Mighty Morphin Mecha Rangers

After many years of extortion and accumulating his well-earned wealth in a man-made lake of gold, Seto Kaiba decides to buy a city to give more room for his ego.
The city's name? Angel Groove.
But Angel Groove is a heavy trouble magnet. Giant monsters appear from nowhere and assault the city at whim.
Tired of having to pay collateral and repair costs after every encounter with these ridiculously powerful enemies, Kaiba goes on the initiative. How? Simple! Recruit a personal army of mecha veterans and outcasts to mold into his own personal army. But who will lead this defense force?
Under Kaiba's extortion, five elite mecha pilots will join together into an unstoppable fighting force!
Simon of the Dai-Gurren Brigade,
Roger Smith the Negotiator,
Bit Cloud the Blitz Ace,
King Van Fanel of Fanelia,
and Shinji Ikari, Nerv's punching bag.
As the threats against this city emerge and builds, the fate of the grove of angels will rest in the hands of these rangers.
Good luck.
Tv Tropes Page: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/MightyMorphinMechaRangers

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: Singing in the Blaze

Chapter Text

The City of Angel Groove

While technically a state more than a city since each of the districts are big enough to be cities by themselves, Angel Groove remains a peaceful place where poverty is less than 1%, Education is top ranked in the world, and everyone has a chance to make their mark on this grove of angels.

Even now, a little girl was making her mark on her doting father and mother as they strolled through the Angel Groove park with their elder butler nearby playing a game of golf.

"It's a really pretty park daddy!" The little girl said with delightful excitement and started staring at a frog that just stared back.

"Careful dear Annie...that could be a hypno toad." Annie's mother playfully warned while the girl just watched the frog hop across their path and back into the woods.

"Why can't we just live in this place?" She excitedly asked much to her father's amusement, "Look Daddy! A diamond!" The little girl shouted bringing her parents attention to the massive perfectly geommetrical crystal diamond that hovered over the forest, "And it sings!" Indeed it was singing as it floated, though the parents were just puzzled as to why a singing diamond was in their city.

"Yes honey...the diamond looks really-" Annie's father was suddenly less enthusiastic when he saw the diamond reform itself into a star-shaped entity and fire a massive energy beam into the city. Judging from the explosion he saw and felt, he was sure that an entire district was just wiped out, "Annie go with your mother."

"But I want to play with the-" She stopped when she noted how all of the animals and fish started hiding as soon as the diamond starting firing into the city and figured that they knew something was wrong. Annie may be an eight year old little girl, but she was in no way stupid.

"It's a giant diamond that shoots laser beams, Annie." The father explained to his surprisingly unafraid daughter, "Do you want to play with something that shoots laser beams?" Annie thought for a little bit and then shook her head to say no, "Didn't think so." The man hugged his daughter and let his wife take to their car while he found his suit and got ready to bring this monstrosity to terms.

"I suppose you'll be late for dinner then?" The man's butler asked though he already knew the answer, "I should really look into this Domino's everyone talks so much about."

xxxxxxx

she read while he swung.

As she turned a page, he turned on a parry.

She pondered while he focused.

She envisioned a sweeping epic with a dashing hero, great adventures, and a princess in disguise who helps the unknowing prince.

He was envisioning a desperate battle where the fate of his loved ones hinged on his strength and skill where defeat was not an option.

When she closed the pages of her book, he sheathed his sword.

They turned to each other and she waved while he smiled.

When they heard an explosion she worriedly frowned while he turned to the explosions source. Something was attacking their new home.

She knew that he would go out to fight it and wouldn't be alone. He knew that part of her didn't want him to go, but he would have to.

The King of Fanelia gently pecked his fiancee on her forehead before she too his face into her hands and locked her lips with his.

They released before the city was destroyed amidst their passion. He turned and ran for the edge of their home's roof and leapt from its edge. She walked to the railing of that edge and watched a great creature of the sky soar through the air bearing wings of majestic size and beauty...

xxxxxxxx

Digging.

One would think that this is the last thing that he would ever want to do since its something he's done all his life.

But he liked digging.

Or to be specific, drilling.

That's why he had no problem with drilling holes in the soft soil so that his friends could plant a garden. It was hard at first, he had to be careful not to dig down too far or else the seeds might fall off into the other side of the world.

If that was actually possible.

His Older Bro did it at least once.

With the last hole made, the boy jumped back to look on his handiwork. Five blocks of soil covered with perfectly symmetrical holes for his friends to start their garden. One block would have plants that you could make bread from, another had one that you could make medicine from, the third was for something called a Mustard Seed that grows into very tasty fruit called Mangos and the last two were for whatever flowers that they wanted to grow.

One of his friends promised to find a seed for a cake that she promised him, but could never get around to making.

Just when he thought about that delicious cake, the ground shook, sending dirt into the holes that he had made as the ground vibrated from an explosion not far from his district. The boy didn't move, his face reflected determination and strength while he threw his shovel into the air, when it came back down, Simon caught a small miniature drill that glowed with green luster.

Time to fight the Powah.

xxxxxxx

"Been long road hasn't it?"

Having just woken up way past noon, the young man yawned and decided to look on the single cloud in the sky.

To think that his folks named him after that puffy thing in the sky.

Knowing how his dad was, he thought that it was a great name and while his mom was much more sensible, she gave in just to make his father happy and the name stuck.

"Bit!" That was his girlfriend for the past year and a half, probably ticked because he used her toothbrush, "Stay right where you are so I can kick your ass!"

He loved her so much.

"Some days I really hate you Bit Cloud-" The girl stopped just behind him, noticing something on the ground level that made her grab her boyfriend's head and stir it's gaze from the sky to the city, "What is that?"

"A diamond." The zoids warrior casually answered while the levitating diamond fired a moving laser at the source of the explosions that occurred away from it's body, "And it's attacking the city..."

"Aren't you going to...do something about it?"

"How come there's only one cloud right now-"

"Bit!"

"Alright...I'll go..." The warrior gave in with hands raised above his head, "How come you're not coming with me?"

"Why is my gunsnipper under repairs?"

"And we'll come back to this after the singing diamond is gone."

xxxxxxxx

The boy lost track of which song he was playing now.

He'd been on his violin for so long that he lost track of how many movements and themes that he'd even gone through by now.

He was probably on Bach's Suite No. 1 Prelude in G major, but it didn't matter. The boy would keep playing regardless of the song.

He had played this violin since he was five years old and kept going because no one told him to stop. An irony of sorts though, people passing him on the sidewalk would always say that he played really well and should apply for a professional symphony.

But, he was master of nothing.

As much as he had supposedly mastered this violin, he was no different from it in some respects. As soon as he was done with the violin, he would put it away in a a case until he felt like coming back just to make the instrument work to his whims and desires before putting it away to be neglected again.

So why bother toying with the violin? Why not just bash it against the wall of his small room and throw it away to the trash instead of giving it any false hope? The sounds and songs of this violin would not attributed to the violin, but to the man playing the song. The true master who knows how to pull the strings to make the violin do exactly what it wanted-

The boy was rocked from his chair by a violent shake.

He stood up quickly and went to the window to see a UC 80 GM lying on its back...or at least most of it...it was missing its head after all. Off to the distance, the boy's eyes widened when he saw a levitating diamond emit a powerful beam and fire into another section of the city.

Was it an angel? The same one that he'd killed over a month ago?

Angel Groove Kaiba Corperation Command Center

"Seto! The city's being attacked again!" Mokuba cried as the alarm sounded in the complex and everyone scambled to their positions.

"Shut up Mokuba. Its only the third time this whole week." Kaiba coldly said while the rest of the room panicked like headless chickens, "I spend ten percent of my company's multi-billion income to fund this rabble and they can barely put up a ten minute fight. I knew I shouldn't have cut the boot camp program."

"Seto! Assemble the team!" The Head of Optimus Prime commanded from an oversized Fish Jar (Seto decided to be mean)

"You know they'll get f*&!ed within five minutes right?" Kaiba asked, knowing full well what was being demanded.

"The angel's must be stopped...no matter the cost." Optimus warned in such a way that no one could argue with.

"Fine. Mokuba call the pansies over here." Kaiba relented, knowing that the damage would be increased with their arrival.

"Got it bro!" Mokuba agreed, happy to feel important.

"If anyone needs me, I'll be in my Grade S bunker buying rival company assets and then selling them back for 50 times the original." Kaiba called out as he went to the elevator, "And stay out of my chair Mokuba."

"Darn it!" Mokuba cried out in disappointment, until he went ahead and sat in the Command Chair with his brother absent, "I own this city too you little-"

"Little what?" Mokuba jumped when an projection of his brother appeared above the Command Crew, "And are you in my chair?"

"What if I was?"

"I'd put you into Death-T and make you watch the Phantom Menace."

"But I actually liked that movie-"

"IN 3D!" The entire room grew chill from the very notion of watching such a boring movie in three dimensions, "So are you in my chair?"

"No..." Mokuba quietly slipped out of the chair and quickly stood at an empty console, "See bro?"

"Good Mokuba...good...now call the damn rangers!"

Angel Groove District 6

"Commander Armada!" Terry Sanders called out from his heavily FUBAR'ed mobile suit, the battle had taken a toll on him. Especially since his arm was now litterly hanging on by a thread of flesh.

"Terry! What's the current status?" Shiro Armada inquired from his Ez-08 as DF reinforcements shored up the gaps in the battered perimeter.

"Bad...we hit it with everything we had," Terry started while trying to put his arm back onto its socket, "Tanks, artillery, air strike, naval bombardment, orbital bombardment, Freeze Ray, Shrink Ray, Haki, N2 Mine, H2 Mine, Napalm, Dresden, Tear gas, Chicken Flu, giving it Aids-"

"Okay I get the point!" Shiro barely kept from puking, "Let's set a perimeter with the remaining forces to keep it contained."

"Yes sir!" Terry and the rest of the group said.

"Wait...wheres the rest of your unit?" Shiro suddenly noted the lack of comlinks and saw that the enemy Diamond was standing in the middle of town unopposed.

"Us." Shiro looked around to find that the only ones left were Terry, an unconcious Eleanor, Michael who was making out with Kikki, and that crazy ass ace from the White Fang, Milliondo?...yeah, Shiro didn't argue with the hopelessness of the situation.

"Shiro! Its them!" A before thought dead redshirt cried while everyone else cheered since this was a practical que to skidu.

"Bout damn time!" Shiro didn't need to sound a retreat, the others had already started running when he turned around. Not much for stupidity, he followed after them without much problem.

Angel Groove District 15

"Seventy percent of the entire Angel Grove Defense force was defeated by a singing diamond named Remiel," Roger Smith reported while overlooking the city with his reluctant teammates while Simon the Digger epically looked at the Levitating Diamond in question.

"Singing daimond? Whats so bad about-" Bit Cloud's question was silenced when the Singing Diamond fired a blast that destroyed the bunkers housing 4'Kids executives in the mountains...destroying the mountains in the process, "...Did it just level an entire mountain range?" Shinji Ikari, had just pissed himself upon remembering a similar incident he had a while ago.

"We need mecha zord power now!" Van cried while the others followed suit and lightning started striking the sky despite the fact that it was a clear day and initiated the following sequence:

Roger took out his watch and called into it, "Big O! Its show time!" In response, Big O shots out of the city street with Roger standing on its raised fist.

Shinji's clenched his teeth and cried at the top of his wimpy voice, "Evangelion Unit 01 ready to launch!" Nearby, an Energy Cross shot out of lake and split apart show a levitating Evangelion Unit 01.

Bit smiled and yelled out, "Lets go Liger Zero!" At once, Liger Zero jumped out of a hanger in another far away mountain range and roared when it landed behind Bit.

Van held his sword and called out, "Escaflowne lets do this!" A giant rock appears out of nowhere and Escaflowne breaks out of the giant rock and kneels down behind Van.

Simon stomped onto the ground and commanded, "Drill through, Gunman Lagann!" Simon didn't have to wait long as Lagann drilled to the surface and epically posed behind Simon.

"Ultra Mecha Lord Syncronization Initiated." A computerized voice called as the transformation sequence initiated. Big O expanded out and formed over Evangelion as a chest piece, heavy pauldrons and upper arms before fitting firmly onto the purple Mecha's form.

Escaflowne transformed into a draconic looking torso and lower spine before Eva leapt into the openings and allowed the guymelef to screw on.

Liger leapt up, brought its hind legs up to it's stomach and split apart to form legs for Eva while the front legs detached and fit onto the upper shoulder's as gauntlets. The boasters of Jaeger also formed into Mecha Lord's

Finally, Lagann formed into it's drill form except without a point on the drill and slammed onto Eva's head, causing the sides of it's head to resemble a red helmet and protrude a crescent shaped fin, completing the transformation.

"Ultra-Mecha Lord! Activated!" The pilots cried from their consoles while the Ultra-Mecha Lord stood formidably on the battlefield.

On each console screen, a message scrolled across that read: Cast in the name of God, yee not guilty. "Alright, Ultra-Mecha Lord, lets go!"

While the others accepted it, Shinji was not as happy with his message: Cast in the name of God, yee a pussy. "Damn it all..." But before the Ultra-Mecha Lord could do anything else, the Singing Diamond fired its laser...with no time to anything else after just assembling...lets just say it wasn't pretty.

District 33 Emergency Bunker

"Sounds bad up there."

"I've heard worse happen," The Class Representative assured her roommate while they sat with a large group of younger children taking shelter underneath their academy. Most were quiet, but a few wimpered or cried in fear before an older student, teacher, adult or parent came to comfort them. What chilled the Class Representative was how calm most of the children were.

As if they'd been through this before.

"Are we going to die Miss Representative?"

"Nokami, you don't have to call me that. Just call me Miss Horaki," The representative assured the girl with a single pig-tail, "And no, we are not going to die."

"Then we are we underground again? Isn't that where people go to wait to die?"

"We're not here to wait to die, we're waiting for the defense force to stop the monster," Hikari's roommate confidently corrected the child, "You hear all that noise? That's the sound of our boys beating that crystal from one side of Angel Groove to the other! You'll be back in school in less than an hour!"

To that, many children grumbled.

"No buts! And you still have to turn those reports in!" The class representative smirked when the children became lively with noise and complaint. She probably would give them an extension due to the damage that was being done above them, but she wasn't going to tell them that.

Yet.

"Hey!" One of the older students called from a balcony a level up from most of the kids, "I've got a live feed from the surface! Who wants to watch some asskicking in the making!"

"Watch your language!" The representative quickly found her own voice drowned out by the numerous cheers for the live feed, "Where did you get this feed?"

"My dad works in the AGIB," The student answered while linking his phone into a usb port, "And here we go!" Once done, a nearby screen began to project what was happening in the city's fifteenth district. Most of the district was in ruins with buildings destroyed and pieces of DF mobile suits thrown across the landscape.

In the center, was Mecha Lord.

It stood smoked and scorched in a burnt out crater with a single sword in it's hand as it faced off with the levitating diamond in front of it. Just it took a single step, the diamond reformed itself into a spiked chaotic form before charging a screaming spark of energy that erupted and fired a swift beam of energy that consumed Mecha Lord where it stood.

"You okay Hikari?"

"I've...seen that thing before..." The class representative managed, "Kids...I'm giving you another week."

The children may not have been listening, they were too glued to the screen as Mecha Lord slashed through the beam and seemingly cut the diamond in half. The diamond practically glued itself back together and formed into a pentagonal shape that fired five smaller beams that converged into a greater one that struck down Mecha Lord again.

"This is gonna be a long night."

Two Hours later...In the Kaiba Corp Command Center

To say that Seto Kaiba was not happy would be a bit of an understatement, "Can one of you explain what the f*%$ just happened today?" He tapped his foot waiting for one of the heavily bandaged pilots to answer.

"We got our asses kicked?" Bit asked despite his broken jaw.

"How the hell did anyone find you competent?" Kaiba said to himself when Shinji dropped a cup of hot chocolate onto his broken knee.

"Well they did get shot while-"

"Shut up Mokuba." Kaiba commanded as he continued "I will not tolerate excuses when the billions I invested in your little toys amounts to another pile of scrap."

"This coming from the man who runs a company based on a children's card game and flies around in a jet shaped like a blue eyed white dragon." Smith, the least injured, stated, "Which is also based on the children's card game."

"I'm sorry, were you saying something Mr. Smith?" Kaiba responded with annoyance, "Or is your memory problem acting up?"

"Your getting a bit testy why don't you go cry to your mother," An offended Roger shot back, "Or thats right, you don't have one do you?"

"Look, I respect that all of you made a difficult decision-"

"You bought from the pirates who kidnapped me and then threatened to bomb my school if i didn't come," Shinji pointed out, "Don't think I had much of a choice."

"You had me thrown into prison for the bulls&%^ charge of molesting a whole class of underage boys and killing a litter of puppies!" A pissed Bit added

"You threatened to sell the weaknesses of Fanelia's defenses to the highest bidder!" Van yelled while pointing his sword at Kaiba's throat

"To be honest, you hired me to negotiate a company merger." Roger calmly stated as he brought out a contract "Nothing in the contract about this job."

"You promised that there would be cake!" Everyone paused and uniformarly stared at Simon's epic outburst, "What? People die for a cookie where I'm from."

"In other words, don't blackmail and draft us as your personal swat team and expect the best results!" Bit yelled while the other pilots nodded with pain.

"Fine! You can all quit and go home for all I care," Kaiba yelled with apparent frustration, "But will you truly be able to go back to your lives after turning your backs on millions who are being butchered as we speak?" To add to his point, Kaiba activated the view-screen to show Remiel, AKA the Singing Diamond, reeking havoc on the city. The screen then focused on a little girl and her puppy who had been horribly maimed and burned by the attack as they were slowly crushed by debris.

"Damn it! I'm not supposed to run away!" Shinji resolved/whined with fisted hands.

"I better get paid for this!" Bit warned with his hand clutching his face.

"Man...Hitomi's gonna throw me into the dog house!" Van complained, "Which means poll dancing..."

"Guess I'll have to put off dinner." Roger brought his cell to tell Norman about his tardiness.

"Hope Yoko and Kamina won't get worried about me." Simon muttered as he recalled Kamina beating him senseless for being a minute past curfew last week.

An Epic Beach in an Epic Country where everyone's physical prowess is equal to one of the 300!

Meanwhile, Kamina and Yokko were on a date on a beach...with Yoko in swimwear that makes her normal outfit look conservative...and that says a lot...

Yoko was feeling...moody and decided to take a chance, "So...Simon's still out so...do you want to-"

"Do five hundred push ups while being weighed down by a two ton barbell?" Kamina asked while holding up a two ton barbell with one finger.

"No...we could get more comfortable and...bond?" Yoko suggested with a suggestive stare and bending over to show Kamina a glimse of her goods.

"Okay...By laying waste to that whole platoon of Shinra Soldiers!" Kamina stated while pointing at the hundreds of Shinra soldiers who were foolishly trying to ambush them.

"YOUR AN IDIOT YOU KNOW THAT?" Yoko yelled while pulling out her gun and firing a Spiral Shot that killed 3/4's of the soldiers and scared the rest into hiding, "I...want to have...SEX...WITH YOU!"

At first Kamina just stared blankly and then asked, "Honey? Why didn't you just say so?" He then grabbed Yoko and gave her the fiercist kiss any man could give.

"Wait...the Shinra Soldiers...they'll see us." She said amidst their increasingly hot make-out, but Kamina pushed her down into the sand.

"Let em watch!" Kamina yelled as he leapt down and took their session to epic levels while the Shinra soldiers hid in man-made pools of their own cowardace...wait that isn't cowardice!

Back to the Team

"Okay then...get back into Mecha-Lord!" Kaiba commanded, "Heh heh! I knew those lessons in Mental Inception would pay off."

"Before we do that, we need to work out who's who." Roger pointed out, realizing that formal positions would be the best way to help out their shaky team formation.

"You mean...who's the leader? Who's the white ranger? Blah blah?" Bit asked while shaking his hair.

"I thought that we already agreed on that." Van brought up, "I'm the Green Ranger, Shinji's Purple, Roger's Black, Bit's White, and Simon's Red."

"Actually...can I be the blue ranger?" Shinij meekly asked.

"Sure why not." The others agreed, color wouldn't change that he was a pussy after all.

"Hang on!" Van complained while taking off his bandages, "Why can't I change my color? Why is Bit the white ranger?"

"Cause Liger is white!" Bit argued.

"So is Escaflowne!" Van pointed out.

"You have green crystals in its shoulders!" Bit brought up, pointing to a fanart of Escaflowne in the backdrop of SasuNaru Yaoi that made Shinji and Simon cringe in horror, "That counts as green!"

"Oh yeah? What about that slowass panzer armor?" Van mocked while showing a video of Liger Zero fail horribly at jumping a canyon in the Panzer armor.

"Shut the hell up!" Kaiba commanded, obviously tired of this pointless bickering, "Alright! Simon's Red, Shinji's Blue, Bit's Green, Van is Pink, and Roger's Black and the leader!"

"Why the hell am I pink?" Van complained with good reason.

"Why does Roger get to be the leader?" Simon demanded with epic rage.

"Because a robot from the future said so!" Everyone went quiet after Kaiba's statement which made him reply, "What? It's more believable the bulls#*& backstories all of you have."

"Card Games on motorcycles!" Shinji burst out to all but the pilots horror.

"CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES! JUST F*$ THIS WORLD AND EVERYONE IN IT! Kaiba cried as he sprouted white dragon wings and started shooting blasts throughout the command center. Ironically causing no property damage, but killing a fourth of the staff present.

"The fate of our world hinges on those six men..." Optimus sadly remarked while Kaiba continued his rampage, "God help us all."

Angel Groove Defense Force Hanger

"How is everyone?" Shiro didn't expect an answer, after the ass-kicking that the Defense Force had received, the Commander was grateful that anyone had even bothered showing up at all.

"Fine sir." Armada nodded to the bandaged Lieutenant whose unit had been broken across the concrete when they covered the retrieval of the Mecha Rangers.

"Look, I'm not gonna preach out your ears about how we should fight regardless of the odds." Shiro stated, addressing the multiple discouraged pilots in the room, "But this city is our home..."

"Oh here we go!" Eleanor grumbled while several others followed. Since this wasn't an official military, Shiro didn't technically have any authority to keep these pilots from ever complaining about how much of a thankless job they had.

