Chapter 25: And the people bowed and prayed. To the neon god they made.
When you watch enough films, you begin to notice a recurring theme between many of them. It becomes nigh impossible not see a film without being able to compare it to several others.
A couple of recurring morals for instance can be found between many if not most heroes vs villains.
1. Villains have a fixed mindset. They believe that if they've lost then someone else has won and that there is only so much to go around. For example, in a food crisis, the villain will try to steal food from others while the hero will try to devise a way to increase the total amount of food available so that everyone including themselves can eat without needing to steal.
Or as a more general example. Villains try to destroy or steal goods while heroes simply sell goods legally.
2. Villains think they are perfect and do not need to improve. But the hero realizes they are never perfect and that there is always room for improvement. As a result, the villain tends to be very powerful in the hero's first encounter but they never maintain the edge for very long. A good rule of thumb is that characters who undergo more development tend to be heroic.
Even heroes who hold the same ideals for too long tend to become fallen heroes.
This is common sense. We stopped using slingshots and wooden clubs long ago and switched to assault rifles and rocket artillery. Eventually we will switch to laser cannons and ion rays.
3. Heroes realize that the ends never justify the means. In the words of buddha, hatred can't be resolved by more hatred. So how can NERV claim to be protecting mankind when their best weapon requires the sacrifice of a human life which when lost will send countless others into eternal misery? How can villains claim they are enriching the world by stealing money and destroying valuable property?
4. Heroes realize that revenge solves absolutely nothing. It won't even give you a sense of satisfaction. You have just become as bad as the villain and their plan to bait you into eternal guilt and sadness has worked. Heroes fight to save lives, defend themselves and their loved ones but never to take revenge.
5. The most important one of all. Heroes realize everyone can win together, no matter the eventual goal. If you want your country to have the strongest army, you can make it stronger by joining forces with another country. If you want your country to be rich, you can open your marketplace with the other countries and allow free trade.
Even reality supports this theory. Countries that are less closed off from the rest of the world tend to be the richest and most successful.
Japan was poor and barbaric until it decided to stop closing itself from the rest of the world, whereupon it became one of the richest and healthiest countries the world has seen.
Fio Picolo POV
The one nitpick I took with this secret government prototype jet of the now tragically gone mushroom kingdom was that aside from a news channel, the in flight entertainment system did not come with any other viewing capability. Not even the ability to play cd's. What a terrible oversight in its design.
Shinji and Rei did not need to hear more traumatic news after all we'd been informed that they had been through.
So I decided that to best past the time until we arrived at our destination still miles away, that if there was no feel good tune to uplift our hearts and guide us to foreign shores then i would provide my own.
I may have only known Italian but Setsuko could do a good enough job translating for me.
Furthermore I believed that the catchy tune currently stuck in my head itching to get out would be powerful regardless of the language barrier.
I cleared my throat as I tried to find my starting pitch upon catching sight of the small but unmistakably beautiful Cello that Shinji was holding in his hand and showing to all his friends.
I'd head multiple tales of how talented he was with the cello despite his days being full of his piloting duties.
"Ask him if it's not too much trouble to play an A flat major tune. Tell him I really want to hear him play and that it would mean a lot to me" I relay to Setsuko who relays my request dutifully to Shinji who immediately nods as he readies the even tinier bow.
He kills a few artful chords before I get in my first Italian verses. Setsuko translating each one as best she can.
Sogno di volare (the dream of flight)
Una volta che Avrai (Once you have taken flight)
Spicccato il volo, Deciderai (Then you'll decide)
Sguardo Verso il Ciel Saprai (Gaze towards the sky, you'll know)
Li casa il cuore Sentrai! (This is where your heart will feel at home)
Shinji continues to skilfully handle his almost invisible instrument of choice as I repeat the same verse over to emphasize its effect, becoming more impassioned with each reprise. No need for a translation the other times through of course.
From over the notes of my singing and his playing, I can make out a few difficult to hear but still unmissable sobs.
It was working. I just needed to keep going a little more to let him know that whatever hardships had gotten him this far were more than worth it.
PrenderĂ il primo volo (The first great bird will...)
