Rise of the Defender
by StraightedgeEpyon
Summary: Darkness falls upon the earth as the angels begin their attacks. But when there is darkness there is also light as a new Magna Defender rises to fight the darkness and protect the earth
I own nothing
Beta read by TOAT
Chapter eight
(Nighttime Tokyo-3)
Shinji morphed into the Magna Defender and was standing on top of a tall building, looking over one of the more lively night places in Tokyo-3. A breeze blew past him, making his cape flutter mysteriously while he kept a steady vigil over the city.
So far, all that was going on was just drunken businessmen taking cab rides because they were too intoxicated to drive home. Loud noises from a night club echoed around the block and bright neon lights illuminated the night.
"The city's been very quiet so far. I might be able to call it an early night." Shinji said, looking down.
CRASH!
"Huh?"
"No, please, please, no." a female voice whimpered.
The sound of something crashing below, and someone in trouble, halted Shinji right there.
"Or not," he said, looking down and seeing a woman in her early-thirties with reddish-black hair with a blue kimono tucked under her arm, and a thug with a small knife held to her throat, threatening to cut her throat if she didn't give him her money or whatever valuables she might have had.
Shinji leaped down in front of them, causing them to pause and look on in shock at the intruder. The Magna Defender.
"Let her go," Shinji ordered sternly.
In response to that, the mugger went behind the frightened girl, pinned her arms with his left arm while holding the knife at her throat.
"I've heard of you. You're that armored guy that fought that beetle monster from the news. Stay back! I'll slit her throat." the man warned.
Shinji remained calm as he materialized a throwing dart in his hand; all he could focus on is the man's movements, waiting for the right moment to disable him.
"Oh, you aren't gonna do that," replied Shinji, gripping his dart.
The lady in his mugger's grasp whimpered. Shinji knew he had to strike at the first opening. The man shifted his knife, holding his arm slightly. Shinji saw this, and quickly threw his dart at the mugger.
"Hyah!"
Stab!
"Gah!" the man yelled out as he was pierced in the shoulder, dropping the knife.
The woman quickly slipped away from the man's grasp, visibly shaken, running past Shinji as the mugger groaned in pain.
Shinji walked up to the man, straight-punched him in his face, and knocked him out cold. The flash of blue and red lights and siren sounds indicated that the police had arrived. Shinji quickly jumped up high back to the building he had been on.
"So much for a quiet night," Shinji said, resuming his patrol.
However, there was a humanoid, insect monster that had been watching Shinji from a distance. It was half-organic, half-machine, made to look like a yellow jacket (A/N: Think Yellow Jacket from Ant-Man).
"I'm watching you, Magna Defender very soon, we will meet, then you will feel MY sting," he said, flying off.
Shinji began jumping the rooftops, looking down on the girl who was still running, obviously still scared and fearful of the encounter. Fearing that she might trip over something or run into something like a car or a large truck, Shinji leaped down directly in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.
"Omff." grunted the girl as she collided with something.
Or rather someone, as it was her mysterious, black-armored savior. She took a few calming breaths, still visibly shaking from her ordeal, while Shinji just stood, there not saying a word, allowing herself to calm down. Shinji glanced down at the name tag on the kimono. It read "Mariko" before looking back at the woman.
"You dropped this," he said, tossing the koi fish kimono at her feet.
She looked down at her kimono on the ground and then back at the Defender, hesitantly bending down to pick it up, seeing him standing still.
"Thank you. Who are you? What are you?" she asked suspiciously.
Shinji's reply was to merely walk away with his cape whipping behind him and jumped high back onto the roof.
( The Next Day at School)
Another day had risen as Shinji walked into the busy halls of Tokyo-3 Jr. High, bag over his shoulder loosely, passing by various students who were chatting amongst themselves. On his way to his class, he noticed newspaper pictures plastered across the wall, Shinji's eyes widened. It was pictures of him in his morphed form, fighting Steelsting, the headline read:
"Tokyo-3's newest protector?"
'Not really surprising, considering our fights took place in plain view, it was just lucky that no one was hurt.' Shinji thought, walking into class to the mass of chatting students.
They all suddenly stopped as soon as he walked in, all their eyes were on him. Shinji, for his part, steeled himself, not letting it show that their gazes fazed him a bit as he walked towards his desk and casually took his seat. Glancing from side to side as they were still staring, he sighed in annoyance.
