Chapter 10: Flight in panic.
Civilization rules
Science victory = Build a spaceship and reach Alpha Centuri. Requires vast amounts of scientific research and production capacity usually in the form of labs and factories.
Cultural victory = Attract more tourists than all other nations combined have domestic citizens. Usually done by constructing wonders (e.g: Eiffel tower) or theatre squares.
Diplomatic victory = Win enough diplomatic points from all other nations combined. City states as well as whole nations can vote. Usually done through diplomatic favours such as monetary gifts and participating in global emergencies.
Domination victory = Capture the original capital of all other Nations (usually by military force), while keeping your own owned by you. Usually requires a large, up to date army.
Religious victory = Make more than half of all citizens in every other nation follow your religion. Can be done with religious units such as apostles and in some rare cases, religious military units.
Winning any victory makes you the winner and prevents the other nations from winning. Thus, speed is of the essence!
I really don't see why people hate Shinji.
If nothing else can be said about him, he does all the chores in his apartment without being asked like cooking and cleaning and he doesn't punch the other characters the way Asuka does.
He's also very polite and never speaks ill of anyone.
He also pilots the Eva to protect those he cares about unlike Asuka who only does it for fame and Rei who was literally programmed to do it, even though he hates piloting.
IN other words, Shinji has to exert himself to pilot as well as he does and he still manages to be the best pilot. That takes both talent, willpower and genuine love. Something Asuka, Misato and Gendo don't have.
And considering my own battles with depression and hardship, I know how bad it is to be forced to do something you hate just so you can appease those you love.
Love is about doing things you don't want to do to please others.
Yes, Asuka and Misato and Gendo all have tragic pasts too. But the way they deal with it by taking their hatred on those who don't deserve it is unforgivable when Shinji clearly shows there is an appropriate way of keeping his temper in check so well.
Secretly we all wish we had a friend like Shinji. A submissive partner always willing to do what we want and who never complains and talks back to us.
If the world had more Shinji's maybe it would be a bit better of a place.
Rosslyn POV
Far away from Tokyo 3 hidden away in a mountaintop observatory somewhere in Northern Italy, an intently focused white blonde scientist sat staring deeply at the mountain of paperwork he had yet to get through as part of his daily labour.
At the very least NERV hadn't found him or his "rebel base" out yet on account of the high-tech signal jammers he had requisitioned some time ago with his intellectual acumen.
He wondered how much longer his kingdom's luck would last what with so many new citizens itching to move in to be free of NERV and SEELE's tyrannical reign.
"Grand Moff" Rosslyn Star, the head scientist of the mushroom kingdom had a very plain choice of attire in spite of the importance of his position.
A pale blue jacket and cheap white jeans along with a slightly worn set of matching turquoise trainers which was close to although not quite falling apart.
He never believed in replacing his clothes until they were unwearable as he was by his own omission very busy.
A decorated white stick embellished with a large silver star at its tip sat snugly beside his stack of papers.
His "wand" as he liked to refer to it. Both a useful tool and a deadly weapon he had designed for himself during his early days starting out as a junior scientist after swearing off NERV for good following a narrow escapade with his life.
Requiring several hours of charge for only a few uses each time, it had nonetheless proved its use to him countless times and beyond when he pointed the telekinetic crystal atop the stick at an unsuspecting foe seeking to take advantage of his apparent lack of arms only to find themselves fearfully clutching their aching throat several meters above the ground in the next second.
"The force choke" he liked to refer to it as.
It was just one of the many gadgets he had tinkered up in his tenure here in the mysterious paradise he was fortunate enough to find himself in now.
And just one of the many toys NERV would kill to get their hands upon and which must be defended at all cost even with his very life.
A dark red laser powered sword completed his defensive set for when his wand ran short of power as it often did during the frequent attempts on his life.
A brilliant weapon, far superior to the similarly manufactured blue laser swords NERV once used but decided eventually to switch out in another corner cutting operation to save on money.
Money that was no doubt being used to fatten the big fat pig they still hadn't the courage to depose in spite of his increasingly pronounced flaws that even back in his time weren't exactly well hidden.
Losing his right eye did nothing to blind him from his former commander's glaring flaws that impassioned him to work harder and faster every day. He knew that each day more innocent lives were lost to a lying cheapskate's bid for petty self-empowerment.
"Don't be so proud of this technological terror you've constructed NERV" he disdainfully mocked.
To rest himself he briefly ran his eyes over a newspaper clipping showcasing one of their newest EVANGELIONS and their star pilot Shinji Ikari standing beside it clearly hating the false attention he was giving the world by being photographed alongside the killer machine.
