Neon Genesis
Megami-Sama!
Chapter Two.
"Report." The command came simply and efficiently, regardless of the view screen displaying the blocks of decimated blocks before his seated presence... He had seen worse.
"We're still waiting for confirmation, sir, but... preliminary scans indicate that we are dealing with the Third Devil..."
"Then you know what needs to be done." The shadowed face remained obscured behind folded, gloved hands.
"Of course, but... the Children are neither assembled, nor prepared..."
"Then assemble them, and prepare them."
"Yes, sir."
Peorth turned away, maintaining a subdued tone to the resigned sigh that followed. It was too soon. She knew that. Surely He knew that too. But His will was absolute, of course. It was supposed to be infallible as well. At least, the gathered personnel certainly hoped as such, now more than ever.
She knew what came next, and it left her with an even greater sense of foreboding than her superior's vague instructions had.
"Find Megumi's whereabouts."
"Well, ma'am... you see..."
The youthful girl at the leftmost control panel hesitated, staring at the blinking indicator on her view screen with a quizzical, worried expression. She wasn't going to like this one bit. The communications officer bit her lip, and braced for the worst. "The Major's already left."
Kisaragi ran down the impossibly lengthy corridors just outside the secretarial offices, with an overwhelming amount of paperwork in hand. Her reports were late, she was late, and worse, she didn't have her coffee that morning. Above all that, if she didn't deliver them within the next hour, she was a dead girl, or worse, she was going to get assigned to New Jersey again. Even serving Lucifer was less terrifying; at least they offered medical.
The tall female allowed herself a sigh of relief as she skidded to a stop outside her manager's office. She shifted her weight to hold the files in one arm, and brought her other hand up to knock.
Within a moment after, a violent shockwave came down the hall, knocking her off her feet, and the piles of paperwork were blasted far beyond seeing distance.
"Not again..."
The communications officers had all covered their ears in advance. Some even ducked under their desks. Most would have fled if their jobs allowed. None of it would have helped.
"She. WHAT." Peorth's words were spoken without the slightest movement, but everyone felt it. Fortunately, all gathered were accustomed to dealing with the retaliation of an angered Second Command. It was almost a requirement. The room was still vibrating for a good thirty seconds or so while she continued. While the shrouded commander remained as unmoving as ever, even His glasses shook momentarily. They were adjusted without delay.
"Curse that woman. Where did she go!?"
The girl from earlier finally collected herself, and sat up with a nervous look towards the imposing female. "Um, you see, ma'am... according to this, she..." A weak smile, with the most innocent of expressions. "She's seems to be headed to the Chosen's location."
The cloaked female didn't reply that time. Her expression spoke volumes. Peorth was having a good day, fortunately. Which was good. The budget couldn't afford to replace any more control panels. Her arms folded, nails pressing firmly into her elbows.
"Find her, before I kill her."
"Y-...yes, ma'am."
"Okay. Girlfriend. Goddess. Devil. Whatever the hell you are! WHAT WAS THAT!?"
Keiichi got up from the pile of debris, looking rather well, all things considered. One could imagine he was lucky to be alive, yet he seemed unusually resilient. The rest of the dormitory's occupants weren't so lucky. The ones that weren't buried were out like a light, foremost of which were Tamiya and Ootaki, stars dancing in their eyes. Keiichi didn't seem worried about them.
Had he not been in such intense demand for answers, he might have noticed the most unusual factor in the post-apocalyptic situation. Even he had gotten messed up from a blast like that. Who wouldn't have? His clothes were a mess, and there were scratches in places he didn't even want to examine, but he'd live. His visitor? His 'girlfriend'?
Belldandy sat there as calmly as ever, hands folded in her lap as if nothing had happened. From a look at the female, it would seem that had been the case. Her appearance was as flawless as ever. Not a hair or cloth out of place. It was as if all the debris had gone out of its way to avoid the woman.
From the looks of the expansive sphere of clear space surrounding her, it seemed like it had.
"Oh, that... you see, Keiichi..." She began innocently, trying to put this in terms her newfound companion would understand. Being told about preordained destruction could be a little of an overwhelming burden to the average mortal. Especially when it involved the towering creature a few miles off to the east, to whom she gave a fair nod.
"That would be a Devil... one of thirteen, if memory serves." Her words were difficult enough for Keiichi. The continually sweet disposition she maintained was of little real assurance.
