A/N: So here I now return with chapter sixteen of "Neon Genesis Striker". Like I said and anybody whose seen this series knows this starts the transition from mainly action/adventure to a deep and sometimes disturbing Freudian saga with some action/adventure (hence why I added angst as a second genre). I bumped the rating up but be warmed the content will get more mature so reader discretion is advised. Once again I've warned you. Welcome to the psychological arc.
Thanks to my pre-reader Makuhari-fan01
Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Strike Witches.
At the Sakamoto/Miyafuji/Marseilles residence it was an ordinary morning so far. Sakamoto was enjoying her breakfast while Yoshika cleaned the dishes.
"I must say you're a very good cook Miyafuji." said Sakamoto finishing her noodles, "Have you thought of doing this as a profession?"
"Actually I want to help people." answered Yoshika.
"A noble goal." replied Sakamoto as a loud scream came from the bathroom followed a minute later by Hanna in a red towel.
"Who used up all the warm water?" asked Hanna seething with anger.
"Sorry." replied Yoshika bowing.
"Why am I not surprised." said Hanna.
"Actually Miyafuji used the shower first this morning followed by myself. The Pen-Pen was next so if the hot water is gone then he's the one you want to talk to." said Sakamoto as the penguin simply ate his fish.
"If's he the reason the hot water is gone why did you apologize?" asked Hanna pointing a finger at Yoshika.
"I'm sorry." replied Yoshika again bowing.
"There you go again. I swear apologizing is your instinct to everything." said the blonde girl.
"That's just her nature." said Sakamoto.
"You molly-coddle yer. Yoshika will never grow a spin that way." snapped Hanna.
"As your commanding officer and guardian you will show me respect." replied Sakamoto forcefully as she stood up from her chair. Hanna stared her down for a minute before storming off.
A few hours later, Sakamoto, Perrine and the three technicians were observing the girls as they under went another synch test.
"These tests can really get monotonous." noted Sakamoto as the test drugged onward.
"I know what you mean but there isn't anything we can do." replied Perrine shrugging her shoulders.
"I'm enjoying it ma'am." said Lynne from her seat.
"Glad to hear it." replied the Gallian, "So what's wrong Sakamoto?"
"Rough morning." answered the Major, "How's Miyafuji?"
"Look at the computer." answered Perrine.
"Miyafuji will like this." said Sakamoto reading the screen then pressing down the button for the microphone, ("Miyafuji, can you hear me?")
"Yes ma'am." answered Yoshika, "How are my scores."
("You're number one.") answered Sakamoto smiling.
"Yeah!" replied Miyafuji happily as Hanna scowled. After the test ended the three girls Yoshika headed home smiling happily while Hanna and Sanya followed behind her. When Yoshika had gotten out of ear shout of the other girls Hanna let loose.
"She's so great. She's so wonderful. The great Yoshika." said Hanna sarcastically, "She was a nothing but now she's our hero come to save all of us."
"Goodbye." said Sanya as monotonous as always before passing by Hanna and walking away. Left alone in the hallway, Hanna turned to her left and in one motion punched the wall with her right hand.
"I actually did it. I got the highest score." said Yoshika amazed as she skipped home flashing back to what Minna said after the battle with the Tenth Angel.
"Good work Yoshika."
"I can make her proud." the Yoshika as she turned down the corner back home.
The next day things in Tokyo-3 began normally. People moved about and things went as they would in any modern city. Then in the late afternoon a massive shadow cast over the city. Looking up people saw a massive black and white striped sphere floating in the sky and quickly headed to their designated shelters.
"You're late." said Perrine as Sakamoto rushed into Central Dogma.
"I had to be called via cellphone." replied Sakamoto, "Why didn't radar pick this up?"
"It just appeared out of thin air." answered Amaki.
"So it's an Angel?" asked Sakamoto.
"We haven't been able to detect a pattern." answered Nishiki.
"The Magi are also withholding there judgment." added Lynne.
"And of course both Commander Minna and Sub-Commander Ferrara are gone." sighed Sakamoto.
"Which means you're in charge." said Perrine.
"Are the girls ready?" asked the Major.
"Indeed." answered Perrine.
"Launch them." ordered Sakamoto.
"Yes ma'am." replied Amaki and with that the three witches were launched.
("Can you three hear me?") asked Sakamoto over the girl's earpieces.
"Yes ma'am." answered the three in unison.