Verso il sole il grande uccello (take flight towards the sun)
Sorvolando il grande Monte Ceceri (Sweeping over the great mountain Ceceri)
Riempendo l'universo di stupore e gloria. (Filling the universe with glory and wonder)
Everyone around the blue carpeted, blue walled cabin with navy, white clothed seats was bobbing their bodies back and forth to the rhythm of my heartfelt anthem.
Oh Senor Rosso, Porco, if you could see how far I've come...
Gendo POV
I would never in a million years believed that my downfall could be this swift and this unexpected.
Shinji and the other pilots fled which led to me dispatching my final loyalist pilot Asuka to round them up once more.
This had left my glorious capital a sitting dark for the gigantic squadron of tanks which began with only one tank which had decided instead of going straight for me, to waste its time picking up the many underage girls from that stupid school I closed to make an easy yen and pick up some easy spare machine parts without the need for me to reduce the luxury quality of my extravagant gentlemanly lifestyle.
The moronic minors who were left were good for nothing but hard labour and due to their admittedly charming appearances, sexual erotic pleasure for me and the paying customers who could afford my steep prices.
They may have been little more than pieces of junk to me but I was not the kind of great tradesman to give anything my property away for free.
The fact they fetched a blooming price on the black market made their freedom from my cells, the worst crime these so called "freedom fighters" could commit against the great guardian of mankind's survival.
I had long rushed into my escape pod.
I heard that Kozo had not been fast enough on the draw and that the remaining members of NERV themselves had bound his arms and carried him tied up as a peace offering to their "liberators".
I never liked his tone and sneer anyway so it was gratifying that he was the small price I needed to pay in order to make my escape.
Shinji really knew what he was doing when he ran away with my Rei and that English jester didn't, he?
The little bastard.
If it wasn't for the fact he needed to be alive when he was inserted into the life trader, the aptly named ancient device for the exchange of the precious gift of life, along with Rei then I'd skin him alive myself.
I'd rip his throat out and strap Rei to a rocket to be shot into the cold blackness of space for a million miles. Sadly. Their survival at least until fed to the machine was necessary for the return of Yui.
You think I was stupid enough to leave such an important component of my plan in my base where I couldn't vaunt and gloat over it each night to get me to sleep?
So that I couldn't be reminded each waking morning of my eventual great goal that Shinji had no appreciation whatsoever toward?
The great Gendo Ikari was wiser than such childish simpletons.
"Um commander. Stupid Shin...er your son Shinji and Rei have flown the country.
Some idiots launched a tactical nuke straight into my Evangelion. It left me too stunned to stop them as they got away in said idiot's high tech stealth jet or some doohickie. I think the reason none of our scanners spotted it must have been because of its stealth device which I saw mounted on its tail as it zipped away. That, and from what I saw, it was capable of managing a very high altitude far above any radars we had available after we switched to the simpler model to save on our organization's budget"
The for once humble and genuinely pitiful apologetic apology of my one remaining loyal pilot greets me through the built-in speaker.
"You idiot. You f***ing idioit"
I let myself swear back at her hissing like a king cobra closing on its hapless prey.
"You really are a worse pilot than my son after all in spite of your bragging. To think we wasted so much on parties in your honour when you deserved none of them. To think your mother died for such an incompetent failure."
"Please commander. Give me another chance." I think I hear crying.
It pleasures me greatly that I'm the one devil hard enough to bring the second child to actual tears.
Even if they are the tears of crocodiles.
"How's your Evangelion?" I eventually ask after I've savoured enough of her pain wracked wingeing and sobs. I only wish I could load up her fact to see her woe and misery myself.
"It's alright. A little frazzled and black but still perfectly useable."
"Well then you red little runt. You see the bottom right corner of your control panel which you normally never use? Well, there's a switch there. A big blue switch with an icon of red a plane next to it.
Go ahead and activate that."
"But..."
"Speak when you're not spoken to one more time and your magnificent career I generously provided you will be gone in an instant" I caution taking glee in every moan of terror this causes her.
I hear the most beautifully grotesque noises as she complies. I do not need to see to know that from the back of the special Evangelion I kept in storage knowing my ungrateful offspring would get uppity one day, are sprouting a majestic pair of rings.
