Gamer4 in. I usually don't like shilling my own stories, but given this one's obscure nature, I'm willing to make an exception this once- remember when I said one of the reasons I'm writing this story is to practice writing Eva characters for another story? Well, that story has officially begun in the form of Ness and Shinji's Excellent Adventure, the pilot of which went up a few days ago as of this writing. As you may be able to glean, it is a crossover between Evangelion and EarthBound, the first of its kind, and... now you get why I feel it merits a little bending of my 'no-shilling-my-own-stories' rule. If you're interested in a zanier take on the world of Evangelion, you're more than welcome! I promise to make up for this transgression by plugging other Eva stories in future episodes. Until then, let's get going!
Episode III
Teenagers
"-ck?"
"Language," Vanessa rolled her eyes.
"Heheh, she said 'language,'" Jack chuckled.
"What is that thing?!" Ruby gaped. "That was no regular robot, I can tell you that!"
"Are you sure?" Ren asked. "You're quite certain most robots don't have a fleshy underneath that regenerates destroyed eyes?"
"I normally love your sass, Ren, but now's not the time!" Nora fretted. "Jauney could be in danger!"
"I assure you, if I thought Jaune was in direct danger from the Eva, I'd not be sassing about it," Ren promised.
"How do you mean?" Blake asked.
"It seemed to act on its own to protect him," Ren surmised. "He passed out, and it went berserk to destroy the angel and protect its pilot."
"Are you sure that's why it did that?" Weiss asked sharply.
"Well, I obviously can't be positive," Ren admitted. "But I am as certain as I can be at this point that the Eva means Jaune no harm."
"But he's still going to have to pilot it," Pyrrha noted sadly.
"If that was just the first angel, I wonder what the others might be like?" Blake pondered.
"I guess... there's only one way to find out," Jaune gulped.
02
"Indeed," Vanessa agreed.
The world reopened on a series of flashing colors, until they realized they were looking at Jaune in the cockpit of the Evangelion once more- he had the yellow clips in his hair, and was now wearing a skintight bodysuit not unlike the one they'd seen Ruby in before.
"Okay, seriously, what's up with the outfit?" Yang couldn't help chuckling.
"Easier to move around in the LCL- the liquid that fills the plug," Vanessa explained. "Also, easier to clean off."
"I could go with one of those..." Nora smirked.
Pyrrha glanced at Jaune, blushed furiously, and looked away.
"Good morning, Jaune," came Blake's voice from the outside. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine... I'm getting used to it, I think."
"Good," Blake's voice seemed to nod. "Alright, we're going to start by familiarizing you with the city's layout- your entry and recovery points, weapon drop zones, and power stations. Remember, when not plugged into an Umbilical Cable, the Eva only has five minutes of power."
"'Umbilical Cable,' really?" Blake quirked a brow.
"Symbolism, son!" Jack explained briefly.
"About time they gave him some training," Weiss sniffed. "After the angel stomped him into the pavement."
"Whoever's planning all this really dropped the ball!" Ruby agreed angrily.
A virtual worled appeared in front of Jaune, complete with a holographic map. He raked his gaze around, taking in every detail. "Yeah... we went over this before, I think I've got it."
"Good. Then we'll proceed to combat drills."
Over the virtual city appeared the virtual visage of the Third Angel, staring blankly in Jaune's direction with its empty eyes. With a few commands from Blake, a red sphere within its chest began to glow. "That is the angel's core, Jaune," she explained. "A Super Solonoid Engine- S2 for short. They're what provide the angels with their power- they can operate under all conditions, without any outside resources. But that's also their weakness- destroy the core, destroy the angel."
"That is... quite a power!" Weiss's eyes widened. "If power like that could be harnessed, even dust would become entirely redundant!"
"Unless, of course, they only work for the skyscraper-sized monstrosities they belong to," Blake pointed out.
"That would... be an issue, yes..."
"The core is your target. The Eva has its own targeting systems- all you have to do is center on the target, and pull the trigger, okay?"
"Roger," Jaune agreed quietly. "Center on the target, pull the trigger..."
A targeting reticle appeared and locked on the core- Jaune dully pulled the triggers of his control yoke, and the virtual rifle unloaded virtual bullets into the virtual core, destroying it and the angel.
"Of course, the real thing ain't likely to just sit there and take it," Yang pointed out.
"True, but a firm grasp of the basics is definitely vital to success in the long run," Pyrrha countered.
"Very good," Blake praised. "You will repeat this drill until it's second nature, understood?"
"Yes," Jaune agreed dully.
The angel appeared again.
"Target in the center, pull the trigger," he mumbled to himself.
The angel was destroyed, then reappeared.
"Target in the center, pull the trigger."
The angel was destroyed, then reappeared.
"Target in the center, pull the trigger."
The angel was destroyed, then reappeared.
"Target in the center, pull the trigger..."
"Y'know," Nora yawned loudly and obviously, "I thought bein' a giant robot pilot would be a bit more exciting!"
"It's no wonder he's not enthusiastic about it, after getting bullied into it like that," Weiss scoffed.
"It's beyond not being enthusiastic," Pyrrha shook her head sadly. "Listen to his voice... he sounds almost dead.
"Target in the center, pull the trigger... target in the center, pull the trigger... target in the center, pull the trigger... target in the center, pull the trigger..."
"Like a robot," Blake finally concurred uneasily.
Outside the VR chamber, Blake, Yang and Ilia were watching. Ilia maintained the simulation with precise strokes of the keypad in front of her. "I'm surprised he agreed to come back after everything that happened before," she commented as she reset the angel.
"Hmm... he just does what he's told," Blake speculated. "It's how he's lived until now."
"Must be how that... teacher of his raised him," Weiss speculated, her eyes narrowed with dislike. "Just shut up and do what you're told- no one said that you should think."
"Kind of the Rooster Teeth motto nowadays, now that I think on it," Vanessa sighed.
"Who?" Ruby asked, but received no answer.
"Dead mother... father ran away... teacher with no interest in developing his personality..." Pyrrha looked like she was on the verge of crying. "No wonder he just does what he's told!"
"I suppose it makes him the ideal soldier, att least." Blake's nibbling on her lip indicated she wasn't overjoyed about it.
Yang didn't look thrilled either, watching with a furrowed brow as Jaune repeated the drill over and over, his voice a constant monotone. "Target in the center, pull the trigger... target in the center, pull the trigger... target in the center, pull the trigger... target in the center, pull the trigger..."
