Creation began on 01-13-18
Creation ended on 03-22-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Swords of Friendship and Miracles
Even though he had fully recovered from the journey back to this world in the physical sense, half in part to Japan Heavy Chemical Industries, half in part to Asuka using his First Aid Magisword, but mostly in part to his support structure, Shinji still had a low synchronization with the Eva. He was barely under thirty-seven percent.
"No way was three more days necessary for him to make a full recovery," said Shigeru to his fellow Bridge Bunnies as they monitored the children.
"I saw him earlier," went Maya in response to his opinion, "I'm looking at him, and he's filled out. He's no longer skin and bones, anymore. Now, he's just healthy again…or at least of sound body."
"The First and Second Child are doing fine, but the Third Child's synchronization ratio could be a little higher," suggested Hyuga.
"Just like how you can't rush one's recovery, you can't guarantee an adequate synchronization between Shinji and the Eva by demanding it," said Misato to them.
Within the plug, Shinji barely felt connected to the Eva. There used to be a presence he couldn't really describe, but now it felt like he was just in a pit of some kind, by himself. He knew that one of his Magiswords could resolve the issue between him and the Eva, but he wasn't sure if he should do anything to disrupt what was already strained. His history sword giving access to his repressed memories of trauma and pain revealed that his mother was a real piece of work who was just as careless as his father was, but he couldn't see the three of them as a family like before…if they were ever one to begin with.
"Shinji, we're done for today," said Ritsuko to him. "Hit the showers."
"Yes, ma'am," he responded, and switched off the connection to the Entry Plug, sighing in relief to finally be done with the test. I gotta rethink solutions.
-x-
"…So, the Third Child has mentioned nothing of anything else he might've said to the people of Japan Heavy Chemical Industries?" Gendo asked Misato in his office after the synchronization test.
"No, sir," she answered him; with the revelation of her ward's past up to that night in the living room, all Misato knew about anything that happened at Japan Heavy Chemical Industries was that Shinji, after using the two Magiswords he needed to return to this universe, fell through one of their boardrooms, suffered severe dehydration and malnutrition (the return trip through an interdimensional vortex draining him of much of his vital fluids), was nursed back to some degree of health, and he lent them some of his food-based Magiswords with the suggestion that they study them and supply the people deprived of much food because of the Evas and their costs. "He returned from where he ended up as a result of the Twelfth Angel incident, was helped by them, and later returned here by them."
"Is it possible that he's lying?"
"If it were so, the question would be why would he lie? What would his motive be to lie? What would he have to gain by lying?"
"He did say that where he ended up, five years went by, meaning that by the time he was able to return to this world, he was between eighteen-nineteen-years-old. He would've had to do things that might've changed his perception of the world, which would include lying."
But Misato assured him that Shinji was being truthful of his actions. Of course, this was just a lie that the purple-haired woman was bluffing her way through with in order to be convincing. She couldn't betray Shinji and let NERV take his Magiswords from him.
"Very well, then. You are dismissed." Gendo told her, and she turned to leave his office.
If only you knew how much you hurt him, she thought, but then again, you wouldn't really care. Not with the way you view him as just a pilot.
-x-
Sometimes, Shinji had to wonder if it was possible for him to use his Magi Mobile to speak to Vambre and Prohyas, just to see how they're doing. While time had reversed for him in order to set him where he is now, time must've remained the same for everyone else before he left…and there was nothing wrong with just calling to say a greeting. But as he walked down the street to clear his head, he pondered about his return to school tomorrow; although NERV had rectified the situation regarding his MIA status, he wasn't sure if he was ready to face Toji or Kensuke. How could he, if he even could, that is, confide in them of his time in Lyvsheria, the Magiswords, and the Warriors for Hire and so on?
He even had to wonder sometimes about the point of even going back to school when the knowledge he had accumulated back in Lyvsheria had helped him over the five years it took to get back here. There wasn't much of a point in any career in science or politics, not like there was in just being an adventurer or swordsman or police officer. Shinji even considered that a medical intern profession wasn't such a bad way to live, so long as he never had to pilot the Evangelion ever again.