"We used to be many things before we came here." Shiro continued as he regained the assembled member's attentions, "Federation MS pilots, Terrorists, Rebels, ODST, Marines, Secret Service, Mafia, Triads, Axe Gang, Bouncers, and a lot of shit that I've never even heard of. We left all of that behind us when we came here."

"Strip all of that aside, what are we?" The former 8th MS commander asked, "We are men and women; parents and siblings; friends and rivals; allies and adversaries; a band of misfitted outcasts who have to somehow work together to protect this city that got scrapped together."

"But this city is our home, and the home of our children." He reminded the pilots as he felt their spirits rise with hope and determination. "And if we won't fight for it, who will? Well boys!" The Defense Force roared back in answer, ready to take the fight to this diamond even if it meant death.

But if they were going to die, they'd give hell before they did.

"The Mecha Rangers are redeploying sir." Hearing the message, Shiro gulped and readdressed his team.

"In that case, stand down men." Shiro commanded as the Defense Force calmed down though they were still puzzled and a few were disappointed that they wouldn't get another crack at the diamond.

"Aren't we still going out sir-"

"Hell no!" Sargeant Foley called out to one of the complaining pilots while Shiro just sat down and relaxed.

"I thought we were ready to fight the Diamond-"

"You kidding maggot?" Foley asked as if the private was an idiot, "If we deploy alongside the Mecha Rangers, we'll more likely die in the crossfire! Hell, they'll probably kill us while losing track of the real enemy!"

"But what about all that talk about protecting our home?"

"If we go up too then we'll cause more damage than they'll cause by themselves..." Karan noted while reading through the reports from the last attack, "Especially with Ikari's kid on board."

"Don't get me started!" A former Intelligence agent laughed, "That boy needs therapy."

"Nah...he just needs to get laid." Michael optimistically assured, likely drawing from his own experience...

"Now ya see why we're not going out there?" Terry asked as he tightened the bandaged on his reattached arm, "Just sit back and enjoy the fireworks."

"I know I am." Foley said before looking around for his favorite doormat, "Ramirez! Grab me a beer!"

"You're not supposed to drink while on duty sir-"

"But we're not on duty private! Now get me my drink!"

What used to be Angel Groove District 5

"Mecha Lord! Action!" Rogers called as Mecha Lord confronted the unmoving Singing Diamond who actually has a cool Jewish name that no one can remember for some reason. It marched ahead while the Diamond started to reform itself to fire the laser that almost totaled Mecha Lord last time.

When the laser fired, Mecha Lord brought back it's arm and formed an energy drill that it punched into the incoming laser. At first, the laser and drill strove against each other equally, until a before pushed out piston punched into Mecha Lord's shoulder and caused the drill to fire through the laser and crash through the Diamond's upper portion.

"Alright! Who knew that Spiral Power and an AT field could be so deadly." Simon noted as the Ultra-Mecha Lord threw another AT Piston Drill out of it's arm that crashed through the Diamond's barrier and struck it in it's lower area. It then formed it's hands into claws and started dashing for the motionless diamond and slashed through it's AT field with little effort as it popped out it's pistons.

Just before the claws hit their marks, the pistons shot back into place to increase the velocity of the claws and literally carve chunks out of the Diamond. It shrieked in pain as Mecha Lord drew out a sword and delivered a Piston empowered downward slash that almost cut the diamond in half and shot it across the district.

"Yeah! And that Strike Piston Claw was awesome!" Bit remarked while smoke steamed from Mecha Lord's arms.

"That Piston Sword Slash was my favorite!" Van boasted while the Diamond reformed itself and cried as if in challenge to Mecha Lord.

"Okay guys...lets end this!" Simon decided while everyone prepared to end the battle. The Singing Diamond fired one more laser to try and save itself, but it was no match for the force that was emitted from the following attack:

"BERSERK A.T. STRIKE LASER DRAGON BLADE PISTON GIGAAAA DRILLLLL PUNNNNCCCHHHH!" Then the Singing Diamond was utterly erased from all existence when Ultra-Mecha Lord struck. It then crossed its arms over its chest in pride while the rest of the city remained more ruined than before.

Afterall, 4,000 people were killed in the crossfire between the two behemoths and some of them were puppies. But that didn't stop the people from cheering while they watched the battle from wherever they happened to be, be it the shelters, basements, top of buildings, or in Tokyo.

"Well that went well." Roger breathed as the team celebrated.

"Alright! That was Great Liger!" Bit told the machine while patting his console.

"Naw...it was all Escaflowne." Van's disagreement led to a close-quarters fistfight between him and Bit while the rest of the team ignored them.

"Bulls^%&, Eva was the backbone of this whole...whatever it was it!" Shinji's argument, got him pulled into the fight and was too much of a wimp to do anything except act as a punching bag.

"Lagann's the one that channeled our hot blooded manliness!" Simon shouted as he jumped into the dogpile and proceeded to kick ass while Smith took a nap in his seat.

Angel Groove Command Center

"...Kids..." Optimus reflected with a tone of embaressment, "Where are all of their parents?"

"Abandoned by father after mother died in freak accident involving a purple mecha," Kaiba began while reading the background reports of the pilots, "...Doesn't remember parents, parents horribly crushed in horrible underground collapse, Implied to be an orphen, and parents died at a young age."

"Bit's an orphen...just like us." Mokuba sadly realized as he and his brother watched the Rangers on the viewscreen.

"Shut up Mokuba." Kaiba coldly commanded as he reviewed the unedited forgery of the Pilot's wills and focused on a particular line, "Who would name their son Bulgus?"

Lunar Cathedral

"Silly, silly humans." Tabris, messenger of Free Will sat upon the surface of the earth's moon. He often enjoyed this view, watching the epicenter of humanity rotate without a care in the world.

Unlike it's inhabitants...unlike those frightened creatures who were practically afraid of standing still. He did not blame them, he pitied them. They were so afraid of the end that they could not understand what a blessing it was to even have an end.

Around him were many white spears that were embedded within the landscape of the area. One had been thrown in order to revive a previously fallen brother, but he had already failed yet again.

He would not give the same priviledge to any others amongst the messengers to come.

"My red baroness awaits me," Tabris mused as he sat up and walked over to one of the lances and lightly ran his hand down the pale white shaft. Power and hunger resonated from within it, begging to be released, "Patience my friend, soon the angel's grove shall be ours and with it...ascension."

Freedom...

"Tabris." Tabris raised his gaze to the newcomer who stood upon the entryway of the abandoned cathedrel, "You should not be here."

"It's you Lillith." Tabris smiled though stern frown of the blue-haired deserved a similar feature, "Concerned that I intend to harm Shinji-kun? I don't...I was...curious."

"Your actions probe my curiosity as well." The holder of Lillith's soul replied, "Curiosity as to whether or not you would put up a struggle if I choose to end you."

"End me? It is unwise of us to conflict before my appointed time." Tabris stated, still smiling despite the aggressive undertone of Lillith's monotone voice, "Did you come here of your own will Lillith? Or did he send you?"

"Who do you mean?"

"That answer should be obvious...but it is not."

Chapter 2: Slippery Street

Chapter Text

Kaiba's Office, Two days later

"Congratulations, you killed a singing diamond," Kaiba mockingly complemented to a listening Roger Smith, "Considering that it nearly killed you and managed to destroy a fifth of the city, I ought to congratulate you somehow."

"Well, for starters," Roger placed a suitcase on the table and opened it to reveal a large stack of documents, "This is the list of charges, injuries and bills you could compensate us on. Which shouldn't be too hard to-"

"Oh look, a summary of damages and collaterol that the battle produced," Kaiba commented with obviously fake curiosity, "Well I guess I can use your compensation charges to fund the repairs to the city."

"Wait a minute," Roger wasn't one to back down so easily, "Can't you pay for the damage yourself?"

"Yeah so?" As many now broke businessmen knew, Kaiba was also one to not back down.

"That's against ethical conduct isn't it?" Roger pointed out.

"Screw ethics, I have money." Kaiba simply shot back, "And a lot of it, so don't tempt me to have you silenced, no one'll even think of pressing an investigation."

"Well...guess what," Roger however had dealt with types slightly more lethal than Kaiba and knew how to handle them, "Between myself and the others, we know nine-tenths of the people you'd hire to come after us. And they like us better than you."

"Anything else?" Kaiba wasn't surprised or affected of course.

"No one else can pilot our mechs," Roger mentioned to which Kaiba glanced over the reports of damage caused by the mecha, "And some them will get angry if their pilots are killed...especially mine." It was at this point that Kaiba remembered what the Old Men had warned him about and quickly made a decision.

"They call you the Negotiator for a reason don't they?" Kaiba asked as he signed a single document and gave it to Roger.

"Comes with the job," Roger said as he placed the paper into a folder and stood up to leave. Kaiba meanwhile, waited until Roger left to bring out a copy of Never Ending Story 3 and proceeded to mash it into little pieces with his bare hands.

Newgate Academy, Angel Groove District 33

Roger closed the classroom door behind him and just walked up to his desk. While he knew the main reason for being in this city, he knew it wouldn't hurt to gain an alternative profile and thus, took on this latest job.

"Hello, I'm Roger Smith," Roger stated to his very odd class. There was no dress code or age limit, so it was...interesting to say the least, "It looks like I'll be teaching you Negotiation Ethics and well...its frustrating."

"First, I'd like to hear from some of you," Roger explained, deciding to try and set a preview for what to expect, "What do you think of when you hear about negotiators?"

"Guys who mediate hostage situations?" said a kid in a bright orange jumpsuit.

"Okay, anyone else?"

"Lawyers?" said a kid with spiky black hair and an orange gi with a blue long sleeved undershirt and black belt.

"Fair enough, any more?"

"Guys who get gunned down and have their bodies cut up and fed to the dogs and then those dogs are killed and sent to the guy who hired the negotiator so that they could cut open the dogs and see the still digesting remains inside of them?" Roger was all too amazed at how much these kids were exposed to. But the simple looking kid with the straw hat took the cake.

"...As much as the risk remains...that's not an image I'd associate with my job," Roger answered, trying very hard not to remember the times he almost had that happen to him, "My job is to learn what everyone wants and then find ways for the parties to work it out."

"That doesn't sound hard..." A man with a clean trim and a big black sword strapped to his back stated

"And trust me, I wish that it was as easy as it sounds," Roger joked, "But let me tell you about how I met my wife..."

Thirty Minutes Later...

"Did you ever find out what happened to the real Dorothy Wayneright?" A five year old with glasses who Roger could tell had much more intelligence than the average five year old.

"Died of AIDs several years ago," Roger answered almost heartlessly while the kid just nodded as if he had deducted it, "She...wasn't exactly virtuous."

"Is doing your wife like trying to stick a hot dog into a toaster?" One of the rudder students asked which got a snicker from a few of the students.

"Rule #37 of a Negotiator," Roger recited before walking up to the early twenties young man and slapping him hard enough to knock him out, "Never insult another man's wife, it never ends well...anymore questions?"

"How did you have a daughter with an android?" A kid with a puffy hat and a brown winter coat asked.

"The same way that we're all in the classroom of a school ran by a Pirate Lord," Roger began, "God willed it."

"I don't believe in God!" Another boy in an orange overcoat that left only his eyes and nose exposed said through his muffles.

"Neither did I and then I became a father." Roger simply explained as the class continued. He let the students out early since they actually did start up a pretty engaging conversation. Since he only had one class for the day, he was practically free to either leave or stay in his office and counsel troubled students. On his way out to lunch, Roger decided to take a look at some of the other classes. One in particular, killed his appetite.

"Hey kids! Welcome to class!" Iruka said as the class sat into place and dulling waited to see what he'd do. As Roger noted, the nice teachers tended to be overlooked as push-overs and not taken as seriously. But this guy, he seemed to kind-hearted to not be up to something.

"For the record, I tend to give out only two grades in my classes." The instructor explained while the class perked up at the prospect of not having to work very hard. Since some of these students had scholarships, it was somewhat inevitable.

"And all of this depends on finishing your only assignment..." While Iruka went on, one of the older trouble-making students snuck over to the table and reached out to grab a cookie. Roger knew that the instructor saw this, but what he saw next, surprised him.

"Survive." Roger's eyes widened when a metal jawed snare clamped off the boy's arm. The boy hollared in pain as the rest of the class stared from the boy to their still kind natured and smiling instructer.

"That's right folks, my class is dedicated to surviving the worst cases you'll be likely to come across." Iruka clarified as the young boy cried over the arm he just lost, "So try to pay attention cause there's no redo for dying." The boy's screams grew dimmer as some nurses appeared and took him away to the medical office.

"And I complained about my professors." Roger mused as he walked down the hall and to the rest of the day.

Angel Groove Defense Force Rally Point...too late in the night for this *censored*

"Enemy spotted!" The soldier on the other line called as the seargent listened, "Its...oh Lord!" The line cut out just after the sounds of screaming and bones being ripped and crunched screeched through the intercomm.

"We lost West Sentry sir!" A soldier on another line reported, "But..it looks similar to the monster that attacked New York three years ago."

"...Cloverfield..." Seargeant Folly realized, having a not so great flash to losing half of his platoon saving some idiot college kid, "Set a perimeter within the West District and call Kaiba!"

"Already done!" The soldier said as the ground began to shake from artillery fire. "It'll probably take em awhile to get here, it'll have to stalled for a moment."

"Thought you'd never ask," One of the soldiers sarcastily stated as the command comm went off, "I knew I should've gotten the transfer to Tokyo-3."

"Cut the chatter!" Folly turned to the infantry officers and called out his orders, "Ghost, get to the perimeter and see about laying down some mines! Jackson, take the chopper and evac the wounded! Ramirez! Use your smoke grenade to blind the monster while we fall back!"

"But how am I supposed to do that with this little-"

"Don't argue with me private! Allen never did and damn it neither will you!" As stupid as the order was, Ramirez did have bills to pay. So he grabbed a smoke grenade and ran into the direction of where tanks were firing.

"Where the hell is Allen! Tired of this unit!" Ramirez yelled as he entered the fray. Why didn't he just leave the corp after Battle Los Angeles?

Kaiba Estate, Angel Groove

"This better be good!" Kaiba sternly stated as he answered the phone from bed. He nodded as an obviously scarred officer gave him the details, "What? Cloverfield...why are you calling me about that? Alright...you know you're paying for-" The man painfully screamed as something started to crush his body, Kaiba hung up the phone before he heard anymore. Then he picked it up again, only to hang up when the screaming continued. Five minutes passed before Kaiba made his call.

"Dorris? Assemble the team!" Seto commanded, he grew very annoyed when he heard a stupid response, "Then wake them!" He slammed down the phone and pulled the covers back over his head, only for Mokuba to run in, panting like he'd run a marathon.

"Seto! The city's under attack again-"

"Shut up, Mokuba. I'm trying to sleep." Kaiba commanded as he closed his eyes to sleep.

"Optimus said that if you didn't get to the Command Center you'd have to listen to a recording," Seto's eyes shot open when realized exactly which recording the cybernetic head was likely referring to.

"Alright. Just don't play that record." A defeated Kaiba grumbled as he got out of bed. Mokuba shrugged and ran back to the command center while Seto calmly strode through the halls, taking care to not wrinkle his sexy-ass coat.

UN Headquarters

"This Assembly will come to order!" The Chair of the Security General Assembly declared while hammering his gavel to silence the bickering delegates, "Any motions on the floor?"

"The representative from the Britannian Holy Empire is recognized." The Chair stated while motioning for a delegate in Victorian robes to stand from his extravagant chair, "Please remember that motions for the world to yield to the rule of your empire are invalid and any further motions in such a nature will see you ousted from this Assembly."

"Noted," The gentleman calmly said while a ridiculously attractive young man in black sat behind him, "The delegation of Britannia motions for the ousting of the United States of America and for a coalition of forces to invade and pillage them with their core territories returning to the rightful rule of the Britannian Emperors."

"After you kiss my ass!"

"Decorum delegates! DECORUM!" The Chair pounded his gavel while security where Grey Helms stepped between the delegates from the US and Britannia, "That motion cannot be put to the floor, are there any others?"

"Motion to send a Grey Helmet brigade to assist Angel Groove."

"For what purposes would this be honorable delegate from the Sanc Kingdom?"

"To assist in relief in light of recent attacks by various anomalies." The woman from the Kingdom of Pacifists stated, "Including the Cloverfield Monster that is attacking them this very instant."

"This does seem serious..." The Chair agreed while he heard murmering in the aisles, "Do I hear a second to this motion?"

"SPARTA SECONDS THIS MOTION!"

"Second..."

"Second."

"Hearing Seconds from the delegations of Side 8, Ethiopia and SPARTA!" The shirtless Delegate from Sparta shouted alongside the chair "Do I hear any speaker who would like to speak against this motion apart from the delegation from the Italian Mafia."

"I make you dead..."

"The Chair reminds delegates that threats of violence and murder will have you thrown out of this assembly and charged a 30,000 euro fee." The Chair said while the Italian Godfather whispered something in the ear of his fine-ass daughter, "Hearing no opposition, all in favor of a response?"

"All opposed?" One delegate from Germany rose their hand, but no one else did, "The assembly has agreed to respond to this crisis-"

"I thought we were voting on sending a Grey Helmet brigade to relieve them-"

"The Chair does not recognize the Delegation of the Sanc Kingdom at this time." The Chair reprimanded the young man...woman from the Sanc Kingdom, who loudly grumbled and sat down, "Are there in proposals of action?"

"I have a proposal." One representative offered and was recognized by the Chair, "The Delegation of Black Water Inc. moves that this Assembly...does nothing."

"Any seconds?" The Chair asked while the assembly buzzed with dialogue, "Seeing seconds from he delegation of Britannia and the United States, are there any who wish to speak in opposition?"

"Though I see that Ethiopia, Sanc Kingdom, Londo Bell, Sides one through seven, and Israel all wish to speak in opposition..." The Chair read out, "It is very late right now and I'd rather get to bed, so all in favor of doing nothing?"

"Not caring for opposition, this motion passes and this meeting adjorned."

"Global Democracy at work..." The Royal observer in the Britannian Delegation laughed, "The bribe from Seele must've been extravagant..."

"If it makes you feel any better, the Old Men at the Tribunal authorized the Hammer Down Protocol," One of the generals accompanying the delegate from the US said tot he Prince, "In case Kaiba can't handle himself."

"Either way, they win?"

"Exactly."

"Why do people think they can freely tell me things like that..." The Black Prince mused while absently tapping his pen, a specially made pen that he often used to record these loose-tongued idiots, "How many times will it take before they realize that I'll use those words as blackmail?"

Angel Groove District 23...Three Hours Later

"Damn...that's one ugly slugfish..." The team heard a bridge bunny comment as they arrived to the scene. A giant amphibian creature was now terrorizing the city for some reason. It walked upright on multiple legs with fins hanging over them and a tail dragging uselessly behind it. Wait...no, it sometimes stood up on the tail to claw bombers from the sky and then somehow propelled itself into the air against all laws of gravity.

"Indeed...and apparently, it's indestructible to the defense forces efforts," Kaiba affirmed while the team listened through Roger's watch, "Hence the reason why I woke all of you up."

"Wasn't there another option man?" Bit complained, "Some of us were close to getting to home run with our-"

"The Old Men threatened to nuke it if you couldn't do it," Everyone's eyes slightly widened when they heard this threat, "Yeah...they make me look nice."

"Well then, lets get to it guys!" Simon called out while almost everyone agreed. Shinji, just looked down and started muttering about not running away while Van shock his head in disapproval.

"By the way, you might want to cut down on deployment time," Kaiba recommended before communications were cut off abruptly. Clover had taken the liberty of uprooting the communication's tower and throwing it like a javelin into one of the Defense Force MS carriers. The team saw that smoke was now covering the monster, likely a tactic to buy them time to call on the mecha.

Roger took out his watch and called upon his partner-in-crime, "Big O! Its show time!" In response, Big O shot out of the city street with Roger standing on its raised fist.

Shinji's clenched his teeth and steered his "courage", "Evangelion! Unit 1!" he cried at the top of his wimpy voice as he leapt into a nearby open hatch. Fortunately the latch widened to reveal Unit 01 pulled up by a levy with Shinji barely managing to climb into the pilot's slot.

Bit smiled and yelled out, "Lets go Liger Zero!" At once, Liger Zero jumped out of a hanger in another far away mountain range and roared when it landed behind Bit.

Van held his sword and called out, "Escaflowne lets do this!" A giant rock appeared out of nowhere and Escaflowne broke out of the giant rock and kneeled down behind Van.

Simon stomped onto the ground and commanded, "Drill through, Gunman Lagann!" Simon didn't have to wait long as Lagann drilled to the surface and epically posed behind Simon.

"Aren't we gonna combine?" Simon asked as a low rumble began, the smoke had cleared and Clover was now heading steaight towards them.

"Not if we don't need to," Roger affirmed, the team needed to work on their ethic unless they wanted to repeat "last time", "Besides, this guy doesn't look like it's worth the risk."

"Then stand back and let me handle this!" Van esclaimed as Escaflowne held out its large sword in challenge to the creature.

"Pretty boy, why don't you go back to your little kingdom and let the real pilots fight," Bit teased as Liger Zero roared into the sky.

"I'm sorry I didn't quite hear you," Van shot back "Maybe I'll hear you better after you kill a dragon on foot!"

"I'd like to see you face a mecha dragon then," Bit replied, "That has a charged particle gun in its throat!"

"Guys!" Shinji yelled pathetically enough to get everyone's attention, "Aren't we trying to kill that oversized...whatever the hell it is?"

"Shinji's right, Mecha Rangers, action!" Roger declared after Big O gave him the usual message: Ye Not Guilty, "Alright, Shinji take point as defense, me and Simon will provide fire support! Everyone else, move in on it!"

"Right!" Everyone called out and assumed their positions. Clover charged towards the team when it pinpointed them. It cared little for the buildings it crushed beneath its massive weight as it charged. And was promptly thrown back when Liger and Escaflowne sliced off a pair of its front legs and kicked in the head by Evangelion, double punched in the chest by Big O and rammed in the stomach by Drill-head Lagann. Buildings crushed when the creature landed and tried to stand.

"I thought you were firing support." Shinji asked after that awesome attack.

"Somehow starting out like this seemed more appropriate." Big O went on the offensive, bringing out its massive arms to deliver a series of punches in the monster's jaw. The last punch was cancelled when a tentacle sprang out of monster's fins and slung the black mecha through the air.

