Creation began on 02-14-25
Creation ended on 03-04-25
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Welcome to your Escape: The Ceremony
Valerie Axiom considers herself to be a woman of a refined sense of freedom to wear whatever, however, whenever, but upon seeing herself in this ceremonial outfit that all of the Clover Team was wearing, she feels a sense of disgust.
"Does anyone else feel like they're overdressed?" She asks the others in the room with her.
"Not unless you feel like you're going to a job interview," says Shinji to her, moving his arms to make sure they weren't restricted by the coat, "and it's one of those jobs you don't want to take."
They, Drake and Geisha were all decked out in coats that were green on their left side and blue of their right side, a six-pointed star on the left side of their coats, white pants, or a skirt in Geisha's case, and a red sash to tie them off.
"Hey, Geisha," went Drake to the only lady on the team that wore face paint, a tad bit disappointed that her makeup was limited in this case because the people at the ceremony wanting to see her face without all the paint, "do you think you've applied enough lip balm and eyeliner to your face to step away from that mirror…or will you continue to practice vanity?"
Geisha turns away from the wall-mounted mirror to face Drake, her dark skin contrasted by her blue eyes, and frowns at him.
"Unlike some other women, Drake Toros," she utters, "this face I've chosen to hide beneath the face paint each day since before joining the Clover Team and meeting each of you…is my true mask when I don't wear my preferred face."
"Even without your usual makeup," goes Shinji in response to her revelation, "you're still rocking the social media with your profile picture."
The door to the room opens up and Nico, dressed exactly as they all were, but with a skirt, steps inside, looking nervous.
"Uh…do you think we look impressive?" She asks them. "I don't think we look impressive. I feel like this is a movie being made."
"We all look fine," Drake tells her.
"Winners look their best because they persevered against all odds and opposition," Shinji adds.
"Does my face look good?" Geisha asks Nico, and the little girl simply looks at her with inquisitiveness. "It is my mask over my preferred facial makeup."
"You look gorgeous," Nico tells her. "They're waiting on us. Don't forget to have fun."
-x-
Tokyo-3 had seen better days, but with the lack of Angels since the destruction of Adam and Lilith, all the residents of the city, along with those of the rest of the country and the world that had access to the media with a connection to the media associated with Zi were only interested in the ceremony dedicated to the Clover Team's victory in the Royal Cup. It was the most epic thing they had to see all this year since they read of Shinji Ikari's personal history and how he made a choice to tear down his family if he lost the Royal Cup when his father tried to make him return to Earth against his will, and how he hoped for a better future for the people so long as he couldn't be exploited by his family, which meant that he couldn't return to the planet of his birth, which wasn't really a sacrifice for him if he had nobody to return to, and he had obtained the means to survive on his own.
"Do you know what most people are saying about you, Ikari?" Fuyutsuki asks Gendo, meeting with him in the park by the lake. "That it's hard to imagine you were ever in charge of anything or that you were anything other than a man that had a vendetta against his own son for being picked to join a girl's Zoid team to compete in a championship tournament. Quite personally, I find it difficult to understand why you tried to do what you did on Zi when you threatened Shinji. Even if you had managed to pull it off, you would've faced the death sentence shortly after because of the rules of the Royal Cup, Ikari. Why do you hate him so much? It was his choice to leave when a member of the ZBC approached him on the behalf of the girl that wanted him on her team. Was your scenario being taken down before it could even begin really that important to you when you learned that he found out why you wanted him here…and he chose to refuse you when you demanded that he return?"
"He just needed to pilot the Eva," Gendo responds. "I didn't expect any more than that from him. But that girl had to ruin everything by poaching him from us. I can't even charge her with kidnapping because it's not against the law for the ZBC to approach someone off the streets and tell them why they're being approached by the ZBC. It's not even a crime to offer someone a proposition if they choose to consider it. She could've approached any other person she wanted to, but instead of them, she chose him. Him! Of all people born after Second Impact, why'd she choose him?! He was already obligated to do as he was expected to do as soon as he got here! She had no right to snatch him up!"