"The ability to destroy a planet, is insignificant next to the power of the force."
He briefly shuddered a little in sad sentimentality as he rubbed the part of his short but tidy white blonde hair that he grew out purposefully to cover up his right eye which he lost to a well hidden sniper who in NERV's final bid to take him out during his flight from their organisation having figured out they were up to no good but not quite knowing the full extent of their plans.
A slight to the left and the bullet would have blown his brains out instead.
He heard that NERV had had two new head scientists since his departure. A mother who upon a brutal murder suicide in which the details were sketchy was replaced by her still grieving daughter.
He could but pray that NERV would place greater valuer in them and silently voice his heartfelt condolences that he did not envy their positions.
A pink star shaped alien creature hopped into the room as he sat still to hearken his rumbling stomach.
He had been working himself so hard to the bone that he had skipped lunch and only had a single slice of unseasoned toast for breakfast.
His faithful intergalactic companion dutifully bowed as it delivered to the starving scientist his favourite snack of chocolate chipped cookies complete with a warm glass of milk.
It let out a cheerful giggle to announce its presence to its grateful owner. This one in particular named Kirby, wasn't very talkative compared to the rest of her alien friends.
Rosslyn didn't know where they came from but one day while flying in the stratosphere in his star destroyer to ease a rut in his mind, he had found a bunch of these mysterious life forms on an asteroid that had entered Earth's orbit and stayed suspending them in a perpetual prison of hunger and thirst.
He was only just in time to save them from starvation and after seeing the cute and innocent look in their starry little eyes which seemed like lenses to another galaxy, decided to keep them and raise them as his own at least until he could find a way to bring them back to their home planet wherever it was.
From the shape of their adorable bodies, he aptly named them the Lumas.
His Lumas.
His amazing alien companions and his proof to his fellows that not all aliens were undeserving of humanity's compassion.
"I hope you're using the information I found well Mari." He mused worryingly.
It had taken him a great deal of work to find a way around NERV's magi system without also giving away his position and to decipher the encrypted texts into a readable format.
It had taken a great deal on his part to convince his superiors that Mari was trustworthy to their cause.
Even as the Grand Moff, the main decisions of his kingdom were up to his even higher friends Peach and Daz.
Rei POV
Extremely hurtful sobs erupted from Mari's shaking body as we continued to carry along the unconscious Shinji with me holding his legs and Mari his shoulders.
"I didn't mean to hurt Asuka so badly, Rei. I'm so sorry" Mari sobbed, not needing to turn around to let me realize her eyes were choke full to the brim with salt water and that some of it was even flowing past her lips making it hard for her to speak.
"But she was on the verge of killing you. She held you so tightly. I couldn't stand by and do nothing and let her kill you and Shinji. I really just hope she isn't hurt too bad and…"
"It's alright Mari. You did the best you could under the circumstances and for what its worth, I'm really grateful for you saving my life once again" I uncharacteristically harshly cut in.
She finally quietens her sobs and I go on choosing my words carefully as I continue to struggle one step at a time with my share of Shinji's weight.
He's badly malnourished and very skinny from being overworked but its still difficult.
"And even if we could, I still wouldn't want to take Asuka with us. She'll be fine here. NERV trusts her more than me and Shinji and she has lots of friends in Tokyo 3 who would miss her unlike me and Shinji.
Shinji doesn't need more punches to the face after all the poor guy's been through. He hates piloting and yet he does it all to save me, you and everyone else he cares about.
Asuka only did it for herself. At least he had good intentions."
"And he was nice too" Mari added. "Nice enough to cook and clean after two ungrateful slobs who never so much as thanked him once. At the very least you'd think they'd pick up some of the slack but no. Shinji has to both pilot and do all the chores while his old man perches on his throne like he's got all the time in the world."
"Couldn't have said it better myself" I finish only to tense up in an instant as the engine from earlier grows to become deafening as the NERV car in question finally catches us up.
A big gas guzzling jeep filled to the brim with armed to the teeth professionals ready to let lose a hail of diamond hard ammunition in the blink of an eye.
There were times in my life where I felt my enhanced eyesight as a part Angel that not only let me see further and clearer but also a greater radius than a normal human's was sort of like the hidden art used by a certain very pretty but not very powerful ninja who went through life with nothing but her uncaring clan's unending disapproval.
The byakugan I think it was called and which I liked to call my amazing sight which were perhaps the only part of being part Angel that I liked.
I liked to think that Shinji's ability to multitask so well in a way none of us could, making delicious meals and maintaining spotless rooms while also stretching his psyche to the limit fighting avatars of destruction was similar to the power to create clones.