"Hang on! I gotta take care of something!" Bit informed everyone as Liger leapt over a city block and starting leaping away from the city limits.

"Taking your own advice I see!" Van yelled as Liger Zero leapt into an open hanger door inside a hill, "Who needs him." That answer was given when Clover swat Escaflowne across the city and then moved in on the others. Shinji moved to grapple it, but the beast was proving to gain the upperhand. That is until a barrage of energy bullets seered into the creature's side, giving Shinji and Simon an opening to knock the beast away with a simueltaneous kick/drill headbutt.

"Wait...you have a gatling gun stored Big-O's arm?" Simon asked as Escaflowne charge tackled the off-balance creature and proceeded to stab it like a Thanksgiving Ham.

"Yeah, makes for a good side weapon," Roger affirmed while he took note of Escaflowne being tossed into the air despite the numerous cuts it gave to the creature.

"Side weapon! You could take out a whole army with that thing!" Simon noted as Evangelion was pulled under the creature's massive form. A stab in the side from Escaflowne and having a chain thrown around its neck allowed the creature get tugged off of the purple mecha while Evangelion formed its AT field under the creature and catapulted it into the air. Escaflowne waited below as it's head was staked by a Escaflowne's sword.

"Yeah...but paying for the reload is a hassle I try to lessen," Roger admitted while the creature pulled itself off and pushed back Escaflowne with a ripping claw. It would have continued if not for clashing with Lagann's drill ornated head. The drill tore through the monster's hand but it enclosed around Lagann and threw it aside.

"Don't you get reimbursed for that?" Shinji asked as Evangelion brought up an AT field to cushion Lagann before it got more damage. Not asking what it was standing against, Lagann pressed off and charge tackled Clover's tail, knocking it off central balance.

"Don't you get a pay check, driver's license, legal independence, free taxes, or legal status as an adult for piloting that mecha monster?" Roger pointed out to the spineless teen. Finding an opening that Simon had created, Big O slammed its fist into Clover's skull to deliver a sound breaking piston punch that blew a large chunk out of the creature's head and seemed to have knocked it onto its chest.

"Come to think of...damn it! Why is dad such a bastard!" Shinji yelled with pure hatred while Clover regained its senses and stood up.

A beach in a super ultra expensive resort

"Come to think of it Ikari," Gendo's elder former teacher brought up while sunbathing, "Why haven't we given the pilots legal status as an adult?"

"Think about it Fuyutski," The Commander explained while sipping his wine glass, "The only reason they're so obediant is because they don't realize how reliant on them we really are. Once we grant adult priviledges like a driver's license, a pay check and every other priviledge we adults enjoy...they'll start demanding more as they realize how much of an unfair burden we adults have placed on them and then they'll start using these priviledges to delve into our deep dark secrets, they'll get pissed and revolt against our previously concrete authority and we both know how that will end."

"If it comes to that, why not call the Eva Series to tear them apart?" Fuyutski mentioned.

"Because the Eva Series is inevitably no match for more than one Eva," Gendo admitted without a change in facial features, "Not to mention that they scare the living hell out of me."

"Gendo Ikari scared of something?" A thirty year old blond seductively asked while massaging his head with her bust.

"Shut up and go wait in my room, Dr. Akagi." Gendo commanded while the woman snarled and stomped off to the hotel. "And you better not have more than one article of clothing on when I get there!"

"You do realize that an eight year girl was playing next to you," Fuyutski pointed out, referring to the little girl who just looked from Gendo to Akagi in confusion and shock.

"She'll walk in on her parents eventually." Gendo said as he picked up and flipped open his schoolgirl edition of playboy magazine. Fuyutski shock his head and went back to sleep.

Back to the Action!

"I think I have a solution!" Simon shouted, "Roger! Let's combine!"

"Combine? wait what-" Before Roger could object, Lagann had already jumped into the air and slammed itself into Big-O's back. Which caused Big-O's arms to grow larger and sport a red flame along the elongated shoulders, "Can't say I like the red, but I like where your going with this Simon!"

"Alright! Thunder Drill Gatling Cannon, active!" Simon and Roger called out as Big O's form-arms rotated rapdily and began to fire massive energy bullets out of the barrells behind the hand. Most of Clover's tentacles and fins were blown off by the empowered assault.

"Wow...so this is Spiral Power?" Roger noted how much more reactive Big-O seemed, as if Simon's Spiral energy was providing further energy for Big-O to defy its mechanical constraints. "Nice." Thanks to the increased fire support, Clover now found itself caught between a hammer and anvil thanks to Escaflowne's relentless flurry of slashes.

"Sorry I'm late, had to make a little adjustment," Bit announced as a Red Blur jumped up and stabbed through Clover's back, "Say hello to Liger Zero Schneider!" Now Red and armed with side blades, Liger proceeded to climb up the side of the creature's form and stabbed both blades into the shoulder.

"Nice! Your Liger's clean and pretty now!" Van called as he stabbed his sword through Clover's eye and out the back of it's head. The other eye was promptly sniped by Shinji's rifle, who decided to concentrate on precise shots since Big O covered the heavier fire.

"Yeah, I like to give him a good rub down once in a while," Bit admitted as it lodged its claws into Clover's arm and proceeded to rip the massive limb from its socket, "Guess I'll be back at it tonight!"

"Down boy! This is my kill!" Van asserted as Escaflowne's sword was thrust into the monster's stomach. Causing it cry an almost saddening moan that reminded some listeners of a child crying for its mother. Then silenced when Shinji fired a round through its throat effectively destroying its capacity for vocal communication.

"Dude!" Simon objected, "What did you do that for?"

"I thought it was calling for help," Shinji answered while Liger proceeded to climb along Clover's back using its side blades and attempted to widen the bullet wound with its claws while Escaflowne slashed off another leg.

"I know he's the enemy, but there's no need to beat a dying dog," Roger reprimanded as Liger started tearing out the monster's neck with Escaflowne prying open the creature's stomach.

"What about them?" Shinji asked as he pointed to Liger Zero and Escaflowne bathing in the flesh and organs of the monster.

"That's different, they're fighting the monster," "Not causing unnecessary pain by taking away its voice!"

"Are we even needed right now?" Simon asked, noticing that Escaflowne had just ripped off the other arm with it's sword.

"Just stay ready in case something unexpected happens," Roger advised as Escaflowne and Liger circled the seemingly dying creature. It now looked even more sad with it's inability to cry out...and the other injuries the team had done.

"Van and Bit are dicing off its arms, what's the worst that could possibly happen?" At Shinji's inquiry, a translucent lance could be seen hurtling from the sky. The lance then struck Clover in its head and created a shockwave which pushed back Van and Bit.

"...You damn kids...why do you always have to tempt fate!" Roger yelled as the creature started glowing...and growing.

"Note to self...teach daughter to never tempt fate," Roger further commented as the group looked upon the massive new form of Clover. Complete with the twice the limbs and a very pissed off demeanor. "Alright then, lets lay down some covering fire!" Eva and Big O started opening fire while Esca. and Liger started climbing along the creature.

"Shit! Our ammo is bouncing off of its skin!" Simon called angrily as the energy bullets just reflected off of it's tougher skin and start hitting other the other mecha or destroying more and more buildings. "And leveling several bunkers...we need to work on that." It wasn't long until a large tentacle wrapped around Evangelion's leg, hulled it up and started using the Eva to smack around it's teammates as if it were a fly swatter.

The assault continued until it threw the Eva off and away. If anyone were watching you'd think that it was something from JackAss. But no, it landed head first against a designated shelter and laid there for a few minutes.

"Bit, Van," Roger asked as Escaflowne and a limping liger joined the him and Lagann. "How are you guys?"

"See Escaflowne!" Van called out as Clover just stood and looked on the sorry heap they'd become, "Do I look okay to you!"

"What's wrong king? Afraid of getting a little dirty?" Bit teased despite the fact that Liger didn't look much better.

"At least I managed to cut the damn thing!" Van shot back, "Oh wait...what happened to those butter knifes that you had on your liger's sides?"

"I was trying to cut its throat but the blades got stuck in its mouth when it tried to eat me," Bit said while noticing something about Clover's new massively thick neck, "There's one of them, the other one must've been pretty deep..."

"Alright then! Looks like we have a small window," Roger reasoned as Evangelion hopped over to the others. "Lets use it boys!"

Simon beamed with epic excitement, "We're gonna combine!"

Van had a stern discernment within him, "We're going to combine?"

Bit looked puzzeled, "We're gonna combine?"

Shinji was very scared for reason, "We're gonna combine?"

Roger nodded and stated, "We're gonna combine."

"Ultra-Mecha Lord Synchronization go!" Everyone called out as the transformation sequence initiated. Big O expanded out and formed over Evangelion as a chest piece, heavy pauldrons and upper arms before fitting firmly onto the purple Mecha's form.

Escaflowne transformed into a draconic looking torso and lower spine before Eva leapt into the openings.

Liger leapt up, brought its hind legs up to it's stomach and split apart to form legs for Eva while the front legs detached and fit onto the upper shoulder's as gauntlets.

"Mecha Lord activated," The computer said as Mecha Lord stood ready to face this giant behemoth.

On each console screen, a message scrolled across that read: Cast in the name of God, yee not guilty. "Alright, Ultra-Mecha Lord, lets go!"

While the others accepted it, Shinji was not as happy with his message: Cast in the name of God, yee a pussy. "Please tell me it'll change its mind right?"

"Who knows. Action!" Roger called out as Mecha Lord just power walked to the giant creature, "We've already established that bullets don't faze it...so lets go for a closer approach!" It leapt up and planted both feet into the creature's chest, sending it flying into the business section of the city. Mecha Lord flipped down and starting into a charging run.

"Right! Time to dish out the Strike Dragon Claw!" Bit said as Mecha Lord's left hand formed a golden claw over the fingers.

"No! Lets use the Dragon Laser Sword!" Van argued as the right hand drew a large sword from the sheath on Mecha Lord's torso.

"I'd recommend cutting down on arguing guys," Roger said as Clover lunged out its arm and struck Mecha Lord across the shoulder. "And so does our little friend." Mecha Lord's eyes glowed white as it grabbed the arm and slung the creature on the other end into a nearby hill...oh, and took off Clover's hand while doing so.

"Nice!" Simon cheered "Why didn't we do this earlier!" Then the entire hill was wrapped into in tentacles and crushed as Clover rose up to it's full height...about 2x Mecha Lord's Size-

(Factor in that Mecha Lord is about 1 and 1/2 times taller than Evangelion which is barely taller than Big O, twice as big as Escaflowne or Liger Zero and...would have to lean down to be at Lagann's level...oh never mind you get the point.)

The fins suddenly grew into large long appendages with which Clover rapidly struck Mecha Lord and tossed it up. Then used another appendage to impale the mecha through the stomach and it's arms to pull it further along on the long thick fleshy lance.

"Status report!" Roger called out as the red lights starting flashing, wondering why they didn't have a combined cockpit like the last time.

"AHAHAHAHHHHH!" Shinji's screams echoed through the piloting consules. Given Mecha Lord's predictament, Roger didn't blame him.

"I'm good." Bit called back, "Why are we going back and forth?"

"I'm alright." Van answered and then saw the flashing lights, "This is bad...isn't it?"

"Can I have some more!" Simon called in epic battle fury. The kid was pretty brave to say that while Clover was pulling the limp mecha back and forth along the appendage.

"ITT HURTSSSSS!" Shinji cried, Roger was honestly concerned but did wonder if the kid was simply scared. Given that they were being toyed with...again, Roger didn't blame him.

"What's his problem?" Van demanded in annoyance "There's nothing vital in the stomach area." Then the creature pulled Mecha Lord off and just held it chest height and stared very evilly.

"SCREW YOU!" Shinji barked back, apparently over whatever agony he was/wasn't suffering. The monster's dragging tail then gave way and formed into a mass of stingers and nobody wanted to give it a chance to use them.

"Anyway, lets get this guy off of us!" Simon shouted while Mecha Lord brought back its right arm, the forearm suddenly turning into a thick massive drill, "Piston Drilllllaaa!" The arm clove into Cloverfield's upper stomach, followed by the piston force which allowed it to blow deeper into the monster's flesh.

"Wonder what happens when you combine AT field with Strike Laser Claw?" Bit wondered as Mecha Lord's left claw began to glaw with a rainbow blend before digging the claw into Clover's face. The claw stuck inside while monster's skin around it began to furiously burn and melt, "So can we call this Burning Claw?"

"Lets just end this!" Shinji barked as Mecha Lord hulled up the enlarged Clover and narrowed it's eyes for its next action. Namely, ramming into the side of the creature's crotch, horn-first and using the deep entry position to pull the monster apart and throw it's mangled body parts across the city square.

"Shinji! What the hell!" Simon called out in epic shock, seeing as that he had a first hand look, you couldn't blame his wide eyed expression.

"What? The longer the battle drags out, the more damage the city gets," Shinji reasoned with a calm tone that only made everyone more horrified.

"You crossed the line kid!" Van called out, "Never ever go for goods! Especially with an elongated horn!"

"But...I was...just-"

"What kind of thoughts go through your head?" Bit asked as he saw all of the blood covering the mecha, "Cause you're a sick little puppy..."

"I hate you all..." Shinji muttered.

"Alright everyone," Roger said, summoning all of his self-restraint to keep from throwing up, "Lets just get to the hanger and go home." And so Mecha Lord turned and started walking to the hanger. It had been a long battle, but now it was over and stepped on...

Slipping on the blood covering the streets and hitting head-first what seemed like a disembowed intestinal tract.

"Damn it Shinji! This is why we don't rip open the enemy!" Van cried out in pure terror as Mecha Lord pressed against the tract to get up but...failed.

"How was I supposed to know that we'd slip in it?" Shinji cried as Mecha Lord rolled around trying to get up but to no avail.

"That's why you don't turn enemies into blood pools!" Roger chided, suddenly he realized something about a disease and how you get it, "Hell, this thing could've had AIDS for crying out loud!"

Angel Groove Defense Force Command Center

Meanwhile, the crew at the Angel Grove command center was reasonably sickened by what just happened. Some thought they just saw something from End of Evangelion, a few were coughing up their last meal.

"Talk about a gornfest," One technician mentioned as his partner ran off to find a place to throw up, "Who's gonna clean all of that blood up!"

"My main priority is protecting the city," Seto pointed out, he and Mokuba were seemingly unaffected by the sight, "The clean up issue is someone else's ballpark."

"But don't you own the-"

"Correction! Mokuba owns the city," Seto corrected.

"Really?" Mokuba had a light in his eyes, as if he had somehow found his brother's approval at last...

"While I stay behind his throne and tell him what to do or else I'll break his kneecaps." Seto said with a smile. Mokuba's light died and he ran off to cry. Nobody blamed him of course, a puppy was probably killed while Mecha Lord slipped around.

"Least we got a sick joke out of the film," One of the less emotional guys pointed while his computer techno partner edited a copy of footage from the fight. "Little electronic magic and..." The partner played the part where Mecha Lord finished off the enemy, first the piston drill, then the claw and finally the headbutt split which tore the monster apart.

"MECHA LORD WINS! FATALITY!" an edited in announcer yelled as Mecha Lord dropped the pieces of Clover.

Skies above North America

"Darkstorm Bravo here, ten minutes from the target." The FF-S3 Saberfish Squad Leader said as he steeled himself to carry out his orders, "Arming payload, awaiting authorization to launch."

"Stand by Darkstorm Bravo." HQ replied as he awaited confirmation for the stain that he was about to have on his conscious, "New intel just came in, the operation has been canned. Return to base, I repeat return to base."

"Understood Overlord." The Squad signed in heavy relief before communicating to his squadmates nearby, "Darkstorm Bravo to all units, we've been ordered home, switch off munitions and prepare for return speed."

"Copy Darkstorm Bravo." One of his four wingmen responded, "Darkstorm Brave here, detecting an unidentified F-22 Raptor bearing down on us from our 8'o clock."

"I see him Brave." The Squad Leader saw the blip on his radar, "Unidentified aircraft, you are flying through protected American space. You are ordered to power down and consent to armed escort. Refuse and we will use deadly force-" The life readings on his rear-starboard wingman went flat as an F-22 Raptor swiftly flew overhead.

"Darkstorm Bold is down! I repeat Darkstorm Bold is down!" Bear responded as his Saberfish fired a cluster of missiles at the Raptor. All of which were destroyed by a ray of plasma fire that the Raptor shot out as it rapidly spun on it's axis, "Since when can F-22's fire plasma bullets?"

"Since when can they pull off stunts like that?"

"They can't." Bravo replied to Bald, "All units pursue and engage the enemy!"

"Yes sir!" His squadron formed up on him in a diamond formation as they picked up speed and flew in pursuit of the agile Raptor, "Now it's just running away sir...what should we do?"

"Keep pursuing, it has to run out of fuel soon."

"Yes sir!" Bald answered as they pursued the Raptor and saw it vanish in the middle of the air, "What the...where did it go?"

"Somethings not right...it has a stealthed transport nearby! Pull up! Pull up!" Bravo warned his squadron as he did just that. He felt the underside of his Saberfish scrape against something but was otherwise alright. However, he saw no sign of the rest of his squad, "Brave? Bear? Bald? Come in! I repeat come in!"

Static...and then...silence...

"Son of a bitch!" Bravo yelled in frustration and anger, he quickly circled back around to where he saw the Raptor vanished and started firing his machine gun into the air, "Where are you! You wanna fight? Then tell me where you are!"

"Above you fleshling!" Bravo screamed when something grabbed his plane and tore open the cockpit, revealing a metallic face that stood on some sort of stealth transport while Bravo screamed like a little girl, "We have much to speak with you about or should I rip the very flesh from your skull?"

"I don't negotiate with terrorists and I'll never talk."

"Talk? I don't want you to talk!" The machine yelled as it pulled Bravo from his aircraft and held him in a tightening grip, "I want you to sing!"

Chapter 3: Splashes of Devastation and Warmth

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Angel Groove Command Center, Meeting Room

Simon didn't even know why he was in the room but he knew it had something to do with Kaiba being pissed about the gorefest Shinji unleased a few days ago when they fought that monster from New York. Right now, Kaiba was apparently talking to some guy in a place called Japan where Shinji was from about a replacement pilot (you know, a boy who doesn't need therapy). But based on what he and Shinji were hearing, that started to become unlikely.

"What do you mean you don't want him back?" Seto asked while Simon listened on and noticed Shinji become very depressed as they listened.

"I'm afraid we won't have him Mr. Kaiba." The Japanese ambassador pointedly yet frightfully stated to Kaiba, "The boy's mental frailty is far beyond our capability to handle."

"I know he's a bit surpressed, but you do realize he'll be under my control-"

"We could care less if you throw him into the sun." The ambassador said again, nervously tossing aside his script and continuing with his hands in his pockets, "The Japanese Council has deemed Mr. Ikari as an S-class threat to our society and will not be readmitted into our nation under pain of death."

"What does that mean?" Kaiba asked, he was secretly recording this whole conversation to blackmail Japan so more later but for now he opened his mouth slightly to give the illusion of shock and pity.

"He's Criminally Insane on the highest level." The ambassador stated before reaching into his coat and bringing out a series of photoes, "Just look at these pictures!" Simon couldn't completely see them but one photo he saw displayed what he guessed to be eva unit 01 ripping out an enemy's intestines and drinking out of them while another showed the eva squatted over a Yakuza base stuffing bloodied members into it's mouth while the last showed the eva hulling out a mutilated giant shark while a piece of the shark was loosely dangling from it's open jaws, "Would...you...want...this...nut...back...in...you r...country!" The ambassador was now obviously scared for some reason. It may have to do with the fact that he saw that the pilot of the eva in the pictures was quietly sitting against the wall with his eyes focused on the floor. "PROBABLY NOT!"

"K." Kaiba stated before he switched off the comm and turned to the young pilots. "Did you get all that Shinji?" Shinji didn't even nod as he turned from one of the most powerful men in the world and just left the meeting room, "Hell's wrong with him?" Simon had a slight urge to drill Kaiba out the back but decided against it and ran after Shinji.

It took awhile to manuever through the complex and the slow opening doors didn't help but he found Shinji just outside the complex looking very sad and depressed.

"Hey Shinji!" Just as Shinji started to turn to him, both boys stopped when they saw someone stare at them from across the street. A peach skinned, delicate-looking young woman with straight, light-blue/pale-blonde hair and unique blue eyes with pink crosses for pupils in a white and pink simple dress standing next to an albino skinned school girl with blue hair and red eyes. The older woman waved at the boys while the schoolgirl just stared at them as a bus sped between them and revealed an empty spot where the girls originally were.

Simon's eyes and mouth were wide with shock as to what just happened but Shinji seemed more used to it for some reason. Maybe this sort of thing happened to him a lot?

"Hi." Shinji smiled a bit, but that seemed to make everything sadder somehow, "Aren't you waiting for your folks?"

"Yeah...but..." Simon really felt bad for Shinji, sure he was a bit of a wimp, but that was just because he didn't have anyone to back him up like he did, "Sorry about what that guy said. You'd have to be an idiot to not want you back home."

"It's probably father." Simon almost became depressed himself with the look of utter hopelessness and defeat Shinji wore, "He threw me out afterall...but no one really misses me so I'll just stay here-" Shinji was cut off when a tall red gunman slid into view and something rocketed towards the boys. Simon's mood instantly raised when he recognized the red and blue blur with sunglasses coming towards them.

"BRIGHT BRUISE!" A fist slammed into Shinji's head, instantly driving the depression demons from the area and ushering in the aura of awesomeness that was Simon's older muscular bro. The paragon of man slid onto his feet like nothing had happened and turned to his younger bro, "Sup Simon?"

"Bro!" Simon couldn't help but not care why he always felt more awesome and happy around Kamina, but at this point he tended to just accept it. "Look...can he live with us?"

"Him?" Kamina took off his sunglasses and inspected the more confused than hurt Shinji. "You look a lot like Simon."

"Really?" Shinji asked, Simon couldn't help but realize that it was true. Apart from hair color, attitude, and height, they really were identical, "I have a place, I don't want to be a bother if you-"

"It's okay Shinij, you can live with us." Simon assured the older but less confident boy, "Right bro?"

"Of course Simon! A friend of yours is a friend of mine." Kamina boasted, giving both boys simueltaneous noggies even as Kaiba walked past, "Hey brock! Shinji's living with us now, got a problem with that?"