"Technically, she had every right to do what she did. She didn't hide things from him and didn't have any impossible expectations for him to meet. Miss Megumi didn't even have a deadline to meet; once her Zoid team had the necessary number of individuals needed to become an eligible team, along with the Zoids needed to accommodate each member, she was free to operate however she chose. And she knew enough about what NERV was doing to know how to mitigate the danger posed by the Angels, informing the military how to best handle each one and how NERV could assist. But beyond that, she didn't do much of anything besides hope for the best from her Clover Team. And in the end, she was right to pick him. She had faith in his abilities and didn't see him as expendable or treat him like he was replaceable. And now that he's obtained his freedom from all of you, what he does next is up to him."
"Oh, you're just enjoying this, aren't you?"
"On a personal level…yes, I am, Ikari. Look around you. What does your son have to come back to here? Nobody is really waiting for him. You tried to kill him. As much as I hate to even admit it…he has nothing to come back to. Even if fifteen more years came and went, Shinji would still have nothing and nobody to come back to. And from what his online profile says, he might've met someone on Zi that fancies him."
But even if Gendo does try to rationalize his actions against his son, even if he tries to condemn him for abandoning his mother and he, there was no way to justify the fact that he tried to kill him before his deportation back to Earth with his travel status prohibiting him from going back to Zi. He sighs upon the acceptance of his son having nothing and nobody to come back to on Earth, that he made it easy for him to have an empty and unfulfilling life of fourteen years before going to Zi and finding a thrill that helped him to rebuild his present.
"…As much as I could probably enjoy the spotlight," they both hear the voice of Shinji across the sound speakers used to warn people of dangers, being used to hear from the members of the Clover Team during their victory ceremony, "I have to confess that I wouldn't be here today were it not for someone that took a chance on me when I was down at my lowest several months ago. I dedicate my success in the Royal Cup as a Zoid pilot to the Clover Team's leader, Nico Megumi, who reached out to me out of countless others my age that were better or worse than me before I even got into the cockpit of a Zoid. Thank you, Nico."
Across screens and tablets, cameras shifted from Shinji Ikari to the little Zoidian girl that handpicked him for her team.
"Nico! Nico! Nico!" People in front of the Clover Team chanted her name.
"Thank you, Shinji," she praises, and Gendo silently fumes; although he despises the girl for her role in his abandonment of his life on Earth, he hates how Shinji praises her for picking him for her first Zoid team.
-x-
As she walks through a hallway with pictures of winning Zoid teams from the past Royal Cups, Nico ponders when she would get her shot at competing in a Zoid match in the future.
"Well, I guess I'll have to wait until I'm fourteen," she tells herself, stopping in front of a new portrait of the Clover Team in its entirety, including the Zoids that had been used. "When I get a combat-oriented Zoid, train to be among the most capable of combatants."
"You left the party before we could congratulate you, sweetie," she hears a female voice behind her, and turns around to see her parents.
"I'm guessing you were surprised by Shinji's praise of you?" Her father asks her.
"Yes," she answers. "But that's to be expected from Shinji; he is not a selfish person that thinks he's untouchable or the best Zoid pilot. When I saw him for the first time in person, I didn't really expect him to progress that quickly after testing him with the Zoid catalog. But then he got picked by Liger Rogue, the one Zoid we couldn't get to do anything…and I saw him go from a young man that was, because of a cruel destiny nobody should ever have to be burdened with because of factors beyond all sense of reasonability…to being a young man that found his salvation through being here and being able to turn his life around, which is something I know he wouldn't have been able to do if he had remained on Earth. And he turned Liger Rogue into one of the Clover Team's most remarkable Zoids. He even told me that he wants to buy it from us if he can."
"Shinji doesn't have to buy Liger Rogue from us, Nico," her mother says. "Liger Rogue chose him. As far as we're concerned…"
"If he wants Liger Rogue, it's his," her father tells her. "There's no other Zoid like it anywhere else in existence."
