Creation began on 08-22-19
Creation ended on 09-19-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Welcome to your Escape: New and Improved
The hangar was closed off due to the heavy rain, keeping the Clover Team locked in until it let up. It had been three days since their first official battle, with the next battle scheduled against the Muscles Team once weather conditions were met, which allowed the Clover Team to study their next opponent in order to get the upper hand.
"So, heavy rain restricts the Zoid battles to a degree?" Shinji asked Geisha as they were studying the Muscles Team's Zoid preferences.
"Heavy rain makes the battlefield unstable and exploitable to everyone by taking advantage of the malleable terrain and limited vision," Geisha explained. "About eight years ago, it was allowed, but then a few people made it illegal due to the rainy days being taken advantage of too much. It also makes flying a risk due to the possibility of lightning strikes."
"When the rain lets up and the sun comes out," went Valerie to them as she lay across a sofa with a book detailing information on the Lightning Saix Zoid, dressed in nothing but a light blue bra, panties and stockings, "the battles can resume."
This was one of the woman's habits she didn't want them poking fun at as long as she was a member of the team. Personally, Geisha had no problem with it, since she was also a girl, while Shinji did his best to not pay her any unwanted attention; it was none of his business how a girl wanted to dress while indoors. But Drake Toros…had a challenge of maintaining his focus on doing research when a half-naked woman that was overly attractive served as a distraction.
"Miss Axiom is out of your league, Drake," Geisha told him as he sat at a table reviewing how one of the members of the Muscles Team used an Iron Kong.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Geisha," he responded.
"This is a perfect lesson for you to overcome distractions."
"Is it even possible for men to be distracted outside of a Zoid battle?" Valerie questioned, looking away from the book and over at Shinji, who seemed to be ignoring her state of dress. "Look at me, Shinji. Do I distract you?"
Shinji looked up from his tablet and at the older woman, clearly trying to focus on just her face.
"I respect you, Ms. Axiom," he stated, "but it is distracting. Do I pay attention or do I not pay attention? You say not to poke at your habits, so I will not question the why to your reason for being indecent."
"At least you admit it. The less it doesn't bother you, the less you can be distracted by my indecent presence. Make no mistake; I'm not trying to trigger arousal in either you or Drake."
"Understood and appreciated," Drake uttered, but still couldn't help but look at the older woman. "You look hot, by the way."
"Thank you," she responded.
-x-
"Hey, there, Asuka," greeted Misato to a young girl with long, red hair and wearing a yellow dress. "You've gotten taller since the last time I saw you, haven't you?"
"Not only, but my figure's filled out, as well," the redhead responded. "But tell me something… I just heard about this situation you're currently in over a boy that didn't show up, but is it true that this…Zoid Battle Commission…up and took the kid just to reinvigorate their revenue in the entertainment industry?"
"It…it isn't that simple, Asuka. The ZBC is…an independent organization that isn't even here on Earth. It's on Zi."
"Zi? You mean, that planet on the other side of the Milky Way?! If they don't have any business with NERV, then why did they decide to take an Eva pilot the day an Angel attacks?"
"Well, he didn't pilot the Eva a day in his life, Asuka…and as it turned out, he wasn't informed of why he was asked to be here at all; his father, Commander Ikari, was supposed to have told him beforehand, but he never told him anything about the situation we were facing at that time…and the person that went to great lengths to get the boy to Zi during the crisis and had the Angel defeated in a different way that put NERV on standby…is an eight-year-old girl in charge of a Zoid team the boy is on. So…until further notice, Shinji Ikari…is a member of this Clover Team that participates in Zoid battles in a tournament."
"Zoids? You mean, those model kits of mechanical animals that people spend money on to build and customize? That sounds like a waste of time."
"Except the model kits only show you what they look like most of the time…and are only allowed on Earth. Zi has Zoids that are actually massive and can be used for combat…and were a long time ago. Now, they're just for the entertainment industry in order to test people's abilities using them in sanctioned battles."
"Like the Eva?"
"No, they don't permit anything relating to synchronization between a pilot and a biomechanical organism, Asuka. It's a prohibited type of science that serves no purpose in the world of Zoids."
"So, Zoids are just giants comparable to robots that require joysticks or buttons to control, eh, Katsuragi?" Misato heard that voice from her past as she saw the guy she used to date in college.
"I wouldn't know for sure," she answered him, sounding bitter over seeing him again after so many years. "I have never paid attention to these Zoids until about five days ago when the Third Child up and relocated to a place on the other side of the Milky Way and chose not to return when his father refused to just tell him why he wanted him here instead of telling him after he got here."
