Disclaimer – Don't own Eva or Armored Core, but you know that, don't you.
A/n Hope you liked the 5th chapter I'm trying to get my others updated to but I'm in a bit of a AC mood so I'm getting all kinds of ideas so I'm gona use them
But anyway
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Quote the Raven
Chapter 6
Raven Zero, Enter 9-Ball
Shinji sat in the Diligence looking around for the remaining MT's; he had downed 4 already with 3 more to go. He kept checking his radar; there was one immediately to his left in the hangar, one near the control tower and one in the airfield. Drawing on his Eva pilot training he knew to go for the most isolated one first, the hangar.
Shinji had to admit, this was a bit fun, like a controllable rollercoaster if you didn't let the fighting get to you.
Maybe it was the fact he was getting an adrenalin rush.
Maybe the fact that he was being modestly successful in taking these things down.
Maybe the fact that the 5 times he had been hit, hadn't hurt like in the Eva
Or maybe, just maybe, it was that he was finally being given the chance to see what he could really do.
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Most of the command staff had unofficially gathered in the main bridge to watch Shinji's exam. The rumor mill had circulated the news rather quickly that Shinji was to be tested to be a Raven.
Aoba turned to Maya
"Where's Dr Akagi?"
"Huh, oh it's her day off; she said she had a lot of paper work to do"
"Oh, ok"
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Asuka was seething
"Misato, why does that idiot get to be a Raven, why not me, I'm better than them, I'm better than all of them"
"Look Asuka it's not my call, the Ravens Nest requested this and the commander agreed to it…"
Asuka stomped her foot
"That's it I've had it, oh look at the Third Child he's so great. Let them play with their toys, I'd smash them all with my Eva anyway"
She stormed off, Hikari turned to go after her but Toji stopped her
"Let her go, you know her, she'll sulk for a bit then get over it and come back"
Hikari agreed and turned back to the monitors they had set up outside of the area to watch Shinji's test.
Asuka had gone all the way back to Misato's car, she was tempted to call section 2 to take her home but then she spotted something. The test AC was standing just behind the tent the observation monitors had been set up in. She got a rather evil idea, once Shinji exhausted himself on the last MT she would show that little baka who was the best, then the Ravens would want her and she would get the praise, it was perfect.
She didn't however catch on to the fact that, they were all being watched
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Blitz sat in his AC watching the test underway, he wasn't exactly blown away by Shinji's skill, most entry level Ravens could do what he was. It was the fact that he was doing these things at 14 which caught his attention. If this kept up, he would pass the exam and become the 5th youngest person to enter the Ravens.
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Requiem had changed the back weapons on the Diligence before the test had begun. Swapping the Rocket and missile launchers for a Slug gun and a radar. Shinji leveled his Slug gun at the hangar doors and fired. The pellets ripped a large enough hole in the doors enough for him to enter. He kicked in his boosters and flew into the hangar. He found the MT standing right in the middle of the empty building. He raised his rifle and fired 4 rounds into its torso and finished it of by slashing it into to two halves with his laser blade. The two pieces fell to either side of the other as Shinji jetted off toward the MT around the Radar Control Tower
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On the hill over looking the abandoned airfield stood a medium weight bipedal AC with a simple large missile launcher and a Grenade launcher on its back and an energy pulse rifle in its right hand with a Moonlight laser blade on its right arm. The AC had a simple black on red paint job and actually didn't appear all that special, but once you saw the symbol on its arm you knew not to mess with it…a 9-Ball.
The pilot spoke with a slight southern accent as he talked with his employer
"Now tell me one more time…why can't I just go down there and cut'em all down"
"Your orders were to observe only and engage only if spotted and attacked"
"I know that, but I gota score to settle with one of'em"
"You'll get your chance Hustler 1, now return to base"
"Right, right"
The 9-Ball's bleach blond pilot turned off the communications line and smiled
"Good luck Shinji"
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Shinji found the next MT milling around the control tower as if on guard duty. It immediately began to fire its guns at him, rounds pinged off the armor doing minor damage to his AC. He was to close by that point to use his slug gun so he repeated the same thing he did with the other one; he fired a few rounds from his rifle and then went for the laser blade. Unfortunately the MT fired its boosters just as Shinji began to slice with the blade. It thrusted into the air and fired down at him, Shinji thrusted back, dropped to one knee and brought his slug gun into line. One shot from the gun shredded the MT's torso and it dropped lifeless to the ground.