"Alright, what is everyone staring at?!" Shinji demanded.
Kensuke Aida, the known military otaku, stepped nervously forward with his camera.
"I can answer that," he said. "I was at the park the other day, and I saw what you did. You beat up those thugs from Tagara High and saved a hot lady and her kid," Kensuke said.
All the girls in the room shot Kensuke dirty looks for his seemingly perverse comment.
"Tagara High?"
"Tagara High is one of the top schools of Tokyo-3, their students walk around all high and mighty, thinking they're better than everyone else, but you took those kids down a peg. The whole school knows it. You're a hero." he continued.
"Well, I didn't see anyone else around stepping in to help. Besides, if they really are as stuck up as you say they are, then I'm glad I did it." Shinji said, leaning back in his chair.
"By the way," Kensuke whispered and leaned in, "you work for NERV, don't you?"
Shinji blinked in surprise, but decided to feign ignorance.
"What's NERV? What is that, some sort of medical group?"
"Nice try. You're just like that Ayanami girl who always sits and stares out the window. You're one of their pilots." the glasses boy accused.
"You're not wrong, she is kind of odd, but I still have no idea what you're talking about," Shinji replied, denying it.
"You can deny it all you want, but I know the truth. You showing up here after that giant monster attack is hardly a coincidence and plus, my dad works for the military, so I hacked his computer and found out you pilot that purple robot, the one they call Unit-01." Kensuke stated with finality.
Shinji sighed heavily, realizing he had been found out. Thankfully, the glasses-wearing boy would never find out his other secret.
"So, what was that that you used against those thugs? Like jujitsu or karate?" Kensuke asked.
"It was karate and hapkido."
"Hapkido and karate? Wow, you must have had good teachers."
'You have no idea.' thought Shinji.
"Alright, I'm just gonna be straight with you now since you need to know the full truth. I didn't pilot that walking junk heap by choice. The idiots that made it forced me to get in that thing."
"Oh, so that's the story, but what's it like piloting the Eva?" Kensuke asked, barely containing his eagerness.
"Piloting that piece of junk is more than unpleasant, trust me." the boy answered in a tone not wanting to discuss it further.
Before Kensuke could continue to question further, the teacher walked in the room and the whole class did their usual sit and bow routine and the class began.
The teacher began droning on about Second Impact for a good while. Shinji was on his laptop browsing the net for information on decommissioned nuclear sites all across Japan.
Most have been converted into facilities dedicated to clean energy in the wake of Second Impact years ago, which narrowed the search. Just then, he got an e-mail. Clicking it, the boy saw it was a message from Kendrix. It read:
Shinji, I've just infiltrated NERV Headquarters, and you were right. These guys don't have much in the way of security. I wasn't able to hack into their servers directly from the outpost, so I took a job as one of their techs so I can get access to their main computers which house their network. They call them the MAGI.
Also, I'm going to say this for the record, Dr. Akagi is an insult to us all-natural blondes everywhere. She thinks nobody can see that she dyed her hair. She neglected to do her eyebrows; if you're gonna go full blonde, dye your eyebrows, too, woman! If Cassie and Ashley were here, they would so show her how to style herself right.
Anyway, I shouldn't be long. These techies, including the aptly-named "Bridge Bunnies", are mere amateurs compared to me. I should be able to break into their network, then we'll learn what they're up to.
See you soon.
"That would help a great deal. Best of luck, Kendrix. May the power protect you," Shinji whispered.
Shinji resumed his search into decommissioned nuclear plants around the country. The bell rang, signaling the end of class. The students filed out the door quickly. Shinji quickly packed up his things and headed for the door, only to bump into someone.
It was a woman, around her mid to late twenties, with short, brown hair, blue eyes, and a yellow hairband on top of her head with yellow ball earrings. She wore a long, strapless, pink dress with a small, blue jacket over it and short, white boots. Shinji's eyes widened; it was the woman from the park.
"I'm sorry, I- oh. It's you!" she gasped. "You're that boy from the park! Mr. ''I'm just a kid from Tokyo-3'."
"Yeah, my name is Shinji. Shinji Ikari." he introduced.
"My name is Rain Kasshu. This is a nice surprise. You go to this school?" she asked.
"I do. Are you a teacher here, Ms. Kasshu?" he asked and she shook her head in the negative.
