion.
"Shinji's right, we can handle this for a little while." The last undamaged Veritech made a move to fire missiles at Seer, before a red beam passed through the chest of the Veritech, and then proceeded to do a spin and split it in two, causing it to explode.
The damaged Veritech, knowing that it was in no condition to fight, finished transforming into its plane mode and began to fly away.
Touji noticed and locked on to the escaping Veritech before firing a number of missiles.
The plane moved in order to try and dodge, but sniper fire from Glenn's Veritech damaged an engine, and the plane came down once the missiles reached.
"Last one" Shinji took a look at the last surviving joint of the Goliath. He then brought out the same contraption he held in his Veritech's right hand, then a red beam appeared on both sides of the pole-like structure.
Shinji's Veritech then charged forward and slashed at the joint before running it through with the other side after spinning around. The joint exploded before Shinji could boost away, but his Veritech managed to get out of the way unscathed.
As the Goliath fell, a cheer could be heard over the com-link. "Krrr good work Striker squadron…confirmed destruction of the Goliath, any casualties? Over. Krrr"
"Negative G-force, no casualties. Is the mission over?" "It's done, reinforcements are on the way, and all vehicles have confirmed orders to RTB." "Roger that, let's move Striker squadron." Seer cut the channel and then prepared to take off before another voice came on the line.
"Hey guys what about us?" Touji, Glenn and Kensuke looked pitiful while they were on the ground, wondering how they would reach the base.
"Chopper Transport, Baker here, we'll be taking the ground vehicles." Seer noticed a helicopter with two bars hanging off of each side of the chopper. It lowered slowly and waited until the three ground vehicles were hooked to the bars. Then they were slowly lifted up the bar and off the ground; then the chopper took off and began it's journey back to the nearest base.
"Useful little gadget huh?" A strong Australian accent came through the com-link while the journey continued. Seer chuckled, "Baker is there a co-pilot sitting beside you?" "uh…roger that, 1st class airman, Michael. He's my gunner." "Good to meet you!"
Shinji laughed "Likewise Michael…Baker, what's your callsign?" "Combat/Transport Chopper; number X-39 Wivsky, codenamed Seagrate." "Thank you Seagrate, let's hurry up and get home shall we?"
Seer nodded with Thomas' suggestion, "Let's move then Skimmer."
"Blood, this is Tank, what the hell is it that you used on those guys?" Seer and Shinji smiled, Shinji then decided to answer, "It's an energy blade and a shield that came with it, it's used for melee combat. Blood got the sword, while I got the double sided blade."
"Sweet! How are they working?" "Perfectly, we weren't even affected by our weapons clear."
"This is Seagrate, Mike calling over, I'm gonna put the news on if you'd like" "Roger that Mike, let's hear what the news has to say about this war."
News Break "Today at the city of Lindsen, Eurasian powers retreated thanks to new Osean/Yuktobanian allies, as well as pilots from the ISAF armies. And today we have received even more interesting news, three pilots have been identified and connected with the companies of Seele, JSSDF, and finally and most importantly NERV."
Shinji pulled back in surprise, this did not look like it was going in a good direction.
"Allied Fighter and Ground Pilots, Touji Suzuhara, Kensuke Aida, and Shinji Ikari; are confirmed as closely connected to NERV, and are also confirmed as residents of Tokyo-3. Touji Suzuhara and Shinji Ikari are confirmed pilots of the large Evangelions, and finally Shinji Ikari is confirmed as the son of the Commander in power of NERV, Gendou Ikari. More News in 10 minutes."
"Well whaddya know? I guess the world will really know who the heroes of the Angel wars are." Baker responded over the com-link, while the rest of the Striker squadron were visibly paler than usual.
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I suppose I could say that I've come back fromt the dead, or that I came back just to die. But I still need to continue on with my writing. Past readers have every right to be annoyed or even angry with me for not continuing any of my stories for such a long time, and I sincerely apologize. I'm back and I'm ready to work! I needed to get some time to think about things like my future and all that, not such a big deal right?
Thank you again for reading anyhow, and I hope that you will continue to read and review.
Hawk Strife
--Rafiq Mandal