("I'm sure you can see the target, but right, we don't know much about it. We're not even certain it's an Angel, so for preceded with caution.") said Sakamoto.
"Right." replied the three in unison.
"Are you going to take the lead Yoshika?" asked Hanna teasingly as she put her goggles over her eyes.
"Why me?" asked Yoshika confused.
"Well you are the highest synch ratio test scorer. It's only fitting." said Hanna goading Yoshika to move.
"I'll do it!" replied Yoshika confidently as she flew ahead of the others taking her position.
"What a dummkopf." laughed Hanna as she followed Yoshika with Sanya bringing up the rear.
"Those girls are being careless." sighed Sakamoto watching the trio.
"Indeed. If they're not careful those girls will be there own greatest enemy." agreed Perrine while outside Yoshika took her position behind a skyscraper near the floating sphere.
"Are you two ready?" asked Yoshika.
"Not yet." answered Sanya.
"I'm coming just wait." answered Hanna while Yoshika peered out behind the skyscraper and saw the sphere further away than she thought.
"Major, I'm not sure I can get a good shot from here." said Yoshika over her communicator.
("Then move closer if you feel it's necessary.") replied Sakamoto after a minute of thinking.
"Roger." replied Yoshika who flew out from behind the skyscraper only to find the sphere gone.
"Where did it go?" asked Perrine amazed the sphere just vanished but as Lynne tried to find it the sphere re-appeared right in front of Yoshika who panicked and began firing wildly. When she did the sphere again disappeared right before her eyes.
"Where did it go?" asked Perrine now getting extremely worried as Yoshika flew down and hovered above the street.
"I can't see it." said Yoshika looking to sky while failing to see the shadow emerging below her.
("Miyafuji look out!") cried out Sakamoto which finally led Yoshika to noticing the shadow.
"I can't move!" cried out Yoshika trying to escape in vain while the shadow began to engulf her.
"Ma'am the pattern in blue! It's an Angel!" cried out Amaki as the Twelfth Angel, Leliel, made it's presence know.
("Move Miyafuji!") cried out Sakamoto.
"Miyafuji." said Sanya flying rapidly to her comrade.
"Don't die on us dammit!" yelled Hanna joining Sanya.
"What's going on? Help me! Sakamoto! Please help me!" cried out Yoshika as she wildly fired into the growing shadow before it consumed her arms and eventually swallowed Yoshika whole. With Yoshika gone the shadow and sphere vanished into thin air as Sanya and Hanna arrived too late.
("Return to base.") said Sakamoto over the ear pieces as he voice quivered.
"But Miyafuji-" replied Sanya unable to finish her sentence.
("That's an order.") replied Sakamoto forcefully but her voice still quivering and the two witches returned to NERV as a solemn silence hung in the air. A search was conducted but no sign of the shadow, sphere or Yoshika could be found. NERV established a make-shift base at the Mt. Asama observatory.
"Any sign of Miyafuji?" asked Sakamoto as she walked up to Perrine who had set up the technicians inside the observatory.
"Afraid not." answered Perrine, "We can't find any sign of her or the Angel at all. Luckily, the UN is providing us backup so we'll be prepared. "
"Let me know if you find anything." replied Sakamoto sounding dejected as she headed outside. When she reached the roof of the observatory Sakamoto felt the cold night air on her skin as she headed to the railing to watch the orange glow of the sun setting. Both girls were nearby by out of their Strikers; Sanya was leaning against the observatory while Hanna, with her goggles on top of her head, watching the troops below moving.
"What an idiot. Miyafuji lost her composer in battle, the biggest mistake any soldier can make, and look what it cost her. It's her own damn fault this happened." said Hanna turning back around while her comments made Sanya march over to her, "What? Are my comments pissing you off?"
"Do you only pilot Striker for the praise of others?" asked Sanya.
"Of course not! I don't it because I'm the greatest." answered Hanna bragging.
"How shallow." replied Sanya.
"You bitch!" spat Hanna.
"That's enough girls." said Sakamoto interjecting as she walked over to the two, "Hanna as her reasons for fighting as do we all. As for Miyafuji, it's my fault this happened. I told her to move forward and I will take full responsibility for the outcome."
Inside the Angel, Yoshika had been trapped for several hours floating in a vast pit of darkness. She had gotten over her fear, for the most part, and now despair was her only companion in this darkness.
