Evangelion: You Shall (not) Win This Time
Episode 25: Crash (and) Rise/ Episode 15's Canon Gets (replaced) Completely
(Warning: All intellectual properties belong to their respective original creators/current copyright holders. EVA to Studio Khara, Reality Warpers to Yoshi3000, you get the idea.)
(Opening Theme: "Reverse/Re:Birth" by Hiroaki Iwagana and Asaya)
The NERV trio were in the midst of the main synch test of the episode's canon with Shinji in Unit-00, Rei in Unit-02, and Asuka in Unit-01 with Mari being put on standby since Provisional Unit-05 was still out of commission. Rei was sitting at a metaphysical table with the half of Kyoko Langley Sohryu's soul that resided in the red biomechanical beast.
"My daughter said that you guys were working on a way to reunite the two parts of my soul and get me out of this god forsaken thing, is that true?" asked the half soul with the human/Angel hybrid answering "We are, but due to outside forces halting progression, it might take some time to find a procedure to pull it off."
The elder Sohryu responded "I hope you can get it done, Asuka told me about this Other World place where people can commune freely with the dead, and I hope that I can at least have visitation from her to make up for the lost years brought forth by this infernal crime against nature…no offense." with Rei simply replying "None taken, I don't exactly fit in with either man nor Angel these days."
Meanwhile, the fiery German redhead was in contact with the soul of one Yui Ikari, and refusing to let her "live" her involvement in all of this down.
"So your whole plan was to hole yourself up in this husk and let your annoying dummkopf of a son deal with all of the busy work just so you could essentially pay god at the endgame? Oh, hell's gonna love you."
Yui tried to justify herself by going "What I did was out of the love I had for my son in hopes that he will be able to shape a new world free of the damages caused by Second Impact, how am I worse than the any of the Angels or the invading armies from space that've thrown things for a loop? And besides, my husband was caring for him this whole time, right?"
"Oh, you didn't hear?" went Asuka before adding "Your rat bastard husband left your kid at a train station to wait for his aunt and uncle without adult supervision almost instantly after you started this little plan of yours, hasn't been in contact with him until the Angels started showing up and went off the deep end aiding a demented terrorist try and conquer the multiverse. Yeah, have fun with that revelation, bitch."
While Yui was getting destroyed, Shinji and the original Rei were sitting down as the young human/Angel hybrid diligently sat down to listen to her half brother's stories.
"And that's how I learned that people can weaponize Candiru fish and bottle rockets."
"Wow, big half bro, your travel stories are something else. How did your aunt and uncle think it was a good idea to have you come along on that?" asked the little blue haired gremlin as Shinji answered "To sum it up, they really didn't have access to a sitter topped with the fact that they wanted to make me feel like part of the family after sperm donor up and left me for dead. On the plus side, it's given me some valuable life skills I take with me even now with the rest of the Knights."
The spirit of the young Ayanami then asked her "half brother" if he was really working on a way to get her out of the EVA with Shinji answering that they were, promising that he'd pop in and visit her in Other World to make sure she was doing okay, earning him a spiritual hug and the sense that he did a good thing.
Fast forward to Mari completing synch tests for all three available units as her and Asuka were sitting in the confines of Mari's customized abode, searching for new bounties to take on while they wait for the next major canon event to be ready as Asuka asked "Any big money ones yet, four eyes?" with her pink clad associate answering "It's mostly just RN and Ohioan based targets these days. I mean by the looks of it, whoever's posting 'em is paying well."
"How well?" asked the pilot of Unit-02 before looking at the rates posted: a fair range between 40 to 200 million Dimensional Credits. The two continued to scroll until they found an offer they couldn't refuse: A high ranking Ohioan commander with a bounty of 250 million Dimensional Credits, earning a "Wunderbar." from Asuka.
(P.O.V. Shift)
Earth Dimension CH-1985-Delta: a Clone High universe recently marked as a target for the Ohioan army in their attempt to gain a foothold against Rendo Nexus and spread the power of being "swag like Ohio". It was there that Asuka and Mari were set on taking out their newly acquired mark: not the pragmatic General Lima, but a Warper version of El Tigre's Puma Loco.