"He's all your's." Kaiba said before entering his limo and driving off to a magic vs yu-gi-oh tournament where players from each would be forced to play the opposite game and whoever survived got to get a position on Kaiba's advisory board.

Angel Groove Highway

"Damn...his own country doesn't want him." Bit said, trying very carefully to not crash and burn on this heavily damaged highway though the worst damage was around HQ. Due to apathy or a lack of personnel, the highway system was usually the last to ever get repairs around here. They were only 70% fixed from the Singing Diamond incident when Clover came around and made everything worse.

"There isn't a dishonor worse than exile from one's own home." Van remarked, "To be ostrisized and thrown into the unknown where individuals are preyed upon and fed to the pantera."

"You mean like what happened to you?" Bit didn't know he didn't flinch when a sword was instantly brought to his face, maybe it was the fact that his death would also cause the death of the sword's wielder...you know unless he could sprout wings and fly out of a crashing car.

"For the record, this was consentual for the sake of my country." Van corrected, his sword still keep inches from Bit's nose, which made it a bad hard to drive properly to where if he were any less of a driver he would have killed a little girl and her puppy that he swerved around. "Besides, my elder brother Falken will rule well in my absence."

Somewhere on Fanelia...

"So let me get this straight..." Falken began, two obvious prostitutes knelling before the throne he sat in while a baby soundly slept in the seat next to the throne, "You both slept with the same man and bore him children. Then one of you let the baby drown in a kool-aid bowl and stole the other's son to get the dead man's money. Usually I would host a test to see which one is the mother." Both women seemed realived by his statement but unfortunately he had more to say.

"However, I find you both highly incompetent and have sent the child to the Spartan IV program where a AI supermodel will be a better mother than either of you whores." Falken stated while armed guards gently took the baby and put him in a box labeled for a woman named Halsey.

"You monster! That's my son!" The woman cried out, drawing a sword and summoning a threatening amount of wind and water magic, "By the honor of the Fanelian King's you will-" But she was stopped when something caused her hand to sieze up and drop her sword.

"You fail to remember that I stand in the place of King Van," Falken reminded the woman as her whole arm convulsed and pulsed out of place, "His law dictates that dumb and abusive parents will be deprieved of their children for the child's sake." The woman just stayed on her knees begging the regent to stop causing every nerve in her body to turn against it and cause her so much pain.

"But...this isn't...fair..." The woman managed despite the fact that her arm was truly rotated out of synch with her muscles now, "I really-"

"Oh screw it." The woman's neck was wrenched to the side, breaking it and killing her instantly. "Tag her and bag her. Next!"

"Wait? How come he's not king?" Bit asked, knowing that usually the oldest becomes ruler after the king dies in most kingdoms and royal lines.

"Remember when I said I had to kill a dragon to become king?" Bit remembered something to that degree, but blew it off as Van bickering about being good with his sword, "He tried to do that but failed horribly and lost his arm and manhood in the attempt." The way Van mentioned how his brother almost died seemed to unnerve Bit ever so slightly.

"...And you suceeded?" Somehow the image of Van loudly declaring himself before a massive fire-breathing dragon gave Bit a struggle between keeping from laughing or keeping from losing focus on the road.

"Yeah...and then I put it's still beating heart into Escaflowne's core to activate it." Bit tried very hard to focus on the road now and get this man next to him out of his car as quickly as possible. Van must have sensed something amiss because he asked, "What?"

"Why did I agree to work with this guy?" Bit thought as he neared the Fanalien embassy. He actually entertained the brief idea of driving the car over a nearby cliff, jumping out before it went off and laughing as Van crashed and burned with his car. Then he figured it wouldn't work because it would turn out that Van had wings or something stupid like that. So he just drove up the gates, dropped him off and went on home.

Residence of the Negotiator, Skyline District, Angel Groove

"Despite the efforts of a nearby team, Mecha Lord took hours to clean while the city itself would take at least two days," Roger rubbed his temples again and again just thinking about the lecture and accompanying imagery that would make it harder for him to sleep. "My tax dollars well spent." The elevator door stopped and opened and a black and red blur tackled him back into the elevator.

"Hi daddy!" The little girl with red hair indentical fashion to her mother and a cute black and blue dress greeted while still hugging her father. Roger smiled and walked out of the elevator while still holding his little girl.

"How was work Roger?" His wife greeted, most would think she didn't give a damn from her monotone, but Roger knew better.

"You know...it was another day," Roger replied, kissing his wife while their daughter giggled, "But the kids I work with...they're something else."

"They did something to make the job more difficult than necessary?" To the credit of his teammates, the problems weren't necessarily their fault, all of them except maybe Simon had been blackmailed to some extent so teamwork shouldn't be expected to be smooth off the bat.

"Yeah...but they're still a pretty likable bunch...even if one of them needs some...help," In truth, he had his own issues, but the problem with the others were that their issues seemed more forward...especially with Ikari.

"Now you know what it is like for me to put up with you." Dorothy said without breaking her tone while their daughter giggled all the more at their banter.

"What? Dorothy!" Some things would never change even after marriage, as for those that do, "Annie...why does your mother like to pick on me?"

"Because picking on daddy is fun." Annie replied, laughing enough to make up for her and her gently grinning mother.

"You're definately Dorothy's daughter," Roger conceeded, "And I love you for it."

"I love you too daddy!" Annie replied with a hug around his waist and then ran over to her mother's piano.

"Some faces make it all worth it." The Negotiator remarked to Dorothy as their daughter started to masterfully play Chopin's Prelude Op 28, No. 15 as amazingly fast as her mother, "Norman, how's everything?"

"Well I have good news and bad news master Roger." The butler stated and Roger knew this would inconvienience his day when the elder man started reading from a list of bills and expenses, "It appears that the ammunition from your last two scrabbles won't be replenished for another week, the replacement plating for Big-O won't arrive from Gotham for another two weeks, the combining stunt with that little red mecha has overworked your cannons to where they won't be functional for another few days given that something else doesn't happen, and I'm afraid that half of your suits were destroyed when one of those creature's legs hit the cleaner's."

"And the good news?" Roger always hated these reports, he would really have to get more compensation from Kaiba or he'd go broke from doing his own job. He heard a ding in the room which meant whatever Norman had in the oven was now ready.

"Dinner is served." Deciding to take what he could get, Roger inhaled the scent of whatever Norman and Dorothy had cooked and joined his family in the dining room.

District 15, Angel Groove

"Can't believe you lived in that little cupboard under the stairs." Kamina stated as he and Simon led Shinji through the apartment complex which while it had seen better days, still seemed epic because Kamina and his crew lived there.

"It was actually a lot more-"

"Trust me on this, just nod and agree with bro." Simon advised Shinji while they entered the Gurren Brigade Lounge Quarters.

"Meet the team." Kamina then started pointing people out and naming them, "My smoken hot girlfriend and Team Sniper, Yoko." The scantily clad woman just winked at the three and kept firing at nails in a firing range with an oversized sniper rifle. With 100% accuracy. "The Black Sisters and Kittan." The blond spiky tough guy pretended to ignore Kamina while his "sisters" all waved at Simon, "Leeron, Gimmy, Darry, and ROSSIAU!" Kamina's face turned vengeful as he slug a young man across the head and sent him flying into a wall. To Shinji's amazement, Rossiau seemed mostly alright and nobody seemed concerned in the slightest.

"What was that for?" Rossiau asked while rubbing his horribly mangled skull.

"You were about to go on a bitching rant!" Kamina chided while everyone gave Rossiau a very mean look, "What did I tell you about those!"

"He still misses home." Simon explained to a bewildered Shinji. Rossiau looked down and just nodded in agreement with Kamina who went back to his happy badass self and jumped up to a high balcony in the lounge room.

"The Twins, Jorgun and Balinbow; Kid; Iraak; Zorthy, Makken and you already know Simon and myself, Kamina; Leaders and Founders of the Dai-Gurren Brigade!" Everyone gave an AWOOO with the very volume and awesome of their voices filling him and almost begging to inspire him to greater heights.

But it's Shinji Ikari did you think it would be that easy?

"Sorry...but I've never heard of you guys." Shinji spoke up and felt the glares of a million blades descend upon his soul.

"Kid...you're lucky your one of Simon's friends." Kttan threatened, "Back where we're from, I'd headbutt you into the clouds for a stupid comment like that."

"Uh...where are you guys from? The Mines?" The atmosphere of the room grew instantly dark with Shinji's mention of mines. So dark and so cold that Yoko put on a completely covering jacket. Shinji had heard stories about people being thrown underground and then forced to dig deeper because people on the surface kept having huge wars and parties but the reality seemed darker if even the Dai-Gurren Brigade seemed downcast from the very mention.

"Yeah! We're from the mines!" Kid answered without an inch of shame, "Some place in...America...yeah! That's what its called!"

"A long time ago, the Americans started to get worried about overconsumption and obesity...so they came up with a brilliant idea." Leeron explained, "Take 60% of the middle to lower class, put them in mines to work and see what happens! Accept that they forgot about us twenty years and left us to fend for ourselves until Kaiba Corp. purchased the land around where we were and gave us passes to this place."

"Wait...you guys built this city?" Shinji couldn't believe what he had just heard. They actually built a city without any tortorous training in architexture?

"Yeah! Quite a beauty ain't she?" Yoko asked, "A good third of Angel Groove's population is comprised of former miners all trying to make their way on the surface."

"Kaiba doesn't do much to help except not demand taxes," "But he probably did it to keep from pissing off a bunch of hot-blooded, dirt poor, badass refugees who helped build his city."

"We even have free lifetime passes to Kaiba Land." Gimmy and Darry said but then became sad when they stated why, "Because we're all orphens..." Everyone's head dropped while somone started playing a sad note on the violen just to drive to point that this was a sad topic.

"DAI GURREN BRIGADE ORPHENS!" Kamina shouted and the violen started to play an uplifting tune while everyone boasted in agreement and Yoko revealed her bikini covered melons again. Shinji couldn't help but notice how easy it was to swing the mood of this brigade. But he was just thankful that they let him stay.

"Well...thank you all for letting me stay here." Kamina put a hand on Shinji's shoulder and just smirked while the others seemed to gesture as if letting one more aboard was not a problem at all.

"Please, it's the least we can do since you're helping out Simon." Kamina said, "Beside's I've got a feeling that you'll help each other more than you'd imagine.

"I'll give it my all then, Kamina." Shinji stated and was very confused when Kamina handed him a t-shirt and vest with the flaming symbol of the Brigade on it. "I-"

"When you live with badasses, you wear badass clothing." Shinji shrugged his shoulders thinking that they would be fine when not on duty and threw off the school shirt he'd been wearing since he got to Angel Groove. Which gave Kamina a very eye opening view of Shinji's pirate mememto, "Simon! He has a badass tattoo!"

Somewhere on the Angel Grove Highway

"I like Leena." Hitomi told her pouting fiancee while she drove them home. Not that she didn't mind the other mode of transportation but it would gain some unwanted attention, especially so close to the damn Americans. She had met Bit Cloud's girlfriend at her club meeting and they hit it off pretty well, "What do you-"

"His lady is alright but that Cloud guy ticks me off." Van ranted with bitter enthusiasim, obviously he didn't get along well with this Cloud guy, "His esteem and skill emerge from a sport...not true warfare." Maybe this Cloud was taller, more muscular, more bishonen and had a bigger sword than Van, it was impossible for her to read men sometimes.

"Is that all? What about...I don't know...his personality?" To be honest, seeing Van this sullen and pouting was hilarous to Hitomi...just as long as he never goes into an agnst coma.

"He talks too much." Van continued, "He never takes anything seriously...the moon of this planet could be about to fall in three days and while some would take advantage of a time loop generator to constantly travel through time to save the world, he'd sit on his house and watch it fall like it was a cloud."

"But wouldn't the moon's gravity crush him after awhile-"

"The point is that he's unreliable and therefore, I don't like him." Van summerized before shutting up and letting his fiancee drive.

"Does that make Meryl unreliable when she's left to watch the house?" She watched Van in the corner of her eye grimace in horror at the thought of leaving their well-intentioned but honestly hyper friend alone at their home. "Then again, Bulgus does balances things out." For a very good reason, Van seemed to disagree...

Fanelian Royal Embassy, Angel Grove Outskirts

"Lord Bulgus! You're killing the trainees!" The little cat-girl pointed out while a certain bodyguard flung dozens of trainee guards across the training grounds.

"Nonsense! They're bent over and agonizing in pain, that means they can keep fighting!" Bulgus corrected as he brought the flat of his massive sword onto the back of an exhausted young man, who proceeded to cry as he tried to grab his injured back, "EMBRACE THE PAIN CHILDREN! IT WILL MAKE YOU STRONGER!" Bulgus swiped his sword up and brought it down on a stubborn lad who somehow maintained resolve to pass.

"Why didn't Lord Van leave him on Fanelia?" Meryl asked herself as she tended the wounds of pathetically injured guards and watched another boy get thrown into a wall. The sad part was that this was the guy who trained Van..."How did Lord Van ever survive this man?"

Somewhere else on the Highway

"So that's the guy you work with..." Leena Tauros said with a face that anyone else would mistake for an obsessive fangirl as she looked over a photo of a battle scared and furious Van, "He sure had a big thick long-"

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Bit asked, knowing exactly what she was trying to bait him into, "Yeah, I know he has a big sword on his back and probably a big one in the crouch, so what?"

"You don't have manly issues around him?" Leena teased always finding it cool that Bit gave so little of a damn about other men's statuses. She actually found it to be reasonably mature and hot.

"Sure it matters who's got the bigger stick." Bit stated, "But it matters a hell of a lot more who's swinging it and who's getting swung at." If not for that last part, Leena might have killed her boyfriend for quoting a certain general she absolutely hated. Still, Bit wasn't perfect.

"Alright, I met his fiancee, Hitomi at work." She brought up trying to change the conversation, "She was nice if a bit...shy." She kept going about how she's a track star and is a huge fan of tarot card reading until she heard her phone ring, "Text from dad...He wants to know if we've made a baby yet."

"You know most fathers would be more worried about that." Bit pointed, "Wonder what's up."

Somewhere in the Desert (Don't ask where)

"Sir...why do we want Leena and Bit to get together?" Dr. Tauros' unfortunate assistant asked while making an adjustment to a LeoBlaze Unit.

"Simple Jamie! My daughter is the epitome of woman badassery and Bit is a paragon of Zoids pilots." Dr. Tauros stated with a daigram that gave a little too much information, "So when he knocks her up, I'll take their lovechild and raise it as the ultimate x of zoid's pilots! Then make bets on him and make lots of money for my projects!"

"Like what sir?" Jamie couldn't help but entertain the older professor. Not that he didn't come with ingenious ideas at times.

"Like that!" The Doctorate in Insane Mechanics declared pointing to a box shaped shoulder pad in the corner of the warehouse, "A projectile converter capable of taking any enemy attack and converting into energy!"

"Right...like that'll ever work." Jaime thought as he texted Brad and got a good laugh from the reply.

Kaiba's bedroom, Kaiba Corp HQ, Angel Grove

"Who is this?" Kaiba was having a very good dream about a certain totally hot dragon girlfriend a robot from the future told him about but then the phone rang and he answered on instinct forged by years under his instructive but ridiculously abusive adoptive father.

"I don't who you are and I don't know what you want." The voice was masculine and pissed off so that ruled out a dream voice.

"It's usually polite to answer when-"

"If it's money you are after then you'll find yourself dissapointed." The man on the other line continued to Kaiba's increased confusion.

"Money? I own Blackwater, the UN, Sony, Square Enix, Bioware and Bungie! Why would I need more-"

"But I do possess a number of skills. Skills that I have acquired over a long career...Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you." Just to test and see if he was still in a dream, Seto took out his dream token and started it's process.

"Look man. You're not the first hacker I've ever busted-"

"If you let my daughter go now that will be the end of it. I will not pursue you. I will not remember you." Kaiba almost wished this was a bad dream, but his dream token told him otherwise.

"What? I don't even know who you are-"

"But if you do not let my daughter go. I will hunt you. I will find you. And I will KILL you." Most people with sense would've been scared by this threat but...Seto Kaiba isn't easily scared.

"Okay I'm hanging up, good luck." Kaiba hung up the phone and went back to sleep...this time dreaming about beating a certain boy with ridiculously spiky red and yellow outlined hair in a cardgame and watching his life crumble because of it.

Meanwhile in a Very Shiny Palace

Unaware of the monstrosity he had dared to challenge him...

"RELEASE THE KRAKEN!" A bearded pissed off Liam Neeson look-alike shouted to the pale gray haired bishonen bi-sexual who looked very bored at this display of overreaction.

"Why did you did raise your voice-"

"REEELLLLAAASSSEEEE THEEE KRAAAKEEENNNN!" Liam's yell didn't affect the gray-haired bi-sexual but nonetheless, he felt inclined to do as bidden.

"Oh great, his hamming in capital letters," He thought as Neeson continued to stare him down, "I'll go release the fishy." He walked out of the shiny palace on the moon and walked along it's surface looking for something that he always had trouble finding.

He then found a white lance with double-helical shaft and a defined spearhead implanted with a green gem after a long while of wondering and looked up. He was phased by the appearance of being upside down while earth was below with the moon and his feet as the ceiling but come now since when does the concept of gravity affect Tabris, Messenger of Free Will?

District 13, Surviellance Tower

"Why are we out here?" A tipsy private asked his nearby sargeant as they looked out from atop the tower.

"Where the hell did this come from private?" The sargaent asked his usually silent and obediant red shir-meat shiel-valuable soldier.

"Sir, I just feel like our placement in this tower seems almost pointless." The private remarked while overlooking the city, "Like the only reason we're here is to see whatever freak of nature pops out of the ground and attacks the city while our cruel deaths serve as a sick joke to whoever's writting fate's script."

"Look maggot, I know you're still pissed about your brothers getting eaten by the Clover thing," The sargent said, reminding the private of his brother's horrible deaths due to the monster's tentacles, "But we're the watchmen damn it! We have to be in a position where we can see trouble before it comes within miles of the people and then let them deal with. Once we've told them what's coming, we skidaddle."

"What year is it sir?" The private asked when he saw something fall from the sky in the distance that he was certain would make his day worse.

"2015 AD, why maggot?" The oblivous sargaent asked in reply.

"So 2012 was three years ago?" The private asked again when noticed the waves of the distant ocean start to rumble like something was moving through them.

"And the world didn't end, said the same crap back in 2000 too." The sargaent answered, reminescing on those days, "Sure, some glowing freak popped out of Antarctica and caused water levels to rise and half the population to die off, but the world didn't end. Hell! The worst we got was an earthquake that chipped off a piece of California." The sargaent stopped laughing when a great shockwave ran through the area, causing the tower to go a bit off balance. The private watched as a huge water geyser erupted from the ground in front of the tower and more water started to pour into the city.

"I hate this job." The private said as the water gave way to reveal a large crestacian monstrosity that had burst through the ground and has now roaring at his tower. The tower must have fainted in fear because he could feel it gave way under him. But he didn't wimper or run since either the fall would kill him, the water would drown him or the monster would eat him, he just gave a final breath and accepted his fate.

Angel Groove Command Center

"Situation!" Mokuba Kaiba commanded while the bridge crew all frantically pointed to the viewscreen depicting a monstrous crestacian devastating the city, "Yes, I see the giant killer turtle/crab/octopus on the screen. Could someone give me a straighter answer?"

"Sir...the anomaly burst out from the ground in District 13, bringing with it a large geyser of water that's currently flooding what remains of District 13 and other districts in proximity and seems rooted in place." Everyone then watched as the monstrosity lifted itself out of the hole and leapt out of the district into another, crushing hundreds as it landed, "Never mind, it can apparently use it's large crab like legs to leap along and it destroyed District 23 upon landing as well as creating a long fissure connecting 23 and 13 allowing for more water to leak along and flood more of the city." The anomly roared as tentacles sprouted from it's body and started tearing apart entire sections of the district and flinging them into other districts, "Can I panic Mr. Kaiba?"

"Mokuba's fine and you have five minutes." Mokuba told the young woman who thanked him and proceeded to join the panic while the young Kaiba took the helm, "All hands! Level 1 battlestations!"

"Good work Mokuba, now get out of my seat." Even in life or death situations big brothers will take offense to their siblings sitting in their seats. Or maybe Kaiba's a jerk like that who knows.

"Yes Seto." Mokuba grumbled when he got out of Seto's seat and effectively gave the helm to his older brother.

"Equip the Defense force with Jetpacks and send them out!" Seto commanded while half of the crew became relatively calmer but still reasonably scared.

"But only half of them of them are functional sir! The rest haven't been fitted to handle the weight of the mobile suits-"

"Then I guess they'll have to learn to surf the waves." Kaiba turned to another another bridge bunny to call the team. But saw that the technician close to retirement wasn't at work so he walked over to the intern looking at pictures on her phone, "Text the Team!"

"Already did." The intern stated and then read over a text message that made her gulp, "Where do Simon and Shinji live?"

"Somewhere in District 15." Kaiba could care less as to where they lived as long as the team did their job.

"District 15 experienced massive structural and integral damage sir." Another bridge bunny pointed while Kaiba noted that the district was where most of the former miners worked, "Not to mention that most of the remaining area was flooded by the creature's emergence."

"Well great. They're dead." Kaiba remarked when he suddenly heard a huge drilling sound come from the back of the base, "What was that?"

"Probably Simon." Roger remarked over the comm, "By the way, it'll take me awhile to get there...highways flooded."

"Yeah, same on my end," Bit joined in while the overview screen showed their locations slowly moving through flooded areas.

"Wimps and their cars." Van said when he jumped down from the ceiling to everyone's amazement and confusion.

"How did you get here so fast?" An intern asked while Van just pointed to the sea turtles strapped to his boots. Kaiba just signed and went to the source of the incredibly loud drilling noise. And became increasingly scared when he realized it was coming from-

"WHY IS THERE A GIANT DRILL IN MY ROOM!" Kaiba cried when he opened his door to find that Simon and a bunch of awesome yet ill-dressed people had dug up from out of his floor and destroyed his room in the process.

"Sorry, we got closed in by the flood." Simon apologized when a piece of ceiling crushed a chess set that was signed by Hayao Miyazaki, "Hope we didn't break anything." Kaiba seemed to ignore the miners and slowly walked over to where a singler piece lied and stared at it.

"YOU DESTROYED MY ROOM!" Kaiba yelled, bringing the brigade's attention to his destroyed room and furniture. "IS THAT...MY-"

"Blue Eyes White Dragon? Who still plays this game?" Kamina remarked while going through Kaiba's duel monster's deck.

