Ultraman Evangel – Ultraman vs. Evangelion!

Prologue – Twist of Fate

Disclaimer: The Ultraman series and Evangelion series are properties of Tsubaraya Productions and GAINAX Company, respectively.


Near Earth Lunar Space, Unspecified Universe…

Time almost seemed to stand still in the indiscernible silence of space… that is, until a spark of energy crackled, before expanding into a distortion of time and space. As quickly as it appeared, a familiar red and white space jet rocketed out of the distortion into this universe, with the pathway closing as soon as the jet cleared it.

Shin Asuka, former ace pilot of Super GUTS, and the legendary Ultraman Dyna himself, was piloting his personal GUTS Eagle Alpha Superior in his long and storied odyssey through time and space. "Ha…" he smiled to himself, "another day, and another universe." Fresh and rested from his battles alongside Ultraman Orb and many other Ultra friends from different worlds, Asuka was ready to explore the rest of the multiverse, both with Dyna and his trusty Alpha Superior.

Activating his radar, Asuka tried to get his space bearings in this new world. After a few seconds, the sensors updated his navigational data. He was just in orbit around the moon of this world's Earth. "Well, I'm home… in an alternate dimensional sense," Asuka muttered to himself. He decided to fly out from the dark side of the moon to get a good look at this universe's Earth.

However, as he came around the moon… "Whoa, that's… a little red for a planet supposed to be Earth." Asuka had to blink twice to make sure that he was not imagining things. The HUD showed that the planet was indeed Earth, but the seas and oceans were red almost like blood, and the continents, while recognizable, were tattered and apparently sunken in several coastal areas. The southern continent of Antarctica was hardly to be seen from Asuka's position in space if it was still there at all.

"What in the multiverse happened here?" Asuka thought to himself. He had seen the devastation of Team U's Earth by Alien Battian before he, Cosmos, and Zero liberated it, but whatever ravaged this new Earth made Battian's madness seemingly pale in comparison. While most people would have recoiled from seeing the blood-red seas from space, the adventurer and Ultraman Dyna inside Shin Asuka told him to investigate.

"Well, whatever is going on, there's only one way to find out," Asuka resolved as he hit the throttle on Alpha Superior's afterburners. He flew through space towards the unknown that was this new universe's Earth.


Over the skies of Japan, Earth

Asuka looked out the canopy of his jet after re-entering the atmosphere. It was an eerie scene looking at the Pacific Ocean below. While the skies were still blue, the ocean was just completely red. He was currently on a westward heading towards the Japanese coastline, which would have him over Tokyo airspace in three minutes.

"The air feels thick around here," Asuka talked to himself, "it's as though the whole planet's saturated with despair…" He soon entered the airspace over Tokyo… or rather was. The city was completely in shambles, with skyscrapers sunken into the red waters and dilapidated from what seemed to be a combination of typhoon damage, exposure to the elements, and even scars of war. Asuka flew the Alpha Superior between the buildings, surveying the apocalyptic damage done to the former city. He ran the bioscanners on the fighter… no signs of life.

It was then that Asuka felt this numbing, nagging sensation in his head through his Ultra senses. The Super GUTS ace heard the echoing of screams that seemed to come from everywhere in the ruined parts of Tokyo. It was as if the ruins were haunted by whoever died in the cataclysm that led to its sunken state. "Ugh… getting some bad vibes here," Asuka said as he raised the control stick, now not wanting to stick around much longer.

Suddenly, Alpha Superior's radar alert went off. Asuka was being tracked. "Unidentified aircraft inside Old Tokyo Airspace," a voice came over the radio, "you are in violation of the no-fly zone instituted by the Japanese government and the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. You are to surrender yourself and your plane or be shot down."

Asuka was about to respond when a shriller alert blared in cockpit. It was a missile lock on signal. Having a sudden feeling that he was not going to get a welcome treatment at all, the Super GUTS ace went full afterburner as two interceptors approached aggressively from his six.

"Wow, people on this Earth must really not like newcomers!" Asuka muttered as he took evasive action. Not in the mood for fighting, especially against other humans, Asuka gunned the throttle hard, jetting away from the interceptors.

"Unidentified aircraft, stand down immediately or be destroyed," one of the interceptor pilots radioed. Asuka had no intention of being shot down or arrested though. He pushed Alpha Superior's speed to the max, exiting Tokyo airspace.


Japanese Strategic Self-Defense Force Headquarters

"What are our interceptors doing!?" Air Defense Commander, Major Naoto Arashi demanded to the operators. They were all tracking Asuka's plane as an unknown over Old Tokyo.

"They're at full speed, sir," one answered, "but the bogey is pulling a top speed of Mach 4!"