Nico smiles at her parents' willingness to part with this Zoid they had known next to nothing much about until after it paired with Shinji. Surely, the data they had acquired from its service would serve them later on, but it was a rare thing to see people willing to part with rare Zoids, mostly because of the fact that the elite of Zi had the power to put rare Zoids like Liger Rogue into mass production if they wanted to. But now that they had become a part of Class "S", this alone made Shinji, Drake, Valerie and Geisha members of the elite, so they could also choose whether or not to make their voices heard on which Zoids could and should be returned to the open market in the future. The thought of some of the older Zoids that you don't see in the wild much makes Nico curious as to what she could expect to see in a few years.
-x-
Despite it being a party to celebrate their success, Shinji finds himself pressed against a wall in the back of the large building whilst Drake, Valerie and Geisha were on the dance floor with dozens of other people having fun.
"Not much of a dancer, are you?" He hears a voice say to him, and he turns his head to his right, seeing a familiar face in this crowd of people from different walks of life, both human and Zoidian. "Why are you by yourself?"
Rumiko, dressed in a blue and pink yukata, caught his attention and caused him to smile.
"Not really a dancer," he says. "Never met the right partner or someone willing to teach me."
"How awful (Rumiko raises up her right hand to him). Care to join me?"
"Sure (Shinji gives her his right hand)."
Drake turns his head to his right and takes notice of Shinji on the floor with the Gaidoku girl.
"Heh-heh-heh!" He chuckles. "Love ain't no battlefield here tonight!"
Geisha and Valerie look over from where they are…and can't help but praise Shinji for just opening up to his crush.
From a distance, Nico and her parents can see Shinji with the girl and are very impressed.
"Looks like Shinji Ikari has found a love interest," her mother says.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later," Nico adds.
-x-
The one thing that nobody in the Clover Team really expected to be the next challenging thing for them to deal with was the fact that, as the winners of the Royal Cup, they would need to part ways until the next Royal Cup tournament where they could return to defend their positions as champions. But despite being the victors, the older members have to look down at Nico as they stand in the hangar where they all met.
"Two years until we can participate in the Royal Cup," says Drake to them. "Can any of us really do this?"
"It's hardly two years," Geisha tells him, her face repainted with her namesake colors as she wears a purple yukata. "It's just the Royal Cup of the next year that we can't take part in. Until the second season following our first victory, we're prohibited from future Zoid matches related to the tournament. But Nico isn't bound by such a restriction; as a manager, she's only tasked with managing a Zoid team. But do tell us, Nico, are you sure you can handle another band of scattered individuals and turn them into a new generation of great ones?"
"Honestly, Geisha," Nico responds, "even if I do scout for a new team…I don't think they'll be as great as this one. Even though you four are my first, I feel that you're my best because… I got to know each of you and saw what makes you tick, quirks and all. So…yeah, even if I build a new team for the next Royal Cup, I don't know if they'll be as good as you four… But I know I'll do my best. I learned from my first team."
"Yeah," Shinji agrees with her. "You'll do fine."
"So…what will you four be doing for the next year?" Nico asks; she wants to know what they each had planned for their future.
"Well," went Drake, "I'll be making an attempt to revitalize the production of disused Zoids. I guess I feel that a Gun Sniper would be a great addition to my roster of Zoids."
"I'm gonna be traveling around off-world for the next six months," Valerie reveals. "I was approached by an energy company and they need a bodyguard for their Gustavs pulling around mining and terraforming equipment and caches of clean energy. How about you, Geisha?"
"I'm going to take my Fire Phoenix and soar into the sunset on my way home," she expresses, looking over at her prized Zoid. "And after that…who knows for sure what the future will hold for me?"