The scene abruptly cut to Yang's apartment, where the news was playing in the background- but the camera centered on a lump under a large pile of blankets. The door slid open, revealing Jaune on the other side, giving a clue as to the lump's identity.
"Er, Ms. Yang? It's morning..."
"Lovely to see that some things never change," Blake groaned.
"What, you think I get this gorgeous without a little beauty sleep?" Yang smirked, flipping her hair.
"Gorgeous... is that what they're calling it nowadays?" Weiss rolled her eyes.
Yang groaned, only stirring slightly. "I had a night shift last night... I just got home. Gotta be up at sunset... please, let me sleep..."
"HA! See, I was up doing work!" Yang gloated... then realized what she'd just said. "Wait, I was up doing work?!"
"I'm sure we're all glad to see you being responsible for a change," Pyrrha giggled.
"Et tu, P-Money?" Yang groaned.
"Well... I'll be going to school, then," Jaune shrugged, turning back towards the door.
"Oh, right, it's Monday!" came Yang's voice before he could make it across the living room. "Go ahead and drop off the garbage, would ya?"
"Mm-hm," Jaune agreed emotionlessly.
"Bla-ake!" Ruby put on her best tattle-tale voice. "Yang's using Jaune as a manservant!"
"So I see," Blake crossed her arms disapprovingly.
"For shame," sniffed Nora, who had Jaune clean up an average of three of her messes a day. (Ren cleaned up the other seventy-two.)
Jaune obediently took the garbage to the dumpster behind the apartment complex before setting off for his first ever day of school.
"First ever?" Weiss repeated, sounding affronted. "I thought he was fourteen, how has he had no formal education yet?"
"He was raised entirely by that anonymous teacher of his," Vanessa explained. "Honestly, I don't know too much about him, but he's definitely a dildo."
Blake reflexively smacked a hand over Yang's smirking mouth. "Please don't give her more ammo."
"So, he's going to his first day of school, ever?" Ruby clarified. "...As a giant mech pilot?"
Yang finally dropped the shit-eating grin. "Oh, I see... not exactly normal knees, huh?"
"I'll never understand the fascination you two have with knees," Weiss sighed.
"I think... I think I get it," Pyrrha whispered.
Back at the apartment, Yang's scroll went off. "What's new, pussycat? Oh, ohoh, ohoh! What's new, pussycat? Oh, ohoh, ohoh!"
Blake's eyes narrowed at Yang, who straightened her back. "I will not apologize for supporting fine art."
Yang slowly emerged from her blanket cocoon, looking remarkably disheveled, matching her weary proclamation of, "I have a gun and I know how to use it."
"Charming," Blake replied in the dry, unamused tones of one who'd heard this threat too many times before. "I only called to check up on your... son, was it?"
"So- oh, Jaune." Yang must have been truly tired, as she made none of her usual comebacks.
"Kind of weird to think of Yang being a mother," Jaune commented.
"Hey, I'm basically Rubes's mother as is, ain't I, Rubes?" Yang grinned, pulling her sister into a headlock.
"Yang, stahp!" Ruby pleaded.
"I'm a little concerned about him," Yang admitted. "He's been here two weeks, and he's spent most of that in his room. No contact with anyone here, not so much as a call from back home on his scroll!"
"When did he get a scroll?" Blake asked.
"I got him one," Yang answered offhandedly. "Kid his age needs to be able to keep in contact with the rest of the world."
"He didn't have a scroll before this?" Ruby asked in surprise.
"In fairness, I didn't have a scroll before Beacon either," Jaune pointed out.
"It's like... he doesn't have any friends."
"Perhaps he simply doesn't make friends easily," Blake speculated. "Like the hedgehog's dilemma."
"Is this some weird faunus thing?"
Blake groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "No, Yang, it's not 'some weird faunus thing.'"
"You are unbelievable sometimes," Blake agreed with her other.
"'Sometimes?'" Weiss scoffed.
"Renny, what's so dilemmatic about hedgehogs? They're cute!" Nora asked.
Ren sighed. "First off, 'dilemmatic' is not a word. As for what Blake is talking about... I suspect she's about to explain it herself."
"In the cold of winter, hedgehogs may wish to draw together for warmth, but the closer they get, the more they risk hurting each other with their quills. Humans are much the same."
"Uh, no we're not!" Nora shook her head. "Humans don't have quills! Well... I guess maybe some hedgehog faunus might... ever met any hedgehog faunus, Blakey?"
Blake heaved a sigh. "If you don't understand what my other was saying, I'm not going to elaborate. Ren, explain it to her later."
"Will do," Ren heaved a long-suffering sigh.
"So... this Jaune has really big quills?" Ruby asked, pouting sympathetically.
"...Close enough," Weiss decided, feeling somewhat sympathetic herself.
"Jaune fears that pain, so he retreats back into himself."
"Well, I'm sure he'll figure it out," Yang pondered. "Part of growing up is finding that sweet spot where you can give each other warmth without hurting each other."
As they spoke, Jaune moved through the school, shying away as he heard several other students whispering behind his back.
"Who's that kid?"
"I heard there was someone else transferring in today."
"Looks like a creep, if you ask me."
"Ew, I think that freak looked at me!"
He kept his gaze on the ground and did his best to tune them out.
"Great way to repay the guy who saved your sorry butts," Yang growled.
"Then again, do they know about that?" Blake wondered. "In all likelihood, the Evas are top secret- or as much as something of that size can be."
"Yeah, I'd love to see them brush the Evas off as swamp gas," Nora chuckled.
"But they'd most certainly want to keep the identity of the pilots secret, if anything," Weiss concurred.
"That doesn't make it right to pick on him like that!" Ruby frowned.
"Oh, yeah, I'm definitely gonna break their legs later," Nora agreed. Nobody caught Pyrrha nodding along in the background.
Jaune stepped into what would be his home classroom for the next year, spying Ruby on a desk near the window, out of which she was peering as if oblivious to the rest of the world. She still wore all the bandages from whatever accident had occurred prior to his arrival, but seemed no more bothered by them than by the squirrel climbing up the tree in the center of the school's courtyard.
"I am going to find out what that bastard did to my sister," Yang snarled, cracking her knuckles.
"Maybe another angel did it?" Ruby speculated.
"No... they said the one Jaune fought was the first in fifteen years," Ren pointed out. "I don't believe Ruby was even born yet at that time."