"I'm not a teacher. I'm the temporary school nurse filling in for original, and it's Mrs. Kasshu." corrected Rain.
"Ah, sorry about that, I wasn't watching where I was going," Shinji apologized, picking up her things.
"No, it's my fault. I was rushing back to the office. But listen, thank you again for helping my son and I. Just out of curiosity, where did you learn to fight like that?"
"I had very good teachers. Why?"
"Oh, no reason. No reason at all. I'd better get going. I'll see you around, Shinji." Rain said, heading to the office.
Shinji merely shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way.
Rain glanced back at the boy's retreating figure and thought, 'Your fighting style reminded me of his.'
(Deceptica's lair)
"You had the element of surprise on your side, Hornet! Why didn't you attack the Defender when you had the chance last night?" Tarantulas asked.
"It's exactly that same impulsiveness that led Steelsting to his end, Tarantulas. If I'm going to face him, it's going to be in a situation where he won't see me coming." Hornet explained.
"Good strategy, my minion." Deceptica expressed, walking into the room. "Very good."
"My mistress," he bowed along with Tarantulas.
Deceptica walked towards the large monitor and spoke to her generals.
"Moldarach has made some progress with his experimentation on the "Angel" samples as the humans call them. Soon, we'll have the power to grow in size, but to continue this progress, more materials are needed. Fortunately, the humans have made things easy once again."
Deceptica pulled up an image on the screen. It was a testing site on the far side of Tokyo. There stood a large, bipedal machine in the middle of a testing field.
"This facility has a type of plasma that was in development after the Second Impact, but it was kept in storage for some time. According to their archives, it was meant to aid in the re-growth of plant life."
"So, are we to steal the plasma from right under the humans' noses yet again?" surmised Hornet. "When do we start?"
"You can see that giant machine in the front that they will be testing in a matter of days. I have it on good authority that something will go wrong with this machine, and it will cause mass chaos. We'll use that to our advantage." Deceptica finished.
"Heh, heh, such chaos should draw out the Magna Defender, and I will finish him." Tarantulas cackled.
"No, send me, my mistress; I will do what Steelsting couldn't," Hornet said thinking this could be his perfect opportunity
"No, both of you are far too impetuous for this task, so I'm sending my newest creation."
From the shadows, emerged a large, humanoid mantis monster, with cybernetics that made up half of its body, and the other half organic, which looked like a mutated, man-sized mantis.
"Grrrr," the creature growled in deep, grovel voice.
"Mantor," Deceptica introduced.
"I await your command mistress." Mantor bowed.
"You will go to the testing facility and steal the plasma from this crude facility. I have no doubt you'll draw out the Magna Defender, and when you do, destroy him!"
"I understand, my mistress."
"Good."
"Mistress, if I may, I wish to know something." Hornet stepped forward.
"What is it, Hornet?"
"You said something would go wrong with that giant machine the humans are testing, and by the way you worded it, it sounds like…" Hornet started.
"Sabotage, Hornet. It's sabotage. As I said before, they are making things easy. The humans sabotage each other in a mad scramble for power and wealth. The foolish commander of NERV has arranged for the machine to be sabotaged, to "eliminate the competition", as it were." his mistress said.
"I see."
"Indeed, and because of that, it will be their undoing." Deceptica finished.
(NERV HQ)
'This place was so easy to sneak into, it's almost funny.' Thought Kendrix with a smile as she walked around one of the terminal areas of NERV with a utility belt concealed around her waist.
The size of the facility was crude and massive, mostly crude compared to the more technologically-advanced planets she had visited throughout the galaxy. Thanks to its lack of security, the former Pink Ranger slipped in with ease.
Kendrix searched around for a good five-ten minutes until she found one of the doors to the satellite relays. Opening it, Kendrix found a large dish outside HQ.
"Alright, step one," Kendrix said.
Wasting no time, Kendrix took something out of the side pocket of her belt, a small, cylindrical object, and plugged it into the console's port.
"With this spike, I should be able to acquire their data and hack their communications from the outpost, and then Shinji and I will know their next move," Kendrix said.
The small device shifted and rotated every second, gathering whatever information NERV had, making a mechanical clicking sound as it shifted. After a good five minutes, it stopped, signaling it had finished.