"Alright, you idiots." went the semi-retired villain of Miracle City before adding "I want a staging base set up and the funds from the richest people in this universe in my pockets by sundown so we can speed up the conquest of this universe. The sooner we have this dump under out thumb, the sooner we can go back to cracking Rendo Nexus skulls.", earning a group "Swag like Ohio" from the nearby soldiers.
"Our target is an old guy from a Latin America inspired cartoon?" questioned Asuka who was taking in how characters from shows forgotten and pretty much given the middle finger by the studios that made it during its original run were capable of becoming part of a major threat to the multiverse before Mari answered "Never underestimate fans who dream for a continuation and decide to try doing it themselves, princess. Now how you wanna do this, pick off targets one by one or just take out the big guy and run?"
The pilot of Unit-02's answer: "Let's just take out the guy we're being paid to off and let these clowns scramble. Besides, the ad didn't say that they'd pay extra for dead foot soldiers."
The two opted to trace Puma Loco's energy signature…or at least tried to as it became evident that the geriatric villain of Miracle City was really damn good as masking their Ki and blending in like an average joe. For the time being, the only thing that Asuka and Mari could do was try and trail him and try to take him out when there were as few troops around as possible. After a grueling two hours of waiting, opportunity struck: their target had moved towards his personal dropship only guarded by two foot soldiers. Time to strike. Asuka and Mari were quick to dispose of the guards silently with a pair of Death Beams before opening the door to their mark…..only to have a large energy cage drop on them as multiple Ohioan troops surrounded the entrance.
"I knew it was only a matter of time before the Order or RN would send bounty hunters to extract the information I have before disposing of me, but to sent a duo of teeny boppers….." went Puma Loco with Asuka responding "Teeny boppers?" with a level of indigence.
"No matter." went the Warper supervillain before continuing with "With the amount of troops surrounding my ship and the fact that you two are basically trapped, even if I fall, you won't live long enough to claim your precious bounty. Any last words before you die?"
Mari's answer: "Just two but it's kinda one really: Kaio Ken."
(Track Change: "Love Colored Master Spark" by Zun- Touhou: Imperishable Night OST)
The two EVA pilots both enter their power amplifying state as the force of their Ki being brought out not only blows away the surrounding troops, but pulled the hull of the ship apart, scattering it across the battlefield as our "heroines" began their new plan of "screw only going for one guy, might as well take out the entire force while we're at it". Puma was quick to recover from the initial shock of the power boost before converting his signature hat into its combat mech form and opening fire on his opponents using the copious amount of beam weaponry he had outfitted to his machine after joining the Ohioans. Asuka decided to fire off a Double Sunday attack towards the target of her assignment, only for the mechanized suit to reveal that it was faster than anticipated, being able to not only shoot tactfully but swiftly evade the return fire heading his way. The battleground was a deadly light show, unfortunately attracting the attention of the Board of Shadowy Figures who sent out their own personal agents to investigate, only to be caught in the crossfire as unfortunate casualties. The battle only ended when all Ohioan troops were wiped out save for Puma Loco, who's suit had been heavily damaged with the warriors out for his head swiftly closing in.
"Wait! Whatever your employer is paying you to kill me, I can triple it. I-I-I have valuable information regarding the Ohioan army and their plans. It's yours if you let me live." pleaded the desperate despot with Mari turning to Asuka and asking "The order for this guy said dead or alive, right?" before Asuka answered "Yeah, but can we really trust this guy not to try and escape?"
"Fair point." responded Mari before breaking the arms and legs of their mark and asking "Think that'll help with that problem?" with Asuka replying "Uh…..suuuure." in a tone that could only be described as "disturbed by the actions seen". With the target delivered to the Order, Asuka and Mari collected their fare and were currently sitting inside the confines of a Warper version of Ammu-Nation on Planet Creation looking at blasters they could use in order to conserve Ki on bigger targets instead of wasting it on Squash Droids, Ohioan foot soldiers, or whatever grunt of the hour they had to deal with next.
"You know, we probably could've just made Ki cuffs to trap that buy so they couldn't escape. I'm starting to think that breaking the arms of an old guy might've been going too far, even if he was evil." went Asuka holding up a long rifle of the Galactic Republic to check it out before Mari responded "Aw come on, princess. You and I both know that the guy probably had something up his sleeve to kill us, I was just taking precautions." while browsing beam pistols.