"Hey!" Ruby objected. "I'm fifteen and a half!"
"Yes, and a half year old is clearly the front line of defense against those monstrosities," Weiss rolled her eyes.
"Hmm... I'm gonna guess she's fourteen here," Yang determined. "Which does not explain why she's so... so... lifeless!"
"I'm sure we'll get some explanation eventually," Pyrrha assured her. "...I hope."
In the back of the class, his feet up on his desk, was a tall boy with blue hair, guiding a model plane through the air over him, lazily making plane noises as he circled it around and around.
"Oh, my gods, Neptune's a bigger dork here than in our world!" Yang chortled gleefully.
"Please, Yang," Weiss attempted to stick up for him. "Intel... lect... oh, forget it." Even she couldn't deny the sheer dorkery happening on screen.
"Vasilias!" came a voice that managed to be gentle and stern in equal measure. Neptune practically jumped in his seat, quickly sitting the right way up and stowing away the model plane as he turned to the source of the voice- a long-haired rabbit faunus with her arms around a book.
"Oh, class rep! I wasn't doing anything weird!"
"Velvet's the class rep here?" Pyrrha smiled. "Good for her!"
"Hmm, Neptune seems to take her seriously, for what it's worth," Blake observed.
"I could tell," Velvet nodded, somewhat drily. "Did you at least get those study guides handed out like I asked?"
"To everyone except Cardin," Neptune nodded. "He hasn't been home."
"He hasn't?" Velvet asked, her ears lowering a bit.
"Oh, good, Mr. Personality strikes again," Blake groaned.
"But Velvet didn't seem scared of him," Ren pointed out. "More... concerned."
They turned to focus harder on this new enigma.
"As far as I can tell, he's visiting his sister in the hospital," Neptune explained. "Heard she got pretty seriously hurt."
"Oh no... in that giant robot fight?" Velvet asked, raising a hand to her mouth.
"Wait, Cardin has a sister?!" Yang gasped.
"In this world, at least," Vanessa nodded. "Can't speak for yours."
Yang bit her lip. "I... wouldn't want to see... Ruby in the hospital..."
"Don't worry too hard about feeling sorry for him, Yang," Jack smiled, offering a brief pat on the back. "I means you're human."
"Unlike some of the people we know," Vanessa groaned.
"Oh, no..." Pyrrha's eyes widened. "Jaune isn't going to take this well..."
"Oh, balls!" Yang's eyes widened again as she realized how right Pyrrha was.
Indeed, Jaune's eyes widened, and he seemed to pull into himself upon hearing the damage that had been wrought during his battle against the angel.
"But the news said there were no casualties!"
Neptune snorted. "What, you always believe what the news tells you? They're not here to tell the truth, they're here to try and keep people calm! Hate to tell you, Vel, but you don't get through a fight like that without some injuries- likely some fatalities, too-"
"Well, this sure isn't helping Jaune feel better," Pyrrha crosse3d her arms and frowned.
"Someone stop him!" Ruby flapped her arms desperately. "I don't care who it is, just someone-"
The door to the classroom opened, and Cardin Winchester entered.
"You just haaaaad to say it, dintcha, Rubes?" Yang sighed as she crossed her arms.
Ruby sheepishly tapped her index fingers together. "Well... Neptune stopped talking, didn't he?"
"Oh, Cardin!" Velvet blinked, turning to face him, and... blushing slightly?
Cardin seemed to pay no mind as he plopped his backpack down on a seat next to Neptune's. "Surprise, surprise... fewer students than before." He sat down on the desk itself, crossing his arms and glaring out of the window.
"Yup," Neptune agreed. "After that business with the robot and the... angel, I guess they're calling it, no families wanna stay in this city anymore. Everybody's leaving the party, and nobody wants to be stuck with the bill."
Jaune was shrinking further and further.
"Neptune, shut up already!" Weiss hissed under her breath.
"Well, with you around, at least there's one lunatic enjoying all this," Cardin scoffed.
Neptune looked away pointedly. "I will neither confirm nor deny that claim."
"Really? He's enjoying it?" Weiss stared.
"In times like these, we certainly can't preclude the possibility of there being some who enjoy the mayhem," Ren suggested, none-too-subtly flicking his gaze towards Yang and Nora.
"Renny, I feel like you were dunking on me just now."
"Perish the thought."
"So, how's your sister?" Neptune asked, possibly as a diversion.
Cardin's glower grew. "She was buried under the rubble. She... she survived, but God knows how long she'll be in the hospital. My old man and my uncle are too busy at that NERV place to go see her... for now, I'm all she has."
Yang dabbed at her eye with a handkerchief. "No, I'm not crying- not over Winchester!"
"I am!" Nora volunteered freely. "He just wants to see his sister well again! WAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
Cardin abruptly brough a fist down on the desk he was sitting on. "Goddamn that stupid pilot, rampaging all over the city like it belonged to him! If he'd been a bit more careful, my sister would be... my sister would be..."
"Good feeling's gone," Nora decided.
Yang was still biting her lip. "If it had been Rubes..."
"If I ever get my hands on that bastard, I'll-"
"Well, I may be able to give you a pointer or two," Neptune mused, turning his attention back to his plane model. "You didn't hear this from me, but there are some rumors going around about that new transfer student..."
He nodded his head in Jaune's direction, and Cardin followed, eyes narrowing as he took in the blond. Jaune, realizing they were now paying him attention, ducked his head closer to his desk.
"Neptune, you idiot!" Weiss groaned, lowering her face into her hands.
Before Cardin could act, however, the door opened, and a young teacher with brown hair and wide, eye-concealing glasses entered. "Greetingschildren! Who'sreadytolearntoday?!"
"OOBLECK?" the audience chorused.
"Yep, and he's gonna be giving us some very important lore info, so I'll go ahead and slow down his speech so we can actually make it out," Vanessa decided.
"All rise!" Velvet announced- everyone stood, bowed, and sat- even Cardin relocated to his proper seat. From there, just about everybody tuned out the lecture, which, per Vanessa's promise, was slowed so they could hear it.
"So, as many of you are no doubt aware, the current state of our world is, in large part, thanks to the event now known as Second Impact, in which a meteor the size of a small island came down into our atmosphere and collided with the ice-covered lands north of Atlas. Our planet was subsequently thrown off its proper axis, dramatically shifting every kingdom's climate, and the melting of the ice caps causes sea levels to rise dramatically, wiping out a great deal of both flora and fauna across the lands of Remnant. This ultimately resulted in a quarter of human life being extinguished within a year. Over the following year, and additional quarter was wiped out during the so-called 'Impact Wars,' during which the war criminal Adam Taurus- known in those days as 'The Good Man'-"
"I think that's enough for you to get the gist," Vanessa paused, turning to the expected horrorstruck looks on the audience's faces.
