Creation began on 01-31-18
Creation ended on 03-29-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Eva Art Online: Never Abandon Your Own
On the holographic screens in Central Dogma, the NERV saw the Third Child and his two companions fight against a large cat or wolf-like while surrounded by people in black with red eyes. It looked like they were doing okay until the woman fell and didn't get back up.
Shinji's avatar threw something at her and she quickly got up; it was assumed that she was low on health and needed something to restore it before she died, which would've meant she would die in real life if that happened.
"This would probably be a little less worrisome if the Second Child and her group fought alongside the Third Child and his group," said Ritsuko to Misato.
"We saw what Asuka tried to do," Misato responded. "An attempt on the life of his group likely put a strain on any chance of a working relationship between the two. It'd be a miracle if they did, though."
The boy and his allies continued to fight the creature whilst the people in black continued to surround them; it was deduced by Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki that they wouldn't face the Third Child and his allies until after the beast was defeated.
"An impressive tactic," Gendo stated. "They don't fight until their trump card is defeated and their enemies weakened."
"The game was designed to be immensely interactive and adaptable," Ritsuko informed him. "The greater the challenge, the bigger the difficulty, the more intense the game, the better the rewards you get from winning, no matter where you are in the game. That's what appealed to the people that play it."
"Go anywhere… Do anything," said Misato. "Be anything."
-x-
"…Kami, Shinji, you're amazing," Kensuke expressed, shooting at the creature from a distance, avoiding hitting his two allies with his rifle's bullets, "you and Mari!"
"Thanks, Kensuke!" Shinji praised, swinging his sword at the beast's left hind leg. "This thing is almost defeated!"
"Ha!" Mari yelled, swinging her polearm at the monster's belly, slashing away at large masses of flesh and muscle, reducing its threat to her team further. "Shinji, use your finishing move now!"
"Finishing Move: Path to Escape!" Shinji yelled, swinging his sword and spinning like a top at such a speed that he was a literal blur. "Aaaurgh!"
"Rrrrrraaurgh!" The beast shrieked as it was pierced through by Shinji's attack, right through its head and out its back.
It was only for a few seconds, but when Shinji's avatar emerged and hovered in the air, surrounded by the creature's flying entrails, he looked like he was invincible with his sword glistening and held tightly in his left hand.
The beast fell and atomized into particles, signifying its defeat and their victory.
"In the words of the cartoon character, Samurai Jack," Shinji uttered, landing on the ground and looking at the ninja in the background, "WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!"
The ninja all stepped forward, revealing their power levels to be eighty-two altogether. They were only half as strong as the three of them were.
"Let's end this," Mari told them, brandishing her naginata.
"With pleasure," Kensuke agreed, raising his rifle. "To the treasure."
"To the next level," added Mari.
"To freedom," finished Shinji.
-x-
"…Looks like they got away from us," a Scarlet Siren told Asuka as they had arrived to the aftermath of a battle, seeing the remains of demonic ninja scattered around the cave and empty treasure chests.
A scroll floated in front of them and Asuka grabbed it, opening it up and revealing it to be a note left to them by the three individuals that outran them. It read, "Only through teamwork, drawing strength and support from one another can any number of members in a team prevail against any adversary. There is trust and budding friendship and acceptance of differences, not domination or exploitation. Which do you have? Cooperation…or control?" Asuka frowned and threw the scroll aside.
"Verdammt," she cursed as another Scarlet Siren picked up the scroll, finding more information there that she overlooked.
"Uh, it looks like one of the treasures they found in here was a cheat," she explained. "They had to pass a test and upon passing, were allowed to bypass ten levels of this realm."
"What?!" Asuka demanded.
There was no way that was possible. Yet it was, and only because they had that beta tester and his aid. If they had his knowledge, then they would've been sure to have done what they did better than those three. Instead, they were ten levels behind and robbed of many items that could've helped them to get closer to winning the game and going home.
-x-
Running across the open field in the afternoon sun, Shinji, Mari and Kensuke, relieved to have escaped the cave and obtain more than what they had intended to. Now that they were ten levels ahead of where they were previously, both in their personal levels and the level of the realm itself, they felt entitled to a little elation.
"I'm glad we got away from there," Kensuke told them.
"Yeah," added Mari, stopping to lie down on the grass. "It's good to feel the sunlight."
Dropping to his knees, Shinji panted as he thought back to the test they had to pass to get here. He never thought that a question of this sort would exist within the game…and yet they were able to find the right answer.
An unstoppable force and an immovable object, he thought, deciding to look at his inventory and see what was now added into it. When they meet up, they negate one another because they can't remain as they are. The unstoppable is forced to stop to a degree…and the immovable is moved to a degree.
