Creation began on 08-17-21
Creation ended on 08-21-21
Neon Genesis Evangelion
The Mysterious Protector
A/N: Many apologies for taking so long with this chapter.
He might've quit NERV, but that didn't deprive Shinji of the necessary knowledge of knowing when another Angel would show up and he would, indirectly, get involved. With his Legendary Swordmecha Magisword now recharged from its initial usage, Shinji could use it again against the next Angel and he would do all that he could with his other Magiswords to dispose of the threat before it could escalate.
It's been three days, Shinji thought as he practiced on the roof of that apartment building with his bokken. I don't like this calm before the storm.
Swing! He swung his practice sword against his practice dummy until it was an inch away from its head.
"Yo, Shinji!" Asuka's voice was heard as she came up to the roof. "You'd better get to a shelter now! The city's not safe!"
He looked at her and knew what she meant by that.
About damn time, he thought as he tossed the bokken aside and brandished his Hoversword. "Don't worry about me. Stay safe and make sure that you come back."
-x-
This new Angel was different from the last one, being that it wasn't possessing an Evangelion, and it was much stronger than any of the previous Angels NERV had anticipated to be in the past.
BLAST! It unleashed an energy blast that destroyed seventeen layers of protective armor that was meant to keep the Angels out of the Geo-Front.
"Son of a… This Angel is not letting up," Misato realized, hoping that the people in the shelters were alright. "How soon until we launch Unit-01?"
"We're beginning the activation sequence," Maya announced.
Inside Unit-01, Rei was preparing to sync with the Eva as she was ordered, but something went wrong. She covered her mouth and nose as an image bore into her conscious; for some reason, she was seeing Shinji holding an object in his hands over a young woman with long hair in a leotard and cape that was on the ground, surrounded by blood, yelling something. It was followed by a series of situations where Shinji was…wielding these strange objects as though they were based off of…swords…but they looked like other things, like bricks or…other stuff. Whatever these images were that probed her mind, they were as intense as the synchronization process with the Eva had been.
"It's…no good," she uttered, covering her mouth at the memory of how Shinji became emaciated in the process of returning to this world.
"What's going on?!" Ritsuko asked Maya.
"The sync graphs are reversing," she explained. "Unit-01 has terminated synchronization with the pilot."
Up above the others, Fuyutsuki turned to Gendo and had the impression that this was something that couldn't be forced to go their way.
"Ikari," he spoke.
"I know," Gendo responded, not impressed. Is it trying to reject me?
"Send Rei out in Unit-00," Misato ordered; however much time was needed to provide Shinji to get ready to fight the Angel with his Magiswords, she had to make sure he had it.
As her plug was being removed from the purple Eva, Rei was pondering what had gone on wherever Shinji had ended up when he disappeared and why the Eva refused to sync with her.
What were those objects he wielded against those people? She wondered.
-x-
Within Unit-02, Asuka, armed with rifles, watched as the Angel entered the Geo-Front and touched the ground like a demon summoned to the Earth. It was hideous and a sight to forget once dealt with.
Shinji, if you're far away to avoid suspicion, now would be the best time to make your appearance and do whatever it was you did last time, she thought as she fired her weapons at the Angel's body. "Aaaurgh! Next!"
With the rifles spent, she discarded them and picked up two rocket launchers, firing until they were spent. But the Angel was unaffected by the barrage of firepower, just standing there taking every hit that was wasted by the redhead.
"Asuka, we're detecting an unidentifiable target approaching the base from outside the city," Misato informed her through the intercom.
"What?" She feigned surprise. "Is it that robot from before?"
"We're not sure."
The Angel unfurled its front limbs, which resembled long pieces of toilet paper, and shot them towards the red Eva.
"Shiest!" Asuka cursed as she had no time to dodge.
Ding! The Angel's toilet paper-like limbs were deflected by…a large wall of bricks and diamond, which fractured under the pressure of the attempted strike.
"What in the name of…" Asuka gasped.