"Half of all life... half of life on Remnant, wiped out in just a few years..." Pyrrha gaped.
"Little wonder this world looks so desolate!" Weiss agreed, eyes wide with terror.
"A quarter of humanity snuffed out by a meteor... another quarter in the wars that followed... yes, little wonder the people of this world aren't in the best state of mind," Ren concurred- even his hands were shaking slightly.
"Leave it to that bull-headed bastard to take a bad situation and make it worse!" Yang growled, smashing her fists together. "Let me guess, he did the same shit he did in our world?"
"Correct," Vanessa agreed. "He began by speaking for the faunus, claiming the governments of the time weren't doing their due diligence to the faunus community, and began rallying like-minded people around him. He called himself 'The Good Man' to emphasize that he only wanted the greater good, and that anyone who spoke against him wanted nothing more than a faunus genocide." She snorted. "You'd be surprised how many people are willing to commit atrocities because The Good Man told them it was a good cause."
Blake shuddered as she remembered her days in the White Fang. "No... I don't think I would."
"You don't have to worry about him appearing in the rest of this story, though!" Jack put in quickly, as though trying to cheer them up a bit. "He... doesn't really have a part in this story."
"Indeed," Vanessa agreed. "So, with all that lore out of the way, let's get back to Jaune's story- at normal speed."
Immediately, Oobleck's voice returned to its usual unintelligible speeds- for the audience and the students alike, most of whom were leaning back in their seats and staring at the ceiling, or had produced what seemed to be student-issue laptops, either typing in chat rooms or playing what looked suspiciously like Minecraft.
"They're pretty relaxed for hearing about the end of the world!" Ruby observed, astonished.
"It must be a story they've... they've heard many times before," Weiss surmised. "Knowing Oobleck, it might even be him they've heard it from."
Jaune himself was little more interested- he instead looked over at Ruby, wondering once again what could have caused those injuries, wondering what she might be gazing out of the window at...
Until he was distracted by a chime from his laptop indicating he'd received a message.
Lilmonix: Are you really the pilot of that robot?
Jaune gulped and looked around the classroom- several of the students were looking over at him in interest, boys and girls alike. One of them, a brown-haired girl with bright green eyes, waved and sent another message.
Lilmonix: Are you?
"I don't see this going well," Ruby whimpered, already rubbing at her knees.
Jaune clearly had some reservations himself- he momentarily considered outright lying, but found he couldn't bring himself to do so. He typed two simple words:
JauneArc: I am.
"AndsoAdam'sforcesweredestroyedbythefirstN2mineactivatedbywhatmanyeyewitnessesdescribedas'thehandofGod'-" was the last anyone heard of Oobleck's lecture before the classroom exploded in excitement and began swarming aroud Jaune, asking a barrage of questions so numerous and quickly he couldn't make them out, let alone answer.
"Um... yes? I think? I don't really know... no, I- please, I-"
"Oh, dear, I was afraid of this," Pyrrha groaned sympathetically.
Only four students didn't join in the commotion- Neptune was content to lean back and watch for the moment, Velvet was trying to get everyone to calm down, Ruby was still gazing out the window as if unaware of anything around her, and Cardin also leaned back and watched, but unlike Neptune, his face twisted into a grimace as he watched the boy who had so severely injured his sister showered with praise and adoration.
"This cannot possibly end well," Blake stated.
A black tint appeared on the scene, and they heard what sounded like Jaune's narration voice again. I think I knew, even then, that what he was telling us about Second Impact wasn't the full truth. There was something in that dull, learned-by-heart voice of his... Neptune was right, it wasn't about truth in Vytal-3, only about keeping everything under control.
"Wait, Oobleck's lying about Second Impact?!" Ruby gaped, the idea of the fast-talking coffee addict lying to his students absolutely beyond her ken.
"Or at least repeating the lie he's been told himself," Blake suggested. "The question is, how much of that lecture was false...?"
Not that I felt much more at home with my peers. Half of the students gathering around me and singing my praises once they found out I was a pilot had been saying all sorts of nasty things behind my back earlier that very morning. Adults, my fellow teenagers... I was scared of them all.
Music was picking up.
"Oh, right, this is a flashback!" Yang smacked a fist into the palm of her hand.
"A musical flashback," Weiss rolled her eyes. "So, present-Jaune... the one that was arguing with me... time for him to chime in?"
"Correct," Jack nodded.
The song was more upbeat than his last number, but still rather solemn, following Jaune after the bell rang and he quietly began his walk to the cafeteria.
"They're gonna clean up your looks,
With all the lies in the book,
To make a citizen out of you.
But then they sleep with a gun,
And keep an eye on you, son,
So they can watch all the things that you do."
"I suppose this is our song about where Jaune started his journey," Ren speculated over steepled fingers. "Already, he has a great deal of distrust, but is too apathetic to really do anything about it. He's... accepted the cruel state of the world."
"That doesn't sound like my Jaune-Jaune!" Nora declared fiercely.
"Maybe, but our Jaune hasn't been through everything this one has, either," Blake pointed out.
"And if the drugs never work,
They're gonna give you a smirk,
'Cause they've got methods of keeping you clean!
They're gonna rip of your head,
Your aspirations to shreds,
Another cog in the murder machine!"
"Indeed, these sound like things I'd expect from the White Fang moreso than Jaune," Blake agreed. "Worse, he's keeping this all... inside himself. He doesn't really have anyone to talk to about all this. That... can't be good."
"Then they'll say,
'Teenagers scare
The living shit out of me!'"
"Avert your ears, Rubes!" Yang cried, slapping her hands over Ruby's ears.
"Yang, I hear worse than that from you at least twenty times a day!" Ruby objected.
"Still, it's rather shocking to hear Jaune cursing," Pyrrha readily admitted.
"'They couldn't care less,
As long as someone'll bleed!'
So darken your clothes,
Or strike a violent pose,
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me!"
"On second thought," Yang pondered, "this actually sounds like something Blakey would listen to. Do you have something like this on your scroll, Kit-Kat?"
"Nooooo..." Blake shiftily denied, carefully double-checking that she'd changed her password since the last time Yang had broken into her scroll.