The pilot of Unit-02 knew that her associate absolutely had a leg to stand on with her argument and decided to change the subject.
"We're gonna have to find a way to step up the results of our training, we might've come a long way from where we were after learning that stupid secret, but we're still nowhere near those mondo-dorks with the Knights of Ryujin and need to catch up quick."
Mari's nonchalant response: "P'shaw, your majesty. We might not be on their level, but I managed to do a check on most of 'em before we left. The majority of the team is sitting around seven and eight million in terms of power levels before adding in amplifiers with the big cheese sitting at around a hundred mil. Didn't get to check the likes of Puppy Boy, the halfas or any of the guys not related to our franchise outright, but how big of a difference could there be?"
(P.O.V. Shift)
"Thirty two point eight million." went Kensuke to Shinji and Toji within the deepest part of the mountains where it would be certain that only Warpers would be able to know what was happening. Rewinding the clocks to five minutes prior, we can see the trio hanging around Kensuke's military camp hideaway with Shinji and Toji helping their bespectacled friend install some modifications into the improvements that he had personally made to his home away from home. The improvements in question: an entire underground lair that could only be accessed by usage of Warper energy that could serve as an emergency fallback base in case the penthouse and the hiding place of the GARD were compromised. The original friend trio were putting the final touches on the installation of a new multimedia setup when the topic of power levels came up, and the fact that Shinji was leaps and bounds past his friends.
"It can't be that much of a gap." went Shinji before Kensuke decided to respond with "So you think, how about we put that statement to the test?"
Toji then pulled out a Scouter and goes "10,000 Yen says that your's is at least triple compared to ours." before tossing it to Shinji and getting into position to charge up his Ki to full power without the Kaio Ken. The result: a power level of eight million. Then came Kensuke's turn to show off, reaching the same results as Toji without any amplifications. Then it came time for Shinji to show off what he had, handing the Scouter to Kensuke before getting into position, leading to the present.
"Hol' up, that can't possibly be right." went Shinji in denial of the facts with Kensuke firmly responding "The Scouter don't lie, dude. Your head start plus constant exposure to LCL plus divine energy equals massive gap between you and the rest of us that only the boss' been able to surpass. Now pay up."
Shinji knew that he was beat as he wired the money into his friends' accounts while secretly marveling that he had reach this level of power with further heights to reach….now if only he could figure out how to get the whole "divine energy" thing in check without the seal on him.
(P.O.V. Shift)
From a fruitful campaign came a rather rough patch for the Lilac Storm armada as since their attack on the Seth McFarlane universe turned Gourdian outpost involving a run in with both RN and the Ohioan army, the uptake of run ins with both factions where the intended results of their raids were less than expertly met. Enter their most recent mission: assisting the Bean Troopers of Earth Dimension CMLZ-443-UX7 in liberating their world from the opposing Squirrel Troopers who were in leagues with Rendo Nexus and the Gourdian Empire. Thankfully, the five crews had a bit of assistance this time around as another surprise run in with the same Eds who assisted during the Remnant raid and a promise of a hefty payday later, this newly forged united fighting force was wasting no time fighting the opposition. The current mission was multifold: the Eds would lead the aerial forces of the Bean Troopers in the bombing raid of a major Squirrel Trooper fighter base while ground forces would attack the attached harbor, crippling the enemy naval operations with the remain crew members staying onboard their respective vessels to provide a counteroffensive in the event of additional Gourdian ships entering orbit. The fighting was brutal as the land raiding party had made their way to the weapons depot on the base and began the process of pilfering the goodies within in the the name of the war effort.
Ginyu opened his comms to the Bean Trooper leader and went "Yo, commander Slinkman. We just managed to score you some new guns and ammo that might give you an edge in this war. We haven't looked through everything yet, so you'll have to have your boys inspect it when this fight's over. Copy?"
The humanoid banana slug on the other line responded "Copy that, land team. Ready up and move to the next objective: rumor has it that this base in particular is housing an experimental fighter prototype that the Squirrel Troopers intend to mass produce. If these rumors are true, I want you to steal it if it hasn't already been destroyed and bring it back with you. It should be located not too far from the main hangar area once you're done with the harbor, good luck."