Then they all face Shinji, the only member of the team that was from Earth, wanting to know what his plans are for the next year. Would he be living the dream that little people long to have? Would he buy the things he wanted that he was forbidden to possess? Maybe dabble in a lifestyle he never thought of dabbling into. What would Shinji do with his time and newfound wealth?
"I'll be heading back to school in a week," he tells them. "I found a middle school in Silva City where I can get up to speed with what I missed while we were competing in the Royal Cup. I also found myself a nice apartment there, too. Maybe I'll be able find employment as a chef in the future when I start working towards my college degree."
"I look forward to that, Shinji," Nico says to him, proud that he was looking forward to building his life on Zi.
"How about we make a promise?" Valerie suggests. "Whatever comes our way, we come back here the following year…and whatever happens…is whatever happens."
"I'm down with that," Drake agrees.
"I'll be here," Geisha adds in.
"I can't wait to see you again," Nico smiles.
"Shinji?" They ask him.
"Will we see each other in the following year after next year or will we be elsewhere?" He responds, holding out his left hand in front of them.
They all stack their hands atop his, sealing their promise.
"We'll be here!" They tell him, and he smiles.
"Then we'll be here, Clover Team," he replies. "See you around."
-x-
Geisha has to admit that this was different from what she had imagined when she got into the cockpit of her Fire Phoenix and took to the sky on her way home. Flying just under the sunlight, she could feel the fulfillment of knowing that her involvement in the Clover Team had made her a sensation to some people that saw her in action. Hopefully, as time moves on, maybe the next time she takes part in the Zoid tournament, she would meet people that were inspired by her being influenced by the Japanese culture. Until then, she would return home to her family and live the good life as a champion in the pantheon of Class "S".
"I'm going to miss our time together," she says to herself.
-x-
Three months later
Even without the persistence of Gendo's attitude towards his wayward and estranged son, NERV was nearing its final days as an independent organization and facing decommission due to the lack of activity from the Angels. This and the fact that some very, very sensitive information was leaked to the public, more than enough to shatter the people's faith in NERV and expose another organization called SEELE, leading to a massive manhunt for the perpetrators, along with the former commander looking at over a dozen life sentences.
"Almost hard to believe," says Kaji to Misato as they sat in the park, watching other people go by; despite his own personal drive to find the truth that NERV had been hiding, he couldn't believe that he had been bested by a little girl that recruited the former Third Child for her Zoid team…and she was an alien that resembled a human girl in almost every aspect, except for the DNA and the fact that, because of biology and the planet she was from, she would live longer than any human would.
"No, it isn't," Misato replies. "It would make plenty of sense; Gendo threatened his son's life in the Royal Cup, his son's team manager had provided him with information his father hid from him in return for meeting with her and hearing her out on why she wanted him for her team, and figured that an example needed to be set because of what he tried to do. And if Ms. Megumi didn't do it, she likely had someone else do it. Who would actually benefit from exposing NERV like this to the masses?"
"Besides a lot of people that probably had no other choice when they invested in the agency, Ikari's son, who's lightyears away from here, not a lot of people, really. Of course, this doesn't change the likelihood that Ikari's son may not come back at all, even for a reunion or to witness his father's execution."
"That's years away from now…but yeah, that's true."
"Speaking of years away from now, have you read Shinji's social profile? As simple as his life is now that he's away from the planet on Zi, he's living the small life that most take for granted."
"Only that he went back to his pursuit of an education that wasn't really going anywhere here. And despite his celebrity status, he still deals with the mundane issues of being a teenager, but he still knows what he wants to do with his life when he gets older. A chef. What kind of a kid whose parents were scientists wants to be a chef?"
"Most likely someone that doesn't exhibit what someone of that particular pedigree is expected to show."
Misato accepts that possibility, but still has to wonder if someone like this Shinji Ikari would ever one day return to Earth, even for just a visit. Would he ever make an attempt to reconcile his estranged relationship with his relatives? Or would he just be another one of those people that could've tried to repair something that was fragile and easily broken…only to give up on it because it was the lesser of the two difficulties? These were questions that she wishes to have answers on.