Meanwhile, on screen, Jaune ate quietly at his table as he glanced at some of the girls who had done such a quick turnaround on him after learning he was a pilot. The song continued:
"The boys and girls in the clique,
The awful names always stick,
You're never gonna fit in much, kid.
But if you're troubled and hurt,
What you've got under your shirt,
Will make 'em pay for the things that they did!"
"He... he didn't suggest what I think he just did... did he?" Ruby asked nervously.
"I don't think so," Ren shook his head. "At least, not that he has any plans for something like that- I think he's moreso reflecting on the state of the school itself, rather than plans he has in particular."
"I hope you're right," Weiss fretted slightly.
Jaune got to his feet and headed out into a secluded area of the courtyard.
"And they all say,
'Teenagers scare
The living shit out of me!
They couldn't care less,
As long as someone'll bleed!'
So darken your clothes,
Or strike a violent pose!
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me!
ALL TOGETHER NOW!
Teenagers scare
The living shit out of me!
They couldn't care less,
As long as someone'll bleed!
So darken your clothes,
Or strike a violent pose!
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not-"
The song was cut off as a fist cut across Jaune's face, sending him down to the ground.
"HEY!" Nora yelped. "It wasn't my favorite song, either, but you shouldn't be decking Jauney over it!"
"They can't hear the song, Nora, it only exists as part of the flashback," Ren reminded her.
"Still, I think I have a good idea of who did it," Blake growled, ears flattening against her head.
Sure enough, the camera panned to reveal Cardin Winchester, cracking his knuckles- Neptune was just behind him, wincing in sympathy as Jaune looked up at his assailant.
"Sorry 'bout that, runt," Cardin grunted. "Had to lay you out at least once, or I wouldn't be able to live with myself."
"Leg breaking time?" Nora asked eagerly, only to be confused when Yang raised a hand.
"No... for once, leave him. If that had happened to Ruby..." There was no fire in her eyes, but the others thought they understood what she meant.
Cardin turned his back, and Neptune leaned in with an apologetic look. "Sorry about that, bud- Cardin hasn't been feeling too well since his sister got put in the hospital after your... scuffle. He kinda stops thinking logically where she's concerned." He offered a small pat on the head in consolation.
"I... I gotcha," Nora grumbled. She still didn't look happy, but conceded Nora's point.
Neptune stood and turned to leave when Jaune grumbled, "It's not my fault... I didn't want to pilot the stupid thing..."
Neptune winced again as Cardin turned around, his eyes once again alight in fury. He crossed the distance he'd just put between them and grabbed Jaune by the lapels of his shirt, lifting him up. He only seemed angrier when Jaune failed to meet his gaze, eyes lingering on the ground. His fury reached its peak, and he punched Jaune to the ground once more.
"Okay, that's going too far," Yang decided, eyes narrowing.
With this final strike, Cardin turned his back and left, Neptune quick on his heels, leaving Jaune to look up into the sky from his position on the ground. The sky was as blue as it had been for all his years on Remnant, and endless summer brought about by Second Impact. Why? he couldn't help wondering. Why keep piloting, if this is all I'm gonna get for it?
"It does seem a rather cruel trade-off," Pyrrha agreed, sorrow in her eyes.
"You'd think they would have a class or something on how to treat those who are fighting for their very lives!" Weiss sniffed disdainfully.
Abruptly, a shadow passed over him. His eyes gradually focused until he made out the bandaged face of Ruby Rose looking down at him. "Rub...y?"
"Oh, oh, am I there to comfort him?" Ruby asked eagerly.
"There has been an emergency- we are to report to NERV immediately." The second she delivered her message, she hurried off.
"Oh... I guess not," Ruby sighed, looking down.
"I'm sure you'd have done better in our world, Rubes," Yang smiled, patting her on the head.
A second later, the Angel alarms started, and a cool female voice raing out over the city. "A special state of emergency has been declared for the Vytal-3 region," it said. "All residents, please make your way to your designated shelter at this time."
"Wait- it's another angel!" Nora realized.
"That would certainly seem to be the case," Blake agreed.
"But... but Old Man Douchebag said it was fifteen years between the second and third!" Nora recalled. "This time, it's only been a couple days!"
"Who knows what sort of schedule the angels are operating on?" Ren shrugged.
Over the city, the Fourth Angel appeared- a long, thick body coming to a large, spade-shaped head, from which several long tentacles and insectoid-like legs emerged.
Yang immediately snorted. Everyone turned to her with half-lowered lids. "Don't even say it, Xiao Long."
"Wow, that angel sure looks like a-"
"YANG!"
"Bug- a big bug! What did you think I was gonna say?"
Weiss groaned. "You are... ugh!"
"So, not all the angels will resemble the first we saw..." Blake observed.
"Nope, angels aren't bound to any consistent form," Jack agreed. "Kinda makes it a pain when you're trying to figure out how to kill 'em."
"I'd expect so," Pyrrha agreed. "At least with grimm, we can sort them into different categories and decide the best way to fight them."
NERV's command room was already full and active in preparation for the threat. "Target confirmed!" called one of the technicians- Scarlet David, if the audience's memory didn't fail them. "It's officially entered territorial waters!"
This time around, Port took command. "All personnel to battle stations- Condition 1!"
"Roger that, preparing for surface to air intercept!" agreed the third technician, Nolan Porfirio.
"Initiating deployment of Vytal-3 into combat formation!" Ilia called. "Retracting central structures!"
Outside, the buildings that had so recently risen began lowering back into the geofront, mighty stalactites secure beneath the surface.
"The government and all appropriate agencies have been notified!"
"Air defense systems currently operating at 48% capacity!"
"Status of civilians?" Yang demanded of Scarlet.
"Evacuation reported as complete."
Deep underground, in the shelter beneath Vytal's Municipal High School, Jaune's class had gathered in a single room. Cardin and Neptune sat in the corner, the latter fiddling around on his scroll. No matter what he did, he only came up with various images of landscapes overlaid with text reminding them to stay in their shelters.
"Ugh..."
"The usual horseshit?" Cardin grunted.
"Yup," Neptune grumbled. "It's criminal, is what it is! These are major historical events, how can they shut out us civies like this?!"
"I can think of plenty of reasons, but something tells me he'd understand none of them," Weiss snorted vindictively.
"I mean, he is the guy who chose to hang out with Cardin Winchester," Blake agreed.