"I don't believe it," he heard someone say as he stopped in front of an electronics store window displaying several flatscreen sets. "Shinji?"
The sets displayed the boy's face as he turned to his right, seeing another boy around his age, with a camcorder tied around his left hand.
"Kensuke? Hey, there." Shinji greeted.
"They told the school that you were MIA, but I didn't want to believe it," the otaku expressed. "I mean, you don't just declare someone missing in action until you confirmed the status of any remains. Then, they up and say that you were actually in the hospital for medical treatment…and the worst I assumed was that you might've been in a coma or you lost an arm or an eye. But look at you. You're alright. So…what happened to you?"
"It's complicated. I'm not bound by NERV to not disclose anything, but what happened had barely anything to do with the last attack. In fact, it almost had nothing to do with the last attack after eight minutes into the situation."
"You seem different from before, Shinji. Something definitely happened to you over a week ago. Come on, man, divulge. What, did you get a girlfriend or did something like a one-night stand occur?"
After hearing that, Shinji thought of Vambre, and immediately shook his head free of inappropriate thoughts that stemmed from the times he saw her in her swimwear.
"No, nothing like that," he defended, and then sighed. "If you promise not to laugh or poke fun at me, I'll tell you what happened. I doubt you'll even believe me without proof."
"Try me."
-x-
"…So, just so that I understand it perfectly," went Asuka as she and Misato returned to the latter's apartment, "Commander Ikari thinks Shinji might've helped that Japan Heavy Chemical Industries group? He has no proof of this. Even we don't know what could've been said between that brat and those people."
Of course, Asuka knew very well that Shinji had lent some of his food-themed swords to the company so that they could help the people that NERV neglected by starving them financially. Mankind couldn't survive with just the Evas alone. They needed money, food, clothing and other such resources. In fact, it wouldn't have been unusual if Shinji had even given one or two of his clothing-themed Magiswords to the company to save the civilians a few dollars, yen, euros or whatever monetary system they used on acquiring clothing.
"If he knew what his son was capable of, he'd just take them for himself."
"Yeah, he would," Misato agreed with her as she opened the door to the apartment. "Hmm?"
In front of them were two pairs of shoes. This meant that Shinji most likely had company.
"Shinji?" She called out.
"Kensuke and I are in the living room," responded the boy, and they walked over into said room.
There, they found the pair…and Shinji was holding his personal history Magisword.
"Uh, Aida," went Asuka, wondering what had happened before they showed up. "Just how much do you know about…that (she points to the sword)?"
"Everything, redhead," he answered her. "He's got swords that make the Eva seem like yesterday's news because they can't do what he can with them."
So, Shinji shared his past with this stooge, as well, Asuka thought. "Surely, can we trust you not to talk about this to anyone?"
"Oh, don't worry. Shinji here has given me a very descriptive warning of what could happen if the wrong people heard about his sword collection…and he'd bury me if something bad happened."
"I'm a good person, but I treasure my sword collection. They're mine, and I believe they'll help me in the days to come here." Shinji explained.
-x-
Path to Friendship
Mount Bonds was quite the unusual mountain to Shinji as he and the Warriors for Hire stood in front of the base of it. Not only was it shaped like two hands shaking one another, but it looked like two mountains fused together.
"So, this is Mt. Bonds?" Shinji asked the siblings.
"Yep," answered Prohyas as he took out of his Flashlight Magisword before they entered the cave. "Here's to finding some new and undiscovered Magiswords!"
"To new and undiscovered Magiswords!" Vambre cheered.
"New and undiscovered Magiswords," Shinji sighed, taking out his Flashlight Magisword.
It had been at least eight months since he arrived in Lyvsheria and during that time, Shinji, with the aid of the Warriors, had found at least eight other Magiswords unlike any he had seen before at Ralphio's. In addition to his first Magisword, he had obtained swords like the Build-a-House Magisword, Zetsuei Magisword and Shell Bullet Magisword. Other Magiswords he had yet to find were likely to be as futuristic and as powerful as the others he had obtained.
"Say, Shinji, do you think there's a Magisword here that'll help you get back to your world?" Vambre asked him eight minutes after entering the cave.