'Big thanks to Alpha, and the techs of KO-35 for creating this spike,' she thought, taking the device out of the port.
Stepping back inside, Kendrix quickly headed off in the opposite direction. She stepped into a nearby hallway going towards the Geofront.
"Hey, there, you American," went a man in uniform as he walked up to her.
"My apologies, sir, I got lost. This place is way too big." Kendrix spoke in perfect Japanese while man merely nodded.
"That is understandable. Even are our more-seasoned personnel still get lost in this facility. Come, I must show to your work station." he said.
"Yes, sir."
Kendrix followed the man closely, this time not wanting to draw any suspicion to herself. She knew she would stand out simply because she was an American, and Americans were scarce in Japan these days. In five minutes, the two reached one of the middle levels of the Eva cages where Kendrix got a good look at one of the Eva Units, Unit-00, as it was still going under repairs.
'Hmm, Alpha once mentioned that Jason and his team once fought against an evil robot that looked just like that,' she thought, looking at the robot.
"This will be your work station," the man motioned to the computer terminal near the window.
"Understood, sir," said Kendrix, sitting down in a chair.
"I'll leave you to it, then," the man said, departing.
As the man left the room, Kendrix took out a tiny, circular object and attached it to the side of one of the hard drives in the room. Luckily for her, the room was dark, and it was so small, it was doubtful anyone would notice.
"Now, whatever these guys have buried won't stay buried for long," mused Kendrix as she began working.
(The next day, the day of the JETALONE test)
Shinji was at the Tokyo-3 library enjoying a day off from NERV. He found out through Kendrix that the mid-level personnel (AKA Misato and Ritsuko) would be away at some testing facility at a company called Japan Heavy Chemical Industries. He picked up a few books on various insects, and another book that caught his eye.
"This is interesting. Myths and Legends," said Shinji, flipping it open and sitting down.
Flipping the pages, he saw the faded symbols of very familiar heroes, the Earth's first protectors, the legendary Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Smiling, Shinji flipped through another couple of pages, at pictures that showed the Dino Zords and the legendary Dragonzord, a Zord Shinji always wanted to see up close. Turning to the next page, which was marked another chapter, a page with a golden capital N on the beginning page.
The next page showed a vast, empty desert in the middle of nowhere, but according to the book and ranger archives, the temple of power was hidden somewhere there.
'Of course the effects Second Impact must have buried it deeper underground. It's probably for the best, according to Billy and the veteran rangers. Still, it would have been nice to meet N-'
"Pilot Ikari," a soft voice said, cutting off his thoughts.
"Oh, Rei, fancy meeting you here," Shinji said, looking up from the book, seeing her hold a book of her own.
"Do you mind if I sit with you? Or do you prefer it if-" Rei started to say
"No, I don't mind. Have a seat." He motioned to the chair beside him.
The First Child nodded and did just that. The pilots just sat quietly at the table, oblivious to those around them. Rei briefly looked up from her book to see what her fellow pilot was reading.
"Myths and Legends?" Rei questioned.
Shinji looked up and nodded.
"Yeah, I like reading stuff about myths and legends. It's kind of my thing. You?" he asked.
"Old novels, such as Moby Dick," Rei answered.
"Moby Dick, huh?" Shinji said. "I read that book when I was eight. It's a good read. It teaches what it means to be alive-"
Beep! Beep!
The sound of Shinji's morphers beeped on his wrists, interrupting him mid-sentence.
"What was that sound?" asked Rei.
"Uh-oh, I gotta go," Shinji said hastily, leaving his book opened.
The First Child blinked at Shinji's retreating form before glancing at the book he was reading.
"Myths and Legends, Temple of Power, interesting."
While Rei switched books, Shinji quickly ducked into the nearest empty corner and answered his Morpher.
"Kendrix, I'm here. What's going on?" he asked.
("There's trouble at a testing ground site where another company called Japan Heavy Chemical Industries was testing a nuclear prototype weapon, but something went wrong with its internal mechanics and now it's gone haywire.") Kendrix reported.
"Alright, I'm on my way," he replied, heading towards the door, only to stop around the corner because of the two Section 2 agents at the desk.
("Quick warning, NERV's lackeys are looking for you. Obviously, they need you to help clean up their mess.")
"Yeah, I see them. I'll give these suits the slip and then I'll be on my way."