Up above, coming through the same hole that the Angel had made to breach into the base, the robot from before with the Unit-03 incident, levitated down to the ground, but it had a new feature that wasn't seen before: A large, flowing cape of scarlet material protruding from around its neck gave it the impression of being some sort of hero coming to save the day. It set foot on the ground and the cape was sucked into its neck as it faced the Angel.
Incredible, Asuka thought.
-x-
"It's that robot from before," Shigeru realized.
Misato was impressed that it looked so much like Shinji did in his usual clothes (something none of the other NERV personnel could really see).
Ritsuko found it disturbing and at the same time fascinating that a strange robot showed up and intervened in a battle against the Angel. For the longest time, it was the Evas that were proven to be the most effective weapon to stop the Angels from destroying the human race, but now there was, seemingly, competition in the struggle to prevail over them.
Gendo, however, was not pleased with this turn of events. The mere fact that this thing was here was a sign that someone was playing a game that forced NERV to participate in that was not desired…and the mastermind behind it was undermining his own authority.
"Have we attempted communication with the mecha?" He questioned.
"We're unable to establish communication with it, sir," Hyuga answered him.
"Use the base's loudspeakers."
-x-
He was fortunate to have brought his Brick and Bling Bling Magiswords with him and create the barrier to protect Asuka when he did. This Angel was much more powerful than what he had expected, since it wasn't an Evangelion, which meant Shinji would have to use tactics that were different from the first time. He could still use his Shell Bullet and Zetsuei Magiswords, but he would probably have to use his other Magiswords that were either not as powerful or not as likely to be used in a battle.
"Don't back down," he told himself as he brandished another sword. "Take your opponent out."
"WHOEVER YOU ARE IN THE MECHA!" He heard a male voice over the loudspeakers within the Geo-Front. "YOU ARE INTERFERING IN A NERV-SANCTIONED AFFAIR! IDENTIFY YOURSELF!"
Unfortunately, Shinji had no time to follow that order (and personally, he didn't really have to), as the Angel was a priority and needed to be dealt with. Even if it wasn't a priority, Shinji wasn't going to reveal to the majority of NERV that he was the one controlling the mecha-sized version of himself that could fight the Angels.
"Kunai Magisword!" The disembodied voice announced and Shinji produced another sword. "Bite Beast Magisword!"
"Let's try this combo," he uttered as he inserted them into the ports. "Super Teamwork Combo: Bite Blades!"
His mecha raised its arms and fired four large blades shaped like kunai, only they had mouths.
"Rrraah!" They snarled as they approached the Angel.
Flash! The Angel fired its energy blasts and managed to destroy two of the kunai, but the other two managed to get close by and started to bite down on its side.
"Grraugh!" The Angel groaned as it swung its paper-like limbs around to get rid of them, but they just flew around said limbs to attack its malformed, armor-like head. "Grrarugh!"
The mecha then charged towards the Angel and slammed into it, sending it into the artificial lake with tremendous force.
-x-
There was no technology in the world, currently in use or in development, that could do what this mecha was doing to the Angel. It just fired blades with teeth before ramming into it and sending the Angel into the lake.
"This is like something out of a video game," Hyuga stated, watching as Unit-00 emerged from the ground, armed with a rifle.
"Where are we on Unit-01?" Gendo demanded to know.
"We're beginning insertion of the Dummy Plug," Ritsuko answered him. "Beginning synchronization procedure."
Suddenly, the alarms went off and the computer screens red with large letters.
"What's happening?" Ritsuko asked Maya.
"It's not working," she responded. "Unit-01 is refusing synchronization with the signal!"
The purple Eva then shut down and was silent.
"Rei…" Misato expressed.
"The Dummy System…" Ritsuko added. "It won't accept either."
Now, Gendo had concern for the outcome of this situation. If the Eva refused to cooperate, they couldn't deal with the Angels, and if they couldn't deal with the Angels, then they'd be met with ridicule over their inability to handle the situation. That is, of course, unless they weren't facing it now due to the previous incident. They had yet to receive word from the Committee on why the Evas were unable to deal with an Angel that possessed an Eva, and even the potential responses for why were less than adequate for the people responsible for keeping them funded.