"Maybe, but the only way to know for sure is to find such a sword," he answered her. "Why do you ask? Are you hoping to find such a sword before I do?"
"Nope."
"Eh-heh-heh. I think you are hoping to find it first."
"Then may the best finder win."
I wonder why this place is called Mt. Bonds.
They traveled deep into the caverns and came across a three-way fork in the road.
"Which way should we go?" Prohyas questioned. "Do we go left? Do we go right? Or do we try the middle and see where it goes?"
"Maybe we don't choose for all of us," Shinji suggested. "We each go down a different path and see where it takes us."
"To the finder goes the Magisword!" Vambre cheered.
"To the finder," Shinji accepted.
"To the finder," Prohyas followed suit.
They each went down their chosen path; Prohyas traveled down the left tunnel, Vambre chose the middle tunnel, and Shinji went down the right tunnel. For Shinji, the right path just seemed unlikely to hold any prize for him at the end, but he still chose this route because he had to believe that he would find something waiting for him.
Warriors for Hire are here, he thought, singing to himself the tune he came up with for the siblings after two months of living with them. It's both the name and career… Sleuthing siblings who quest…which is what they do best…
He came upon a dead-end and sighed. But then, he noticed something on the cave wall that he hadn't seen a moment ago: It was some sort of indent shaped like a sword with an unusual shape.
"It looks like my…my Kunai Magisword fits into this?" He wondered aloud, and took it out to compare it to the indenture.
"Kunai Magisword!" The sword-announcing voice went.
The Kunai Magisword (A/N: Inspired by Naruto), shaped like a large kunai with its known abilities being to endow the wielder with martial arts knowledge and flinging a multitude of regular-sized kunai at whoever or whatever was unfortunate enough to be in the way. It was quite heavy in its real size, but Shinji didn't have much difficulty in swinging it or simply holding it up.
"Here goes," he said, putting the sword into the indenture.
Clink! It fit in like a puzzle piece…and the wall rumbled.
"Oh!" He gasped, backing away as the wall opened like a large pizza pie being cut into six slices, all being pulled back by the tunnel, revealing a path to go further down. "Amazing… It served as a key."
Going further, his Flashlight Magisword illuminated drawings and inscriptions on the walls; they were depictions of two people in a situation of some kind. Either fighting each other, fighting large creatures, one falls, the other…does something with a sword…and the one that falls…rises back up. It didn't make any sense to Shinji.
"…Aaaahh!" He heard someone scream.
"Vambre?" He questioned.
"Unhand me, you fiend!" The voice shouted, sounding like Vambre.
Shinji ran to the end of the tunnel and found the woman engaged in combat with a giant monster.
-x-
"…We might not be able to rely on the Third Child with his sync ratio being this low," explained Ritsuko to Gendo and Fuyutsuki in the former's office, going over the latest data.
"Very well," responded Gendo; he was beginning to have his doubts that the boy was of any further use to his agenda. "Has the Marduk Institute located the Fourth Child?"
"There is one candidate that could meet our needs…if properly motivated."
"Are we not even going to consider the possibility that we might be expecting the boy to return to active duty before he has truly recovered from his sojourn experience, wherever he ended up at?" Fuyutsuki questioned. "We can't just expect him to be completely ready to resume piloting. It'd be like…expecting someone who just came out of invasive surgery after suffering critical injuries to just return to work the next day instead of letting them take the time to mend or be rehabilitated."
"With the Angels' unpredictability, we can't waste time on any pilot to recover completely from any experience they went through," Gendo stated; he simply didn't want to waste any time on his son if his synchronization was below his expectations for piloting the Evangelion.
"And synchronization isn't hampered by physical changes," Ritsuko added.
But Fuyutsuki felt that they were not taking the time to simply permit the Third Child to continue his mental recovery in favor of bringing in another pilot and Evangelion.
-x-
"…When did you get that, Shinji?" Asuka asked the boy, noticing him on the rooftop of the apartment building, practicing swordplay with a bokken.
"Yesterday," he answered, swinging the wooden katana against a wooden dummy that had circled areas on several places, particularly the wrists and knees.