No way a single person however dedicated could do all those amazing things in one sitting and so few breaks in between.
And the way he was ignored for his world saving accomplishments, made him like a shadow.
Put shadow and clones together and you had shadow clones. Add to the fact that Shinji once said that foxes were his favourite animals and Kitsunes his favourite mythical creatures and the similarities became more blatant still.
Asuka's hair was red. Red was just a deeper shade of pink. Pink was the colour of Sakura flowers on a Sakura trees. Sakura trees were known for being beautiful when they bloomed but quickly losing their splendour when the seasons changed.
Like how Asuka was so quick to lose her temper and snap at the rest of us children. And how she was able to maintain the perfect façade of niceness among her friends at school and the grown ups who even now still clung to the misguided belief that she could do no wrong.
Red was a fuller tone of pink. Pink was the colour of a Sakura flower. A certain Sakura of a certain leaf village was the weakest ninja but the strongest nagger and naysayer to the same village's best and most important ninja.
Work it out. It's fairly simple to any semi competent otaku.
"The commander wishes urgently to see you both, first and second child. For a very special occasion involving the both of you privately with him." One man firmly ordered as he gestured for us to stop running and address him as he stepped from the vehicle, rifle at the ready.
"And as for you, fourth child. It would be best if you simply left to let us conduct these private affairs privately. The commander has no further need for you and no orders concerning you."
"No!" I insist almost before the gruff officer finishes his admonition, stepping in front of Mari and Rei with my arms wide open.
If they open fire on us now, I want the two only saints who've given me any sort of positive nourishment in my bleak and unhappy existence to at least have a five second head start even without me.
I can be resurrected but they cannot. They only have one life, and they deserve to live it.
"You will, obey the commander's orders first child. His authority overrides yours and that of your peers." The man simply repeats, his face like stone cold marble as Shinji slowly opens his eyes to the first vestiges of consciousness.
"I said no. The commander doesn't own me and I do not owe him anything. I'm not his servant" I rebut in return.
"No. First child. You are less valuable than a servant because you do nothing to earn your keep unlike I and the rest of my men since we are consistently forced against our will to slave after you and your fellow pilots while the cut of salary reserved for us is abysmally tiny thanks to you all."
His stiff upper lip almost seems to quaver to a frown.
"I'm not coming and that's final" I assert once again, readying my Byakugan, my all-seeing eye as I hold out my hands in an almighty fighting stance.
I had had enough of being nothing but a useless hostage for one lifetime and Shinji and Mari had risked their necks enough for them to deserve from me some kind of payback.
It was time to prove that even I was worth something in this sacred friendship we three shared. The confluence of negative feelings, desire for self preservation as well as protection of my friends had sparked within me a perfect synergy of raw power I knew I would not soon be experiencing again. I needed to make the most of it and I certainly knew what I had planned would be truly incredible even with how useless I knew I was.
Believe it.
"We will be forced to use restraint measures if you do not comply." The squad leader threatens as he waves his gun impatiently. "You have but one final chance to reassess your decision."
The rest of his crew who have by now exited the jeep level their weapons in unison with him.
Getting ready to earn their paycheque. The one thing they cared about and which would still be dirt poor even without us pilots.
Never mind that it was only thanks to our painstaking efforts they were all even alive in the first place.
It was not a boast to say that this entire army owed us their very lives several times over.
"Take your offer" I growled. "And go to hell with it! Take your squad and tell the devil I said hey when you get back to where all of you are clearly from."
I normally wasn't so rude but I had been through enough for one day to care less knowing what these men had in store for us.
Mari had made enough wisecracks for the day. It was my turn to strike and pull my weight.
I would prove right this day to my Kirito that I was no Silica.
To my Mario, I was no Peach.
That while Naruto Uzumaki had been out and about studying to the fullest, the Hyuga clan still had some tricks up its sleeve that was worthy of at least some of his admiration.
And as I hoped they would, he raised his gun and fired. The bullet was aimed at a decidedly nonvital point in my leg but that did not make his shot any less malicious or greedy.
I willed my enhanced reflexes to their maximum, knowing I could only do this every once in a while.
Knowing that this would make me walk with a limp in my step and my eyes half closed constantly yawning for at least the rest of the day.
And also knowing that if I was human, this manoeuvre would not be possible.
Perfectly calculating where the bullet would go, I managed in the nick of time to grip out the sharpened metal like a star out of the sky and as I quickly felt the pangs of fatigue begin to sag upon me, I threw his shot directly back at him with all my might as the entirety of the NERV squad's faces turned to utter shock. Along with a prideful grin from my good friend Mari as she was forced to lay Shinji down from the tiredness of lifting him around.