The mecha surfaced from the lake, sporting minor nicks and scrapes on its face and body that were more than likely just cosmetic damage, not affecting its overall performance. It also sported a weapon in its left hand; it resembled a…halberd or pole arm with a serrated-edged blade.
"What in the world?" Shigeru questioned as the mecha performed a stance that one usually did with a pole weapon, stretching on its left leg with its right leg bent. "Damn, that thing is nimble right now."
It then leapt into the air and swung its weapon at the Angel's waist and carved out a significant portion of its hide, just over its core. Then, it swung it again, this time under its core, cutting away another large portion of its hide. The Angel swung its paper-like again, but they had been shortened to a significant degree by the attacking kunai, reducing their length to that of a bus, barely touching the mecha's head.
Jab! They watched as the mecha thrust its pole arm into the Angel's core, despite the fact that a second before it could deal in damage, a membrane closed around it in order to protect it, causing it to fracture like a boiled egg being stripped of its shell.
The Angel's eyes started to light up, indicating that it was going to fire off one more blast at the mecha, but a large hole in the air manifested behind it, with tiny arms reaching out like vines or snakes to grab hold of the Angel's body, and began pulling it in!
"Grraurgh!" The Angel roared, trying to get loose, but the more it struggled, the more hands reached out to grab it.
"Incredible," Fuyutsuki gasped.
-x-
"One Big Hole Magisword!" The voice uttered as Shinji put the sword into one of the ports, followed by another sword. "Legendary Hyperspace Magisword!"
"Super Teamwork Combo: Primordial Vortex!" Shinji shouted; the One Big Hole Magisword combined with the Legendary Hyperspace Magisword enabled him to create a miniature black hole of sorts to suck in the Angel, displacing somewhere beyond the known reaches of the known universe. "Time for you to get lost, Angel!"
And then, as if to add insult to its injuries, Shinji made the mecha version of himself right its right arm up…and smack the Angel in the face, reducing its resistance against the arms pulling it into the portal that would seal its fate (A/N: Think of the scene in Green Lantern where Hal Jordan decked Parallax before sending him into the sun). Being pulled into the hole, the Angel felt like it was coming undone as the darkness surrounding it closed in on it. The hole closed in the air, making the Angel a thing of the past, something to be forgotten about.
"It better not come back," Shinji expressed, and sighed.
-x-
"…The blue pattern is gone," Maya informed Ritsuko, Fuyutsuki and Gendo. "No signs of the Angel within the base."
"That mecha disposed of the Angel," Hyuga uttered. "It's incredible."
You have no idea, thought Misato as she watched the mecha levitate again when the scarlet cape returned and it left out through the hole. Good job, Shinji.
Before Gendo could order Units-00 and 02 to attack the mecha, it disappeared again as it went through the hole.
"Whoever made that thing must be using technology unlike anything NERV currently has," someone in Central Dogma suspected.
"We…we need to find out who made it," Ritsuko insisted.
Gendo wanted to know who made that thing, too. He wanted to know…because whoever made it…could've made it so that the Evas were more efficient against the Angels. He wanted that mecha's technology for his own purposes; NERV was just humiliated by being shown up by an unknown element, a rogue factor that had become a new wrinkle in his scenario. It was only a matter of time before the wrong ears heard and NERV would be questioned about this predicament that was going to get them into trouble.
-x-
Riding his Hoversword across the empty streets to an underpass, Shinji looked around and saw no cameras nearby. He went into the shadows and changed out of his outfit and into his regular clothes. Once he accomplished that, he used his Legendary Hyperspace Magisword and relocated himself back to Misato's apartment; just because he saw no cameras or people nearby didn't mean he was willing to take a chance and risk getting caught.
"I don't ever want to see that Angel or another one like it," he uttered as he reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a water bottle. "I hope I didn't make too much trouble for Misato and Asuka down there."
The sound of the door opened and the sound of footsteps came.
