Creation began on 07-09-19
Creation ended on 07-12-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Welcome to your Escape: Reason
Meeting Nico Megumi
Nico Megumi, the one tasked with building the Clover Team for the Zoid Battle Commission, wasn't anything at all what Shinji had expected her to be when he met her for the first time. While he had the initial impression that she was a woman of exceptional age and insight, dressed in a pantsuit or something similar, with soul-piercing eyes and long hair, that image was blown away when he walked into her office half an hour ago. Nico was an intellectual, that much was true, but Shinji couldn't look up to her without looking down in order to do the former. She was a child prodigy of eight years of age, with long, sea-green hair with a lock of it tied into a braid on her left side, barely able to reach his waist in terms of height, and her eyes made it look as though she was almost blind due to the irises being a pale shade of pink.
"I know what you're thinking, young man," she had told him when he saw her sitting at her desk. "You were expecting someone older."
"You're Nico Megumi?"
"Bingo."
"And you want me on this Zoid team you're forming? I mean, you actually want someone like me on your team?"
"That's right, Shinji."
"But…why?"
Nico got out of her chair and walked over to him.
"There are several reasons for why, Shinji," she had told him. "To limit the number of reasons to just three main ones, the first reason is to make sure you were unable to be exploited by your father for as long as possible. The second reason is to keep the people of Earth safe from a threat that would've been aggressive had you been there to be exploited by your father. And the third reason…was because you needed to get away from Japan, away from those people. This is Zi, similar to Earth, but on the far side of the Milky Way, and with two moons and no wars for over five-hundred years since the ones for peace and freedom were won. Now, we just have Zoid battles to see who's among the best of the best in terms of skill and strategy and striving to make a living as people's entertainment."
"People actually pay to see Zoids fight each other?"
"Friendly competitions. Unless it's an unsanctioned competition, everyone has to respect one another, including the underdogs and runner ups. Right now, this team is an underdog because we've yet to make a name for ourselves."
Nico then pointed over a large pile of papers on her desk and a tablet; it was the information on his parents and NERV Shinji was promised access to for coming here to see her.
"That's absolutely everything someone at NERV tried to hide," she had told him as she walked back to the desk with him. "I've examined every inch of the information pulled from their MAGI, and I must say that…it'd be a good thing for you to be here for awhile."
-x-
Present
"…I must say, Mr. Ikari, you have some sort of arrogance in you to do what you do and do what you tried to do," Nico told Gendo over the phone's speaker system in her office.
"Is this some sort of joke?" Shinji heard his father's voice for the first time in years. "I don't have time to waste on a kid."
"I'm the only Nico Megumi that contacted Shinji Ikari. I have him with me right now. Rest assured, he's unharmed; I wouldn't have him hurt."
"If you have him, then I must demand that you return him, immediately. I don't have time to waste on some stupid game. I'm responsible for an agency tasked with protecting the human race! And I need the boy here!"
"Why do you need Shinji there, exactly? What could you possibly need him there for?"
"It's none of your business why!"
"Oh, and after I spent a week accessing your computers and gathering every bit of information for Shinji to browse through as soon as he got here? I think I'm entitled to hear from you why you'd want your only son there in Tokyo-3."
"I want to know, too," said Shinji, making himself heard.
"It's imperative that you come to Tokyo-3, boy," Gendo insisted.
"I have a name, you know."
"Stop playing around and listen to your father!"
"I…I can't do that."
"Don't make me repeat myself."
"You'll have to…because what I found out about…and whatever you might say to contradict what I found out about…will conflict with my choices."
"Right now, you don't have a choice! I'm ordering you to return to Tokyo-3, immediately!"
"Why?"
"You'll be informed later when you return."
Shinji turned to face Nico, who looked back at him.
"Nobody's going to hold you here against your will, Shinji," she told him. "You're free to leave whenever you choose to."
But Shinji didn't make a move towards the door. He returned his gaze to the phone on the desk.
"Would there even be any regret in leaving?" He questioned.
"Regret is relative term for those that actually feel shame because they didn't do much or enough to convince someone of something, whether it was the truth or a convincing lie. But who's lying to you, Shinji? Who is willing to lie to you for as long as takes to persuade you to do their bidding as though you were nothing more than a pawn in some sick game?"
Who is lying, indeed, thought Shinji as he sighed again. "Just say why you want me in Tokyo-3 so much. There's no point in withholding such information if you're so insistent upon my presence there."