Red, scaly wings along with a pair of thick coal horns on the head to complement them.
"Commander. You are a genius. I could not ask for a better commander than you." The German failure tries to flatter me as she too witnesses the transformation.
Talking out of line again. But I guess this time I'll let it go since that is quite the complement.
"No excuses failure. Now go chase down my son and my Rei or kiss your mother's trust in you goodbye. And remember. Bring them back alive and without a scratch or you'll be facing a court martial in which I'll make certain you have zero chance of making it out alive yourself."
"I'll make certain that they don't escape this time commander. You can count on me and the amazing Karate Kera-tay skills I've spent all my high-school years honing to perfection."
The mere mention of the useless teaching that puts not one solitary coin into my wallet makes me nearly vomit.
"Kera-tay? You should be making me money-ay. With your Evangel-ay. Now get back to work you useless little time waster and don't even think of bothering me again until your task is complete."
"Aye. Aye. Capit-ay" She respectfully manages to reply back with a stutter. I can tell that she has nearly fallen out of her seat in fright on the other side.
But I'm not done yet with extracting as much glee from her complete submission to me yet.
Until I get my Yui back, Asuka will be the powerless minion for me to enact my majestic power fantasy upon.
"Find them or suffer the consequences." I roar into the speaker as primally terrifying as I can. If only she were here and if only, we were back in my hilltop mansion with my butler.
Then I could order a side of fries with her river of tears.
Or maybe that wasn't necessary. They were delicious enough on their own.
"Yes Ma'am." Asuka breathless sputters clearly afraid. "Uh. I mean sir. I mean boss. I mean POOBAH"
"GOOOOO!" This time I'm genuinely peeved to the bone.
Shinji POV
What a lovely tune. What a heart-warming and fun way to pass the duration of this thankfully peaceful if boring ride.
"Can you play Cello Mari?" I ask nervously.
"A little bit" She happily replies with a twisted combination of fluster and flourish. "Your mother Yui taught me for a short while before her tragic passing."
"Well then. Can you just manage a simple C major? Just what you can. I won't judge you."
"Whatever you say Maestro" She modestly agrees as she takes the tiny instrument in one hand and the even tinier bow in the other.
I brought this compact cello despite the larger ones available in the storehouse knowing we had a lot of travelling to do and a heavy load would weigh us down.
"Just whenever you're ready Mari."
"Ready as I'll ever be Shinji. A one and a two and a..."
She bursts into a surprisingly well constructed and flowing string of well decided notes as I clear my throat. I needed to repay my gratitude to everyone who snapped me from my useless self-pitying attitude that would get me and those dear to me nowhere.
I had to prove in any way possible that I too was capable of gratitude and inner peace when it mattered.
The best day ever
Mr Sun came up and he smiled at me. (ironic since it was a cloudy night)
Said it's going to be a good one, just wait and see
Jumped out of bed and I ran outside
Feeling so extra ecstatic-fied.
Mari, junior musician absolutely wrangles the next bar dead. My mother was an excellent teacher and you an even better student.
You truly were the jack of all trades master of none and me and Rei were so proud to be friends with you.
It's the best day EVER!
"Best day ever" The team that I'd not trade for anything save my sleeping wife Rei, chorused in perfect harmony. Thank you for being so supportive of me everyone. I'll never be able to repay you all but I darn certain will try.
It's the best day EVER!
(Best day ever)
I'm so busy, got nothing to do.
Spent the last two hours just tying my shoe.
It was true. When I was a little toddler, I was a little slow picking up the key skill because my father kept me so shackled up and secluded from society so I never saw a single person do it in front of me.
I had only really worn slippers up to that point since he never let me outside.
He disconnected the internet and allowed me only to use it for homework so I couldn't even learn it there.
When I failed to tie my first set of shoelace shoes as quickly as he expected, he took out his belt and flayed me till my back was crimson and it broke me to make the slightest gestures even with my mouth.
He pointed to this whenever he felt like it as the first example that I'd never measure up to anything no matter how successful I'd become.
In fact, I learned how to spell failure long before success and even now I had to frequently consult spellcheck to make sure I was doing it right.