Yang watched with crossed arms as the fourth angel (codename Shamshel) made its way towards them. "Fifteen years between angels, and this one just drops right in while Commander Arc is away. Just the kind we women hate."
"On behalf of all non-women, I apologize for our sense of timing," Ren rolled his eyes. Yang blinked.
"Did you just... sass me?"
"Ren can be savage when he wants to be!" Nora beamed proudly.
The army was deploying their full force in an effort to halt the angel, but all their projectiles merely bounced off its hexagonal AT Field.
"Hmm, they truly won't be satisfied until they've fired every last bullet," Port's moustache twitched in mild agitation.
Nolan put down a phone. "Word from the council- they're ordering our mobilization! They want us to launch Eva!"
Yang scoffed. "Like we'd have waited for those pencil necks anyways. Evangelion launch!"
"Yeah, stick it to the man!" Yang pumped her fist. "Er... even though I'm technically part of the man here! Um..."
"Try not to think about it too hard, you'll break your brain again," Weiss rolled her eyes.
Jaune entered the plug, which in turn entered Unit 01. He closed his eyes as the LCL shifted around him until it took on the form of the world outside. He gently reached up and touched where Cardin had struck him earlier. All Eva brings me is pain... and father's not even here to watch me, now, so... why?
"Kinda late to back out now," Ruby pointed out, nibbling on her nails.
Cardin and Neptune looked up from their seats in the shelter as the ground rumbled around them. Neptune cleared his throat. "Cardin, I need to talk to you... in private."
Cardin looked around, quirking an eyebrow.
"Private private," Neptune emphasized.
Cardin sighed. "This better not be somethin' stupid."
"I'm getting the feeling it is," Blake groaned.
Cardin clapped his hands as he got to his feet. "Hey, Class Rep, Nep and I gotta go take a leak."
Velvet blinked in surprise as she turned towards them. "Really? Now? You ought to have taken care of that before we came down here!"
"When nature calls, nature calls," Cardin shrugged offhandedly.
"Classy, very classy," Weiss sighed.
"I mean, he's not wrong," Yang chuckled. "But... yeah, nothing good's gonna come of this."
Mercifully, when the camera entered the boy's room, neither was actually using it. Rather, Cardin was leaning against a wall, hands behind his head, as Neptune paced restlessly. "We gotta get up there. I have to see one of these fights before I die- just once, then I'll be happy."
"Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea!" Ruby squeaked, raising her arms in an X formation. "You're gonna get yourselves killed!"
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance! There's no way of knowing when another angel will come!"
Cardin grunted. "Do I have to explain why this is a dumb idea? I don't plan on going out there on some damn suicide quest just so you can get your rocks off on a kaiju fight!"
"Dammit, this is the second time these worlds have made me agree with Cardin!" Yang growled, raising her hands to her head. "Stop doing that!"
"Then don't come out with me- I just need you to help me through the door, then you can head on back to the shelter!" Neptune wheedled. "I mean, it's not like the shelter's a hundred percent safe anyway!"
"The only way the shelter breaks is if NERV fails," Cardin pointed out.
"Yes, and NERV fails if Jaune doesn't get in his robot!" Neptune returned without hesitation. "Which he might very well not, given the thanks he got for his last deployment- y'know, two whacks to the face. When you think about it like that, isn't it really your responsibility to see if he saddles up again or not?"
Cardin glowered at him, but there was a wavering in his eye. Finally, he groaned, "Screw it, you win. Let's get going."
"Neptune... guilt-tripping... Cardin Winchester?" Nora's eyes were spinning in their sockets. "Forget Second Impact and the angels, that's the least believable thing so far!"
"I'd normally be all for it," Pyrrha admitted, "but he's guilt-tripping him into a very dangerous situation..."
"You can be damn pushy sometimes, you know that?" Cardin grumbled. Neptune responded with a simple grin.
Jaune, meanwhile, was at the controls of his Eva, gazing listlessly at the launch elevator. Finally, Yang's voice entered the plug. "Jaune, are you ready for launch?"
"Yes'm."
"Remember, suppressing fire to get close and neutralize its AT Field, find the core, smash it. Play it by the book, and there shouldn't be any problems."
"Yes'm."
"Launch!"
"Somehow, I get the feeling this won't be as simple as she things," Weiss muttered over her crossed arms.
Cardin and Neptune emerged onto a mountainside just in time to see a hatch open in the city's ground and Unit 01 come soaring out. Neptune quickly produced his scroll's camera just in time to catch sight of the incoming angel, floating through the ruins of the Old City. Cardin's eyes widened in awe and not a little terror, but Neptune seemed to be having the time of his life. "It was worth it just for this moment!"
"It won't be when that thing eats you!" Ruby almost stomped her foot.
Another sky-flung building extended from the ground- a sliding door opened and revealed a similar-sized rifle that Jaune quickly picked up. Within his plug, he was muttering rapid-fire under his breath; "Target in the center, pull the trigger, target in the center, pull the trigger, target in the center, pull the trigger!"
"His AT Field's up!" Ilia announced.
Jaune leapt around the building and opened fire on the angel- problem was, he was aiming where the target would have been on the previous angel, several meters below the current enemy. As such, he was only kicking up dust and debris.
"Shit, he's obscuring the target!" Yang cursed.
Jaune heard, and quickly released the trigger. Sure enough, he could see no signs of the angel through the thick cloud of dust.
At least, until the white-hot tentacles lashed out from that hidden realm and sliced the building next to him in half.
"What the hell?!" Yang cried.
"That thing moves fast!" Nora yelped.
Indeed, had Jaune ducked a split second later, he'd likely have been bisected as well. Indeed, his rifle had joined that building in its trip to the great beyond.
"Fight ain't off to a good start," Cardin grumbled.
"But it't not over yet!" Neptune assured him.
"Either way, any sane person would be going back to the shelter by now!" Weiss screeched.
"Jaune, we're sending up a spare rifle!" Yang called. "Pick it up ASAP!"
A second later, a second skyscraper appeared with a rifle within, but Jaune didn't pick it up. His eyes were wide, his breathing was ragged, and his knuckles were white on his control yoke.
"Jaune? Jaune!"
"Crap, he's panicking!" Yang's own knuckles were trembling.
"Wake up, fearless leader!" Nora pleaded.
"He's locked up!" Neptune commentated. "Man, those whacks you gave him must have really gotten to him!"