"I've already told you, you'll be informed later when you return," Gendo told him, clearly losing his patience with them. "Stop wasting valuable time, boy!"
"Nous ne voulons pas que tu partes, Shinji," Nico expressed, speaking a language the boy was unfamiliar with.
"What does that mean," he responded, "what you just said, Ms. Megumi?"
"That was French for…'we don't want you to go'," she translated; she had only met him earlier this evening, and already she liked him.
"How do you say…'I don't want to go'?"
"Je ne veux pas y aller."
"Je ne veux pas y aller?"
"That's good."
"Je ne veux pas y aller."
Shinji approached the phone and picked up the receiver. There was no further point in trying to dredge up anything from his father if he was just going to lie to him about what he had already discovered from the information Nico had given him access to in exchange for coming here to meet with her. A man that wouldn't tell the truth, even for the sake of saving a dying relationship between himself and his only son, was not a man that could be saved from the inevitable that awaited him on the path he had chosen. And if that was the case, then there was nothing left to discuss about, whether it was NERV, these Angels, the Evangelions…or their disgraced family.
"I know you're not going to forgive me for this, Father," he told the man, "but I can't go back to that life I had in Japan. I hated it, honestly. I really did hate it. I don't know how long I'll be here on Zi, but I'd rather be here than over there just because you say for me to be there. Call me a coward if you want, but it's my choice…and you have no say."
"If you don't come back, then all of humanity will…" Gendo stressed, but Shinji hung up on him, surprising Nico.
"Eh-heh-heh!" She chuckled. "I can't believe you just did that, Shinji."
"There was nothing left to say," he told her. "Thank you."
-x-
"Maybe you should've just told him why you wanted him here, Ikari," Fuyutsuki told Gendo as he, Ritsuko and Misato were present in the office.
"If he'd been told beforehand, he might've refused," Ritsuko suspected. "We're trying to gather information on this Nico Megumi, but from what we have discovered so far…is that she's an eight-year-old child prodigy that lives on this Zi, and she's the head of her parents' group, a Zoid company that manufactures repair and modification parts for various models. Why her sudden interest in the Third Child is still a question yet to be answered."
"I don't think any eight-year-old child prodigy is just going to develop a sudden interest in anyone simply because of curiosity," went Misato.
"Fuyutsuki," Gendo uttered, "what else do you know about these…Zoids?"
"They're biomechanical creatures of variable sizes and shapes. They're the only type of fauna associated with Zi of that category to have evolved from the remnants of natural life through trial and error and can be manufactured only on that planet. It wasn't until about forty-four years ago that it was discovered through some sort of accident and a deal was made with the ruling bodies of Zi and the UN. People were permitted to come and go as they please between Zi and Earth, but strict prohibitions were set on the unlawful acquisition and exploitation of any Zoid technology that might be brought here. It was decreed that if people decided to use Zoids to wage war again, Earth would be just another casualty caused by greed and power. The closest we ever get to them being here are miniature models of them so we know what some of these Zoids look like, basic or modified."
"But people here can be taken to Zi?" Misato asked him.
"Not all the time…and not without special consideration from someone with the pull to do so. Maybe NERV's reason for wanting him over here was the reason Ms. Megumi wanted him over there; it was to keep him away from us."
"Can people be linked to Zoids like the Evas?" Ritsuko questioned.
"No, piloting a Zoid is like operating a vehicle, only you're in one that relies on you to make risks when in situations where animal smarts can only do so much. And from what I've learned especially about Zoids…is that you don't get to pick the one you want. You have to be compatible with one…and they have to be the one to pick you, setting the bond between Zoid and pilot."
Gendo was trying to find a way to influence whatever was happening on Zi to force his son to return to Earth and do what he needed him for. To join a group just to compete in a competition between a bunch of other groups to achieve fame and fortune was as irrelevant as his son's wants and needs. If he couldn't have Shinji here piloting the Eva, he would find a way to make his life on Zi unbearable and force him to return to Earth.
-x-
"…How will I know the Zoid best for me will be beneficial for the Clover Team?" Shinji asked Nico as she showed him around the hangar they were living in.