Shinji sneakily slithered past a corner pillar, went past the row of a study group, and past a few of the elderly people, all the way to the entrance. Glancing back one more time, Shinji slipped out the door and ran to a nearby alley.
(Ruins of the Testing site auditorium)
"What do you mean, they can't find Shinji?!" Misato demanded of one her subordinates on her phone
("Just like I said, ma'am. Section 2 couldn't find the Third Child at his last known location, the public library.")
"Ugh, fine, we'll just have to stop it without him. If we can find a way to stop that thing." she said, looking at the giant hole in the wall.
Misato watched as the malfunctioning mechanism walked forward uninhibited. She glanced back at the ruins of the room briefly. Some people were hurt, but not too badly, medics were already on scene tending to the wounded.
"Misato, we-" Ritsuko said, but stopped short when she looked past her.
"What is it, Ritsuko?" asked Misato, turning around and saw what her blonde friend saw.
In front of the giant hole was a familiar, black-armored caped, horned figure looking at the unstable Jet Alone in the distance, still walking in the opposite direction. The room was filled with gasps and murmurs since most people had seen him in the news fighting the beetle monster.
"Him again. What's he doing here?" the captain whispered.
"This ought to be fun," Shinji said to himself before sparing a side glance at to the people, including Misato and Ritsuko.
The two looked at the sword-wielding figure cautiously. Shinji, however, ignored the two and focused on the task at hand.
"Torozord, charge!" he called out.
"Torozord?!" the two women both asked in unison.
Sure enough, something large and massive began stomping the grounds, thunderously roaring into the skies. The giant bull had surfaced yet again, stopping short in front of his master, casting its massive shadow over the room.
"Magna Defender! Transform!"
Two red beams of light from the bull shot down on the Defender, changing and growing him to massive size, which was more than enough to match the Jet Alone robot. Shinji jumped onto the bull and charged off.
"How does he intend to stop it?" a man asked, looking not believing what he saw.
"Here's a better question. Is this guy really on our side?" another voice asked.
"That's a very good question," Ritsuko said.
Shinji and Torozord quickly caught up with the Jet Alone robot as it kept walking. He quickly leaped over it and put himself a good distance from it.
'I gotta slow this thing down,' he thought, looking at the cables. He produced one of his talon swords.
Shinji slashed at the lower midsection, causing it to stumble and slow down. He quickly went around and severed a few of the cables. Steam hissed from the body of the machine, but it still kept moving, albeit slowly. Suddenly, the machine began to shake and glow red from the inside, indicating the nuclear reactor was compromised.
"Oh, not good," the Defender murmured.
The machine wailed about wildly as Shinji grabbed a hold of it, trying to keep the Jet Alone steady, maneuvering it away from the other populated areas, facing it towards the ocean.
'That's it! I've got to get it to the water!' he thought.
"Torozord! Attack!"
The mechanical beast roared and charged straight forth towards the slow-moving machine, with its horns glowing red. Torozord rammed the robot, and Shinji quickly moved to the side as his Zord rammed the robot again, sending it flying towards the ocean.
SPLASH!
The machine flailed around like a flapping newbie swimmer, but immediately started to slow down as steam began to hiss from its large chassis as it sunk into the water. Shinji looked for any signs of the machine itself. After a good few minutes, there was none. The danger had passed for now. He breathed a sigh of relief and powered down back to his normal state.
"Impressive, Magna Defender!" a voice echoed in the area.
"Huh? Who's there?" asked Shinji, looking around for the source of the voice.
Shinji was suddenly rammed from the side, sending him crashing into some stacked crates. He quickly looked up to see a man-sized, cybernetic mantis with large blades for hands. Getting up to his feet, Shinji unsheathed his sword and got into an Ataru stance.
"Looks like Steelsting had a friend," Shinji declared, readying himself. "Who are you?"
"I am Mantor, and I've come to tear you to pieces," replied Mantor, enlarging his blades.
Mantor went right for the attack, clashing both blades with Shinji's. Shinji ducked and parried an upward strike, using his quickness to slash at the left side of the monster, followed by another slash to the right side.
"Gah!" the mantis monster grunted in pain.
Shinji continued to press on the attack, by leaping into the air and slashing at Mantor's head again, this time cutting off his cybernetic eye. Shinji quickly blocked a strike with his free arm and kicked Mantor in the midsection, then cut at him vertically.