"You have no idea what you missed out there, baka!" Asuka yelled at Shinji as she and Misato returned. "That robot from before came back and defeated the Angel! It made the Evas look like they were unable to face it without getting pummeled!"
"Now, now, Asuka," Misato went, "it mitigated the potential damage the Angel was causing and the damage it caused to the city was minimal. Nobody was harmed…and Commander Ikari was the only one that was upset by the robot's sudden arrival and departure. He's going to be wasting his time looking for whoever built it."
"Oh, really?" Shinji questioned, slightly amused by his father's foolishness to assume the mecha created by two of his Magiswords was made by someone similar to the people responsible for the Evas. "What are the chances of him finding the people responsible?"
"Oh, they're as likely as the chances of him getting relieved of his position as the commander of NERV…and put behind bars."
"That low, hmm? Good luck with that."
-x-
"…And you have absolutely no knowledge of where this mecha came from, Ikari?" SEELE 01 questioned Gendo in their unscheduled meeting.
"Nobody has come yet to claim any credit or responsibility for its presence against the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Angels," Gendo claimed; NERV had yet to investigate the matter.
"There have been no reports of any rival agencies doing anything similar to the failed Jet Alone," said SEELE 06, "unless there's a country with a secret research project unaffiliated with the government. But you said this mecha just vanished as it retreated?"
"Like some sort of ghost."
"And you were unable to establish communication with whoever was operating it?" SEELE 11 wanted to know.
"If there was an operator inside it, they refused to speak."
"And you can't think of anyone that would dare to threaten our plans for what comes after the Angels are defeated?" SEELE 04 questioned.
"Nobody that lives to tell about it, that is."
"We will look into this matter," SEELE 01 told Gendo. "For the time being, your only concern is to deal with the remaining Angels."
"And should this mystery mecha return if another Angel attacks?" Gendo wanted to know.
"Secure or destroy; whatever technology that can be salvaged from it may prove useful to us."
With the meeting now over, Gendo knew what he had to do. Whoever this new and uninvited player was, he had to put them out of the way of his scenario. After the shameful humiliation of watching Unit-01 refuse to activate for both Rei and the Dummy System, and the Fourteenth Angel defeat, his pride demanded retribution on whoever was responsible for this act of disrespect towards him and his grand design.
-x-
Again, Asuka found Shinji on the roof of the building, practicing with his bokken and dummy target.
"You've been up here for almost five hours now," she told him. "Don't you ever get tired of hitting the same target over and over again?"
"Yeah," he answers her, "but then, I think about who the next person is unlikely to wind up in the way of some very bad people. A guy just walking down the street to the store…or a girl on her way to visit a friend at their home. A little after tomorrow afternoon, I can use it again."
"They got a name right now in NERV for that mecha that fought the Angel."
"What is it?"
"They're calling them the Mysterious Protector, because they don't know who it is piloting that mecha and how they're able to do what they do against the Angels."
"The Mysterious Protector, huh? Interesting."
Asuka watched as he swung his bokken against the side of the practice dummy's head, stopping just an inch away from hitting it. His precision and control over the speed of his swing was almost like a beast ready to strike at its prey, but keeping their distance until it was the right moment to pounce.
"What do you suppose happened to the Angel?" She asked him.
"From the way you described it," he expressed, "it could've been sent back to the Hell it climbed out of. Or even sent spiraling into the inferno of some sun in a far-off galaxy. So long as it's far away from here, I could care less about where it ends up."
-x-
The Angel found itself adrift in space, heading towards a burning sphere that it couldn't defend itself against. Somehow, that strange enemy that appeared to intervene had relocated it across the farthest reaches of the cosmos and put it on a collision course with a sun that was nearing the end of its existence.
"Grrraurgh!" It roared as the heat of the sun became more intense as it got closer to it.
Burst! The Angel had gotten too close and was burned away, down to its last atom.
To be continued…
A/N: Any of you feel like Gendo and SEELE are going to get screwed in a big way because they won't find out who's responsible for the magically-created mecha that Shinji uses to turn the tide against the Angels? Read and review, please. Embrace life and live.