"You'll know when we run simulations," she explained to him as they returned to the section of the hangar where the Zoids would be residing, looking up at the Fire Pheonix they wouldn't be using because Miki Yami, the older girl Shinji had met earlier, who preferred to be addressed by her nickname Geisha, valued it above her other Zoids, which was limited in the single digits up to five. "Can you guess which of these Zoids is mine?"
Nico pointed to three different Zoids that were comprised of a neon-red Blade Liger, a blue Gustav, and an orange Cannon Tortoise.
Shinji pointed to the Cannon Tortoise…and Nico laughed.
"Not bad for your first guess," she told him, "but no. Do you honestly expect anyone to entrust a Cannon Tortoise to an eight-year-old, especially a prodigy, like me?"
"You seem responsible enough to handle a Zoid like that," he stated his opinion.
"Thank you, but my father's a stickler for his little girl not to get inside a combative Zoid until she was of legal age. So when I was six, he got me the Gustav. Considered to be the only Zoid model in existence not intended for combat situations. I mostly use it just to travel to and from nearby towns to pick up stuff. Other times, I like to tinker with it a little."
"What type of Zoid is it? It…looks like a bug?"
"Some say that it's descended from a woodlouse while others consider it a ladybug. I believe it's the latter over the former."
"A ladybug?"
"A rather pretty insect no bigger than small pebble, black with spots on its red wing casings."
"That is beautiful."
"You've never seen one before?"
"Second Impact had wiped out a lot of different animals and plants on Earth. It's rare just to see a stray cat on the street."
"That's awful. Zoids are the primary fauna here, but we still have modern-day fauna identical to your world here. Perhaps when we get involved in the battles to rank up, we should go to the zoo and see the animals that don't exist on Earth, anymore."
"I'd like that, Ms. Megumi."
"Please, call me Nico. Nobody calls me Ms. Megumi, except for my mother."
-x-
"Ikari," went SEELE 01 to Gendo during their unscheduled meeting regarding the Third Angel incident that ended with the military defeating it, "surely, you can keep track of your own personnel without causing a problem. How was it that who you had expected to arrive that day…ended up on Zi?"
"He was picked up by an unknown party that removed him from the country and planet," Gendo explained. "A girl by the name of Nico Megumi has…apparently recruited him for a Zoid team to participate in a tournament of sorts there."
"So, you mean to say that…you stood by as your son, whom you haven't seen or spoken to in years, whom you expected to pilot the Eva, was poached by a girl you've never met, sent light years away from here to the other side of the Milky Way, and you've been unable to retrieve him?" SEELE 05 asked him. "Exactly, how do you intend to resolve this matter? It is not illegal for the Zoid Battle Commission to select new potentials from Earth to build new teams to reinvigorate their battle revenue, but you clearly have a situation if the people behind it are going to pick people like your own son and convince him to join. You even received a call from the girl and your son was with her…and he refused to return and you even refused to explain the situation to him, and in addition, Ms. Megumi had access to information on NERV that she disclosed to your son, the same information he was not given by you when you sent for him to be brought here to pilot the Eva in place of one of your pilots that was already available. How do you suppose that she was able to obtain such information and provide it for the Third Child?"
"We have reason to suspect the MAGI was secretly hacked and information was copied and transferred to Ms. Megumi on Zi," Gendo suggested. "We're currently feeding disinformation through the MAGI to protect it against future attacks."
"But if the information the boy was given was before you found out about the hack, then it was unedited, which would mean nothing from the research behind the Evangelions to the Human Instrumentality Project wasn't doctored against comprehension," SEELE 10 reminded him, "and if it was only so that the boy was given access to it, it would be moot to feed the MAGI with disinformation now. But why, of all people in Japan, and the world itself, would she seek out your son?"
"That I can't say for certain. But the Megumi girl is intent upon keeping the Third Child on Zi, out of NERV's reach and influence."
"Is she the one intent on keeping your son away from NERV…or has your son rejected you outright, Ikari?" SEELE 06 asked, making no hint that it was possible that the Third Child, due to a complete lack of a relationship with his father and the impossibility of establishing one, had chosen to reject the very idea of being anywhere near him or NERV.
"NERV is treating this as a kidnapping, regardless of whether or not the Third Child went willingly to Zi," Gendo informed them.
-x-
Zoid teams varied in numbers, ranging anywhere from an entire organization to ten or four or even just soloists that didn't feel like sharing in on the spoils of the game, and Shinji was to be part of a four-person team Nico was to put together. There were already three members, including himself, leaving room for one more person to full their last slot.