"You don't actually plan of using swordplay in an Eva, do you?"
"It's better to practice with a fake sword instead of unintentionally causing harm with one that isn't like regular swords. But no, I don't expect to use swordplay in the Eva. In fact, I don't intend to get back into the Eva at all. I never want to get back into that Eva or any other one, ever again."
"How do you intend to stop the Angels, then?"
"I'll do so with my Magiswords, of course. They can provide the means to overcome obstacles, no matter what they are, if they're used properly."
"You are something else, Shinji."
Asuka then noticed a folding chair nearby and decided to sit on it; it didn't seem like Shinji was going to use it until he was exhausted from his sword training.
"I get the impression that you didn't come up here just to watch me swing around a wooden sword, Asuka," he told her, circling the dummy. "Something you wanted to ask me about?"
"Yeah, there is," she gave in. "I know I saw it through that personal sword of yours, but I'd rather hear it from you. The Revival Magisword you obtained… Vambre Warrior was the first person you ever used it on, wasn't she? To save her life, I mean?"
Even when they both knew from his memories, Shinji sighed and lowered his bokken to the ground.
"Yes, Asuka," he answered her. "When I obtained the Revival Magisword, she was the first person I ever brought back to life with it. She saved my life from that monster. I owed her."
"It's none of my business to even ask you this, but…did you ever think you two would end up as…something more than friends?"
"No. I mean, there were a few times, but Vambre and I… Sometimes, things are better left unexplored."
"But…you did like her, right?"
"Yeah…I did."
-x-
Save Vambre!
It was some sort of bear-like fiend with an endless number of tentacles in place of arms and legs…and it was attacking the Warriors!
Shinji saw them fighting the creature, but it was unlike the previous times. While the previous times felt like something out of a comedy or just a senseless degree of violence where nobody truly got hurt, with the exception of their pride, this fight seemed to be the opposite of everything they knew…and more of what Shinji knew instead. He saw Prohyas get slammed into a wall with enough force that his left leg might've been broken.
"Aaaahh!" Prohyas screamed, unable to get up.
"You foolish mortals!" The fiend roared. "You desire the sacred Revival Magisword?! Look around you! The ground of this cave is littered with the bones of those that came before you! Stronger people than you have tried for it and failed, paying with their lives!"
Vambre, wielding her Tomato Magisword, stood her ground in front of the fiend, surrounded by the pieces and fragments of bones belonging to dozens of people that came before them. This creature was unlike the previous ones they fought for possession of unique Magiswords; it was stronger and more dangerous, able to give as much as it got in return.
"Kunai Magisword!" She heard as she saw a shower of small kunai that struck the fiend in the head.
"I get the impression that this monster isn't like the others," went Shinji, taking out another of his Magiswords as he ran over to Prohyas, helping him up. "The previous ones were like child's play, but this one takes everything up a level."
"It's rougher than they were," Prohyas expressed, howling as his leg was broken. "My Chainsaw Magisword was useless against it. I tried using my Carnivorous Plant Magisword, but it ate it right out of my hands."
"Any offensive Magiswords left in your arsenal?"
"Nothing you haven't seen already."
Shinji took that to mean that Prohyas, despite their time getting to know each other, didn't have any Magiswords with him that would be effective against this creature. If so, it was likely that Vambre also didn't have any that would, either, leaving Shinji with a few that might've been effective.
"Shell Bullet Magisword! Zetsuei Magisword!" Shinji had summoned two of his Magiswords and used them, summoning a blue and white humanoid figure that looked as though it were wearing some sort of straight jacket with blue ribbons on the neck while covering his own arms in yellow-orange, metallic armor with red fins jutting out his back.
"Zetsuei, Stage Two!" He ordered the humanoid. "Shell Bullet, Stage Two!"
In less than three seconds, the small humanoid was replaced by a large, naga-like robot with what looked like rockets on its back…and Shinji's armored arms looked bigger and reddish-orange with a large, golden propeller in place of the red fins on his back.
"Those Magiswords!" The creature uttered. "So, you're the one we've been waiting for, the one who will wield the strongest of Magiswords that will affect the world. To gain this Magisword will bestow upon you the power of life over death…if you can defeat me."