"Screw you!" Cardin yelped, but he couldn't hide the guilt from himself.
"Again, I'd be feeling better about that if they weren't about to all die!" Blake hissed.
It took the angel readying its whip-like tentacles again for Jaune to finally be spurred to action, but even so, he only narrowly dodged, and one of the tentacles managed to wrap around Unit 01's leg. It pulled and tossed, sending the evangelion through several buildings. Just as quickly, any buildings that came between the two were torn apart by those searing appendages- as was the cable feeding Unit 01 its power. A countdown appeared on both Jaune's HUD and the command room's, starting at five minutes. Yang's eyes widened as she bit her lower lip in horror.
"I wouldn't normally say this," Nora chuckled nervously, "but maybe now is the time for a... tactical retreat."
"Tactical retreat?" Pyrrha gave a wan smile in her direction.
"Running away, but manlier."
Jaune didn't receive a chance- he was still getting back to his feet when a tentacle once again lashed around his ankle, dragging him to the ground, lifting him up, and throwing him through the air...
Right towards where Cardin and Neptune were crouching, eyes suddenly wide in terror as the behemoth rushed towards them. Neptune opened his mouth to scream, but didn't have the time to do even that before the titanic crash that marked Unit 01's impact on the hillside.
"I can't watch!" Ruby squealed, hiding behind her fingers.
"Jaune, Jaune!" Yang cried, her voice entering Jaune's entry plug as he lay prone on his pilot's seat. He was struggling to pick himself up, let alone answer. "Is he unconscious?"
"Negative, just stunned!" came Ilia's voice.
Jaune finally lifted his head and took in the new situation- immediately, his eyes locked onto the two boys cowering on the hillside between Unit 01's titanic fingers. They looked up into the Eva's eyes, while Jaune peered through its eyes down at them. It was difficult to say which of the three looked more terrified.
"Clearly one of them ate their lucky charms this morning!" Yang exclaimed.
"If he just twitches his fingers a bit..." Pyrrha fretted.
The boys' images were relayed back to the command center, and their student profiles popped up immediately for Yang's perusal. "What the- Jaune's classmates?! What the hell are they doing out there?!"
"Committing suicide with extra steps," Weiss scoffed, struggling to hide her own nerves.
As if to rub salt into the wound, the angel appeared above, hovering over Eva and students alike, its tentacles rippling ominously. It lashed out towards the boys, but Jaune finally raised the unit's hand, reaching out and just managing to grab the appendage before it could make contact with his peers.
It wasn't pleasant- the tentacle was white-hot to the touch, melting and sloughing away the armor on Unit 01's hand.
"Isn't he gonna fight back?!" Cardin asked, paralyzed with fear himself.
"Not without risking us!" Neptune realized with dawning horror. "He can't fight at full capacity with two civilians to protect!"
"Would that you had considered that before putting yourselves in this situation to begin with!" Blake hissed, more out of fear than true anger.
"Unit 01's down to three and a half minutes!" Nolan called.
"Dammit," Yang cursed under her breath. "Jaune, we're opening your plug! Let those boys in, then retreat!"
"That's the most sensible thing I've ever heard Yang say," Ren commented drily.
Blake turned her gaze towards Yang. "What are you doing? Permitting unauthorized personnel into the cockpit?"
"I'm authorizing them," Yang fired back.
"That's beyond your authority, Captain," Blake reminded her hotly.
"Screw the rules, I burn!" Yang declared.
Their staredown was broken when Scarlet called, "Three minutes remaining!"
"Open the plug," Yang ordered firmly.
With a whirring of mechanics, a hole opened between Unit 01's shoulderblades, and out came Jaune's entry plug, the side of which slid open- an emergency rope ladder quickly lowered, just enough for the two boys to grab the bottom rung. A voice came over the Eva's loudspeakers. "You two, get in, now!"
The two had no presence of mind to second-guess this order- Cardin reached up, grabbed the bottom rung, and began climbing, Neptune hot on his tail.
They were extremely confused when they stepped into the plug, only find themselves immersing in liquid. "What the hell?" Cardin grunted, almost turning back before the door closed again and the plug began to refill.
"Water!" Neptune's eyes widened in panic. "Wat-"
"Oh... right. That... won't be fun," Weiss winced as she recalled Neptune's phobia.
"It's not water," came Yang's voice. "It's LCL, it'll oxygenate your blood directly!"
"Oh, okay," Neptune seemed to recover immediately.
The audience all facepalmed- they didn't have to say it, because Cardin said it for them.
"I really don't get you sometimes..."
Before he could ponder the mystery of Neptune's hydrophobia further, he saw Jaune, eyes wide, face in panic, teeth gritting as he struggled to hold back the angel's attack. The look of dread only watered the seeds of guilt over his earlier assault.
"Abnormalities in the nerve circuits!" Ilia announced. "Jaune's sync rate is dropping!"
"Thanks to the foreign bodies in the plug," Blake assessed.
"So... their thoughts are screwing with Jaune's thoughts controlling the Eva?" Ruby summarized.
"I believe that is a succinct description of what's happening, yes," Ren agreed, his hands shaking slightly as he kept them interlocked beneath his chin.
"Great, they're gonna get Fearless Leader killed, too!" Nora shrieked.
With one final grunt of effort, Jaune managed to use the angel's tentacles against it, spinning it around and throwing it away from the mountainside. He quickly used the moment of freedom this gave him to leap to his feet.
"Well done, Jaune!" Yang cheered. "Alright, now retreat!"
Jaune raised the Eva to its full height, and... did nothing.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha spoke aloud, as though he could hear her.
Perhaps the idea that he hadn't heard her crossed Yang's mind as well, because she repeated, with more detail, "Recovery route sixty-three! On the double!"
Jaune remained stock-still, head bowed over the Eva's controls.
"Jauney-boy," Cardin said nervously, eyes up as the angel rallied itself, turning and beginning to come back towards them. "She said to retreat!"
"Jaune, can't you hear her?" Ruby squeaked.
Jaune didn't seem to hear any of them, his head lowered, his lips rapidly muttering that mantra- "I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away..."
One of the Eva's shoulder pylons opened, producing a blade that the unit's melted hand quickly seized.
The technician's jaws dropped. "Er... Progressive Knife equipped..." Scarlet relayed, as if Yang couldn't see this for herself.
Her brow was furrowing as she watched Jaune blatantly ignore her orders.