"It's all the same. Nothing but darkness. I hate the dark." said Yoshika before a familiar odor caught her nose, " What's that smell? Blood. It's blood. No. I don't want to smell blood. Let me out of her! Please! Let me out of her!"
At the Mt. Asama observatory, Perrine had gathered everybody on the roof of the observatory to update them.
"As you know this Angel is like nothing we've encountered so far. From what we've seen I believe the sphere he saw was really a three-dimensional illusion and the shadow was the Angel's real body."
"So the shadow is our real target." said Sakamoto.
"Exactly." replied Perrine,"From what we saw I estimate the Angel is six-hundred eighty meters in diameters which is supported by a Shield that points inward. As for Yoshika; I believe that inside the Angel may exist a Dirac Sea. In case you don't know, it's a theoretical model of the vacuum as an infinite sea of particles. It was first invented in 1930 by physicist Paul Dirac. I also believe it made be connected to another universe."
"So how do we get her back?" asked Sakamoto.
"We'll have Unit-00 and Unit-02 draw out the Angel before neutralizing its shield with their own. Then the FSSDF will drop the remaining 992 N² mines into it's body. Everyone get into positions." answered Perrine but as people began to move Sakamoto confronted her "friend".
"Have you lost your mind Perrine?" asked Sakamoto outraged by the proposed plan.
"I am doing what needs to be done." answered Perrine.
"That plan will kill Miyafuji!" exclaimed Sakamoto.
"The top priority is regaining Unit-01 in tact or not." replied Perrine.
"What the hell is so important about Unit-01 you and Commander Minna will sacrifice anybody to preserve it?" asked Sakamoto irate as she grabbed Perrine by the collar.
"You have all the information you need." answered Perrine breaking the grip Sakamoto had on her.
"Do you care at all about Miyafuji?" asked an angry Sakamoto.
"In this scenario the life of the pilot is of second priority." answered Perrine coldly.
"How dare you who gets to judge who lives or dies!" cried out Sakamoto as she slapped Perrine across the face knocking her glasses to the ground.
"Need I remind you that you are the one who sent Miyafuji to her death! It was your order that got in her into this so if she dies it's on your hands!" cried back Perrine before grabbing her glasses and storming off.
"I swear I'll find out what Perrine and Minna are keeping me in the dark about." said Sakamoto who then marched off.
Inside the vast darkness within the Twelfth Angel, Yoshika still floated admits the vast void. The biggest problem on the mind of the young girl was the loneliness she was facing. Having concluded that only way out of this situation was death; she had already accepted her fate.
"It's been twelve hours, so I'm sure NERV has given up trying to rescue me by now. I just wonder know much longer until I die." said Yoshika, "I'm cold...If that means my temperature is dropping, then I guess that I'll die of hypothermia."
Yoshika hugged herself to preserve body heat out of sheer instinct. As she rubbed her body for warmth she heard a voice.
"Yoshika." came the voice which sounded hauntingly like her own.
"You are you?" asked the real Yoshika.
"I am you and you are me." answered the voice.
"I don't get it." replied Yoshika.
"You don't need to." said the voice, "All you need to know is I have peered into your subconscious."
"Why would you do that?" asked Yoshika feeling violated.
"To see what makes you the way you are." answered the voice, "You are not the only Yoshika Miyafuji."
"I don't get it." said Yoshika.
"There is the Yoshika Miyafuji that exists in the mind of Sanya V. Litvyak, the Yoshika Miyafuji that exists in the mind of Hanna- Justina Marseilles, the Yoshika Miyafuji that exists in the mind of Mio Sakamoto and the Yoshika Miyafuji that exists in the mind of Minna- Dietlinde Wilcke formerly Minna Miyafuji. Each one is a true Yoshika Miyafuji." replied the voice.
"That makes sense... sort of." replied Yoshika still slightly confused.
"What you fear is the Yoshika in the mind of others. You're afraid of how those closest see you." said voice.
"I do." said Yoshika slightly confused. Yoshika then blinked and found herself on a train car. It was seemingly alone except for somebody sitting across from her. Yoshika tried to identify the person but light from the sunset outside blocked her view. Then after a minute Yoshika got a good look at her companion and saw it looked just like her when she was four. The younger Yoshika had pink sandals and blue shorts. The only thing odd was the black and white striped shirt Yoshika couldn't remember owning yet looked familiar.
"Indeed. You fear what others think of you. You're afraid they will hate you." replied the voice coming from the younger Yoshika.
"I do." said Yoshika still confused.