Every flower, every grain of sand
Is reaching out to shake my hand
It certainly was this way now that I was surrounded by the right people.
Better late than never. Especially since I'd now be drowning in acidic seawater if not for Rei's persistence in trying to never let go of her faith in me.
It's the best day EVER!
(Best day ever)
It's the best day EVER!
(Best day ever)
Sometimes the little things
Start closing in on me
When I'm feeling down
I want to lose that frown
I stick my head out the window
And I look around
Those clouds can't scare me, they can't disguise
This magic that's happened before my eyes
So, Mr moon. We'll be shining bright
So, the best day ever can last all night
"Yeah. The best day ever's gonna last all night now" the most beautiful true angel in exisence wakes up just in time to chime in, bearing the tone of a bespoken siren from Greek mythology.
Oh, Rei if I was but a sailor sailing in the sea and saw you on a rock.
I would purposefully crash my vessel just to be with you.
A siren's only goal being to eat humans they lured would be welcome news.
Snap me right up my beloved.
Savour each mouthful and be sure to recommend me to all your siren friends.
Kaworu POV
Though my return to life had robbed me of most of the best times I shared with Shinji, there was one specific moment in our conversation I could never forget no matter how many amnesia's I was forced to suffer through.
He told me that since even though I was an Angel and one of mankind's sworn enemies for no good reason but petty prejudice, that I fought for a cause he could not help but respect.
I was a defender of my homeland, not a scourge of his homeland in his powerful words that only Shinji had a way with.
He gave me a truly wonderful nickname that I far preferred to my real name.
A great name that perfectly summed up my holy codes of loyalty, my overpowering strength to crush threats even he could do nothing against.
But most of all, my exceptionally healthy diet that included not a scrap of animal produce out of the strict rules of life me and Rei as Angels forced ourselves to abide.
Though in my case, it was more a moral reason rather than a matter of taste.
I did love meat but meat came from creatures with a greater level of sapience than plants so I could not bring myself to cause that much suffering.
Shinji called me Vegeta.
Eternal guardian of the bygone Vegeta civilization of pure powerful brilliance.
"You are too kind. Goku" I could not help but wistfully verbalize in sentimentality. "May you be always victorious in your own struggles whatever they maybe."
I take out a picture of a sadly frowning Rei I had the luxury of finding in one of NERV's many photo display cabinets. It was the only one she was in where she had any semblance of optimism in her expression and that was only because Shinji was taking her hand in his. It was clearly taking him all his courage since he was flushed and blushing as the camera snapped.
"Take good care of him. Chi. Chi. You lucky romantic girl. He's done a lot for you and it would be such a shame to let him down now."
I place it back into a blazer pocket and in its place begin to peruse an even sadder mugshot of poor Ritsuko Akagi.
Her jaw droppingly gorgeous follower Maya isn't even there to share the picture with her.
So sorry that was the case Ritsuko Senpai.
"Someday, the world will realize they were all wrong about you Bulma. That day, your cleverness will be praised for generations to come and you will never be forgotten as the greatest scientist of the end times. Until that day comes, Vegeta will work day and night to make it come."
To tighten my vow, I take out a stalk of healthy fat-free celery and take slow and meticulous nibbles after spraying my hand thoroughly with strong sanitizer and wiping it vigorously away.
I was never going to turn from my vegan lifestyle. You, Shin...er Goku made certain of that.
Last but not least, I view the picture of Shinji's far less pleasing to the eye father.
I had taken the liberty of drawing two cartoonish horns atop the commander of NERV's head as well as scribbling two messy fangs over his lips.
"You never learn do you Freiza?" I grumble as a sudden fit of rage seizes me and I quickly rip the already vandalized photograph apart, cutting my finger in the process.
"No one is just going to lie down and do nothing while you massacre their loved ones and their ambitions through your own thoughtless bloodlust. "
To curb my anger before it spreads out of hand, I take out a small bundle of broccoli and jam it between my teeth. I would not even allow myself to have fruit.
My name was not Fruita. It was Vegeta. Prince Vegeta if you wanted to pay me the formality, I would have been due.