"Argh!" Mantor cried out as sparks flew out.
"I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed. Steelsting put up more of a fight."
"Then, perhaps I could provide a challenge for you." a new voice said from behind Shinji.
The Defender turned around to see another dark, cybernetic monster with stingers on his back and a yellow jacket head. And what's more, he had a hostage in his grip, obviously a plant worker.
"Great. Another one. Who in the blue hell are you?" Shinji demanded, getting to a defensive stance.
"I am Hornet, and you're going to find my sting much more sharper than my brethren's," said Hornet.
"Mistress ordered me to destroy him, Hornet!" shouted Mantor, standing up despite his damages.
"You're failing so spectacularly, she should have left this to me. Well, no matter, the objective has been accomplished, anyway.
Shinji steadied himself, keeping a close eye on the newcomer, careful not to make a move or he would harm the hostage. Hornet tightened his grip, causing the poor man to cry out.
"Humans are so frail, don't you think, Defender?" he taunted. "They're so weak, so willing to betray each other, even willing to go around sabotaging one another."
Shinji didn't miss how he stretched out that last part of the sentence, but still kept on guard.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked, still holding his sword up.
"What happened to that machine was no accident or malfunction. It was blatant sabotage."
"By who?"
Hornet just laughed.
"Sorry, that's all you're getting. Oh, and this, too!"
Hornet activated his stingers and fired.
"PEW!
"Boom!
"Gah!"
Shinji narrowly avoided the shot, but Hornet charged up again and fired. Shinji ran his two index fingers across his blade, coating it with green energy, and quickly deflected the laser right back at Hornet, causing him to release the hostage.
"Lucky shot. Mantor comes, we have what we need. Make no mistake, Magna Defender, you won't be so lucky the next time we meet." Hornet stated, flying off.
Mantor, still damaged, did just that. A pair of clear wings emerged from his back and he took off into the air. Shinji noticed the cybernetic eye that was cut off and picked it up before tending to the plant worker, helping him up and hefting him over his shoulder by the arm, supporting his weight.
(Back at the auditorium )
"Hey! He stopped it!" a worker reported happily.
"He stopped the Jet Alone? We're safe?" a woman asked.
"Yeah, he saved us!" said the man.
Misato looked to the outside to see not only was the red giant that was the armored figure gone, but the bull he called Torozord and the malfunctioning machine were gone, too. A major disaster had been adverted.
"That's a huge relief, but still, who is this guy and where did he come from? And how can we get him on our side?" mused Misato.
She glanced at Ritsuko on her cell phone, obviously reporting this incident into the commander; they would both need to go in for a full debriefing later.
"There he is!" a voice said.
The mysterious savior was assisting another injured worker, stepping back to the ruined auditorium, and handed him off to the medics.
"Thank you," the man praised.
Shinji wordlessly nodded and proceeded to walk off until…
"Wait, I have some questions for you. Who are you? where did you come from? How are you able to control that thing?" Misato asked, stepping in front of him.
"Step aside," he replies in a terse tone pushing past Misato continuing to walk-off
"Hey."
"Let it go, Misato," Ritsuko advised her friend.
The Magna Defender walked around a corner, disappearing from sight, looking at the cybernetic eye in his hand.
"Hmmm," Shinji hummed.
End chapter
Endnotes: This is chapter eight of ROD. Kendrix has infiltrated NERV and now she'll be digging through their secrets. The spike is from Star Wars Rebels. With it, she and Shinji can hack their communications and alerts for the Magna Defender to stay one step ahead of NERV and big ups to my man TOAT for letting me use one of his characters. Also, the Temple of Power actually still does exists; it's just that Shinji has never been there or met Ninjor, but Rei just might when she begins her Ranger journey, I just have to get her to spend more time with Shinji first. And how do you like the addition of Rain Mikamura, or Rain Kasshu (from another story) does this mean Domon Kasshu the King of Hearts actually exists here? Maybe only time (and reviews) will tell. Quick sidebar how would you all rank this Shinji's attitude in terms of Gundam pilots Heero Yuy/Duo Maxwell/Trowa Barton or Trowa Barton/Quatre Winner, Next chapter, Shinji, at last, meets Deceptica and her merry band and has a run-in with Nerv and Gendo. Read and review and may the power protect you.