In the skies above, copious amounts of Gourdian fighter drones and Squirrel Trooper fighters were being swiftly shot down as the Eds were quickly showing the flyboys of the Bean Troopers of Fort Kidney how it was done. A Bean Trooper fighter piloted by the Dave and Ping Pong of the universe had somehow managed to line up a Squirrel fighter in their sights and opened fire, managing to not just shoot it down, but make it take out a Gourdian fighter in the process.
"We got one! We actually got one!" excitedly went Dave with his brother adding "More than one!", earning a telling of the famous line "Great, kid. Don't get cocky." from Eddy who had just managed to save them from a pair of airborne Squash Droids who were about to land a killing blow on them.
Meanwhile in the fight even further above in the twilight of the stars, a major discovery was about to be revealed. Of the multiple crew members who joined the armada, one Stinky Peterson and Belson Noles were assigned to random quarters inspections while the majority of the forces were dealing with things planetside.
"This sucks ass so much." griped Belson over comms to his associate before adding "Like we're ever gonna find anything connecting our botched missions as of late to an actual traitor."
"Well the captain's orders were to search every cabin across all vessels to ensure that our last few mission results were just the result of some unfortunate timin'." responded Stinky before adding "I just finished checking the Super Spiral's Triumph, what about you?"
"Yeah, Crimson Wind ship is clear." replied the gamer turned pirate before offering a theory: "Are we even sure that it ain't that Asuka chick or one of her crew that's the traitor? I mean she did used to fight alongside Rendo Nexus."
The country boy turned galactic refugee answered "That may be the case, but if you really looked in her cabin and didn't find nothin', than either they're pretty darn good at hidin' stuff or they ain't it, chief."
This sparked an idea in Belson's mind: "Oh yeah, then how 'bout a bet? The loser's share of the next major raiding haul's profit says that the traitor is either a Crimson Wind crew member or someone else.", earning a "'Yer on." from his associate before they mentioned "Since we've already checked three of the five ships in the fleet, how 'bout we check your crew's ship next?"
"Fine by me." went Belson as the two made their way to the almost empty confines of the Aberdale Resistance's vessel. Most of the cabins had proven fruitless in their search until one managed to get the two to stumble upon something important.
"Sub-Commander Shoop to Commissar Mucus. Come in, Commissar Mucus." went the former recess watchdog as the two investigators watched and recorded silently in silent shock before the leader of the Squirrel Troopers answered the call.
"This better be the news that you're about to carry out the plan, Sub-Commander." went the anthro warthog before adding "You know the war effort and our alliance with the Gourdians hangs in the balance if we lose this universe."
Shoop responded with "Everything is in place, once I clear out the remaining crew on my ship, I'll turn its weapons on the others so that Gourdian reinforcements may commence orbital bombardment without disruption. Not only will the Bean Troopers be wiped from the universe once and for all, but the empire will have its enemies annihilated as well.", earning a reply from her secret true leader: "For your sake, you better succeed. You know how little my patience for failure is." before the communication cuts out.
Stinky and Belson were quick to move towards the bridge silently as to avoid attention to themselves with the intent of bringing this revelation to light.
"Kinda busy fighting these Gourdian ships at the moment." went Captain Baker before asking "What is this about?"
Belson was quick to blurt it out: "We need to secure the whole ship, Shoop is the traitor!"
"It's true!" added Stinky before going "We recorded her talking with the leader of the Squirrel Troopers. She's in leagues with the them and the Gourdians, which means she's also in god with RN!"
"Let me see the recording." went Ms. Baker as Belson presented their findings to his former teacher. The look of shock on her face was immeasurable as she turned to the rest of the current bridge crew and exclaimed "This ship is under lockdown, inform the land forces that Shoop is the traitor and is to be dealt with upon their return!"