"Hey. Tank commander Kaworu. Stop daydreaming and come along with me. It's time for my big parade as ruler of my first successfully inkvaded human settlement" Squid girl calls to me as I quickly scatter the scraps to the winds and join her.
She was right. I could hardly waste time in pointless prattle and rumination now.
We actually planned to rule and improve the lot of the lands we took over so that there was some pragmatic purpose to our inkvasions.
What they said goes. Not us. Power to the people or in my lady's words, might to the minnows.
A trumpeter blows a mean melody as Miho Nishizumi who has been following me all this while provides me my leg length microphone. A drummer whacks an even more wicked beat that sends literal chins up my spine and down.
We sit protruding from the top hatch of the first panzer we got our hands on as we drive through an already joyfully bustling street packed with a ton of eager spectators.
They were already dying for a chance to thank the squid empire that freed them from Gendo's "Frieza" grasp.
First impressions were everything in rulership.
They really were. The king who droned in a nasal monotone how everyone had to do what he said before retiring to his chambers to be fattened like a lazy pig was a king that should never have been a candidate for rulership in the first place.
The kingdom should never have been founded for such citizens who'd be so careless as to appoint such a slob leadership had something wrong with them that made them unfit to lead even themselves.
Bad leaders were the result of bad people.
But I was about to do my best to demonstrate that my lady was the ultimate altruist.
This time for the first time in human history, lowered taxes were going to be one of the government's prerogatives. No lies. No deceit and no strings attached.
I did not speak to the grateful crowds a single word. Some words could not be spoken, only sung.
Now hear the sound of a thousand voices shouting love, as I turn this specially designed oversized microphone as high as it can possibly go without breaking and call upon the extended lung capacity only available to the Angelic offspring of Lilith.
There's a place. There's a time. In this life. When you sing what you are feeling.
That time for tank commander Kaworu Mikahil Nagisa of her majesty's first tank division, is now.
Make way from queen Ika
Make way for queen Ika.
Say hey. It's queen Ika
Hey, clear the way in the old bazaar.
Hey you. Let us through. It's a bright new star
Oh, come be the first on your block to meet her eye
Make way, here she comes
Ring bells. Bang drums
Oh you're going to love this girl.
Queen Ika. Fabulous She
Ika Musume
Genuflect. Show some respect
Down on one knee
Now try your best to stay calm.
Brush up your Sunday salaam (it's monday but with NERV gone, that hardly matters)
And come and meet her spectacular coutarie.
Queen Ika. Mighty is she
Ika Musume
Strong as ten regular men, definitely.
She faced the rampaging huns
A thousand bad guys with guns
Who sent those goons to their lord?
Why Queen Ika
(She had an army but had she decided to leave them locked up in favour of wanton revenge, she wouldn't. It still took good decisions on her part to secure her forces. Never mind that it was just her and me driving the first tank and how we needed to fight a squad of superior foes just to get to even that)
She's got seventy-five German panzers
"Don't they look lovely. June?" One of the tankery girls excitedly asks her friend in a tank not far from mine.
Western Sherman's, she's got ninety-three
"Fabulous Harriet. I love the designs" The friend eagerly admits back to her admringly.
When it comes to her girls und ihre panzer.
Has she got a school
And I'm telling you
It's the ultimate tankery.
Queen Ika. Sexy is she
Ika Musume
That physique?
How can I speak!?
I'm weak at the knees!
So get on out in that square
Adjust your veil and prepare
To gawk and rival and stare
At queen Ika
If a single naysayer tried to point out that her arms were far too thin to justify this praise, I wondered whether they'd be saying the same when they were gripped into a fatal tentacle lock that my lady could and would keep up till every breath of air in their body had expired.
You could struggle all you like but once she caught hold of her prey, she would never let go no matter what.
A new make of tank rolled up behind ours. It was Persia's (I still called it this even if it's modern name was different being the nostalgic I was) first stab at joining the armoured war.
The way the tracks were haphazardly spread gave it the look and feel of a monkey, concieved by monkeys and built by monkeys.
I liked it a lot despite its oddities.
She's got ninety five white Persian monkeys.