"YOU GOT DIRT ALL OVER MY CARDS! AND PUT THAT PICTURE DOWN!" Kaiba order, snatching the deck and a photo from the Dai-Gurren group, "I hope you plan to get it replaced."

"By the way, you might need plumbing." Yoko spoke up when water started flowing out of the drilled hole and covering the floor, "The flood followed us."

"Simon...Shinji...get out and kill that crab-turtle-squid." Seto slowly said as Gimmy and Darry started playing in the water, "So how do you plan to pay for this?"

"I recommend that you let Mr. Kaiba use Miss Yoko as a belly warmer." The smug senior intern was answered by an increase of pressure caused by the anger and sheer awesomeness that was Team Dai-Gurren. As the intern stumbled and collapsed, Kaiba watched with mild indifference.

"Just so you know interns, that's why I do the talking." He noted to the other nearby interns before he turned back to the Dai-Gurren brigade, "You idiots just get yourself killed."

Angel Groove, District 24

"Damn it man! That's more money off our paychecks!" Bit complained when the team was assembled in their mecha. Due to the rising water levels throughout the city however, the team's deployment was slowed due to caution and water messing with the deployment doors.

"Bro was the navigator." Simon explained while the team waded through the rising water levels. Well, everyone except Roger and Shinji since they're mecha were taller. "By the way, nice engines." Why he didn't notice Bit's new liger mode was beyond Simon, either way, it still looked cool. Maybe that that was, all of it's modes does nothing to lessen Liger Zero's cooless so any change goes mostly unnoticed.

"Liger Zero Jaeger." Bit replied, Liger raising it's head to roar in agreement. "This time, I planned ahead."

"Who cares about Kaiba's room or Van's kitty cat," Van said when he finally got Escaflowne on top of a building that wasn't completely submerged, "What the bloody hell is that thing?" The team followed the direction of his pointed sword to see their target pick a defense force mobile suit out of it's tentacles and eat it.

"The Kraken." Shinji responded over the comm, "A mythological creature believed to have been used by ancient gods to destroy cities, hunt down and kill titans, and...the occassional tentacle rape of the daughter of someone who really pissed off the gods." The prospect of anything Shinji just read off did little to raise hope. "I'm not surprised that it's here because of someone Kaiba pissed off." Eva crouched down and fired it's scoped sniper chain rifle while the team observed the rounds impact the creature's turtle shell-like exoskeleton.

"Cease fire Shinji! We don't know how far those tentacles extend." Roger's concern was answered when Eva was pulled under water by an unseen tentacle and tossed into the air like a soccer ball a few seconds later, landing head first on a broken wall and falling into the water, "Okay now we do." Two more tentacles sprang towards Big O and wrapped around it's torso, but the black megadues was simply to heavy to be lifted. Leaving them exposed to a claw from Liger and a slash from Eva's glaive, "Plus, it's bleeding from that gunshot wound."

"Deity 101: if it bleeds it's mortal." Bit stated while Liger jumped onto the massive Kraken, reversed a booster and burnt a section of the Kraken's lower body as it started climbing along the body. This didn't last long because another tentacle swiped up and dragged it into the water. Big-O moved in as the liger was tossed out of the water and against a buildboard reading "Nuter your pets". Liger propelled burnt the buildboard as it starting leaping from building top to building top.

"If it's mortal, it can be killed." Simon added. Lagann formed into drill and braced for when swung it's glaive to sent it flying into the creature's shoulder. Lagann drilled through the creature and managed to break a section of it's shell while doing so.

"But how do we know it can't raise from the dead-" Van's question was cut off when the creature swiped at Big O and sent it crashing into Escaflowne. Fortunately, both mechs were able to adjust to keep from falling into the deep end of the flooded district. Meanwhile, Bit was using his drill as an engine to propel him through the water far enough to where he got enough momentum to turn Lagann around and drill through two of it's crab legs with maximum effect.

"It's the nuke of olympus, not the Alpha Omeaga!" Bit cried as Liger did a dashing jump enhanced by it's equipped boosters and pounced onto the Kraken's shoulder, "Who wants some sushi!" Bit cried as Liger reversed it's engines and started burning the Kraken's neck and unprotected upper chest. A shell piece folded over the Kraken's head while a sharpened tentacle reached up and stabbed the Liger in it's lower back and threw it back into the water.

"Only if it's cooked." Roger remarked when he shot chained hooks out of his arms that cut into the creature's chest and then pulled. The sheer strength and weight of the megadues was enough to throw the creature off balance and send it crashing into the water. As it raised it's head up, Escaflowne was already falling down from the sky with it's sword and plunged the blade into it's shell.

"Wait! How did you get all the way up there?" Bit asked while the creature bellowed in pain and raised up despite having Escaflowne still lodged in it's back.

"This is new." Van admitted when the Kraken reached around and flung the guymelef into the water while remaining unphased by the barrage that Shinji and Bit delivered with their guns. At least until Lagann leapt up and drilled through another leg at it's upper thigh, causing the creature to become off centered and exposing it's lower previously submerged body to damage. Apparently it was getting hurt because the creature withdrew into it's shell and sunk beneath the water. Unable to get a good read and not willing to risk jumping into the water, the team waiting as water levels slowly rose.

Before any of them could react, five tentacles snatched the team and dragged Big-O's leg to cause it's fall while the others were lifted into into the air as the Kraken resurfaced fully healed and looking incredibly pissed off. As it roared, Lagann formed it's hands into drills and cut the tentacle constricting it while Liger fired it's boasters to overload the tentacle's pain threashold and cause it to let go, Escaflowne somehow slipped out and appeared above it's offending tentacle and sliced it with his sword and Eva 01 was promptly released when it started eating the tentacle constricting it.

"Alright! Rangers! Combine!" Everyone cried as they fell towards the now standing Big-O and slid the black handle across their console to begin the process as they landed.

"Mecha Lord Syncronization Initiated." The computer voice called as the transformation sequence initiated. Big O expanded out and formed over Evangelion as a chest piece, heavy pauldrons and upper arms before fitting firmly onto the purple Mecha's form.

Escaflowne transformed into a draconic looking torso and lower spine before Eva leapt into the openings.

"Mecha Lord activated," The computer said as Mecha Lord stood ready while the Kraken just roared. But had a hard time balancing due to the frailty of the building that Mecha Lord stood on.

"Cast in the name of God. Ye not Guilty." Bit read off when he got comfortable in his newly arranged cockpit, "Maybe this should be our badass creed."

"Does it still think I'm a pussy?" Shinji could care less but was relieved when the message on his screen read: Ye Not. "I'll take it." But you need work. "Ha ha, pick on the emotionally damaged japanese schoolboy, how original!"

"Does this thing say anything else Roger?" Simon asked while Mecha Lord finally found it's balance, even though the building would still collapse at any minute.

"No, it pretty just says whether or not your guilty of piloting it." Roger admitted, not fully understanding the mechanics behind it either, "Mecha Lord...ACTION!" Mecha Lord used Jaeger's boasters to accelerate it's jump towards the recovered Kraken. It drew out a sword and easily cut the tentacles that the beast threw at it, but lost it's initial thrust and fell into the now dangerously deep water.

"Okay, we've gotta do something about this water problem." Bit calmly brought up to the team as Mecha Lord continued to sink, "It's leaking into the system!"

"And the cockpits!" Shinji pointed out while all of the pilots started to notice this predictament as well.

"I have an idea!" Just as water flooded into his cockpit, he had Mecha Lord fire a hook from it's shoulder that latched onto the Kraken's massive thigh. He knew that they only had a limited time before the chain ran out or broke so he called out his plan quickly, "Shinji! Draw up that barrier to push back the water! Van! Use your exhaust to heat the shields! Bit! When I pull on the chain, use the boast to get through! Simon! How deep can you drill?"

"Just say when!" Simon shouted while Mecha Lord threw out it's arms to expand a cross shaped field around it that held back the water. It then fired a stream of green flame that was absorbed by the field. Mecha Lord then created a giant energy drill on it's right arm that it slammed into the the ground, causing water to drain into however deep of a whole the drill would make. The Mecha then grabbed the chain and held on while the leg boosters fired the entire cross out of the rising water along the chain until the chain broke and Mecha Lord leapt into the air level to the Kraken's head and punched it in the jaws before leaping off and onto a nearby hill that conveniently stood against the watery flood.

The creature seemed to agonize as it reformed jaw back into place and threw it's tentacles at Mecha Lord. All of which were decapitated with a single slash from Mecha Lord's heated sword. It roared in anger as it waded towards Mecha Lord.

"Piss off fishy! You think you can come into my home turf, destroy my new home and then question us for standing up to you!" Simon epically shouted, the water almost resceding before the hill that Mecha Lord stood on due to the increased aura of awesomeness, "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM? I'm Simon the Digger of the Dai-Gurren Brigade and member of the Angel Groove Mecha Rangers! And your ass...IS GRRRRRAAAASSSSSS!" Somewhere in the world a volcano exploded but no one died so it's not important. The Kraken swiped down it's massive claw but the claw was mangled when it failed to break the barrier that the Mecha Lord had created while it slowly brought up it's left arm and blew out a piston as it placed it's hand on the area of the barrier where the claw was still being pressed in an attempt to break through. The piston fired into it's socket, causing that portion of the barrier to jolt through the Kraken's arm and practically blow it off of it's socket.

As the Kraken agonized over it's lost limb, Mecha Lord brought up it's sword and summoned energy to it that shifted it into a helix shaped lance with a drill at the end of it and gripped the lance with both arms as it started to seemingly power up. The Kraken roared a cry that would make Spartans run home and cry but Mecha Lord's drill grew larger and it jumped up as shot out both pistons again...

"FINISHING MOVE! DRAGON THUNDER STRIKE LASER DRIILLLLLLLL LANNNNCCCCCCEEEEERRRRRRR!" Simon called out as Mecha Lord thrusted forth, empowered by the spirit of it's pilots in union with their mecha and slammed it's attack through the Kraken's shell, piercing into it's gushing flesh and landing on a building on the other side, as explosions consumed the Kraken.

"Alright!" The team cheered as Mecha Lord disassembled back into their original mecha. They watched as the smoke cleared to reveal a still very much alive but very much wounded and dying Kraken lying on it's broken back, staring as vengefully as it could at the Mecha Rangers.

It seemed almost sad, to see such a mighty creature dying in such a state. In days of old it terrorized mariners and entire cities and even titans respected it's strength. But now, here it lied, in a flooded modern city, dying from wounds created by pilots in machines blackmailed by a greedy rich boy with a dragon fetish.

"Shinji?" Bit realized that Eva Unit 1 was not sitting with them and then saw the purple mecha pick up a lance and attach several electrical powerlines to it, "Wait...what is he-" Bit watched as Unit 1 impaled the lance through the dying Kraken's exposed torso and stood there while it was electrified very very violently, "Damn...that boy needs therapy.

"Shinji!" Roger cried out, "That was so un-paragon!" Now the titan-slayer was screaming in agony that would make even little girls wonder why it was so intimidating. The team could swear that they heard Shinji spit.

"Renegade for life." Eva 01 then walked away from the still-being-electrified Kraken and rejoined the team while they just watched in horror as the poor creature's eyes were blasted from it's sockets and it's limps convulsed in ways they didn't think were possible.

"Okay...let's get the lance out before it-" The Kraken's body then exploded, which caused the same event as the last time around, "Explodes chucks all over the city..." Even though it wasn't as bloody and there weren't any entrails to trip over, the team knew it would be a long clean-up in addition to the water that still needs to be drained out.

"Least we know what's for dinner." Bit offered while Liger waded over to a large piece of the Kraken's meat and picked it up with it's jaws, "Or at least we can find a good price on Ebay."

Angel Groove Command Center

While everyone else cheered and celebrated, Seto Kaiba was facepalming at the amount of damage. What was it about this city that made it worth the constant repairs and disasters?

"Why did I buy this city?" Kaiba asked aloud, "And who's idea was it to come here?"

"I thought you came here cause you lost again to-"

"Shut up Mokuba." Kaiba stood and started for the command center exit, "Get the clean-up crews into the city."

"But I thought I was in charge of the ci-"

"Shut up Mokuba. Seto's in a really bad mood." Kaiba yelled before the doors slid behind him, leaving the command crew with the duanting task of once more cleaning up the city.

"Why do you put up with him when he's such a-"

"Shut up Optimus." Mokuba told the floating autobot head as he sat in Seto's chair and starting making calls. It was going to be a long couple of days.

Notes:

Author's Notes:
They've just killed the Kraken.
Nuff said.

Chapter 4: Spill the Wrath Pt. 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

District 24, Angel Groove

"Damn..." Was all a spectator watching the day's events from the roof of his flooded home could say about the battle he'd just witnessed. That and the fact that the a piece of meat from the Kraken's...explosion...had fallen on his roof. So he did what any rational person would do and cook it. It was really good for seafood too.

On the roof of another building, a small group of idiots had made up some crazy sacrifice to try and make the Kraken stop attacking their city. So it was just a matter of going back to fixing their hopeless lives. Hearing a signal on his phone, the spectator exhaled and got dressed for his job.

"Alright citizens, return to your homes and/or shelters!" Announced the neighborhood watch security committee, their black masked guards emphasizing the point by passively threatening the civilians still wandering the watered streets. Now on duty, their leader decided to personally deal with this crazy cult and stop them from their own stupidity.

"But we're performing a virgin sacrifice to appease the Kraken." The ring leader of the cultists, dressed ridiculously as a shaman tried to explain to the guard when he told them to evacuate.

"The Kraken's dead." The guard explained, holding up piece of cooked meat from the creature and then tossing it to his dog.

"BLASPHEMY! The Kraken is a symbol of the gods!" The shaman yelled to the guard's face. Underneath his mask, the guard wanted to punch this guy out and let him drown in the water. But he doesn't get paid to knock people out for pissing him off right?

"Whatever just untie-" The guard looked up at the peach skinned, delicate-looking girl with curly light-blue/pale-blonde hair and unique blue eyes with pink crosses for pupils in a white and pink simple dress and felt the lump in his throat grow, "Is that who I think it is?"

"Who?" The guard handed the shaman a little booklet titled, "Individuals to not mess with and why". The Shaman immediately paled as he read through the booklet's contents since while most of its entries only had a page, Miss Teppelin took up about a hundred pages, "Oh...that's Nia...it was his idea!" The Shaman pointed out a young man in a monk garb with a black ponytail, who immediately starting crying and bent down to shoot himself.

"ROSSIEU!" As much as the guard wouldn't have minded seeing someone shoot themself, having a small blue haired boy launch out of hyperspace and punch this Rossieu into a wall was pretty entertaining in itself. While the guard expected most boys to fly into a ravenous rage, this boy just walked over to the makeshift alter and pulled his friend from the obviously weak ropes binding her, "Hi Nia."

"Simon!" The girl cried as she jumped on her friend and hugged her. He smiled while his men gave a collective awe at the cuteness of the scene. This didn't stop the cultists from being arrested, but even they knew the scene was cute. "These people wanted me to distract that monster so you could kill it. Did it work?" The boy gave a glaring double take at the arrested cultists that made the guard glad the kid was on their side.

Cause Heaven knew they had enough enemies without him.

"It's dead, who the hell do you think I am?" The girl giggled though the guard knew there was a certain strength in those words, "So...wanna see X-Men: First Class later?"

"Okay." Deciding to leave the two obvious lovebirds be, the guard had his men usher the arrested cultists to be dealt with in the Hall of Justice. All but one who he recognized as a student...

District 16, Angel Groove

Shinji didn't know why he was wondering through the currently flooded District 16. The team had quietly gone off in their separate ways, some to check on their homes and families while Simon leapt off into hyperspace muttering something about slugging Rossieu. Watching Simon pull the impossible made Shinji sometimes wish he could be just a little bit awesome too.

But...would that fix any of his problems?

Shinji paused and fell to his knee to balance himself. He grabbed his chest and struggled through one of his..."fits". Even after the all of the battles he'd been through Eva, including six angels back in Tokyo...he never got used to the "fits." Just another glorious side-effect of piloting Eva, at least now he could actually manage to stand on his feet.

"This is a deplorable action from people at your age!" Shinji heard a suspiciously familiar voice chatise, "Forcing a thirteen year old girl to dangle on a flimsy stick and feed her to a giant sea monster!"

"Miss Horaki, we were trying to save the city-" The college-aged begger was silenced with a loud slap from the girl Shinji now recognized.

"Just for that...you'll have afterclass duties for the rest of the year! And just wait till I tell the principal!" The girl yelled while the begger was grabbed by two guards and dragged away.

"Please! Don't tell Pops about this! PLEASE!" The man pleaded and cried, but was still hauled into a prison-hover carrier while Shinji observed it fly off. It was amazing just how picky Kaiba was about what he funded and what he didn't.

"Hikari?" The pig tailed girl turned when Shinji called her and seeing her freckled face pretty much confirmed her identity to Shinji, "It is you...Class Rep Hikari Horaki."

"Shinji Ikari..." Shinji was a bit off put by how she said his name. To him, it sounded as though she didn't ever want to see him again, that being sent to Angel Groove and never coming back was supposed to be the last that anyone was to hear about him.

"Sorry...I'll just..." Shinji had his eyes shut so tightly that he was almost startled to feel a pair of arms wrapped around him. He opened his eyes and saw that Hikari Horaki...was hugging him. A blush was also growing on his checks because Hikari's face was right next to his...her mouth uncomfortably close to his ear...

"WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ANYONE?" Hikari yelled in Shinji's ear loud enough to bust the eardrum if not for the horrors he had already heard throughout his life.

"Well-"

"You have any idea how worried everyone was when you got kidnapped by pirates?" Hikari chided, though Shinji could see concern in her eyes, "Kensuke stopped obsessing over Evas! Asuka started taking cold showers! Rei...was more verbal with Asuka! Mari acted calm and Toji became humble...TOJI SUZAHARA HUMBLE!" The image of Toji not arguing with Asuka brought horror to the reaches of Shinji's mind, "So yeah! We've been worried about you! And don't get me started about Miss Katsuragi!"

Meanwhile...NERV HQ, Tokyo-3

Tunniel and Matarael had just attacked the city and they were destroyed with the usual cost to the city budget. So to cover the cost for repairing the Evangelion units, the city's air-conditioning unit was cut so that Nerv could repair it's six units of mass devastation.

Then again, it wasn't as though anyone could argue.

"Colonel Katsuragi..." Commander Ikari said from his desk, which was conviently still air-conditioned and everyone else was left to deal with the heat, "You haven't turned in the report from the last battle-"

"F%$k off Gendo." Everyone paused to hear Katsuragi, wearing a shirt shirt and mini-skirt to ease off the heat, just say that to her commanding officer.

Most others didn't live a second after they did likewise.

"Pardon me Colonel?" Ikari was answered with a middle finger from Katsuragi.

Maybe it was just that time of the month.

"You think you can just stroll around here like you own the place after setting off Second Impact, killing my father along with billions of people, and not giving a s^*t about your own captured son!" Some in the bridge were feeling sorry for they're compliance to Gendo while others were distracted by Misato's shown...bouncing...huge...tracks of land...

"Your point?" Gendo still wondered he didn't just transfer her to a city where he knew she'd likely die.

"You sir, are an bastard!" Everyone but Gendo was aghast at Misato's words towards a man so powerful that he could kill you, kill your family and burn your whole city to the ground with a tinkering of his glasses, "And an asshole." With that, she stomped out of the bridge, her tracks of land bouncing with each step and a pile of paperwork left for some poor intern to fill out.

"How long did it take her to figure that out?" Gendo asked his nearby aide.

"You don't want me to answer that Ikari." Fuyuutski choose not to answer though he was somewhat close to his limit in tolerating Gendo's bastardness.

Back to the wimp

"Well...I'm fine now." Shinji said, trying very hard not to think about his friends back home...who he wouldn't be able to see for a long time. He briefly returned the hug, and gently pushed Hikari's arms back to her side. "What are you doing here?"

"Transferred...the Newgate Academy liked my academic achievements so much that they let me transfer here for a college master's in educational psychology."

"Wow...that's pretty cool-" Shinji was cut off yet again, this time by Hikari bracing her hand off of Shinji's shoulder, leaping over his head and dive-kicking someone behind him. Shinji turned to see the Class Rep. with her foot against a would-be-looter's neck.

The sight was kind of hot to Shinji.

"That's not how you ask for something!" Shinji wasn't too sure the man was listening or too caught up in his own fear. But, he got enough from Hikari's demonstration to leave her alone and run away screaming. The Class Rep. exhaled and her face resembled her own rather than that of a ruthless interrogator, "Sometimes you have to be a little tough to get the point across."

"True." Shinji agreed, remembering the less-than pleasant tactics he'd been forced to use against the enemies the team had faced in the past week, "Wanna see First Class with me?" The question was completely random and as far as Shinji knew, X-Men was a very obscure American interest which most Japanese kids didn't care much for.

"I'm not much of an X-Men fan..." Hikari answered though Shinji was still a bit shot-down despite understanding, "But who cares...I could use a good action movie."

"Atta girl." Now Shinji had the feeling that Kamina was rubbing off on him too much, "I've gotta go and make sure Eva gets repaired."

"What? Eva's here?"

"Yeah, Kaiba bought it from Nerv and gave me the job of protecting the place." Though a quick glance around the district and neighboring flooded areas told Shinji that the team had room for improvement, "How are we doing?"

"We're still alive." Hikari shrugged, "Thank you."

"It's just my job." Shinji said, "Anyway, see you later."

"Bye." Hikari said before turning to leave, leaving Shinji to watch her go. A thought suddenly occurred to Shinji when he realized that she would have to navigate across the delicate make-shift bridges created by the US manufactured M104 Wolverine units set on the tops of unflooded buildings. The problem was that the uneven terrain of the building tops and the looped look of the bridges tended to be a hassel to most civilians crossing them.

And ten accidents had already been reported.

"Where's you apartment? I'll walk you home right quick." Shinji called out before Hikari stepped onto a bridge that Shinji was pretty sure would be doomed to fall soon.

"It's...in District 36..." Hikari answered, it wasn't a no but it seemed to Shinji that she didn't want to be a bother. Apparently she wasn't used to being the subject of such care often.

Shinji wished he had her luck (Think about his usual homelife in Tokyo).