Within his inventory, he now had fifteen herbs and crystals that could heal him and his allies, three scrolls that could revive them from permanent death if their HP was at zero, daggers and throwing knives, and a few thousand coins apiece for spending. All in all, it wasn't a bad treasure to receive from a dungeon challenge.
"Say, Shinji," went Kensuke, "when that priestess appeared to give us the test, she said any of us could've walked away from the rest at any point we chose before the answer was given. I kept expecting you and Mari to ditch me and leave me to my fate…but neither of you did…and neither of you expected me to do the same. Why is that?"
"We haven't known each other for too long, but we have to accept the risks that come with counting on others when you're part of a team," he answered him. "Even if I had abandoned y'all, I'd be echoing what my father did to me…and I couldn't do anything that would compare me to him. I need people in my life more than I need stability."
"You scratch our backs," they heard Mari say to them, "and we scratch yours."
"Never abandon your own," Kensuke accepted, raising his right arm up to examine the talisman he received from the treasure that would enable him to use the weapons of this realm, resembling a gauntlet worn by the samurai. "A team never abandons its own."
-x-
"…From the look of things," went Ritsuko to Misato in Central Dogma, "the Third Child and his two allies defeated the dungeon challenge and escaped to a different level of the Feudal Myths Realm, leaving the Second Child and her team to wonder where they went."
"And Asuka's throwing a fit over being outdone by Shinji and his allies," Misato responded. "How can these two be expected to work together and beat the game when one of them is…well, unwilling to show cooperation with the other?"
"If the unwilling one is part of an all-girl group while the other is in a three-person group that cooperates," went Hyuga to them, "it's not all that hard to see how impossible these two working together seems. What's more is that the boy has been playing this game far longer than the girl has since he became a beta tester, meaning his expertise is his group's blessing. Anyone looking to win the game should be willing to listen to whatever the beta testers say."
"Yeah, except some of the players aren't exactly looking for aid," Shigeru expressed his belief. "They'll just want their secrets."
-x-
In the new safe zone town in the realm they were in, Shinji, Kensuke and Mari noticed very few players that were clearly from other realms in Survival Times with only several men and women highlighted as NPCs. There must've been at least twenty of them that decided to venture into this realm for a while.
"It's getting late," said Mari as they stopped by some large stones. "I think I exhausted parts of my mind I didn't even know I had."
Shinji looked at his digital of the village they were in and pointed out to an inn nearby.
"Our bodies may not get tired here, but our minds do," he uttered to them.
They walked inside the inn and Shinji registered them in.
"It feels nice to rest in a place like this," said Mari to them as she laid out on a futon under her.
"Yeah," Kensuke agreed with her as he sat down on his. "Wish it felt like my bed, though."
As Shinji sat on his futon, he opened his menu and selected his accessories category to change out of his suit and into a dark blue pair of pajamas.
"I didn't take you for the type to have multiple accessories, Shinji," Kensuke stated.
"For the longest time, the world of the game was my safe place," he explained. "It might as well have been my home, barring the eating and sleeping and other things people do outside the game. I might as well try to live as close to how I live in the real world here."
Mari opened her menu and changed her attire to a purple nightgown.
"What was the point of having a clothing feature for our avatars if we weren't going to use them?" She questioned.
Kensuke opened his menu and simply dressed down to a simple shirt and khaki shorts; because he was the soldier archetype, he had to be ready for battle, not relaxation.
"It's not all that crazy to want your life in VR to be better than your real life out there," he admitted. "We want to live lives where we feel better, where we can do anything we want. Be heroes, movie stars, hunters, scientists, singers, policemen…"
"The virtual world doesn't solve all our wants or needs," Shinji told him, referring to his own needs that were partially satisfied by the virtual world. "It's…just a way to escape from what we don't like about our lives or the world itself out there."
"You can say that again," said Mari, her hands on her legs. "It might be useless to try, but we should attempt sleeping. Goodnight."
"Yeah, goodnight," went Kensuke as he lied down on his futon.
"Goodnight," Shinji told them as he did the same.
-x-
In the darkness of the cave, Asuka and the rest of her Scarlet Sirens, despite nearly suffering an extreme loss to their numbers, had managed to defeat the same challenge that Shinji and his team did, although it took her group longer because of the enemy having a stronger level than all of them did. With their inventory restocked with medical remedies and some items that would enable to use weapons from this realm, the women were all looking for a place to crash and burn for the time being.
I'll get him for this, she thought, referring to Shinji as she fell to her palms and knees as her avatar struggled to catch her breath. Who does he think he is?! He will suffer my wrath for escaping with his secrets on how to escape this virtual grave!
To be continued…
A/N: Okay, not a good way to paint Asuka, but things are going to get harder for those stuck in the game and life in the real world will get just as hard for NERV. Keep fantasizing what could happen as time passes until the next chapter. Peace out!