But in the end, she thinks, some questions simply don't have answers. At least not the ones you're looking for. When people desire simple answers to simple questions, they don't need to hear more than the answers they want to hear. If it's a "yes" or "no" question, they don't often want an explanation that goes beyond the scope of the question. And a person that doesn't know the answer can simply say that they don't know the answer instead of giving a reason to why they don't know. And these Ikaris… Based on the leaked information, it was a clear indication that none of them truly know Shinji at all. Fourteen years old…and was a nonentity in his own family. Not a single member truly knows him. How does something like that happen? How does something like that actually happen?
-x-
He never really feels alone, even when he was living alone now. Everyday, he wakes up with a routine that he is glad to follow; Shinji would dress in his school uniform, eat his breakfast, check his school bag for what he needs, locks the door to his apartment, gets on the bus, head to school, spend seven-and-a-half hours there, go back home, do his homework, eat his dinner, check his emails, watch television, go to bed after chatting with whoever his contacts were, and rarely deviated. But sometimes, he did like to deviate; he would like to get in his Liger Rogue and do a little joyriding at night in the wilderness terrain. And sometimes, he would find others his age with Zoids performing races to see which was the fastest. Not long ago, he would've never had anything to do with any of these aspects of a teenage life, and not long ago, he would've still been just a nobody with no ties to anyone.
And people know of him and would often want to know who he is and what his ambitions are; it was the simple life. It was far from perfect…but that was what made it perfect to him for now.
"Hey, Shinji," he hears his name being called out by a young man wearing the same uniform as him as he walks towards the school building. "I hear Aizawa is calling you out to a Food War today to see which of you can make the best dish. Is there any truth to this?"
"He wants the bragging rights to the best chicken dish…and because his girlfriend and he recently split up for a trial separation," Shinji explains. "Who are you rooting for?"
"I got my lunch money on you, man. But I'm curious about one thing, though. Why molecular gastronomy? You don't strike me as the scientific type."
"Food science. My parents were scientists, but their majors aimed at things I'm not proud of them for at all. Food science actually helps people by providing new methods to enable them to get what their bodies need in the long run. And molecular gastronomy has an additional aspect to it that not many people take notice of."
"Which is?"
"The art in the creation of the dish."
"So, eating one's edible art?"
"Yes. Each dish created is an individual masterpiece. The ingredients are the paints and putty, the bowl or saucer the canvas, and your hands hold the brush or skills needed to bring it to completion. And once the masterpiece is finished, you can imitate it all you want, but you can't duplicate the original work that went into the initial dish."
"Wow. That is deep."
"Thank you."
The only thing that was currently missing from his present, however…were the people he knew best upon his arrival to Zi…and the girl that he found himself subtly involved with from a distance because they went to different schools. Despite being around people, he felt a little isolated when he thinks of those he had been around the longest.
"Alright, students, class is in session," the teacher utters as they step in and sat down. "The choices we have for today's dishes are soufflé, energy-efficient dim sum, and a fish or chicken dish. Each of you must pair up with another student and decide which two dishes you will make, and must be completed in under two hours. Begin."
-x-
Fuyutsuki found the recordings of the previous Zoid battles that Shinji took part in to be quite a reference due to the fact that he learned from each match and it showed how his popularity among the previous participants rose.
"It's only because of your limited involvement with NERV that it was suggested that you serve your sentence under house arrest instead of in a prison facility," he read the text he had received from who he suspected was Nico Megumi; the Zoidian girl had quite literally moved Shinji off Earth for her Zoid team and provided him with information that affected his life in a way that enabled him to escape from being manipulated…and metaphorically moved Heaven and Earth to enable the JSSDF and NERV to find different methods to deal with the Angels with the least degree of casualties, only to incite the wrath of Gendo to the point where he actually made an attempt to put Shinji down permanently…and he had to wonder if Ms. Megumi was a little more intelligent than most of the adult minds on Earth were, like a child prodigy and not just a special protégée in the world of Zoids on her planet.