"What's he doing?" Weiss gaped. "Surely he wouldn't-"
"Jaune, I order you to retreat!" Yang interrupted, but Jaune's face had once again taken on that... dead look it had during his training.
His timer clicked over to one minute. It beeped and the inside of the plug turned red with warning. As if this were a signal, Jaune opened his mouth and screamed as he rushed down the mountainside towards the angel, abandoning all thoughts of self-preservation.
"You idiot!" Yang screamed.
"You dunce- dolt- dotard!" Weiss wasn't exactly keeping her own thoughts secret.
"It's not worth getting yourself killed, Jaune!" Pyrrha screamed through her hands.
The angel attacked with its tentacles again, piercing through the Eva's abdomen like arrows.
Unit 01 didn't even slow down. Jaune maintained his scream as he plunged the knife up into the red orb that sat at the base of the angel's 'head.'
It was truly a testament to the seriousness of the situation that Yang didn't take the opportunity for a horrible joke.
The knife pierced the orb, which cracked, but didn't shatter. At Jaune's berserker force, the knife pressed further and further in.
Cardin and Neptune were clinging on to each other, screaming almost as loudly as Jaune as they were dragged right towards the kaiju threatening their city, and received a front-row seat to the pilot's apparent madness.
"Thirty seconds!" Ilia fretted, but Yang said nothing- clearly, whatever she had to say was falling on deaf ears.
Ilia continued her countdown of Unit 01's remaining time.
The tentacles continued to writhe in the Eva's abdomen, flailing in an effort to stop his attack.
Cardin and Neptune watched as the battle became a test of endurance, victory to the one who outlived the other.
The cracks in the orb began to spiderweb as Ilia's countdown entered single digits.
"I can't watch!" Ruby once again retreated behind her hood.
"Three! Two! One!"
The inside of the Eva went dark. None of the three boys within had any idea what was going on outside. "Did... did he win?" Cardin forced himself to ask.
"I mean... we're still alive, so... I'm guessing yes...?" Neptune didn't sound too sure of himself.
However, his prediction was correct- on the outside, the core shattered at seemingly the same moment the Eva powered down- with it gone, the angel exploded into scarlet ichor that flooded the remains of Old Vytal beneath.
"Goddamn, Vomit Boy, don't do that again," Yang rubbed at her chest, unwilling to admit how fast her heart was racing.
"Idiot..." Weiss muttered weakly again.
"But... he won?" Ruby slowly lowered her hood.
"...Well, he killed the angel, at least," was all Pyrrha could find it in her to say.
"...Unit 01 has ceased operations," Ilia finally declared, seemingly suffering a similar problem to Yang.
"Target appears to be neutralized," Nolan put in- he was breathing rather heavily himself.
Yang glared at the screen.
In the plug, Jaune fell silent in the dark, breathing heavily into the LCL, fighting back tears, his knuckles still white on the controls.
"...Jauney-boy..." was all that Cardin could manage.
"I mean... that was... a thing..." Even Nora was rather taken aback.
There was a brief title card reading THREE DAYS LATER. The camera opened on a raining tennis court, a lone ball left out from where the team had been practicing moments before.
In their classroom, Ruby was once again gazing emptily out of the window at the falling rain. Further in, Neptune was typing at his computer, filling out what looked like an absurdly detailed description of the things he'd seen the previous day.
"Has that idiot learned nothing?" Weiss groaned.
"It wouldn't appear so," Blake rolled her eyes halfheartedly.
Right in front of him, Cardin was slouched over his desk, eyes on the window as well.
"Still thinking about that riot act NERV read us?" Neptune guessed, glancing up from his computer.
Cardin shook his head listlessly- indeed, he'd mostly forgotten the time he and Neptune had spent getting dressed down by NERV security- after all, he hadn't wanted to be out there in the first place. "It's been three days since the noob came in to school... I wonder where he is now..."
Neptune nodded. "I gotcha- you're worried about him."
Cardin stiffened a little. "And who the hell said I was worried?"
"Huh, didn't have Cardin pegged for a tsundere," Blake smirked slightly.
"Soon-dare?" Ruby tilted her head.
"I feel like we've been over this before," Blake sighed.
"We'll explain later," Yang decided.
"Stubborn as ever," Neptune chuckled. "Should have just apologized when we saw him last, and this wouldn't be eatin' you up inside." He paused, then scribbled something down on a piece of paper he subsequently handed to Cardin. "Here- his scroll number. Just call him and get it over with. That oughtta make you feel better."
Cardin wordlessly took the paper. Less than twenty minutes later, school let out, and he headed to a secluded area before punching the number into his own scroll.
His finger hesitated over the call button for a long moment before he simply closed the scroll with a sigh and returned it to his pocket.
The screen cut to black with more words:
THE SCROLL THAT DOESN'T RING
"This is one heck of a universe, that's for sure," Yang grunted.
"I never thought I'd feel so bad for Cardin," Ruby admitted. "What do you think, Jau-"
Everyone turned to look, but Jaune had disappeared.
"Jaune? Jaune?" Pyrrha yelped.
"Oh, he stepped out a while ago," Vanessa explained. "Thought you'd have noticed by now."
"Where did he go?" Nora asked urgently.
"Oh, he stepped off to use the bathroom," Vanessa explained. "But... Jack and I were talking things over, and we thought this world was only gonna get more and more awkward for you all if he was watching with you, especially with you all commenting on it, so... by the time he gets back from the bathroom, this world will be finished. You can catch him up if you want."
"That's one heck of a bathroom break," Yang crossed her arms.
"Don't worry, he won't notice anything," Vanessa promised. "So, about the rest of this world..."
XXXX
Awkward indeed. Thank you all so much for coming back for another episode- hopefully, I'll get the next one up sooner. In the meantime, though, I'm gonna get started on the next chapter of Ness and Shinji's Excellent Adventure- again, be sure to check that out if you want to see a wackier take on the Eva series. You can check out the pilot chapter right now on Ao3 or on my profile. I have two versions up- the main version and the 'trailer' version- the only difference is that the 'main' version is in its proper place in the Eva/EarthBound crossover section, while the trailer version is the Eva section proper. The trailer version won't be updated, it's just to let Eva fans know that the story even exists- all future updates will be on the main version and Ao3. Okay, enough shilling- it's just, I gotta for a crossover story to be noticed, let alone read, I'm sure you understand. Next episode, Walkabout- I'm sure I can get Yang to dish out a little fanservice! Until then, don't you dare go hollow- Gamer4 out.