"She's got the monkeys. Let's see the monkeys" a young Arab boy who had until now been hiding his face out of his obvious fear of racial discrimination could not help but eagerly trill at the sight of his region finally getting some positive recognition.
I could not let this young dreamer down now.
And to view them. She charges no fee
I would never forgive it if a single soul dared suggest my lady anything less than the epitome of selflessness after she had spent the entire parade tossing tentacle-fulls of completely authentic solid gold bars at the many delighted beggars gathering before her.
There were a lot of things I could let go but such ingratitude would not be one of them.
Thankfully, the beggars at least understood the meaning of common courtesy as they whopped in shared chorus "she's generous. So generous"
She's got friends. She's got servants and flunkies
No slaves were the first rule of Ika's rule. The slave trade ended centuries ago and it was our shared duty to ensure it stayed that way. Anyone could leave at any time. Free will would remain unmolested in the squid empire.
Proud to work for her
They bow to her whim. Love serving her.
They're just lousy with loyalty.
To Ika. Queen Ika
Queen Ika. Amorous she.
Ika Musume
Heard Japan was a sight lovely to see
And that good people is why
She got dolled up and dropped by
So please. Make way.
For Queen. IKAAAA!
Isuzu won't be the only one with a wrang out throat by the end of the day.
It is only fortunate that as an Angel, my injuries heal faster.
I conclude my opening speech in my lady's honour as neath the halo of a streatlamp, I turn my collar to the cold and damp.
When my eyes were stabbed, by the flash of a neon light.
It split the night and touched the sound of silence.
When my sight recovers, in the naked light I saw.
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking.
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared.
No one dared disturb the sound of silence.
Despite the endeavours of my lady, I and our allies, the people continued to bow and pray to the neon god they'd made.
Then the big bright sign flashed out its warning. In the words that it was forming.
The sign said the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls.
To be always and forever worshipped in the sacred sound of silence.
I could not find the words to apologize to Isuzu for letting her down so.
It was not party time after all. It would likely never be party time ever again.
A dictator might leave but his shadow remains forever so long as his kingdom makes the decision to do so.
Squid girl holds me tightly as she cowers as I grab onto her tighter, determined not to lose her.
Racism didn't end with Martin Luther King's "I have a dream".
The Holocaust didn't end with Hitler's defeat.
I tried to curse myself for tempting fate only to find I could but pat myself on the back for a common-sense fact well deduced.
A leader was but a mirror of a land's prosperity and rot.
Just as the Angels were a symptom of mankind's fall from grace and enlightenment, not the cause.
The angels loved to eat factory soot.
They adored lapping up oil spills and they delighted in chewing up diseased human bodies that had ingested vast quantities of shoddily regulated convenience food that was rushed out to make a quick money by giving its consumers cancer and rotting teeth.
Yes. Mankind had stooped to poisoning its own for a few pieces of loot.
The Angels took great glee in hearing the sounds of gunshots, bombs and other commotions of conflict.
Just as Tokyo 3 with or without Shinji's father and SEELE, loved the sight of their childhood friend lying dead in a ditch if it meant even one yen being pressed into their grasping hands.
I buried my face in my eyes as squid girl let out a sac full of ink to completely drench me in blackness.
We had accomplished nothing.
In my pit of despair, there was but one final comrade that had stayed with me.
One that would forever be with me long after my lady, Shinji and my tank students had abandoned me to my own fate as they were doing now against their will and wishes.
Hello darkness. My old friend.
Again really special thanks to fictionelement777, neoWarkid4, bandiras, An enemy of the state, Fantasian, Kycosoccerref and every other unnamed guest for your kind and generous reviews.
You are all great people. Thank you so much for reading and see you all next time and bye.
You're kind reviews bring me to tears of joy.
Any and all reviews are welcome. They really support and help me out.
You often wonder with dictatorships that have gone on for a long time why no one has ever tried to do anything? If all that's stopping you from doing what you want is a bad leader that no one likes anyway then just punch them in the face.
Even easier if you are one of the leader's bodyguards. Just turn your weapon on them and if everyone else agrees then they'll do the same.
The leader is just a feeble, powerless man without their leadership.
On an aside note. I have to wonder. What would the world look like if people started tossing out free money.