Keiichi's hands clenched. It was her fault. It had to be. The devil woman had brought the thing to kill them all! He had read about their kind in science fiction. They came with sweet faces and innocent demeanors. They always did. Then later there was torture, suffering, destruction... strangely enough, the victim had never seemed to mind the first two that much.
Though, who was he kidding. He couldn't be angry at someone that sweet-natured. Not for long, anyway. "Okay... what, is it doing here!"
"Oh, you see, it's here to kill us all."
"Of course it is..."
"Well, it has its reasons..." The Goddess got up... or perhaps, glided was the more accurate phrase, as an unseen wind seemed to bring her to her feet, turning to neatly dust off the debris which lined a wall's chalkboard that happened to be one of the few remaining objects of the decimated building. She looked from left to right, and found a piece of chalk. "Ah, there we are."
Keiichi stood there dumbfounded as Belldandy drew out an elaborate diagram of mathematical equations, geometrical diagrams, and... stick figures.
"It was once foretold that after the coming of the millennium, the Devils which had slumbered in wait would eventually arise, one after the other," the female tapped the chalk against a particularly tall stick figure, which had an unnerving, curved smile on its rounded face. She turned to Keiichi with a tilt of her head towards the chalkboard. "To wipe out humanity, and return the planet's rule to the demons."
"I'm sorry I asked."
"Yes, most usually don't want to know..."
"Okay, fine." Keiichi sighed. He could buy into everything that had happened so far. Considering that, the existence of a massive demon hell bent on complete destruction wasn't too hard to believe.
"Can't you stop it? You're a Goddess, right?!"
"Well, yes, but... our power is limited, you see. We're not meant to deal with the Devils ourselves. This is where humans come into play." A radiant smile given, before Belldandy continued.
"As the legend goes, since humans were responsible for the initial ascent of the demons," a chalk piece tapped a sketch of a apple tree, "they will be the ones to rid us of the Devils for good!"
Her hands folded before her with a pleasant expression. "You understand why this is considered an honor by now, don't you?"
"...I want a refund."
She hesitated, and gave a sigh, before going into the calm, effortless delivering of a prepared statement. "Any dealings taken with a Goddess or any representative of Heaven, as per Tertiary Clause 75329104-Gamma-Beta, dictates than any wish to revoke a contract must be delivered within fifteen seconds of initial binding."
"Never mind."
"Yes, that's the response we generally receive." Belldandy smiled.
"So what do you expect me to do!? Challenge it to a race?" Keiichi waved a hand indicatively off towards where his motorcycle... usually was. He glanced off in that direction with a sigh. He'd have to find it later, no doubt.
"Of course not. Heaven has specially designated counter-demonic technology specially suited to this sort of event. It's been prepared for a few centuries, now."
"...what kind of technology?" Keiichi stared at her blankly with a skeptical tone. Somehow, he knew where this was going.
"Humanoid mecha, of course!"
"Heaven couldn't come up with something more original?
"We're afraid not. It's part of our contract with Bandai©."
Keiichi didn't want to ask. He decided not to.
"Well, at least you aren't employing magical girls."
"Actually, they're on vacation this week..." Belldandy paused, and looked to one side. "Keiichi, you may want to move..."
He looked off to the side with a blank expression, and saw what the girl meant. A bright red convertible was heading their way, at top speed. By the time he looked, it had skidded right past the remains of the dormitory, turning completely around to skid to a stop inches shy of having torn Keiichi's legs off.
"Well, hurry up! Are you two lovebirds getting in, or aren't you!?" The female sighed, and sat back against the driver's seat, fixing an impatient look to the duo as she adjusted her shades, waiting off to the side of the opened passenger door. Her fingers rhythmically tapped against the dashboard in a tired display. "Slow as ever."
"It can't be..." Keiichi knew that voice, and wished more than ever that the nightmare was about to end. He glanced to the short female, and amidst mixed feelings about how she'd gotten that kind of ride, not to mention such trashy fashion sense, he could only manage one response. "Megumi."
Great. A Goddess shanghais me into a relationship, a demon is destroying Japan, and now my sister shows up.
What's next?
We're glad you asked!
Coming sooner or later:
Neon Genesis Megami-Sama: Chapter Three.
Devils! Angels!
Enough savagely mutilated character revisions to put Kousuke Fujishima into a diabetic coma!
And there'll be more fan service, too.
(fan service not included, see author for details)