"Shall we then?" Shinji almost felt like offering his hand was the most cliqued thing he could do at that moment. Sure, chivalry is nice, but overtly doing it had somehow become a turn-off for modern society and the young Ikari felt as though he'd overcompensated...

Until she took his hand and nodded with a smile.

Angel Groove Maintenance Hanger

"Status on Unit 01's repairs?" Kaiba commed to an intern in the Maintenance control center.

"Sir! We're trying to remove armor plating but-" The intern was interrupted by the roar of Evangelion followed by an engineer being thrown against the glass behind her, "Damn it! Apply the tranquilizer before you remove the plating!"

"Told ya we should've used clones-"

"Shut up Mokuba." Seto said as the intern was wrenched from her seat and pulled out of her office by a purple armored hand, "Call the Nerv Help Hotline."

"But-" The young Kaiba then gave a blank face when he saw the aforementioned intern's arm hanging from a sadistic looking Eva Unit 01, "Fine..." Mokuba walked away from the growingly horrific scene and picked up a phone, "Nerv Help Hotline? Yeah can you direct me to Evangelion technical support...thanks." He waited, somehow maintaining the will to tune out the growing sounds of death and horror from Unit 01's hanger. Finally, he heard a woman pick up on the other line, "Hi, I'm trying to replace damaged armor platings and the Eva keeps killing the engineers..." Mokuba was a fan of violence despite appearences but even he was slightly put off from the woman's laughter, "That's not funny! Can you help me or not!" He picked up a pen and started writing down what the technician in Japan instructed, "Thanks...okay...alright." At least an hour had to have passed before Mokuba got down everything he needed, "K, thanks for the-" It takes a certain discipline to be on the phone for a long time and Mokuba was barely keeping from crushing his from what the woman just said, "Don't talk bad about my big brother you old hag!" He could've sworn the woman became a bat out of hell from the volume she was now ranting. The fact that she was speaking Japanese made it all the more annoying, "If you're so good why don't come over here yourself old lady!" His patience at an end, Mokuba slammed the phone into a wall and destroyed it.

"Sir?" A nearby intern cautiously approached the young Kaiba from behind. He handed his notepad to her without looking as he breathed slowly, "I'll get these to them immediately." Mokuba just walked away from the Maintanence area and found himself in his own office. It wasn't egotistical like his brother's but some things in this office could leave a strange impression.

Like the picture of a blue-haired girl in a wet see-through bikini hanging over the Hawaiian punch fountain Mokuba took a drink out of.

"Hi Shinji." Mokuba said to the japanese kid when he walked into the younger Kaiba's office.

"Hello Mr. Kaiba." Mokuba couldn't help but notice that he was slightly less angsty for some reason.

"It's Mokuba and we just started our repairs." Mokuba led Ikari through the Halls of his brother's needlessly large compound, "If you'll follow me, you can help us with our limited knowledge of Eva."

"Sure...this won't take long will it?" Surprisingly, Mokuba could see that Ikari probably had a date tonight or something. The younger Kaiba thought it would be a good idea, Shinji seemed like the type who kept way too much pent up.

"Not really, we phoned the old hag at NERV." Mokuba felt the temperature in the room drop and turned to see a shaking Shinji looking like he'd just seen Tim Curry killing a little boy while dressed as Ronald Mcdonald.

"Hope you didn't say that to her-"

"I did." Mokuba noticed a look of rare horror on Shinji's Ikari's face that now made him a bit nervous. "What?"

"She's tried to kill people for calling her that." Mokuba had the feeling that she or her mother had probably killed someone for calling her old.

"My adopted father had me stretched across a bed of infected needles whenever I got any less than an A, including an A minus." Mokuba informed the seemingly tranquil Shinji. Just what had this kid been through?

"Beats out my grandma."

"Grandma? I thought you were raised by an uncle."

"I was traded between my grandma and my uncle." Shinji explained as if it was normal, "She's a doctor in a pretty high level army development project...something about...Mjornir..."

"That explains some of your mental instability." Mokuba concluded when they came to Evangelion's hanger and found that a good 2/5ths of the crew were being carried away in body bags, "Hey...it's gotten the job done so far."

"Okay then." Shinji breathed and stepped towards the Evangelion, the crew watched pensively as he climbed along it's armor and manuelly opened the pilot hatch to enter the Eva. As systems confirmed that Shinji had synched with Unit 01, a single thought ran through the minds of most the tech crew.

"What madness makes him immune to the monstrosity of that thing!"

"His father." Mokuba answered rhetorically and as if on que, the crew returned to running tests on the now gratefully stable Evangelion.

Fanelian Embassy

"Thanks for letting us crash at your place." Kamina thanked the young japanese schoolgirl engaged to his little bro's teammate. Even though the Dai-Gurren Brigade had dealt with far worse than flooded homes, they didn't hesitate to take the Fanelian King up on his offer of beds and food that wasn't wet.

"It's no problem, you've helped out Van so much he's practically indebted." Hitomi led the group into the Embassy and was greeted by the sound of screams and swords loudly clanging against each other, "Oh great, they're practicing..."

"Lord Van! Hitomi let a biker gang in!" A little catgirl up the stairs screamed before she ran out of sight. Simon had a feeling that she did this a lot.

"Biker gang?" Simon was soon surprised when a large platoon of soldiers appeared with their swords and spears raised at the Dai-Gurren Brigade. The Brigade just glared at them, daring the soldiers to attack and the some of the soldiers shuddered from the awesomeness that radiated from the Brigade.

"Guys! They're Van's friends!" The guards simueltaniously knelt down in response to Hitomi's words and left the room stepping backwards while still having their heads bowed, "Sorry about that, Van's royal guard is really protective."

"They're just doing there-" Kamina would have patted Hitomi's back but having two guards appear and have spears cross over his hand told thim that this was a bad idea...for most people. But Kamina saw what this really was, "Let me guess...no approaching the king's lady?"

"Correct." One of the guards answered, "Unless he or she gives permission."

"He's already taken guys." Hitomi said with a sign, pointing out Kamina's well-endowed sniper in the bikini top. Steam of arousal off of their armor as they lowered their lances and ran to the bathroom with a box of tissues. "Let me show you guys around..."

Smith Residence

"Look man...we've still got the top floor," Bit tried to reason with his teammate while holding all of his girlfriend's unneeded necessities. Also, the three of them were in an elevator and he was uncomfortable about elevators, "We can sleep on the roof for-"

"Bit...the Negotiator and Bro codes forbid me from leaving you without aid." Roger stated to Bit as the elevator rose to the higher levels of the Smith Residence, "So just smile and accept it."

"No complaints here!" Leena called out when the elevator closed and Roger allowed her to leave first as gentlemen should. Bit, barely managed to step out of the elevator and dropped all of his girlfriend's stuff.

"Shouldn't you carry those to her room?" Roger asked, Bit had a feeling he'd be pushing about being a gentleman despite not offering to carry anything himself. Isn't there a rule somewhere in the Bro Code that stated that a comrade should another comrade with physical endeavors?

"I'll let him off the hook Mr. Smith, I can take it from here." Leena said as she blew a kiss to her boyfriend just before the elevator doors closed. Leaving Bit with a small percentage that this box of metal going up and down by a wire would malfunction and there goes the rest of his life.

"So..." Bit barely heard Roger he was so uncomfortable in this elevator, "How did you meet her?"

"We were on the same team and then..." Truth be told, Bit wasn't really sure about what exactly he did to get with Leena...but it did have something to do with a party that had Berry White and Jello Shots, "It just happened."

"That's the usual story." Roger said as if something similar had happened to him. Finally, the elevator stopped and Bit jumped out as if the doors were about to close at any minute. After relaxing he whistled when he saw the room he was now in.

"So this is Big-O's hanger..." Bit was quietly sarcastically impressed that a billionaire was able to have such an expansively large hanger for a single mecha. "You and your butler make repairs by yourself?"

"Most of the time." Roger explained as they made their way to where Big-O was docked, "Recently, Norman's hired help since he's coming up in years but they're alright...KEEP HER AWAY FROM THE COCKPIT!" Roger started dashing for Big-O with Bit close behind. After climbing a ladder, Bit noticed that some techs were working on Big-O's cockpit and one of them wasn't allowed any distance because of the wires attempting to pull the young woman into it's core.

"Big O! That's ungentlemen-like! Control yourself!" At Roger's admonishment, the wires receded back into the cockpit. Much to everyone's relief as Roger walked over to the still shaken mechanic, "I sincerely apologize..."

"Oh don't worry it wouldn't be the first time." The Mechanic said, brushing off Roger's concern. "Big-O has...needs...all males do."

"Build him a playmate..." Roger's glare suggested that Bit rethink his words, "Or I'll just fix Liger..." Bit's Liger Zero was placed on a ramp close to the entrance to the transportation system Roger allowed him to borrow to get the Zoid there and looked like it had seen better days honestly.

"I do say...it's remarkable that you've been able to work so well on Liger." Norman observed after climbing out of the zoid's cockpit.

"I've spent a long time with him," Bit explained, "When we first met, I was just a junk dealer scrapping a living from parts I'd take from zoidss battles. Then I got to join the Blitz Team and...the rest is history."

Kaiba Corp Development Lab

"Big brother! Someone went crazy in the simulator again!" Seto heard his little brother yell as he turned from his computer screen.

"What is it this time?" Seto demanded, watching his brother pant from running down twenty flights of stairs because he's too lazy to make an elevator.

"GM pilot tried to show off and turned the dial to eleven." Mokuba explained, "He'll be in a coma for at least a year."

"Whatever...By the way, how come I have to fix that Eva when everyone else can fix their own mecha?" Seto just watched his little brother shrug and smirk in that way that told Seto he'd been a baaddd boy, "You called her an old hag?"

"Just like you said."

"Bout time you did something right..." Kaiba then turned his attention back to his ridiculously big computer screen(though it palls to the size of his ego) and continued typing on his computer, "Now let's see if Nerv crawls to us."

"What are you doing?"

"Buying shares in Nintendo."

"You really think the Japanese will let you do that?" As nice as they were, Mokuba knew that his brother knew that the world knew never to mess with anything the Japanese love. The list included: Samurai, Shinto Shrines, School-girls, Robots, Gundam, Final Fantasy...and Nintendo was somewhere towards the very top.

"All in good time, Mokuba." Seto merely said before going through with his deviously complicated plan.

Secret Location on an unidentified mass of land which you'll never know existed...because it doesn't exist.

At the moment, the director of Nerv was slowly counting away in his mind and thanked whatever god actually existed that he would only have to tolerate these dominoes around him for a little while longer.

"Ikari." Seele 04 spoke, "How dare you let Unit 1 fall into the hands of that card game obsessed child."

"This will not interfere with the schedule."

"We fail to agree Ikari." Gendo never liked the condescending tone in Seele 08's voice.

"Whatever the case, the scenario remains unchanged." For Gendo, maintaining his calm in the face of his adversaries was an art he'd crafted for the past twenty years, "We can easily substitute one of the other pilots if necessary. Even then, I've already petitioned the courts, soon Unit 1 will return to NERV."

"It's good to hear that-" Seele 10 never got to finish his statement due to whatever was causing him to grasp and writhe in agony before his domino vanished.

"By the way gentlemen." Gendo's face remained unchanged as he heard the screams of terror and pain from the other dominos as they disapeered from view, "Did I ever once mention that this would be your schedule?"

"Ikari you bastard!" Seele 11 yelled before he vanished, leaving none but Gendo and Keel present in the assembly room. Naturally, Keel was unphasized, as if he knew that he would not be terminated by Gendo's newly dealt hand.

"And I love it." Gendo allowed himself to smile, watching as the dominoes reappeared, "Is the changing the guard complete? Genome?"

"That's Lordgenome and how do I turn this domino-" Domino 04 vanished to reveal a screen that displayed the Spiral Warrior in all of his glory, "That's much better."

"Why are you using your face and voice?" Seele 07's replacement asked.

"I'm Lordgenome, who do I have to fear?"

"Excuse me gentlemen, I seem to have a riot on my hands." Gendo said, allowing the room to vanish as he turned off the holoprojector and found himself answering the phone in his office. Death threats were common for this man, but the news that he just learned caused a reaction at the least, "He did what?"

Elsewhere...on the moon

Tabris was now terribly bored. It turned out that Liam Neeson's daughter was actually out with her attractive yet noble and trustworthy fiancee and he felt pretty bad about releasing the Kraken upon an innocent city because of his over-protectiveness.

Not to mention getting the Kraken turned into Sushi.

Which left Tabris with the task of unleashing another monstrosity upon the world. Unlike last time however, he had already picked out this next target.

"Hit the Panic Button on the Dragon." Tabris sang as he threw down the lance onto his target sleeping far within the mantle of the earth, "He's frustrated that he has one."

Angel Groove District 27

"Did anyone else just feel that?" Simon asked the others, noting the huge shake that had vibrated through his feet. Life in the mines wasn't something Simon liked to think back to, but they did teach him a valid lesson about keeping track of seismic movements.

This one wasn't natural.

"Feel what?" Shinji asked in reply as they stood in the moving line to the theater. Simon was a bit disapointed that none of the Dai-Gurren Brigade had wanted to go with him and Nia to see X-Men. Even though there were a small group of people in black cloaks with a flaming skull with sunglasses on the back that no one else wore who seemed very familiar and suspicious to Simon.

"The ground just shook." Simon said then felt the ground relax, "Never mind..."

"IDs." Shinji and Simon gave their id's to the cashier in response. Even though this was a PG-13 movie, neither felt any reason to be mad about being mistaken for children. "What'll it be Captains?"

"Captains?" The boys were shocked to have been called by those ranks.

"Yeah...it says here that the two of you are Defense Force Field Majors." The Cashier stated with an apparently suspiciously raised eyebrow.

"Look they're not-"

"Don't worry I'm just messing with you boys." The cashier laughed, though the boys weren't amused, "Sides, if they were fake then he wouldn't have let you through." The kids looked in the direction the cashier motioned towards and saw a robot

"Step away from the predestrians!" A robotic voice boomed from the very much active ED-209 unit.

"Do as he says." The cashier warned the young emo git. Seeing that his friend's wouldn't back him up, the git pulled away from the line with his hands up.

"Present valid Identification!" The droid held it's gun-filled arms at the git while he pulled out an id card from his wallet, "Identification confirmed...TARGET ACQUIRED!" All eyes but Shinji, Nia and Simon's went wide from seeing the Droid open fire on the young teen. Except in the place of blood and guts splattering onto the ground, bolts and wires were thrown into the ground instead.

"Another Decepiticon in human form." The cashier muttered under the gunfire of the armored security droid, "Those guys need to work on their disguises." As the kids watched, ED had now walked over to where the teen had fallen without relenting in it's barrage. The teen was now an ever minimizing pile of scrap, metallic liquid and plastic that had before looked like skin.

"Decepticon?" Nia asked as Simon and Shinji calmly led the girls into the theater while everyone else was apalled at the scene of brutal warfare.

"Cybernetic terrorists known to transform into vehicles to disguise themselves." Hikari explained to the characteristically tranquil girl while Simon and Shinji briefly looked back to see ED finally cease fire and scan the pile that was the decepticon with a red flash that emitted from it's guns.

"Target Destroyed." ED declared before turning it's guns onto the onlooking crowd, "Move along civilians." The civilians did just that without an argument as the Unit pointed towards a passing police car and opened fire. The police car promptly crashed on the other side of the street and transformed into a damaged 16 ft. tall robot that roared as it threw a spiked lance at ED.

"That was a mistake." ED stated, ignoring the lance sticking out of it's visor and armed a three-round rocket launcher on its right arm and twin mortar launchers for in it's head, "YOU GET NO CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST!" It fired five rounds, two mortars in both sides of Decepticon's outer chest, two in it's lower chest and one for the upper chest just below the neck. After the rounds impacted, the decepticon writhed in pain and crawled towards the shorter droid.

Until the rounds exploded.

"Simon! Something blew up!" Nia cried as she tugged Simon's sleeve while the explosion swept virtually everyone else off of their feet.

"Did you guys just see that?" A surprised Hikari cried after getting on her feet with Shinji's help, who along with Simon hadn't bothered to turn around and look.

"After one exploding moment, you've seen them all." Shinji reasoned to his stunned date, who kept looking from the explosion just outside the theater to an unfazed Shinji.

"You know how many explosions I see in a week?" Simon asked an expectant Nia, "Lots of them...all the time...they bore me now." Nia took her date's dull reaction with an excited giggle. Hikari had the feeling that Nia likely knew what Simon was talking about.

Not bothering with popcorn or drinks, Simon led Nia, Shinji and Hikari into the theater hall and took their seat in the front row. Despite the fact that they had arrived somewhat late, Shinji was puzzled that a single commercial hadn't played.

A maintainance issue from the look of it. Or maybe people had finally gotten sick of the commercials.

"Even without the events of 40 years ago," Shinji gasped when he heard a voice speak in his ear, "I think Man would still be a creature that fears the dark."

"Oh come on who's-" Simon stopped when he saw the same surprised look on Nia and Hikari's faces, "I wasn't the only one who heard that?"

"He doesnt face that fear; he averts his eyes from it and acts as if he never had any memories of his history." Why did it seem as though this voice was talking to him? Who was he? What would he know about Shinji's history? But even then, somewhere in his mind, Shinji realized that this man was right.

"But, 40 years can be both a brief time and yet a long time." Now Shinji realized that the words of this man was heard throughout the audience, "Man's fear has withered and even time tries to wither the desire to now the truth."

"Is it a crime to try and learn the truth?" Someone in the audience started boeing as the voice continued to speak, "Is it a sin to search for those things which you fear?"

"Fear it is something vital to us puny creatures." The word's of this unseen sage seemed to hit Shinji's psyche with disturbing accuracy, "The instant man stops fearing is the instant the species will reach a dead end. Only to sink to pitiable lows only to sit and wait apathetically for extinction."

"Wake up! Don't be afraid of knowledge!" Knowledge? Why would anyone be afraid of knowledge? Doesn't the truth set us free. Shinji paused as he thought of the man's words.

"Humans who lose the capacity to think become creatures who's existence has no value." It as though a mirror had been slammed into Shinji's face. The reflection was of himself when he first came to Nerv. He stared back at the image, at the boy who's life had no meaning, a sad little puppy who was content to be tossed aside and then called back like a penny whore, "Think, you humans who are split into two worlds, unless you want the gulf between humans to expand into oblivion, you must think!" Shinji watched as the mental mirror broke and now he saw himself now.

What he saw caused him to smirk.

"And Now...Our Feature Presentation!" The audience cheered when the screen turned back on to show the X-men logo. But the four children on the front row were still reeling from the lecture they'd received from that strange voice.

"That was...weird..." Even as the word's left Shinji's mouth he couldn't help but feel that they were an understatement.

Angel Groove Command Center

Walking through the Angel Groove Command Center, Simon was in a great mood. Sure, Angel Groove wasn't quite what that commercial with the powerthirst drink Kamina drinks all the time had said it would be. But he loved every minute of being here.

Sure, yesturday was a huge cluster of confusion from that incident with the police car and that emo git, but Simon enjoyed the X-Men movie and so did Nia. Further, it looked like Shinji was becoming less depressed and angsty for some reason which increased chances for another double date.

Nia was also living with the Dai-Gurren group, at least she would be by the end of the week. This and the fact that he'd received a note from Kaiba promising a bonus for his recent good work really served to perk the young man's spirits.

"Someone give me a piece of the-" Simon's rising excitement was tamed when he saw the angry and dissapointed faces of the crew inside the command center as he entered, "There is no cake." His mood dropped more when everyone slowly nodded their faces, "It's Kaiba isn't it?" Another group of nods pretty destroyed Simon's mood and he took his place next to an equally dissappointed Shinji, "How did he get you?"

"Cake and the Necromoniom." Shinji's answer earned him a questioning eyebrow but he didn't seem to really care. Besides, everyone was turning their attention the opening doors leading into Kaiba's usual spot in the Command Center.

"Hello fellow defenders of the Angel Groove Defense Force-" Kaiba stopped to avoid a backstab with a playing card and then slashed the card across the man's neck, "So you noticed that there is no cake. But Mokuba will soon be here with something better than a cake." Everyone was so angry at Kaiba that they failed to notice his would-be assassin bleeding out behind him.

"Better be a pie." Since this whole meeting had kept Bit from making his favorite pie with Leena, he expected Kaiba to compensate.

"Or a batch of cookies." Roger heard a crewmember say, the negotiator would have given a questioning glance if not for the fact that the employee happened to have been a Qunari.

You don't want to mess with those guys.

"Good news everyone!" Mokuba stepped into the Main Center with a bounce in his step, "Kaiba Corp has acquired a new mutually beneficial asset to our capabilities."

"A new pumping system to drain out our flooded homes?" As nice as the Smith Residence was, Bit preferred to do his business at home.

"More funds for enhancements to our mecha?" As much as he hated to admit it, Van knew that keeping Escaflowne on the cutting edge of technology tended to help when you're trying to win and survive.

"A better contract?" Smith had recently overlooked his initial agreement with Kaiba and found a disturbing loophole.

"Respect and rights as an emancipated adult?" Shinji would've been just happen with thanks for protecting Kaiba's city, but somehow...young Ikari felt bold since talking with Hikari

"A bakery?" That way, Simon could make all the cookies and cake with Nia and the rest of the team...Okay just Nia. Baking sweets was on the dangerous border between manliness and being a doormat so it would be best not to let Kamina know about the bakery.

"No! We've successfully bought out Nintendo! Which means we're expanding our facility." Seto answered, putting everyone's hopes to scraps as soon as they rose from the prospect of owning Nintendo, "Which means half of you are getting fired." Everyone but the pilots started to become extremely nervous from Kaiba's words, "I'm just screwing with you all...but you're all still getting cuts to your paychecks." Relieved as they were about still having a job, they weren't too thrilled about a cut to they're paychecks, "In exchange for enchanced defenses in the city districts..." Even if they knew it was a false lead, everyone got their hopes up anyway, "Around the area where Kaibaland is being built." Some of the crew now wondered why they were even working for Kaiba.

"Sir..." The panting informant that had ran into the room was breathing so hard that he could barely say a word.

"What? I'm making an announcement-" Kaiba looked up and deadpanned, "Is that a really red eye on the viewscreen?" To everyone else's shock and horror, they were being hailed by a great red eye surrounded by black metallic scales and plating.