The bullet picked up speed once more as it soared through the air in the opposite direction.
It was in reality scantly more than two seconds but seemed to me in my brief moment of maximum focus and concentration of my Chakra, my life energy.
The piece of shrapnel flew right into the junior officer's rifle and broke it in two rendering it completely unusable.
A large shockwave was emitted in the process, briefly causing the several soldiers in their position on the other side of the street to tremble uncontrollably and drop their weapons.
My actions buy just enough time for Mari and a newly awakened Shinji who had managed with surprising swiftness to shake himself up with a little prompting and jostling from Mari to beat a hasty retreat dragging my arm along as I manage despite several heavy yawns to run alongside them both.
"Could the Haruno Clan do that, Sakura?" I teasingly asked as I manage despite a slight hobble to keep up with Shinji and Mari not able to resist to temptation to make one reference to yet another good set of cartoons which kept me sane and life worth living. "If not, then that's another point to the Hyuga clan."
I wished I could have done this earlier with Asuka but better late than never. As of now, this was not something I could simply pull out of left field without extraordinary circumstances completely out of my control. It took the perfect combination of rage, passion and energy and I was simply fortunate that it came just when it was needed.
Shinji POV
Even when I was passed out, I heard everything.
How NERV wanted to kill us both dead and how the soldiers were so willing to open fire on us all without mercy.
I was not truly unconscious, merely a little dazed.
And though Asuka might argue otherwise, there were rare days when I was no dope and could in fact think for myself when the time came for me to do so.
I trusted Mari. If Rei trusted her than so did I.
That was a rule now that Rei had declared her love to me.
"Where do we go?" I asked, stifling another yawn as I rubbed my head with my free hand a little.
"We can't get out of Tokyo 3 by boat or by plane. The airport and seaport are watched over very heavily by all of NERV's personel and we would be shot before we went a yard."
"So. What then?"
Rei asks as we stumble out of the alley we've been hurrying down into a mostly empty parking lot with but one rusted red car in the leftmost space and its driver a middle aged raven haired woman answering a call on her cell phone.
Mari takes a panicked look back as she hears the sounds of heavy footsteps thudding after us from the narrow path we just came through.
We had but seconds at best.
"We have to take her car" She whispered, not waiting to see if we understood what she meant before running over to the rundown banger.
With one smooth motion she wrenches the car door open and manages with a bit of a scuffle to pull the distracted occupant of the vehicle who had not seen or heard us having been vividly absorbed in her call.
"Get in quickly" She calls to us as we quickly catch meaning of her suggestion and almost stumble over ourselves in our bid to board the old but perfectly serviceable rust bucket with Rei riding shotgun and me taking the back seat.
We close the door behind us and somehow manage to get both our seatbelts on (safety first) as Mari quickly manages to start the engine with the key in the ignition and with a quick "sorry" to the dazed and battered former driver, the brown haired English woman turns the car into prime position and speeds away just as a shot rings out from behind us missing the car's right back tyre by mere centimetres.
Taking stock of the various dials and buttons on the car's interface from where I now sit trying very hard to keep my teeth in my mouth from the exhilaration that reminds me a little too much of Misato's drink driving for my own comfort, I see positioned just below the speedometer a set of five shaped lights.
As another bullet smashes into the back of the car luckily only causing a light graze, one of the five stars turns from grey to gold.
I turn to look back at Rei as our bowels tighten.
Our shared terror turns to primal horror when yet another NERV jeep begins to try and close the gap between us from behind in the rear view mirror I have perfect vision over and yet another star lights up.
I knew what came next without needing to tune my hearing to better perceive the whirring of helicopter blades in the distance adding to the ear-piercing din. Soon it would be 3 stars.
I could but hope that Mari didn't have her license revoked after this ordeal.
At the very least if I went out now, it would be in a high speed car chase approaching terminal velocity as I made a desperate bid for freedom with my two true lifelong friends by my side.
That was a pretty good way to go all things considered.
But as Rei would tell me right now if I could calm myself enough to tell her my belief that we were all going to die, I needed to have faith in Mari.
Mari. Was. Awesome.
Thank you so much for reading. And special thanks to the hiddenLetuce, Bandiras, NeoWarkid and Fictionelement.
You all are so epic.
Please review or favourite if you can. It really helps me out and it takes me a lot of effort to write these in time and get them out to you for your enjoyment.
Thanks so much. Bye for now.