"And your opinion on the boy's decision to stay away due to his father's refusal to divulge the truth about why?"
"He made his own choice to refuse his father simply because the guy refused to explain why he wanted him here over one lousy phone call. I think Commander Ikari should've just told him instead of saying that he'd find out after he came back, but then, there was the possibility that he'd refuse to pilot the Eva on account of not being informed ahead of time before the Angel appeared. Honestly… I don't blame him for choosing not to come back; if he wasn't informed ahead of time and was expected to pilot the Eva with no training and no chance of it even working, it would've been a bad gamble on NERV's part. We'd be playing a risk that had no guarantee of the Angel being defeated."
"Are you serious?" Asuka questioned. "The boy had no training to pilot the Eva? What was the commander thinking, trying to make his own kid pilot an Eva if he had no knowledge of it?"
"What was he thinking, indeed?" Kaji wondered. "If he even thinks much of anything at all."
"So he traded the opportunity to pilot the world's most advanced technological marvel and face a threat against the human race for a lousy opportunity to pilot a giant, robotic animal in sanctioned competitions for people's entertainment and for some time far away from his father. How's his other relatives taking this?" Asuka asked.
Misato fidgeted slightly; she could still remember the reaction she got from the aunt and uncle regarding Shinji's departure from the Earth to Zi. Not only did they not care that he wasn't in Tokyo-3, but they didn't care that he wasn't even on the planet, so long as he was no longer their concern after his father sent a letter for him to come see him.
"They're…they're not concerned at all about their nephew being on the other side of the Milky Way," she explained.
"That's…very messed up, Katsuragi," Kaji expressed. "The boy's father is determined to get him back here to pilot the Eva, but his aunt and uncle are indifferent towards him being far away from here? Can I get your personal opinion about the Ikari family?"
"Personally, if the boy's father chose not to inform him ahead of time before the Angel attacked, then his other relatives must be indifferent about anything he does. If I didn't know any better… I don't think Shinji…actually has anybody on the whole planet that actually…gives a damn about him. Despite our own situation with the Angels, it's probably…better for him if he didn't return to Earth at all. A person like Shinji that has nobody that actually wants him around beyond some sort of requirement…isn't likely to get by on Earth. He's probably better off on Zi."
"So, NERV is just going to let this kid run away because he's got family issues?" Asuka asked.
-x-
Standing in the hangar where the Zoids were stationed, Shinji examined Liger Rogue in her new armor that was an improvement from the previous version.
Liger Rogue's armor was predominantly silver all over the place, sporting blue edges and trims on the sides of the head and legs. In one sense, during the day, this Zoid was as difficult to hide in plain sight because of its color configuration, but at night, it could've hidden due to how the armor seemed to reflect light off it. But to Shinji, she was more beautiful than she had been when he first laid eyes upon her form.
"You know, if you keep eyeing your Zoid like that, people are going to think you have a Zoid fetish or something," he heard Nico say behind him, startling him.
"That's not… I mean, uh, I'm just admiring her new look," Shinji tried to defend his observation of Liger Rogue to the girl, but she chuckled.
"I'm just kidding," she assured him. "A lot of Zoid pilots like to admire their Zoids every now and then. They're ancient, biomechanical organisms, but still the greatest thing to have ever happened to Zi, and the bond forged between Zoid and pilot makes them all the greater. Even Geisha here, she gives her Zoids a weekly wash maintenance; some types of armor might be rust-resistant, but there's no such thing as invincible armor."
Shinji then looked at Drake's hand-me-down Gun Sniper and pointed at it.
"Does Drake wash his Zoid every now and then?" He questioned.
"He does…along with the occasional maintenance," she answered. "It's not always the body of the Zoid, but the Zoid Core itself."
"I've checked it two weeks ago," they heard Drake say to them as he came over to climb into the cockpit of the Zoid. "Two years is the potential time limit the core has left before breaking down completely, but the last time my grandmother's Zoid ever saw combat, it was so extreme that it was decided that extreme damage accelerates the deterioration of the Zoid Core. That's why it didn't face the Elephanders in our first match."
"Reconsidering upgrading to a new Zoid sooner than later?" Nico asked him.
"I'm afraid it has to be later," he explained. "My parents won't let me get a new Zoid until Grandmother Leena's has bit the dust and moved onto the next battlefield where we can't follow. My mother's idea, saying that I shouldn't go through a new Zoid without first going through the one I currently have."
"Not a bad idea," Shinji expressed…and then returned his gaze to Liger Rogue.
Two minutes later, the modified Gun Sniper began to move slightly in its head and arms.