"Deathwing." The crew looked up to Optimis' jar when the autobot head spoke, "I thought he was destroyed during Second Impact."

"Well everyone thought Michael Bay killed you with explosions but your head's still here, right?" Optimis seemed to glare at Kaiba, but since he's a robot without a soul, it really couldn't be said, "Alright...what do you want?"

"Pain... agony..." The voice on the other side of the viewscreen filled everyone in the Command Center with a heat that uncomfortably settled around their spines.

"He doesn't sound happy." Bit remarked while a guy next to him fainted, unable to stand because of the heat from this creature.

"My hatred burns through the cavernous deeps..." The voice said again, this time a tremor vibrated the center and caused some within to slip from their feet.

"Why? Did we do something to you?" Simon asked, epically oblivious to the fear that took over the crowd within the center as the quakes grew even greater.

"The world heaves with my torment! Its wretched kingdoms quake beneath my rage!" Shinji could've sworn that he'd just heard a dragon roar and heard someone whimper under their breath next to him. Part of Shinji wanted to do the same, but would it really help the situation?

"Okay, if you're the one causing these earthquakes then I command you to stop!" Kaiba's defiance was only making the crew even more unnerved.

"PUNY MORTALS!" Somehow the very volume of Deathwing caused half of the Staff to collapse into unconsciousness while the team listened on, "I have had many names throughout history, all of them spoken with dread: Neltharion, Xaxas, and many more. Yet you shall know me best as Deathwing, for so I am! I am the bane of all life, the darkness within history, the lord of death, the master of destruction. And I tell you now, and so it is true, that this world is mine!"

"Then come and take it." Kaiba answered, somehow unintimidated by this speaker, "Also get some clear-eye for those eyes."

"Sir..." A radar analyst stated, "He's...of...fend...ed..." His fear brought Kaiba's attention to the world map which showed an intense heat signature rising in the Western Alps.

"Level one battlestations." Kaiba commanded, seeming surprised by the staff's look of utter shock and horror, "Okay...if I promise to only cut a quarter of your saleries will you go to battle stations?"

"They're shocked that your so non-chalat about fighting one of the most powerful dragons to ever walk the earth." It was times like these that Mokuba wandered if his brother's ego was destroying him from the inside out.

"If it ain't blue-eyed and white then I don't know what they're talking about."

District 12

Roger took out his watch and called upon his partner-in-crime, "Big O! Its show time!" In response, Big O shot out of the city street with Roger standing on its raised fist.

Bit smiled and yelled out, "Lets go Liger Zero Jaeger!" At once, Liger Zero Jaeger jumped out of a hanger in another far away mountain range and roared when it landed behind Bit.

Van held his sword and called out, "Escaflowne lets do this!" A giant rock appeared out of nowhere and Escaflowne broke out of the giant rock and kneeled down behind Van.

Simon stomped onto the ground and commanded, "Drill through, Gunman Lagann!" Simon didn't have to wait long as Lagann drilled to the surface and epically posed behind Simon.

"Sir, why can't we have an awesome summoning sequence like that?" A GM pilot asked his commanding officer.

"We're soldiers, gunny! We don't need to pose and take thirty minutes to call out our mechs!" The Sarge yelled, "If it's loaded and it kills, that's all we need..."

"What's the dragon's ETA?" Bit asked the Command Center over the comm.

"Command Intel has it's ETA at two hours-" A gulp was heard through the shared channel, which was usually bad news, "Make it thirty minutes."

"Hey guys...question." This had bugged Bit ever since he'd made repairs to Liger and Big-O despite Roger's protest and he had to let the others in on it, "Doesn't it feel like out deployment was...recycled somehow?" Silence was the answer Bit expected and that was exactly what he got.

"We can't let it near the city." Roger suggested wondering just how long Bit was up last night.

"Then we shall go to the city's border and make our stand there!" Van declared to all present and since he's king, you could say that was his deployment plan.

"Then let's bring out our guns!" Simon cried out, "Combine."

"Combine!" The rest of the team called at the same time.

Escaflowne transformed into a draconic looking torso and lower spine before Eva leapt into the openings.

"Mecha Lord activated," The computer said as Mecha Lord stood with arms crossed, the defense force mobile suits cheered on it's arrival with expected zeal.

"All units! Converge on Mecha Lord and move out!" Commander Armada ordered as the Angel Groove Defense Force followed Mecha Lord through the city streets, some units occasionally stopped to wave at cheering civilians watching them pass but they kept on their march, intent on protecting their city.

"I know I should be more worried about what we're facing but..." Bit knew that no one else was listening but he couldn't help but get this question out of this head, "Why do I feel like our combining syncronization was...recycled!"

Somewhere in the Earth's Mantle that I'd never one to be in

How he hated it.

Being trapped in this mountain for what seemed like a millenia, hearing the puny humans walk upon the earth above him, mocking his absence with ignorance.

How he hated them.

The feeling of those puny hammers beating against the armor that kept his power in check.

Then there was the spear.

A white haired humanoid with disturbingly red eyes floated just above him and mocked that he had thrown a white lance into his skull from beyond the sky. Even now, he could feel the object cause him such annoyance that his frustration now fuelled his restlessness.

Oh...he hated that boy.

He reminded him of that glowing white giant he had fought fifteen years ago. The one that caused the humans in Antarctica to turn into orange juice and get sucked into a small black ball which the giant swallowed and then...everything else...confused him.

He hated to be confused.

To make his matter's worse, some mortal engineer had turned the horrifying song of Barney the Dinosaur up to eleven and tortured his ears with that fake dinosaur's singing to little children doomed to die.

He hated Barney.

But now, he felt the hammer's stop. He felt the laughter of king's and lord's proud of their dominion over nothing. He felt his hatred build within him like a fire ready to ignite at the slightest touch.

His wrath was as a typhone.

The mountain that laid over him burst into oblivion at his emergence. His wings carried with them the flames of his hatred as he flew through the air. Even now, he felt the millions who saw his emergence and fed on the smell of their despair. The flames of his flight fell behind him in a trail that ignited all that they touched for months to come.

But it was not they that he sought.

He roared when he came to the end of the human continent of Eurasia and roared a mighty roar that caused the sea's to fall in fear of his arrival. Even the water he flew over would be set on fire and burn before the trail of his power.

No, he preserved the greatest share of his wrath for the city that lie on the other end of this massive ocean called the Pacific. The groove of angel's commanded by the man named Kaiba, he would feast on the fool's ego and mount his head upon the highest mountain as an example of what occurred when one angered the mightiest of dragons.

Outskirts of District 7

The Roar of the incoming dragon vibrated across the ground and through the mechanisms of the Defense Force assembled on the border. Some were piloting light blue-green ones that Kaiba had bought from the UN colonial defense patrol and others were in the scrapped together units that the pilots were forced to piece together themselves because their boss is a jerk. Mecha Lord stood in the middle of the crowd, it's pilots anticipating the battle that was soon to come.

"Here he comes..." A bridge bunny reported, Shinji couldn't help but cynically wonder what gave the target away. Was it's massive black form? Or the trail of destructive flames that followed behind it's flight?

"Ah...Van?" Bit asked over the comm, "In D&D terms, what size class was the dragon you killed?"

"I'd say Huge..." Van slowly answered, "What size class is that dragon?"

"Can't really say yet." Bit read through known data about the target's size and released a long breath, "Um...Colossal at least."

"There's size classes higher than that!" Obviously Van hadn't played a lot of D&D.

"What kind of dragon?" Bit was now reading through the D&D Draconium and becoming increasingly terrified of the abilities that each race of dragon possessed.

"Stop talking about D&D and focus!" Kaiba rebuked over the comm when Deathwing came closer and closer to Angel Groove's border.

"Oh look! He's flying away!" A GM private said when Deathwing diverted it's path up into the air. Obviously, this would give the troops a fresh surge of false hope that they would not have to fight this creature.

"We don't have to fight him!" Roger really hated it when people tempted fate because now the dragon had flown back down and landed it's massive form upon the mountain ridge. His draconic scales were black and red magma appeared to be surging throughout the dragon's entire body. In addition to the plates that covered his body, Deathwing also had an enormous metal brace covering his lower jaw. Realizing that he may not make it to dinner, he decided to comm someone, "This is a good scene to summarize our situation..."

"Well...shit?" Infantry Captain Dalstan answered from somewhere in the defense force, "Figured." Deathwing marched down the mountainous ridge that overlooked the defense force, the dragon's every step left a melting impression in the landscape walked upon as if it's very presence caused the dirt to combust into flames. The Defense Force immediately opened fire which did nothing to stop the dragon's advance towards them.

The Dragon roared a thunderous roar that shook the ground and vibrated through the spines of the Mecha Lord pilots. Roger managed to remain calm as did Bit. Simon was focusing on the picture of Nia in his cockpit in order to steer his resolve and not panic. Van mentally reminded himself that he'd killed a dragon before in order to stave off the overwhelming presence of Deathwing...in fact, as Balgus put it when you kill one dragon you can kill em all...though his one kill was done with his current fiancee's help...but a kill's a kill! Shinji, didn't react at all. It wasn't fearlessness that caused this oh no...he was taking inventory, trying to count off the names of people who'd miss him if he died. Something he did since he was four and his father left him on the doorstep of the director of the Mjornir Program. He'd recently added a few names and he smiled.

Meanwhile, the Defense Force GM's stopped firing and slupped into the ground.

"Oh come maggots! He's a dragon but don't go down without even a middle finger to his face," The team heard Folley rebuke over the comm, "He made the gm's faint? Screw this! Ramirez! We're getting the hell outta here! Use this flash grenade to cover our escape!" Somewhere behind them, a flash grenade was thrown over Mecha Lord and into the dragon's face, creating a minimal flash that caused it to blink.

And pissed it off even more.

"So much for a coordinated defense." Roger deadpaned before turning his attention to the massive dragon stomping towards them, "Mecha Lord! Action!"

Notes:

Author's Notes:
Deathwing the Destroyer has cometh, will the Mecha Rangers be able to stand...
or are they royally screwed?
But at least there wasn't any gorn...unless you believe Decepticon's have souls...

Chapter 5: Spill the Wrath Pt. 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Border of District 7 and 12

After the Defense Force passed through, a few hundred civilians thought it would be a splended idea to camp out near the hills close to where the battle would take place and watch the Defense Force destroy the monster of the week as if it was a movie.

Two Japanese schoolgirls were not amused.

"What are you people doing!" Hikari shouted, earning the attention of a few onlookers.

"What do you mean...you people?" An apparently offended black american immigrant asked.

"She's not talking about your race, she's talking about the fact that all of you are sitting here in a district that's about to become a thermal nuclear warzone when the fighting is about to start after being told to evacuate." Hitomi explained before her young friend was punched. Some Americans could be a bit offended by unclear phrases.

"Oh...sorry." The strangely Australian sounding black man apologized, "But to answer your question, there's no point in running."

"Why's that?"

"Cause if Mecha Lord gets creamed then this city might as well put itself on a silver platter and call it quits." As pessimistic as the man sounded, Hitomi actually saw some truth in the man's words.

"But-"

"I'll take it from here Hitomi." A voice called out from behind and above the girls. They turned to see that it came from the mechanical raptor armed with more guns than most armies could afford, "Alright! Clear out!"

"Like you'd really-" The smug snake in the back was cut off when Leena fired her gatling gun at him and formed a perfect square of bullet holes around him without scratching is pretty face.

"Wanna test me?" Leena asked before the man promptly started telling his friends that they should leave, "Didn't think so."

"Is that a...mechanical raptor with guns?" Hikari asked, though it was more to clarify to herself that she was actually seeing what she was seeing.

"Yep! My demolishing Gunsniper! Ain't she a beauty?" Leena asked very sweetly.

"I wouldn't say-" Hitomi acted quickly to correct her words before Leena fired the large cannon currently aimed at Hitomi, "It's the prettiest piece of work I've ever seen!"

"Thought you'd like it." Leena beamed before everyone's attention was turned to the massive dragon that flew into the air before flying back down onto the mountain range just barely out of sight of the naked eye, "Is that a dragon?"

"Oh now they run." Hitomi mumbled as they denizens started fleeing as fast as they could now they knew exactly what was about to try and destroy them. Except for two people who she recognized, "Yoko? Nia?"

"Our fearless leader wanted a front row seat so he dragged us out here." Yoko explained as Deathwing's roar caused her massive tracts of land to jiggle with the angry vibrations, prompting a few fleeing males to attempt a peek. A knockout thanks to Hitomi and another "warning" shot from Leena discouraged any other attempts.

Border Port of District 7

"Bit! We need to know how to hurt this guy!" Simon yelled over the intercomm, Mecha Lord had just barely managed to avoid the concentrated molten volcanic blasts that Deathwing kept firing in the machine's direction and with damage to the surrounding area ever increasing, Mecha Lord found it harder and harder to avoid damage without risking casualties among the still-evacuating pilots of the disabled Defense Force units.

"Then hold still so the analysis will go faster!" Bit yelled back, Mecha Lord had the tip of it's head singed by another blast that it had to cartwheel over and landed on the recently scorched earth.

"And let that bastard melt the flesh from our arms?" Shinji didn't sound too thrilled about getting hit. Come to think of it, Simon realized that Shinji never liked getting hit in combat and reacted panickly whenever Eva or Mecha Lord was damaged.

"Only cowards fear the inevitability of death!" Van rebuked when Mecha Lord brought out it's sword and used a piston slash to part a volcanic wave shot towards it. Sadly, the molten rock had also burned the edges of the sword, so that method of defense wouldn't likely be used as often in this fight.

"Then please! Feel free to eject and tell me how being burned alive feels!"

"Like you'd know!"

"I've felt enough to have a better guess than you!"

"Everyone shut up!" At Simon's impulse, Mecha Lord's right arm spun rapidly to form a large drill which it launched at Deathwing. The Drill impacted the dragon's underbelly and sent back with enough force to crash it into the mountain range they were fighting within reach of, "Now can you lock on?"

"Yep! Thanks Simon!" Bit sounded just as relieved as Simon for Van and Shinji to stop arguing. Which soon faded when Deathwing destroyed a fragment of the mountain range with it's roar.

"Damn..it doesn't look like that last attack did much." Roger observed, "But what is that burning energy in it's skin?"

"Enemy analysis complete!" Bit exclaimed, "Damn! It's like this thing is one big mass of energy underneath dragon scales and armor!"

"Look at it's forehead." At Simon's words, the crew zoomed in on Deathwing's skull to notice something white and shiny portruding from the scales, "Looks like it has something stuck in it."

"Oh! So if we pull it out, he'll get better and go away-" Bit was cut off when the white portruding object evaporated from a massive burst of the Dragon's energy, "Nevermind...it was just burned up by the heat in it's body..."

"Enough talk!" At Shinji's impulse, Mecha Lord expanded out it's right arm to form a twin barrels along the sides that fired a barrage of energy bullets into the creature's skull and underbelly. It wasn't very effective. "Did the heat of it's body evaporate my energy bullet?"

"Apparently, ruthless brutality isn't gonna do us much good in this fight." Roger lightly admonished as the dragon looked ready to charge another attack, "So...let's change tactics, shall we?"

"What are you doing?"

"Negotiating." Roger answered to everyone's cringing horror, "Is this Neltharion?"

"Yes."

"I'd like to ask a favor of you."

"Speak."

"As you can see, we are in humanoid robotic form and you are a dragon."

"And?"

"Is there a way for you to shapeshift so that this fight is a bit more even?" None of the other pilots could actually believe what Roger had just said, "That way when you kill us, no one will think that you cheated and undermine the power you truly have."

"This is never gonna work..." Bit whined as the heat around the dragon grew into an enshrouding cloak that none of Mecha Lord's sensors to pierce through.

"Very well..." When the cloak cleared, the dragon was gone. Replaced by a humanoid creature about the same height as Mecha Lord with an exoskeleton very similar to the dragon that originally stood in it's place, "Will this suffice?"

"I can't believe that worked! Now we actually stand a chance!" Bit's exclamation was cut off when the humanoid Deathwing grabbed a glaive from out of the heat that rose from the ground around and swung the polearm down and behind him. Creating a large gash in the ground extending into and beyond the mountain range, "You've gotta fuc-" Deathwing wasted no time, in exchange for decreased size, the creature had become immensely fast, bringing it's blade down on Mecha Lord's shoulder before the pilots knew that Deathwing was even there.

"It's burning into the armor!" Bit reported, though he was pretty much stating the obvious. Mecha Lord drew out it's sword and thrust to stab the monstrosity, only to have it's blade snapped off from hitting Deathwing's obviously improved armor.

Deathwing raked it's glaive across Mecha Lord's chest, leaving a burning scratch across it's armor and fired an immense beam of heat and energy from it's mouth that shot Mecha Lord across the landscape and leaving a heated trail in it's wake.

"This is the last time we ever let you negotiate!" Van yelled at Roger over the comm.

"Sometimes negotiations don't go as planned alright?" Even as he said this, Roger quietly agreed that convincing the already powerful opponent to condense it's size and energy wasn't a good idea.

"Taking structural damage!" True to Bit's warning, the remaining heat from Deathwing's attack had started to condense and burn into Mecha Lord's joints. Warning lights flared through the cockpits as the damage worsened while Shinji screamed his heart out.

"Everyone! Emergency Separation!" Roger ordered as he punched a glass protected button that initiated the emergency separation. From it's joints and crevices, a blue substance shot out and formed into an orb of blue liquid that swirled around Mecha Lord. A moment later, the orb vanished to reveal the mostly undamaged mecha that had originally formed into Mecha Lord.

"What was that?" Bit asked in remnant shock.

"Neutron-Plutonium," Shinji answered, "The same substance that powers our sychronization."

"That's what we've been using?" Bit's voice now shifted from shock to surprise, "Sure it's essentially the child-safe version of nuclear energy but I didn't think Kaiba would be desperate enough to use this stuff."

"So why is it so-"

"It's known for producing a wide-range of side-effects."

"Like what?" Van asked.

"I don't know, it's supposed to depend on what it's used for." Bit elaborated, "Like guys in metal shops being found with synthetic metal laced over their muscles, patients who used it to recover from aids becoming super immune to any disease, and...plants becoming highly concentrated energy sources."

"That's kind of cool." Simon spoke up, momentarily fascinated by energy that could give you super powers as a side-effect.

"Too bad we might not live to see what our side-effects would've been." Bit lamented.

"Why's that-" Van was cut off when they noticed Deathwing charging a large amount of heat in it's mouth, "This is gonna suck." The heat fired out of dragon's jaws and expanded out into a ray raw chaos that engulfed the team.

Angel Groove Command Center

"Okay...this is going a lot worse than I thought it would." Again, Kaiba's statement couldn't understate the situation the command crew observed anymore unless he had a bat credit card.

"Sir! At this rate, they won't be able to form into Mecha Lord again!" The bridge bunny who Seto was sure had a crush on his little brother yelled frantically.

"Seto! Send out the jet!" Optimus said from inside his jar. Everyone had been so panicked they almost forgot that he was there.

"But Optimus! The Jet isn't ready for something like this!" Mokuba argued, besides Seto really didn't feeling deploying it because it cost more money than most of the Defense Force combined.

"Deathwing is a force beyond any you can imagine...if it is allowed to win then nothing will stop it from destroying this world." Kaiba really hated Optimus' lectures simply because of his tone. It didn't leave any room whatsoever to be argued with. "Not to mention that you and your company will die along with it. Not deploying the jet would be a grave...mistake."

"Fine. Mokuba, you have the helm." Seto got out of his chair and left the center to deploy the jet. Whether or not he'd care if Mokuba sat in his older brother's chair once Seto was gone would've been anyone's guess today.

Scorched Land that used to be the Angel Groove Port

"Status report..." Roger called out, though he could tell that no one was in a tip-top shape after what they just went through, "Of course."

"IT BURNS!" Shinji's scream filled the comms, sure this was a traumatizing situation, but it really sounded like the poor boy was in pain.

"What's his problem?" Bit asked out and then commed Van when he didn't immediately respond, "You alright Van?"

"My veins...feel like they're on fire..." a strained king of Fanelia answered, "WHAT DO YOU THINK!" Everyone turned silent when they remembered the humanoid dragon walking towards them. The heat swirled around him with each step, the air grew heavy with the hatred that was Deathwing, Destroyer of Worlds.

In challenge to this coming destroyer, Eva stood on it's feet, pulled a knife from it's shoulder and threw the knife at the incoming target.

"My eye! WHO THREW THAT?" Deathwing roared as it failed to pull the knife from it's left eye.

"Feel the burn, mother-" Shinji was cut off when Deathwing appeared above it and stomped the Evangelion into the ground before slashing it's glaive into the Eva's eye.

"How does it feel, mortal? Taste my pain!" Shinji cried as Deathwing wiped it's molten blood from it's wounded socket and grabbed the Eva's head with the head.

"What the hell do you know about pain?" Shinji breathed back, Eva now looked horribly burnt from Deathwing's burning attack but it still tried to stand, only to fall onto it's back before Deathwing, who looked noticably angry.

"What is this nonsense about the meaning of pain? You weep that I know nothing of pain because you lie broken and beaten upon the field of battle, unable to accept that you lost because of my superior might. Therefore you cry as a philosopher and plead foul-play!"

"This pain I feel is nothing compared to what I've felt my entire life!"

"NO! No! No! No! No! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO NO!" With each no, Deathwing stabbed it's glaive into Evangelion's torso, splashing up what looked like blood with every thrust. It then grew out two massive flaming wings that grabbed the Eva and tossed it into the air, "THESE ARE THE COMPLAINTS AND BOASTS OF THE DEFEATED!" Deathwing cried as it impaled the glaive through the Eva's upper chest, "ACCEPT YOUR DEFEAT MORTAL! ACCEPT THE CERTAINTY THAT FATE HAS RULED AGAINST YOU, ACCEPT THAT THERE IS NO HOPE TO ESCAPE THE FATE THAT LIES FOR YOU THIS DAY!" As it spoke, it pinned Eva to the ground and proceeded to use it's free arm to rip armor and flesh from the purple bio-mecha.