As the red alert lights began to flash and the alarms blare, Shoop knew that the jig was up, and quickly tried to make her way towards the lift for a quick escape, only to be stonewalled at every turn thanks to every door on the ship being locked, including the lift. They knew that if they didn't escape now, they were finished, so resorting to one last shot at escape with the portal gun she had to escape the ship after destroying the rest of the armada and activating the self destruct of the Aberdale Resistance ship to finish the job. Aiming it at the floor, Shoop fired the device and took her leap of faith, only to crash into a one of the underground hangars, banged up, but no worse for wear…..until she had a run in with the landing crew of the Shinovi Vindication who were already made aware of her betrayal. Shoop was only able to barely escape death by getting inside of a spare Gourdian dropship and take off into orbit, exclaiming "You may have thwarted my plans to join the winning side, but this isn't the end. You haven't seen the last of Shoooooooooooop!"
A frustrated Homura activated her comm and gave the news: "Dammit all, Shoop got away! We almost had her, but she managed to find the one goddamn dropship that could escape orbit carrying her fat ass and got in!"
"We'll deal with her when the time comes." went Kabuto on the other end before adding the news "We've pretty much picked this piece clean of valuables and the base is pretty much completely destroyed, return to Fort Kidney to rest and prepare for your next assignment."
While the war for that particular universe raged on, Shoop was still flying her commandeered ship determining how to make things right with the very people who caused the Aberdale Resistance to be formed in the first place. This did not last though, as Shoop's final moments were spent screaming from the collision of a seemingly random mass of space mass…one that during the impact unleashed a certain flacid howl of Lemonhate.
(P.O.V. Shift)
Bishops was not having a fun day. After finding out about copious undeserved celebrity deaths on Earth Prime and the fact that Chris Chan was not only allowed to walk away a free man, but also allowed to return to the very place where he committed his most heinous crime with most likely the intent of doing it again if the state of Virginia was legitimately that incompetent with their justice system, the level 10 Warper was compelled to do one of the few things he had never had any interest in doing before: getting brickfaced drunk. After looking up reviews online, he decided on the one place he thought would be able to not only drown his sorrows away, but maybe get a sympathetic ear to vent to: the Tori Dragon Palace. Upon stepping through the doors, the bartender version of Pokemon's Dawn was caught in shocked and turned to the lead barkeep of the joint that they had serious company.
Bishops sat at the bar and only went "Boston Lager, the strongest you got." for his order as the owner got him his drink, fresh from the tap.
His server, the legendary Time Patrol agent Ryoshiro Nazo Blackthorn, seemingly surprised at the individual he was slinging beers to went "Never thought I'd catch you in my neck of the woods, at least not here. But I think I know why you chose now of all times.", earning a response of "If you're about to guess my having to deal with RN, and the recent events on Earth Prime, than yeah, hit the nail right on the head there." before Bishops took his first drink of hops and barley.
"Trust me, this hasn't been a good year for being famous and actually talented." replied Ryo, thinking back to how many customers he recently served who came to his bar to mourn the loss of someone either significant to or directly tied to the franchise they were apart of. Hell, once news that Chris Chan was released from jail with their charges dropped broke out, multiple Sonic, Hyperdimension Neptunia, Friendship is Magic and Pokemon characters made their way to Ryo's source of income to either stress drink/eat their problems away, or in worse case scenarios, try to drink themselves to an early grave with Ryo doing the responsible thing and stopping them, suggesting serious heavy therapy instead of booze to deal with the shocking revelation, something he expected to do even more of once more characters learn that Chris was allowed back to the "SoNiChU tEmPlE". Bishops had finished his first glass of the Warper equivalent of Sam Adams and decided he needed something to digest before going in for round two, ordering a few platers of wings and some fries as Dawn went into the kitchen to whip it up before telling Ryo "Sometimes I think that the multiverse is actively having it out for me with all of this crap. I can't go on vacation without multidimensional commies attacking my home turf, I can't have a successful side gig while helping to rebuild a former Warper business giant without some memelords trying to assert their pathetic excuse for dominance, and even when something goes my way, it doesn't last more than like, a few weeks. I would love nothing more than just an extended period of time where things just go my way with no set backs. Just nothing but actual success."