-x-
"…So, he joined this Clover Team and obtained a Zoid called Liger Rogue?" Kaji asked as he and Asuka looked on a tablet at Shinji's small profile on the Zoid team he was on, along with the limited information there was on Liger Rogue. "It looks like earlier, the Zoid's armor resembled Unit-01's based on the coloration, but after the first battle it went into, the armor suffered from heat warp and was replaced with a new set that was customized blue and silver."
"How does someone like this boy get a personal robot like this that belongs to another world?" Asuka questioned. "And how could a little girl that's in charge of this team he's on just give it to him? It's insane!"
"The girl comes from an influential family, Asuka," Misato explained. "Miss Megumi picked Shinji out of all the fourteen-year-olds alive on Earth today. It turned out that half these fourteen-year-olds were better than he was…and the other half were worse than he was, leaving him dead in the center."
"But why pick him over those that could've been better than he could've been? That's like…picking a mediocre school over an elite one."
"Similar to how Commander Ikari picked his son to pilot the Eva, despite the boy not knowing anything about it, Nico Megumi picked Shinji and offered him the opportunity to pilot a Zoid. While both wanted Shinji for different reasons, the outcome had to hinge on Shinji himself deciding which choice to make…and he chose a Zoid over an Eva. He chose a tournament on Zi over a war on Earth."
"Some people would rather be contestants over soldiers," Kaji stated, and looked at Liger Rogue's weapon system. "In many respects, this mechanical feline is a military weapon-turned-toy for a teenager."
"And an eight-year-old girl practically gave this thing to him," Asuka retorted, and swiped right to the next member of the Clover Team, which turned out to be Valerie Axiom and her Geno Saurer. "Now, this is a woman that looks like she can get business taken care of."
-x-
The rain was letting up now. It would likely be another few hours before it stopped and the sun came out and evaporated the wet soil out in the terrain.
"How hot does it get out here on Zi?" Shinji asked Valerie as they were walking to their respective quarters after eating dinner with the others.
"During the summer, it can reach up to one-hundred-twenty degrees," she answered him, "just hot enough to turn mud into dirt again."
"I should probably bring water with me."
"It's never a bad thing to be prepared for being out there for an extended period."
Shinji then returned to his quarters and sighed as he sat at his desk.
It's still only one victory, he thought as he referred to the All-for-One Risk Gamble his father had been told about that he was no doubt implementing. Class "A"…then Class "S". I want to get to Class "S". I want the whole team to get into Class "S". I…I don't want to go back to Earth on account of my father's agenda to make me pilot the Eva to face giant monsters if he refuses to come clean with his darker reasons. And it's a thankless obligation he's trying to force me into it.
In all fairness, Shinji would rather be here fighting in a Zoid tournament instead of risking his life is a war with creatures he knew nothing about. And this was his rebelling against an absentee parental figure that had no right to force an unwanted life of war onto his wayward son; he had only become wayward in the sense that he made choices that conflicted with his father's and had no intention of cooperating.
Then, looking out his window at the terrain, he sighed again at the thought of merely being in another Zoid battle and trying to win it.
-x-
"…So, you understand my reason for calling," went Gendo as he finally got in touch with the guy that managed the Muscles Team, the Clover Team's next matchup in the tournament. "There's a member on the Clover Team that doesn't belong, and I need him on Earth for my own purposes. But in order to get him, his team needs to lose five times in a row. If you or any other opposing teams can do this five times in a row, I will make it worth your team's time if you're successful and he's forced to retire from Zoids."
"It's your gamble, Mr. Ikari," the man on the other end said. "We'll be in touch after the match."
Hanging up, Gendo smirked with devious intent; he had managed to get one Zoid team to fight against the Third Child's and now all he had to do was wait for the results. Still, it was just one opposing team, not one he could truly control. He would need to take it up with SEELE to try and oppose the Clover Team further by creating a Zoid team of their own and facing Ms. Megumi's in order to possess the boy that ran away from them.
Zoids, he thought as he looked at a tablet on his desk that depicted the Liger Rogue and Shinji. As impressive as the more intimidating ones seem, they still pale in comparison to the Evas. They will ensure mankind's future, not some mechanical animals used in some petty game.
To be continued…
A/N: Well, this was just to have some of the Clover Team socializing when they weren't in a Zoid battle and how they are adjusting to each other. I bet at least one of you out there can guess which character from a different series inspired the habit that Valerie Axiom displayed that was distracting for some. And then, there's the discovery that Shinji's aunt and uncle seem to know that he's not in Tokyo-3, but don't care about him like his father doesn't, making the boy seem more sympathetic and why Zi is likely the best place for him to be.