"There's one person I have in mind," Nico informed Shinji as she showed him to his quarters in the hangar. "They used to be in a previous Zoid team that didn't make it past the preliminary rounds of the previous Royal Cup. I've been trying to get in touch with them, but they're not answering my messages or responding to missed calls."
"Are they a veteran Zoid fighter?"
"No, but they should be interested in another shot of getting to the Royal Cup."
Not a veteran, but someone that had some experience battling other Zoid fighters. This person might've even had a Zoid of their own that was suited for combat.
"Well, I look forward to meeting them," Shinji expressed as he looked out a window that showed the vast, canyon-like terrain that was part of the rural areas the battles were permitted to be fought in.
"Likewise," Nico added, and she walked to the door. "Try to get some rest. You have a big day tomorrow. We gotta find the Zoid best suited for you."
"Thank you again."
"You're welcome."
Then, left alone in his quarters, Shinji sighed as he looked out the window; he found out the reason to why his father wanted him in Tokyo-3 and made a conscious decision to refuse the man that was willing to lie and use him as an expendable pawn in some twisted agenda where his feelings were completely disregarded. It wasn't everyday you found out about your old man wanting nothing to do with you and willing to force you to operate a giant cybernetic organism that connected to your nervous system, causing you to feel whatever damage it sustained from facing giant monsters that wouldn't appear for fifteen years after a devastation that was deliberately caused by people to maim the planet…just to achieve a much worse ambition that had nobody's best interests at heart…or that your own parents were directly involved in the ambition and were going to exploit you. All the information Nico had given him, most of which his father would've kept from him, everything that wouldn't have made any sense to him until it was too late for him to turn away and forget any of this madness had ever happened. One of the only ways to avoid that madness from ever happening would be to remove certain factors that played significant roles in the agenda made by the people that wanted it to happen…and one of the factors was Shinji himself being in Tokyo-3 where his father and NERV had total dominion over his life and how it was lived; simply removing him from the equation would leave NERV powerless to carry out their role in the ugliness of that ambition…and the people that lived in Tokyo-3 would live to see another day of life.
"So, I'd be running away from him by being here for the time being?" Shinji had asked Nico when he found out about what his parents were up to at NERV.
"Is it truly running away if you know the truth and want nothing to do with deciding people's fate?" Nico had countered his question with one of her own. "Also, it's hard to run away when you have nowhere to run to. People can run, but if they have no destination, they're just running without a course. And…you didn't run here to Zi, Shinji. You were given a choice, an opportunity, to escape your undesired role in your parents' scheme. You could've declined, you could've been in an accident that might've killed you or worse. But instead, you chose to come here to hear me out, to become part of something that isn't a life-threatening situation…and I'm grateful to you for doing so."
So, here he was, on a planet on the other side of the Milky Way, light years away from Earth, from NERV, his father, the so-called Angels that he never saw, and whatever other agendas that existed which involved exploiting him.
I'd probably rather be safer here than in Japan, he thought as he sat on his bed. Yeah, I'm a lot safer here than I probably ever could've been in Japan.
-x-
"…I heard the JSSDF was reveling in their victory against the Angel," Ritsuko informed Gendo while they were looking at the damaged Unit-00, partially trapped in Bakelite. "How was Rei today?"
"She'll be able to work again in thirty days," he explained, "by then, we'll be ready to re-activate Unit-00. We'll also have Unit-02 and the Second Child."
"And what of the Third Child?"
"The matter regarding him will be resolved in due time."
Ritsuko figured it was too soon to think that Gendo would give up on his own son; this man was simply not the type to admit defeat.
"What if the people he's with refuse to surrender him?" She suggested. "Or he makes his opinion heard that he refuses to have anything to do with NERV?"
"There's no one else who can pilot the Evas," he reasoned. "As long as they survive, that is what I'll have them do. And as long as he is required, NERV will possess him."
"With no regard to what he may want?"
-x-
Deep in the hangar of the in-progress Clover Team, a deep, growling noise was made, awakening Shinji from his late-night slumber.
"Hmm?" He went, still drowsy. "What was… What was that?"
But he fell back to sleep, not hearing the growling noise again.
To be continued…
A/N: Expect to see the Zoid Shinji will be operating along with the fourth member of the Clover Team. What do you think so far? It's gotta have more to do with Zoids than Angels, right?