So, here he was, in his apartment in Tokyo-3 and not in a prison cell like Gendo and Ritsuko among other individuals that had been working towards the Human Instrumentality Project that would have been disastrous for every human being on Earth, especially if it was done to them against their volition, like they didn't have any say in the matter because only a handful of people were aware of the plan and were after it with no regard for the rest of the people that would've likely been subjected to involuntary inclusion. As crazy and pathetic as it seems for some to consider such, Fuyutsuki is grateful to the Zoidian girl for reaching out to Shinji and removing him from the equation that was what Gendo had attempted to do with his son as an Evangelion pilot. Grateful and hopeful for a better future that could be achieved so long as Shinji didn't come back to Earth; as much as he respected Yui's brilliant mind, he had to give credit where it was due, and Nico Megumi's emotional intelligence was likely as fierce due to her choice of having Shinji be a part of her team, freeing him from an unwanted destiny.
Perhaps Zoidians are more evolved than humans will ever be, he thinks as he looks down at the anklet on his left leg; he would be wearing it for the next six years, maybe eligible for early parole in three years. Maybe I should consider relocating to Zi in the future.
-x-
The silence of the night, while peaceful in its own way, was not helping Shinji this evening. He looks over at his clock beside his bed and sees that it's only the eleventh hour.
Beep! His phone pings as it alerts him to a message from someone registered in his list of contacts, and he reaches over for it.
"Hey, Shinji. It's Geisha. Are you asleep?" The text reads.
Shinji smiles and replies, "Not really, Geisha. What's got you up this evening?"
Beep!
"Spoke with Drake, and we are both restless. Doing late-night Zoid races for laughs."
"Anyone we know from before the Royal Cup?"
Beep!
"Not really, but we're wondering if you want to join us. We can't contact Valerie because she's off-world and won't be back for months."
"Tell me where you are."
This was the most excitement Shinji has had since they won the Royal Cup. Being an emancipated teen from Earth, Shinji, having to be responsible for the majority of his own needs, got up and changed into some warm night clothes, for he has a reason to venture out at night now. He needs excitement and was willing to go out at night in Liger Rogue for a little joyride, just to get a thrill.
Beep! His phone received a new message from Geisha.
"Liger Rogue has been sent the coordinates to our location. Look forward to seeing you again."
He vacates his apartment and enters an elevator, heading down to the sub-levels where people parked their vehicles and Zoids that met the requirements. As he reaches the sub-level his Zoid was on, he walks down the large expanse of ground where several other large Zoids spent their time doing nothing until their owners came to get them, and he stops in front of Liger Rogue.
"Just by looks alone," he says to his Zoid, "you must be as bored as I am right now."
The liger's head tilts and lowers down to look at him.
"Grr," it growls, opening up its cockpit so Shinji could board. "Grr."
Sitting in the cockpit and strapping himself in, Shinji and Liger Rogue advance to the Zoid elevator to head to the surface. He checks the coordinates and smiles; Drake and Geisha were not too far away from Silva City's outer terrain limits. Upon reaching the surface, Shinji has Liger Rogue walk, not run, down the half-empty street; it was illegal to run your Zoid down the roads of a populated terrain if it was as big as a house. He checks on his sensors and heads-up display for any other vehicles on the streets around his Zoid so as to avoid stepping on them and causing an incident; once he was outside the city, he could run all he wanted.
Not three minutes later, just outside the city on an open terrain, Liger Rogue could be seen running away in the distance towards something aglow.
To be continued…
A/N: As you can see, life got better for Shinji once he secured the means to live it on his terms, and rather than live the life of a celebrity, he's trying to live it as ordinary as he can when he's living on an alien world with similarities to Earth. What do you expect to see happen in the last chapter? The return of the Clover Team, someone from Earth going to Zi to see Shinji, Asuka trying to pilot a Zoid? Let me know!