"Yes. You're self-esteem can be lowered when you feel others hate you. You even hate yourself at times." said the younger Yoshika.
"That's not true!" replied the real Yoshika.
"You're only trying to convince yourself." replied the younger Yoshika.
"You feel like people hate you." said the younger Yoshika, "But you're not the bad one here."
"Who is?" asked Yoshika as all of a sudden images began flashing in front of her ending with a familiar voice.
"Minna." answered the younger Yoshika.
"Good work Yoshika." came the voice of Minna from the battle with the Tenth Angel.
"No! Minna congratulated me after my battle!" replied Yoshika getting desperate.
"How long do you plan to regurgitate that one happy moment?" asked the younger Yoshika.
"I...I..." stammered Yoshika unsure how to answer.
"You rely too much on the opinions of others. You need to find your own happiness." said the younger Yoshika.
"I don't know how!" cried out Yoshika.
"Then you must find out how." replied the younger Yoshika.
"Can you help me?" asked Yoshika.
"No. You must find out how on your own." replied the younger Yoshika. The the "sun" blinded Yoshika who blinked and found herself naked and falling through fuchsia color vortex. As she fell a white specter flew at Yoshika taking on the appearance of her mother Sayaka Miyafuji.
"Are you ready?" asked the specter as it reached Yoshika and cupped her left cheek, "Well, that's good for you."
Outside NERV and the FSSDF had gotten into position to implement the plan Perrine had proposed despite Sakamoto still objecting.
("We're under sixty seconds from the start of our operation. Everyone make your finally preparations.") said Perrine over the radio.
"Sorry Miyafuji." sighed Hanna quietly as she placed her goggles back over her eyes.
"The N² mines are on the launch pad and aimed." replied Nishiki.
"Ma'am. The Angel has returned." added Lynne as the shadow body of the Angel overtook the ground and the sphere re-emerged in the sky.
"Get ready." ordered Perrine but at that moment the sphere began to shake.
"What's going on?" asked Sakamoto concerned, "Is it Miyafuji?"
"There's no way she could have survived!" answered Perrine but a minute later Yoshika exploded out of the Angel surrounded by a white aura.
"She's gone berserk!" cried out Perrine while the shadow on the ground fractured and broke apart.
"Is that what I'm piloting?" asked Hanna horrified by what she was seeing. After a few minutes Yoshika exited her berserk mode and slowly fell back to the ground as Sakamoto ran out to her.
"Miyafuji!" cried out the Major falling to her knees and began shaking the young girl.
"Hello Major." said Yoshika weakly which caused Sakamoto to embrace the girl as Hanna, who had jumped out of Unit-02, wandered over to the location.
"Thank God." sighed Hanna softly upon seeing Yoshika alive.
Yoshika Miyafuji was taken out of Unit-01 and brought to the NERV infirmary where her clothes were removed, she washed off and put through a routine of tests to check her health. Upon getting a clean bill of health she was put into a hospital room to rest.
Later that night Unit-01 was inside the special contamination room being washed down so the Angel blood would be gone. Minna, who had returned to NERV, was standing in front of Unit-01 with Perrine to her right. Both were wearing yellow rain slickers.
"I never thought that Strikers were scary until today. I wonder if they hate us for what we're doing." said Perrine still in shock over what happened, "By the way, I think Major Sakamoto is suspicious."
"I see." replied Minna who thought for a minute, "Let her be. Mio is not a threat for now."
"If Sanya or Yoshika discover what we're doing they would never forgive us." said Perrine shaking her head.
The next morning Yoshika awoke in her hospital bed first seeing the familiar ceiling. Then she turned her head to the left and saw Sanya sitting to her left reading a book.
"Hello Sanya." said Yoshika sitting up.
"How are you feeling?" asked Sanya.
"I'm fine." answered Yoshika calmly.
"Well, that's good for you." replied Sanya as she closed her book, got up and left. As Sanya left Yoshika saw Hanna standing outside too humiliated to enter.
"I still smell blood." said Yoshika smelling the blood as she lay back down and made a realization about the younger Yoshika she had talked to, "The black and white shirt was the same pattern as the Angel."
A/N: We've entered the psychological arc now and this was a taste of what happens later on. I wanted to make sure it was clear that was the Angel Yoshika was talking to. Next time, an incident in the United States leads to Unit-03 being sent to Fuso at the same time the Fourth Girl is identified. Please review!