One more to go
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Requiem and Rei were in their AC's standing just in front of the Test AC when requiem spotted something out of the corner of his eye, Asuka climbing onto the test AC. He smirked a bit, he had expected her to do this so he had put a lock on the AC's OS. Once Asuka entered she would have to put in a password, if she put in the wrong one only 2 times the hatch would lock and the AC would shut down until the correct password was transmitted from the Wraith. He watched as she climbed in, only a moment later the hatch closed and locked, an indicator popped up on his screen indicating Asuka had indeed put in the wrong password twice, only he knew what it had really been…Rei…he contacted Rei over his communications line
"Hey Orchid looks like we just caught an Asuka"
"So she attempted to steal the test model as you thought"
"Yeah, we'll let Misato deal with her"
"I will contact her"
Requiem turned his attention back to the test
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Shinji stood in the shadow of the control tower looking at the MT which was just waiting for him, he knew this one would be harder as they all seemed to be getting smarter as he attacked. The first few had grouped together and a quick set of salvos from his slug gun had taken care of them. The ones afterward had been slightly harder, who knew what this one would do. He couched and lowered his slug gun into line with the MT and fired. The pellets scattered too much to do much damage. MT jumped -thrusted and fired its guns at him. A few rounds landed taking down is AP a bit until he thrusted to the side firing his rifle as he went. The MT kept moving around making it hard to hit. He didn't know that blitz had programmed this one to act just the same as if a person were piloting it, just to let Shinji taste the real thing. He decided to end this in one move, he hit his over boost and shot off toward the MT, the g-forces pushed him into his seat but he had taken worse from Eva. He barely had enough time to use the laser blade before he reached it, but he had timed it perfectly and slashed its right leg off as it attempted to jump away. He lowered his rifle to the MT which was still shooting him and fired once through its chest. No sooner had the noise from the shot cleared than his communications line opened, it was Blitz
"Good job kid, bring it back, and we have something to talk over with you once you get here"
"Roger, I'm on my way"
Shinji began to move the AC toward the other 4, he couldn't help but smile at his job well done. He didn't realize…he passed the test
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Requiem, Rei, and Blitz had joined the others in the tent, everyone was happy Shinji had passed and would get his shot at being a raven. Misato was a bit less enthused about Asuka trying to steal an AC to take on Shinji, but she would deal with her later. The Diligence stopped among the other AC's and Shinji took of his helmet and hoped out, no sooner had his feet touched the ground then Toji had him in a head lock grinding his knuckles into his scalp. Once Hikari had pried Toji off of Shinji he was led to the tent where Requiem, Blitz and his sister were waiting with Misato. Rei gestured for Shinji to sit down next to her, which he did. Hikari and Toji sat by the door as Blitz then began.
"Well good job Shinji, you finished in 4 min and 58 seconds and destroyed all the MT's with only minor AP loss. But that's not why you're sitting here, you see when Requiem here contacted the Nest he hadn't intended what ended up happening. The Nest contacted Nerv's commander and negotiated for you to become a Raven"
Shinji's eyes grew to the size of saucer plates, he looked over at Rei who just smiled and took his right hand in hers. He looked back to the others who were smiling a bit, he could tell he was the last one to know
"How…why…"
Requiem spoke up
"How, well there is a catch, if you accept the contract and become a Raven a few things will change. One, you will no longer be under Nerv's direct command, you'll still take orders but they can't stop you from refusing, however that would violate your contract with them and Nerv could suspend you from any further action, more a less they could kick you out. Second you could go on missions as a Raven should you want to, but, you would have to be off duty, as in no tests or not on emanate combat alert. Should you decide you want to quit Nerv, you forfeit any forth coming rewards for combat and leave with what you have."
Requiem paused to let those things sink in before he continued
"Now as for the why, the Nest believes you have what it takes to be a Raven, I think we all agree after watching you out there that we do to. Did you know that last MT you took down was set for actual human combat data"
Shinji was a bit shocked
"You mean that's what fighting a person would be like"
"For the most part, but, all people react differently so that was just a taste of what its like, and you handled it perfectly, nice OB Blade Dash by the way"
Shinji blushed a bit and smiled shyly, he wasn't use to this kind of praise, Blitz handed Shinji his palmtop computer
"Here's a copy of the contract, read through it really good, if you have a question, ask Orchid or Requiem."
He stood and walked over to the door where Misato now stood
"Now if you'll excuse us, we have a certain redhead to deal with"
Misato waved as she left
"Be back in a second Shinji"
Shinji turned to Rei
"What does she mean"
Rei and Requiem explained how Asuka had been bitter about him getting to be a Raven and wanted to show how much better she was by stealing the Test AC and trashing on him with it. That depressed him a bit but Hikari and Toji told her not to worry about it. Shinji read through the contract, the terms were good; pay was based on mission performance. But hey all of his medical expenses were covered.
He also liked the fact that this would allow him to get away from Nerv and Tokyo 3 every now and again and maybe even give him away to prove himself to his father.
The biggest downside is that he would have to fight and maybe even kill other people. But as Requiem explained the people he would fight would be trained soldiers or Cooperation forces who knew what could happen to them and had accepted the risk.
After a bit Misato and Blitz returned, Misato, after chewing Asuka out had sent her home with a section 2 agent with orders to not let her leave the apartment, or her room for that matter until Misato returned. After talking it over with Misato for a bit Shinji decided to accept. He signed his name on the dotted line so to speak and handed the palmtop back to Blitz who then sent off two notices, one to Nerv, and the other to the Nest. He then called up two sets of forms for Shinji to fill out, the same forms Rose had given to Rei when she had joined.