Ryo answers "Don't we all." while bringing his customer his food when another customer walked through the doors: a version of Touhou Project's Sakuya Izayoi. The well renown "perfect and elegant time stopping maid" sits down a few seats away from Bishops and orders a glass of pinot grigio wine. After Ms. Izayoi got her glass, Ryo returned his attention to Bishops, asking about the training of his team and possibly bringing in some like Kaji, to which Bishops responded with "I wouldn't be against bringing in Kaji due to his abilities with espionage, but the matter is that getting him on par with the others, let alone getting everyone closer to my level is gonna be a stretch. I could try to get my hands on a Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but those are nigh impossible to get."
It was then when an idea came from someone neither of them expected: "Pardon my interruption of your conversation, but I believe that there might be an alternative solution to your training problem: have you considered recruiting someone with the ability to consistently speed up their molecular structure to enter a state known as 'Hyper Time'?"
Bishops was quick to smack himself on the forehead, cursing himself for not thinking of that quicker as he and the "time stopping" maid spent some time working out an agreement and exchanging contact info before the level 10 Warper paid for both of them and rushed home with reignited zeal as Ryo thought to himself "You know, the others were right, he ain't that bad of a guy after all. Well, at least he tips decently." When you're a bartender, let alone one for the Tori Dragon Palace, you tend to see some out there things, some of it gets turned into a program for Warpers everywhere to enjoy, at least it's never boring and if it helps someone out in need of it, than maybe there's something to it after all.
(Ending Theme: "Aozora ni Naru" by Jon Hashimoto- Kamen Rider Kuuga OST)
Current List of Power Levels:
Desmond Bishops: 100,000,000 (Metsu Sol Emerald Absorbed)/ 5,000,000,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken: x50 Metsu Sol Emerald Absorbed)/(Super Spiral Metsu Sol Emerald Absorbed)/ 10,000,000,000 (Super Spiral 2 Metsu Sol Emerald Absorbed)
Shinji Ikari: 32,800,000 (Metsu Sol Emerald Absorbed)/ 1,115,200,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken: x34 Metsu Sol Emerald Absorbed) (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Mana Kirishima:7,000,000/ 217,000,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken: x31) (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Musashi Lee Strasberg: 7,000,000/ 217,000,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken: x31) (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Keita Asari: 7,000,000/ 217,000,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken: x31) (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Rei Ayanami (Rei III): 15,000,000 (Metsu Sol Emerald Absorbed) (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Toji Suzuhara: 8,000,000/ 272,000,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken: x34) (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Kensuke Aida: 8,000,000/ 272,000,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken: x34) (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Sakura Suzuhara: 8,000,000/ 272,000,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken: x34) (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Hikari Horaki: 5.2
Misato Katsuragi: 5
Wynn Miyabi: 8,000,000 (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Eria Aoi: 8,000,000 (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Lyna Hikari: 8,000,000 (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Asuka Langley Sohryu: 9,000,000/ 225,000,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken: x25) (Warper Status: LV. 5)
Mari Illustrious Makinami: 8,500,000/ 212,500,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken: x25) (Warper Status: LV.5)
Ryoji Kaji: 6
Pen Pen: 3.25
Shigiru Aoba: 4
Maya Ibuki: 4
Mokoto Hyuga: 3
Ritsuko Akagi: 4
Jessabelle Musashi: 9,900,000 (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Fuytsuki Kozo: 3
Gendo Ikari: ?,?,000 (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Ami (Earth Dimension SJ-12639706): 11,000,000/495,000,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken=x45) (Warper Status: LV. 6)
Kaworu Nagisa: 18,000,000 (Metsu Sol Emerald Absorbed)/360,000,000 (Max Safe Kaio Ken=x20 Metsu Sol Emerald Absorbed) (Warper Status: LV: 6)
Johnny "Gourdar the Never Ending" 2x4 (Earth Dimension EEE- Sigma-1451-B): 25,000
Dr. Frog (Earth Dimension LOSE-1018-Tau): 3,500,000/120,000,000 (Battle Suit MK.2 Overclock)
"Johanna": 2,000,000/0,000,000 (Ability Absorbed)
(Author's Note: Can you tell that I'm not happy with how August going into September went? Ah, I'm not going to risk a ban by saying what I really think of Chris being released, so I'm just gonna say that next time, we get back to the canon grind with episode 16, then the calm before the storm of episode 17, followed by the massive shifts that come with episodes 18 onwards.)