Shinji looked past the fiend, at a display case that showed the coveted Magisword he and the Warriors were after. A Magisword that gave its wielder the power of life over death would've been such a beneficial power in the right hands, able to restore the lives taken by war and sickness.
"But you will not defeat me," the creature told them. "You…will…die."
And it was the way it said that, the way it looked at Shinji when it said it…that reminded the boy of his father, of how it seemed like the man hated his own son…and Shinji didn't like that. He didn't like that this creature was demonstrating disgust towards him…and they didn't even know each other.
"Sleeping Dragon Magisword!" Shinji heard Vambre's Magisword being used, and the fiend turned to face her as its tentacle ends became crystallized into sharp points.
"I am the eternal guardian of this coveted Magisword…and I will end all that seek it," the creature told them. "Time to die like those that came before you!"
Its tentacles moved like bullets, faster than their eyes could see…and Shinji saw the worst of this creature's wrath.
Vambre, despite wielding a sword meant to induce sleep on whoever it was used against, fell to the ground, her sword dropping beside her…in a forming pool of blood beneath her.
"VAMBRE!" Shinji's voice slowly echoed in a scream.
But the lady Warrior didn't stir. Even if the two men with her were to Megaphone Magiswords, she wouldn't have heard them.
"One of you has fallen," the creature told them, "and now you will follow."
This was an insanity that Shinji soon realized that he couldn't escape from seeing, no matter what universe he was in. Any situation that involved some degree of danger would often always carry the same repercussions that led to the ultimate extreme, which was the inevitability of death itself. Death…was the inescapable truth he wanted to avoid at all costs. Not for himself, but for those around him; he was fine with his own end, but someone else's was a line he couldn't cross.
"I'm takin' that sword, fiend," he uttered, tightening his grip on his two Magiswords, enraged by this twist of events. "Do you hear me?!"
Prohyas actually flinched when Shinji yelled like that. It was as though the boy had become engulfed with a rage that wasn't like anything the Warrior siblings had experienced before.
Shinji propelled himself from the ground, his armored arms glowing brightly while the naga-like robot disappeared from sight…only to reappear behind the creature and grabbed it to restrain it.
"Aaaauurgh!" Shinji yelled as he came close enough to punch the creature in its face, sending a large chunk of into the next world.
"Rrrrrraaurgh!" The creature roared in pain, still possessing enough of its head to look at and speak with Shinji, who looked beyond antisocial right now. "You! What is this?! What is this…this emotion that fuels you? It isn't just rage and desperation! What is this intensity that escapes from your soul?!"
Shinji didn't say anything to it, but just looked like he was about to go off on it again.
BLAST! And that is exactly what he did, sending the rest of its head into the abyss of oblivion.
Zetsuei released the corpse of the Magisword guardian as it began to melt away.
Congratulations, wielder of the Magiswords that affect the world on a grand scale, Shinji heard the creature say to him in his mind. The Revival Magisword, the sword that bestows life over death, is yours to wield. Use it and save your friend.
As the armor on his arms and Zetsuei evaporated from existence, Shinji approached the coveted Magisword they had come for and lifted it up high above his head.
"Revival Magisword!" The sword was identified as Shinji used it to revive Vambre.
-x-
"…Yeah, you restored her to life and had a greater value towards life after that day," Asuksa stated to Shinji as the boy sat on the ground. "Of course, after that day, you sort of kept a closer watch out for both siblings. Even Vambre called you out as being somewhat overprotective."
"Yeah, but you know why I became that way. Even if I now possessed the power to return life to the dead, the idea of any person dying before their time was cruel. Nobody deserves to live forever, but nobody deserves to die young, either."
"And someone in their twenties is young to you?"
"Any age where you're ended by something that isn't consistent it natural causes like sickness or an earthquake or tidal wave is young. If you were eighty and someone killed you, it'd be the same thing."