"Now you'll need to fill those out, once you do you'll head home and pack enough cloths for a week"
Shinji looked up at him
"Why"
"You'll be going to the Nest to receive your primary training, this test was just to see if you had what it takes, and your guardian will accompany you for that week"
"What about Asuka"
Misato put her hand on his shoulder
"She'll be staying in an apartment in the GeoFront while were gone and Maya will look after Pen Pen"
"Where will we stay?"
Requiem spoke up
"I have a house in the civilian section; you guys can stay with me for the week if you want to"
Misato looked over at him
"Yes thank you, well Shinji, it's your call"
Shinji nodded and went back to the forms. Rei asked Requiem if she could stay with him for that week as well, his answer
"You're always welcome"
Rei smiled at his answer. As Shinji went through the forms he ran upon something he hadn't expected, he needed a call name. When he asked what that meant Blitz told him to either pick a name that described him, or just something he liked. Toji suggested a few but most were too violent or x rated for his taste. He finally settled on one…
Zero
Simple and to the point, Shinji honestly liked it. It would be easy for anyone to remember, especially himself, and he thought it did describe him somewhat, after all a zero has no where to go but up. He finished the forms and handed them back to Blitz who sent them off. He looked across the table at Shinji, he stood up and walked over to Shinji and the others who also stood
"Well I gota be going, got stuff to do back at the Nest. There will be a transport waiting for you at the airport in Tokyo 2 tomorrow morning at 9 am."
He shook Shinji's hand
"Welcome to the Ravens, Zero"
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An hour later the Crest guys had packed up the AC's and the Raven Transport and picked up Blitz, his AC, and the remainder of the training gear. The AC transports went strait back to Misato's while Misato and Shinji took Hikari and Toji home. Shinji knew by the time he got back next week everyone in school would know he was a Raven.
It didn't take long for them to drop off Hikari and Toji and make their way back to the apartment to pack. When they arrived they discovered Requiem and Rei sitting outside of the apartment door, apparently Section 2 had already taken Asuka and her 4 suitcases of packed stuff to the GeoFront for the week. While Misato was unlocking the door Requiem turned to Shinji
"I forgot to mention this earlier; the Diligence is yours if you want it"
Shinji stared at Requiem wide eyed
"But…I can't just…"
Requiem stopped him
"If you want it when we get to the Nest I'll sign it over to you, I was just going to sell it anyway and would rather you use it since your use to it. Once I sign it over you can do whatever you want with it. Actually, I'll go down and talk to the Crest Guys and see if the can do that now"
Requiem headed downstairs while everyone else went in. by the time he returned to pack up what little stuff he had brought, the AC Diligence belonged to Shinji.
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That night at dinner everyone sat at the table eating the dinner Shinji had fixed after everyone had spent the remainder of the day packing. Ritsuko had come over and given her congratulations to Shinji along with Maya. Misato asked them to stay but Maya had to go into Nerv at 7 pm and was going to sleep in. Ritsuko said she had paper work and couldn't, though she would have loved to. Misato turned to Shinji who was sipping his Miso soup
"So Shinji how does it fell to be a Raven now"
Shinji thought about it for a moment
"I…don't really feel any different…really. What scares me is that…while I was fighting the MT's…I…was enjoying myself"
Rei looked up and smiled
"That is easily understood brother, there were no negative consequences, as such, enjoying yourself was not wrong"
"I guess…umm Requiem"
"Yeah Zero"
"Umm…how much do we get paid…per mission I mean"
"Usually that will be told on the contract before you accept it, sometimes though Corporation's will reward you with AC parts, if you think you can do a mission like that with out going broke do it. Those parts are sometimes exclusives; sometimes you even get parts that are a one of a kind"
Shinji nodded and went back to his soup. Requiem placed his bole down and wiped his mouth
"So everyone all packed"
They all nodded
"Good, we should get some sleep"
Shinji collected the dishes and put them away and turned on the dish washer, Requiem turned to Misato
"What's going to be done about Asuka when you get back?"
Misato shrugged
"That'll depend on her, we should go to bed so we'll be use to the time change, Maya will be by to get Pen Pen at 7 tomorrow morning"
She stood and stretched. As she did she acquired her prime teasing target
"Well I'm going to bed, Rei do you want the spare futon or are you going to sleep with Shinji again"
Rei blushed a bit
"I will not need it"
Her comment drew a blush from Shinji as well; they all headed to bed not long after. Rei settling down with Shinji, she knew after tonight this wouldn't be necessary, the sibling bond between the two had been forged as Shinji had become comfortable with her being there. She rolled over in the night to look at him; he was lying on his back with a small smile on his face. He was actually happy, Rei rolled back over and went back to sleep. The next morning would be the flight back to the Nest…back home.
A/N and the Re-Dux 6 is done, on to 7