The major was floored, "Mach 4!?" He clenched his teeth, wondering what aircraft on Earth could reach such speeds. If it was some sort of new high-speed reconnaissance aircraft deployed by rebel forces or one of Japan's national rivals, he had to have it shot down immediately. He turned to one of his deputies. "Have the missile defense forces dispatch hypersonic surface-to-air missiles. I want this unknown brought to heel by any means necessary!"

"Wait," the same operator gasped, "the target's increasing airspeed! Mach 5… Mach 6… 7… 8…" People watched the radar screen in disbelief as the unknown reached a whopping speed of Mach 11, before disappearing from radar. "We lost him! We've lost the target!"

Major Arashi slammed his fist down in shock and anger. The other officers around him recoiled and stepped away from the irate officer.


Later…

It was an hour after his rocky reception to this new Earth over the ruins of Tokyo, and Shin Asuka was now walking the streets of the city he recognized as Nagoya. After fleeing Japanese fighters and intercept radar, Shin had found a secret place to park his Alpha Superior to avoid his pursuers. Upon entering Nagoya, found a city that was familiar, yet also unfamiliar at the same time. Parts of the shoreline were completely underwater. Parts of the city were either under complete reconstruction, or completely sunken with the rest of the former shoreline in the deathly red ocean.

As Asuka walked the sidewalk straddling the coast, he could not help but feel a melancholy about the place. While he could sense life with his Ultra senses, he could tell that many of the people carried about an underlying sense of despair and war scars of sorts. Whatever happened to ravage this world really did a number on the inhabitants, as far as Asuka could tell. "Ah… what a real downer this world is," he muttered to himself.

"Stop it, please!" Asuka suddenly heard a young boy's cries. He then saw a group of three big teen boys ambushing a smaller teen, who could not be any older than thirteen or fifteen. The victim was badly bruised and scraped, with his brown hair and school uniform all tussled up.

"Make me, crybaby," the lead bully mocked as he kicked the boy while the others rifled through his backpack. Seeing this, Asuka clenched his fists and walked briskly towards the scene.

"Hey, let him go," Asuka confronted the trio of bullies.

"Hey, mind your own business," one of them taunted.

"Well, it's my business now," Asuka said, standing firm, "picking on small guys and laughing about it." He then smacked his fists together, "now, what do you say you guys back off, and no one gets hurt?"

The lead bully was now mad at this stranger as he dropped his victim and ganged up on Asuka with his two buddies. Asuka just shook his head with an exasperated smile, before assuming a fighting stance as though in his Ultra form. "I warned you guys," Asuka shook his head.

The three bullies pounced on Asuka, only for him to dodge both stooges before delivering a backside kick to the leader. The lead bully stumbled forward as his stooges rushed Asuka again. Asuka easily avoided their flimsy punches while delivering his own punches and kicks, finishing with knocking their heads together. With his buddies knocked out, the lead bully yelled as he rushed the Ultra host, only for Asuka to give him a back flip kick to the chin, also knocking him out cold.

Satisfied with his work, Asuka turned his attention back towards the bullied victim. "You okay," he asked the boy. The boy felt his body ache from the prior battering but was speechless at Asuka's superhuman beatdown of his tormentors. "I-I'm fine…" the boy defended as he tried to stand up, but his legs wobbled from numbness. Asuka smiled as he offered a helping hand. The boy just looked down, and sniffled. "Why did you help me? I'm such a weakling…"

Asuka shook his head. "It's my thing to help those in need," he answered, "and we all have strengths that are sometimes hidden to us."

The boy then looked up again, his brown eyes meeting Asuka's. "That's the point… I don't have any strengths… if I did, Father would not have left me…"

Asuka was struck by what he heard. "Wait… your dad left you?"

The boy sadly nodded, the pain showing in his eyes. "After Mother died… he just up and left me with my uncle, a teacher..."

Asuka felt a tinge of anger at that. It was the opposite of the love his own father showed him even after his own mother had vanished. Asuka could not imagine a father willfully abandoning their own son after losing his mother. He looked upon the boy with sympathy and empathy for his plight.

"Hey," Asuka spoke up again, "where are your friends?"

The boy shook his head again. "I have no friends…" he sobbed, "nobody wants to be around me…"

Asuka smiled. "Then let me be your friend," he offered, "I know what it's like to lose parents."

The boy looked up in disbelief. "You do?" Asuka nodded in reply. "And you would… be my friend," the boy asked.

"Why not?" Asuka said as he extended his hand again. Slowly, but this time… the boy accepted.

The Super GUTS ace helped his new young friend to his feet. "I'm Shin Asuka," he introduced himself.

The boy then gave a small smile, somehow feeling that Asuka was genuine. "Shinji…" he introduced himself, "Shinji Ikari."

Prologue - Twist of Fate