So for him, eighty years old is too young to die, as well? Asuka thought as she sighed at the boy's way of thinking. Anyone with a measure of power that others don't have would have ideas of power or status in the world, but Shinji's measure of power is based upon protecting those he knows and cares for to the best of his abilities. Instead of fame, he just wants to see those around him live to see another day and grow old.
Shinji just lay back and looked up at the sky above.
"Aaaahh!" He remembered Vambre scream as she returned to life, healed up like she was never killed. "What? But…I died, didn't I?"
"Yes," he told her, "but I brought you back."
"Thanks, Shinji," Prohyas praised him on saving his sister.
-x-
"…For the Unit-03 activation test, we'll be using the Fourth Child," Ritsuko informed Misato the next day at NERV HQ.
"What? The Fourth Child?" She asked her. "They've finally been found? But I didn't receive an update from the Marduk Institute."
"You should receive the update later today."
But Misato wasn't convinced about something. It seemed too convenient that NERV finally found a fourth pilot for the Evangelions. Not only that, but only a few days after Shinji had returned from being MIA, officially and unofficially.
"Ritsuko," she spoke, "are you hiding something from me again?"
"No," she answered the purple-haired woman.
On the computer screen in front of them, the subject's picture and information popped up.
"You're kidding," Misato reacted in shock. "Him?"
-x-
He had to take a chance and hope that he could still keep in touch with someone from Lyvsheria, even though he wasn't there, anymore.
"Here goes," Shinji sighed and tried to contact Vambre Warrior on his Magi Mobile. I believe in Magiswords and I believe in what I went through to be more than just some dream or hallucination. I must believe that I can still keep in touch with people from Rhyboflaven. Even if it's just to hear their voices, to know they're still around, that would be enough for me.
It was still working, showing an attempt to connect to another Magi Mobile, and all he could do was wait for a response. Wait for someone to pick up…or for the call to fail. If anything, Shinji was just desperate to hear the voice and/or see the face of a friend he had to leave just to get back to his home away from home.
Click!
"Hello," a female voice responded, "you've reached Vambre Warrior of Warriors for Hire where your issue is our mission. How may I help you?"
"Uh…Vambre?" He spoke, and then heard a gasp on the other end.
"Sh…Shinji?" The woman asked. "Shinji Ikari?"
"Yes."
"You were able to make it back to your world alive?"
"Yeah. Are you and Prohyas still looking around for Magiswords that Ralphio doesn't have?"
"You know we do. It's been almost a week since you left."
"Really, it's only been that long? I worried that time would've passed by too long after I had left. It's only been a few days here since I returned. I'm…I'm relieved to know that not much time has passed since I left. And…and…it's just good to hear your voice again."
"Likewise, Shinji. I'm glad that you were able to make it back to your world. I…I…I wish you hadn't left, though. The people here miss you."
"I miss them, too."
"But…you had to go back. You had to save your world. You have to save your world."
"We do…only what we can, Vambre."
-x-
"…You seem out of sorts lately, Katsuragi," went Kaji to Misato in the cafeteria. "What, is Shinji in low spirits again?"
"No," she responded, not really paying him any mind. "I think Ritsuko is hiding something from me again. The worst part of it is whether or not I tell Shinji about what I found out today."
"Why would you need to tell him anything?"
"You weren't there when he came back. He looked like he was barely skin and bones when I first met him, but after he returned from wherever he was, he literally looked like skin and bones. I have a deeper respect for him now that he's back."
That was true, Kaji hadn't seen or spoken with Shinji since the latter had returned from his sojourn experience in some other universe. In fact, the closest he had gotten to seeing the boy was a picture taken during his medical evaluation; he couldn't believe the boy looked as though he were barely hanging on, even through intravenous therapy. It was like something out of the American movie Se7en, only Shinji hadn't been strapped to a bed somewhere by some deranged criminal.
"So…what are you going to do?" He asked Misato.
"Let him know what's going on," she answered him, "and wait for his reaction."
To be continued…
A/N: Sorry it took so long to continue this. Motivation is a pain in the imagination. I think what was perhaps my favorite scene in this chapter was the conversation between Shinji and Vambre after he tried to call her. I don't think I could've had him call anyone else except for her; their relationship is a bit deeper than everyone else's. What do you think?