"BUT DO NOT DESPAIR, I SHALL NOT KILL YOU YET MORTAL. I SHALL RAVAGE THE GROUND UPON WHICH THESE CITIES ARE BUILT AND DELIGHT IN THE WIMPERS AND SCREAMS OF EVERY LAST MAIDEN AS I MERCILESSLY DEFILE THEM! YOUR BABES I SHALL DEVOUR AS MY FEAST! YOUR WIDOWS SHALL MOURN THE DUSTED REMAINS I LEAVE IN MY WAKE! ONLY AFTER I HAVE BURNED EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR, ONLY AFTER ALL YOU FOUGHT TO DEFEND IS DEVOURED BY MY POWER, ONLY AFTER YOU ARE LEFT WITHOUT A SINGLE BONE IN YOUR BODY SHALL I GRANT YOU A DEATH FITTING FOR A COWARD SUCH AS YOU!" Unsatisfied, the Dragonic humanoid grabbed the ragged Eva, holding it by it's head and legs and savagely bit down on the Eva even as the disgusting sound of breaking bone and melting metal filled the air until it lifted up it's head, breaking the Eva's spine like some cruel predator.

"Leave him alone!" Lagann charged at the Humanoid, it's hands as drills and launched into Deathwing's head like a spiral torpedo. The Dragon roared in pain as it dropped the broken Evangelion and caught by surprise, was forced onto it's back as Simon willed Lagann into a mad frenzy of drilled punches.

Until he realized the drills were broken and Deathwing's injuries were healing.

"I recognize your scent. You are a rat of the earth." The dragon spoke as it grabbed the small gunman and slammed it into the ground, "What reason have you to crawl from the ground into which you were driven? Perhaps you wished to flee the crushed remains of your parents?" Simon's eyes widened as memories of his parent's screams as they were crushed in that avalanche unwillingly came to his mind. So paralyzing was that memory that he didn't notice when Deathwing slashed it's glave into Lagann's chest.

"I speak close to the truth? Pathetic! What did you hope to find here you little ratling of the earth? Perhaps you wished to pierce the sky above your maze? PATHETIC!" Deathwing slammed it's free hand into the small gunman, creating a crack as despair began to creep into Simon's mind despite his attempts to stay defiant, "Where is your brave spirit now rat? Where was the mighty power that drove you when you stood upon the shoulders of another? It was never there...IT WAS NAUGHT BUT THE FALSE CONFIDENCE OF A BOY!" With those last words, Deathwing pulled it's glaive out and stabbed through Lagann's cockpit, shattering the glass and exposing him to the heated gaze of Deathwing's humanoid form.

"We...we can't do this on our own..." Simon meanwhile had tucked his knees up to his chest. He felt so weak right then, the power he'd given Mecha Lord and the other's had failed to win and now they were all going to die horribly because of him. "It's too powerful...it's too-" Simon was cut from his sinking despair when a red blur kicked Deathwing aside and sent him flying across the ground.

"Simon! Don't give up!" Simon's spirits rose when he heard that voice, the voice that could only come from the pilot of the red gunman with sunglasses standing between the battered team and further angered Deathwing, "Told ya you weren't gonna leave the mighty Kamina out of the action!"

"Bro!" Now out of his gutter, Lagann stood up and cheered on the arrival of his comrade.

"More mortals to defy me?" Deathwing boomed, "Stand aside rat of the earth! Return to your mine and shut yourself from the sun and I just might let you and the rest of your clan live."

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!" Kamina roared at the dragon, "RAT? ANTS? THOSE ARE THE CLAIMS OF BITCHES ABOUT TO BE CRUSHED UNDER MY FEET!" Gurren didn't shift from it's stance as Deathwing stormed over to the gunman while Kamina spoke, "Ever since I was a kid I've faced dragons like you! Cowardly mine shift guards that bully you to hide their own cowardice, Peers so trapped in their own hopelessness that they can't bare to see you not fall too, American rich-slobs who thought they could keep us under, and beastmen who tried to step on us like the ants we were."

"Guess what happened to them? This sword in my hands, it used to belong to a guard who'd throw me in the brig just cause I annoyed him! These glasses, they were knives carved into my body before I pulled em out and made them into sunglasses! The Americans? They either worship my awesomeness or flee at the very mention of my name! The beastmen? Who do you think I stole these gunmen from?" Gurren didn't move when the dragon roared a current that striped the ground around where Gurren stood, "So bring on your fire, it ain't got shit on mine! Bring on your hate, I'm man enough to take it! COME AT ME WITH YOUR RAGE AND I'LL KICK IT TO THE GROUND WITH MY SPIRIT! Cause I'm Kamina of the Gurren Brigade...DAI-GURREN BRIGADE!"

Somewhere in the world, a volcano went off at that very moment.

"Damn...he's kind of badass." Bit said over the comm.

"If only he were Fanelian." Van lamented.

"Bold..." Was all Roger could admit as Gurren threw it's sunglasses at the dragon. They split into two as they neared there target and before the drake could react, latched into his wings and penned him against the mountain. Gurren then sneezed and blew out the air to punch the dragon further into the mountain as it roared in fury. The sunglasses formed into one and flew onto Gurren's face as the mountain exploded from Kamina's attack...

And Deathwing's rage.

"TINY! TINY. TINY. TINY. TINY LITTLE ANT!" Deathwing roared as it flew out of the mountain and struck the ground where Gurren was originally standing, "Entire empires have crumbled before my very breath, you dare mock me with the thought that your sneeze could defeat me!"

"No...I just had to sneeze." Kamina admitted, causing everyone to facepalm, "Well...time to advance...in the opposite direction!" With that Gurren turned on it's heel and started running away from the dragon.

"Giving up Mortal?"

"To be honest, I'd be an idiot to keep taking you on." Kamina admitted to himself, "But that's why I have Simon!"

"How dare you turn your back on-" The sound of gunfire sung through the air and was soon followed by Deathwing as he rocked the area with a howl of pain after said shot fired the knife stuck in his eye out through the back of his skull, "WHO DARES TO INJURE THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS?"

Outskirts of District 7

"Name's Yoko and I'm the only one who dominates Kamina!" Yoko answered as she pulled the trigger and fired another bullet from the rifle improvised between her and Leena by taking the barrels from the weapons on Leena's gunsniper and connecting them into a longer shaft latched onto Yoko's sniper rifle. Judging from the roar of pain from faraway, she'd made another direct hit, "Thanks for the spiral bullets Nia." When Yoko first put the bullets in, they are no larger than the average round of her normal epicammo, but somehow become bigger by the time they leave the improvished rifle's barrel.

"I don't really know how I did it." Nia admitted to the surprise of the others, "Miss Horaki? Are you alright?" Hikari's face was glued to the datapad keeping track of the pilots and looked worried.

"Yoko! Aim further up! Wind should shift down in a few seconds!" As much as Leena was unsure of Hitomi's supposed "psychic abilities" she was impressed when Yoko corrected to follow the japanese schoolgirl's advice and scored another hit in the creature's leg.

"Oh don't worry about the guys, they do this kind of thing all the time." Leena assured the younger japanese schoolgirl, but saw that something else was wrong. Namely, the status of Unit 01 on the datapad Bit scavenged from one of his earlier battles, "Is there a reason to be worried about the intense burns all over Eva?"

Back to the Action!

"Master Roger." While Deathwing became further injured and enraged by the unknown sniper, Roger opened his comm to his butler back home, "You don't look very good right now."

"Yes I know, I'll be late for dinner tonight." Roger had a feeling that he wouldn't make it to dinner at all for some reason.

"We can perfectly see that Master Roger." Norman observed, "Dorothy just wanted to tell you to be efficient, that is all."

"I'll do my best."

"If you'll excuse, there appears to be someone at the door." With that Norman walked from the comm and Roger closed the channel.

"Simon!" Kamina called as Gurren neared where Lagann had hobbled back to the others.

"Right Bro!" Without another word, the rejuvenated Simon slammed his core necklace into his console and Lagann leapt into the air forming a drill on it's underside. Lagann then slammed into the top of Gurren as the brothers, Kamina and Simon spoke,

""If there's a wall in our way, we smash it down! If there isn't a path, we carve it out ourselves! The magma of our souls burns with a mighty flame! Super Ultra Combining, Gurren Lagann! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE!" Gurren Lagann complete, it pumped it's arms allowing the awesome of it's presence to leak into the area and cause another volcano to explode somewhere in the world.

"What is this? CEASE YOUR POINTLESS RESISTANCE-" Deathwing was cut off when a yellow spinning blur flew out of the air and struck him in the back at the same time that he was shot again and a chain thrown from Big-O caused him to lose his balance.

"Sorry I'm late, last time I take directions from t-rex!" The yellow star-shaped gunman shouted as it stomped it's foot on Deathwing's face and jumped to Gurren Lagann's side.

"Who invited you Kittan?" Kamina asked as Gurren Lagann slid it's left arm through a sling on King Kittan's back and lifted the now stiff gunman to deflect a blast of flame as if it were a shield

"Screw you Kamina! I'm here to kick ass and stomp on your balls!" Kittan barked at Kamina as Gurren Lagann charged through the flames and bashed Deathwing's head into the ground. "But that's right...you don't have any!"

"Which one of us is banging Yoko again?" Kamina asked as Deathwing rose ready to strike but was caught off guard by another bullet through it's still wounded eye. Gurren Lagann took advantage and slammed King Kittan into the side of the Dragon's neck.

"I'm really not hearing this am I?" Simon couldn't believe that these two would pick now to argue over Yoko. Kittan doesn't to get that there is no contest against Kamina, that's a fact of life.

"DO NOT IGNORE THE WRATH OF-"

"Oh shut up!" All three pilots yelled as they kneed Deathwing in the stomach and Gurren Lagann switched King Kittan to the right arm to deliver a special move that was thought up on the fly.

"King Kittan!" Kittan cried out as his gunman formed along Gurren Lagann's arm before expanding out into a yellow drill, "SPIRALLL DRILLL SPECIALL!" Again distracted by whoever the hell was shooting it, Deathwing was left unable to counter the yellow drill shaped missile thrown at it, "SHIT! I LOVE SPIRAL POWER!" The King Kittan Drill impacted into Deathwing's draconic chest and threw it across the charred landscape before an explosion encompassed both.

"I WILL LEAVE NOTHING OF YOU IN MY WAKE!" The fires of the explosion collapsed in on itself as King Kittan was thrown into the distance with Kittan yelling words that Simon felt were above his age rating.

"Everyone!" Simon called through the comm, "We're gonna need all the fire power we can get!" Not that he doubted him and his bro, but Simon wasn't going to take a chance with the still angry dragon.

"Combine?" Roger knew that his partner in crime was at his limit, but he knew that he'd rise to finish the job, "Big O...Showtime!"

"Up for it Liger?" Despite it's broken jaw, Liger Zero dared not resist giving off a roar and stood on it's terribly damaged legs.

"I'm a King, that I should die while Fanelia stands defies all convention!" Escaflowne picked up it's sword and stabbed into the scorched ground to allow it to rise to it's feet.

"I...mustn't...run...away!" Unit 01's helmet broke open when it revealed it's jaws and roared into the air.

"Mecha Lord FINAL FUSION!" Unit 01 flexed it's arm as if to psych up it's body. It's AT field changed to a green color and expanded out into a green dome that encompassed the team team and inexplicably repaired the damage to their parts.

Big-O blew out it's pistons as its legs were brought into it's body to form a chest-piece and arms for Eva to fit on.

Liger Zero roared as it combined it's legs together and became a set of legs for Eva to leap into and connect with and allowed Jager's boosters to form into barrels facing forward along the legs.

Escaflowne turned into a draconic shape that wrapped around Eva's waist and melded into the Unit to form into upper legs and lower torso armor complete with a draconic tail.

Gurren Lagann leapt up and landed on the Eva to form flame detailed shoulder plates on Eva's arms and an armor piece that grew down over Eva's exposed back and upper chest. A mass of red spiral energy covered over Eva's head and faded into a red helmet that bore a crescant shaped emblem on the front of the helm that lightly connected with the original horn of Eva.

"Mecha Breaker Lord. Activate!" Born from the flames of manliness, a volcano exploded behind it as the Mecha roared to life and flipped off the Massive Dragonic humanoid standing very angry before it.

Angel Groove Command Center Hanger

"Oh look, they got reinforcements." Seto said to himself as he approached the jet he did not want to deploy, "Guess they won't need me-"

"Seto..." Kaiba turned to see Mokuba on the overscreen, surrounding by a crowd of young children taking shelter in the center, "All these kids want to see your jet."

"Damn my well-hidden affection for orphened children." Kaiba muttered as he climbed into the prepared jet and tinkered with the controls.

"Blue eyes white...Jet..." The announcer was doing a horrible job at keeping his snickering to himself, "You're cleared for...launch...I'm sorry it just looks so stupid!" Finally the announcer just lost it and started laughing as he collapsed in his seat while most of the communication's team followed suit.

"Ungrateful prick." Seto made a note to himself to horrible deduct that man's salary as the hanger doors opened and Seto Kaiba launched into the skies of Angel Groove.

Back to the Battle.

"Not to down a bailout but how are we in the same cockpit-"

"Awesomeness!"

"Okay Kamina." Bit made a note himself never to question some things in life as he focused in his seat in the somehow six man cockpit of Mecha Breaker Lord. Simon sat at the head of the cockpit with Bit and Van flanking his seat, Roger was just below and behind him, Kamina below and in front of him and Shinji behind him.

Finally relieved of the persistant gunfire of it's unseen tormentor, Deathwing roared as it charged for Mecha Breaker Lord, expecting an easy victory.

Right...

Breaker Lord grabbed the Dragon's shaft and after gaining a firm grip, snapped the shaft into pieces that incerated with blue fire, depriving Deathwing of it's lance. It then shot out a spinning piston before slamming drill shaped punch into Deathwing's head and fired the piston to send the humanoid dragon across the scorched area.

"You fight well for mortals." Deathwing's voice vibrated through the cockpit, sending chills down the spines of the pilots, "But in the end, your strength is no match for mine!"

"Does this guy ever shut up?" Kamina asked as Breaker Lord leapt over to the confident Draconic humanoid and delivered a spinning thruster powered drill kick that shattered the brace over Deathwing's lower jaw and sent him flying again.

"Actually having him talk makes him seem a lot less intimidating." Van noted as Breaker Lord drew out it's sword and allowed a blue energy seeping out of Breaker Lord's wrist to surge through the blade and extend it into a long white flashing sword which Breaker Lord swiped across Deathwing, leaving a large gash in it's chest that leaked of energy.

"Then again, he's still pretty creepy from being able to talk directly to our minds." Bit stated as Breaker Lord extended out it's left to form out a massive cannon with an energy core in the center of the gun that absorbed energy from the surrounding area. Deathwing charged another attack of it's own and unleashed a large wave of heat with Breaker Lord as it's target. Just before the wave hit it's mark, Breaker Lord fired a large blue beam from it's gun that clashed with Deathwing's heat wave and slowly edge the beam-o-war into it's favor as the surrounding area suffered all the more.

"How did we do that?" Van asked while Bit just starting flexing his hand as if he thought it wasn't there.

"Your friends are pretty chatty, Simon." Kamina observed as Bit and Van continued their discussion as Breaker Lord charged to close the distance between it and the damaged Deathwing and kicked him into the air.

"Don't look at me, bro." Simon admitted, "Some people are more comfortable with talking."

"Fair enough..." Kamina shrugged his shoulders as Breaker Lord allowed Deathwing to land it's head on Breaker's knee. As the dragon howled in pain, Breaker Lord brought up it's other leg to deliver a strike laser clawed kick that seared into the side of the Draconic humanoid's face, "HAD ENOUGH, BITCHWING?"

"IT'S...DEATHWING!" The Dragon cried as it roared and fired two fireballs from it's hands.

"He really needs some clear-eye." Simon thought, no longer at all intimidated by this dragon in human form as Breaker Lord punched through the fireballs and threw them back at Deathwing with a spin. "Then he wouldn't be as angry." The Draconic Humanoid barely had time to dodge the first fireball before the other one pierced through his chest, causing it to kneel as it held it's wound.

"ALRIGHT MORTAL! LET'S HAVE YOU TRAPPED UNDERGROUND RECUPERATING FROM A DEVASTATING ANCIENT WAR THAT YOU NARROWLY LOST AND THEN THOUSANDS OF YEARS LATER, SOME FOOL DECIDES TO THROW A LANCE INTO YOUR STILL-HEALING SKULL! WALK IN MY SHOES AND THEN TELL ME IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE DESTROYING EVERY LITTLE MORTAL THAT CROSSES YOUR PATH!"

"Okay...they're not that red-"

"OR I CAN JUST DO THIS!" Deathwing wrenched into it's wound and pulled out a massive claymore and swung it at Breaker Lord.

"Doesn't this guy have a volume control on his voice?" Kamina calmly asked when Breaker Lord caught the claymore in it's teeth, "Simon."

"Right, sit back everyone!" Breaker Lord crunched down on the blade and spat the piece at Deathwing as it kicked to shatter the sword. The shard hit Deathwing squarely in his already wounded eye and caused him to howl in immense pain.

"Finishing Move!" Breaker grabbed the sunglasses hanging under it's neck and threw the shades at Deathwing. The shades then split apart and grew large in order to wedge Deathwing between them and entrap him. Breaker Lord then lifted it's arms and formed it's ultimate attack as the badass leader of the Dai-Gurren shouted it's name, "Giga...DRRRIIIIILLLLLL...BBBRRREEAAAAAKKEEERRRR!" The boosters on it's legs flaring, Breaker lord launched as if it were a rocket, the drill sprilling before like a warhead ready to destroy it's target. Deathwing fired another blast to ward off the incoming drill, but the heat wave practically dissipated before the incoming drill. Leaving Deathwing nothing more to do but scream as the drill slammed into his body.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for Breaker Lord to pierce through the Draconic hide and unsummoned it's drill as it landed behind the hole it had created in it's target. Explosions enveloped the dragon as the shades flew back to their place on Breaker Lord before explosions eveloped more explosions, a sign that their enemy had been defeated.

Today was an exception.

"NO!..." Deathwing roared, through badly wounded and bleeding molten lava for blood, Deathwing was far from fallen, "I am not...FINISHED MORTALS!"

"This guy just won't die." Shinji breathed before Breaker Lord ran over to the fatigued Deathwing and kicked it a few hundred feet away. Breaker Lord then pulled a pair of lances from it's back that it threw into Deathwing's neck and crotch.

"Really Shinji? He's already dying." Roger signed, it was almost sad to see this proud Dragon King gasp for air and roar, but couldn't because there was a lance in his windpipe.

"There's a difference between dying and dead you know." Shinji shot back as if in pain, "Sides...what's the worse he can do? Is the Meaning of pain nonsense now bitch." Breaker Lord twisted the lance penetrating Deathwing's crotch and wrenched it out as the dragon tried to cry out, "It's easy for the guys on top to look down and say that us victims just whine and bitch...It's easy to not think about how it would feel to be in our shoes, what it would be like to not be able to control your own fate. That's what power does, power makes you complacent, makes you comfortable, makes you less able to move when you've gotta run. Now look at you, brought down by the mortals you called rats, weaklings, and ants that you had no qualms in crushing. Shall I now stop and listen to your complaints of foul play?"

"Eh...guys...we might want to-"

"No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No." Shinji's tone did not change as he thrust the lance back into Deathwing's crotch again and again after each no, causing Bit's words to die in his mouth. "They would just be the complaints of the defeated." Again, Shinji's voice was perfectly calm as he wrenched the lance out of Deathwing's crotch and then thrust the land through the dragon's crotch with a piston powered effort. "Because you're afraid of those beneath you." Breaker used the lance embedded through Deathwing's throat to pull the dragon along the shaft of the other lance and swiftly wrenched it's lower jaw from it's head, "Because you feed from our pain, you need our backs to build your power on." Breaker then grabbed Deathwing's other arm and twisted it until every single bone was out of place before wrenching it to where it split apart while using it's other hand to grip into the draconic human and wrench out any metal or molten flesh it could find and throw it onto the landscape, igniting the already scorched area with short-lived wild fires. "Because when that day comes when we decide to stand on our feet and destroy the heavens that torment us, you will not be ready for it. Your cornerstones need us to stay bowed and obedient because when we stand, you fall." Breaker took hold of the lances and pulled to rip Deathwing in half and threw the two halves onto the ground as the wildfires died out.

"Just as I thought I wouldn't have nightmares." Simon said as the scene he'd witnessed played unwillingly through his mind again and again. Then the scene turned into a galaxy sized version of Gurren Lagann being tore apart by a big black monster that didn't like spiral energy or something...Simon was about battle out.

"Does he do this all the time?" Everyone silently nodded to answer Kamina's question, not that he was scared and the guy wouldn't be getting up after that. But Kamina felt a lot of pent of aggression get released from those attacks.

"Still clinging to the illusion of being able to win?" Shinji said as Breaker walked towards where Deathwing's upper half had managed to crawl, "It's over."

"Please don't tempt-" Roger was cut off when Breaker was forced to leap back to avoid the white lance that instead pierced Deathwing in his chest, "Now for imagery to demonstrate my point." The entire ground shook as a white light enveloped the broken dragon that was soon followed by a bellow of black flames.

"I tell you the truth. No mortal has ever damaged me as you have." Deathwing's voice boomed as the light turned to smoke and fire and a firmly draconic face poked through the flames, "But while you shall rot with the wind and die or burn from the fires of mortality, my power shall never wan...never shall I falter!" Deathwing's roar sent a tremor through the ground and air as the flaps of it's wings blew away the smoke to reveal its form. Now in it's true draconic form, Deathwing was covered with less metal but the scales gave off a sinister glare as it stormed towards Breaker Lord.

"Just for future reference Shinji, this is why you don't brutalize the enemy!" Bit admonished, "Because when they find a way to get up, they won't be happy!"

"Sometimes I really hate you all." Roger admitted as Deathwing charged up a large heated blast in it's restored and enlarged mouth. Only for a large blast of white energy to sear into it's skull and send skidding to the side.

Cockpit of someone who isn't Seto Kaiba

"Really? I really have to save all of you?" Kaiba really wasn't in a good mood today, he'd just arrived and already he had to fire a neutron blast to save those idiots. Didn't he blackmail them to save him? "Fine! Clear a space for Seto Kaiba!"

"Override, acknowledged." Kaiba heard the AI state as he neared the increasingly chaotic battle, "Dragon Mode Synchronization initiated." Kaiba just sat back while his jet landed on Mecha Lord's upper back and latched onto the Mecha's shoulders. The Jet then formed into an upper back that slightly overhung Escaflowne and produced a pair of draconic wings from the shoulder blades and what appeared to some as draconic coatails that slid down from the back and over the legs.

"White Dragon Mecha Breaker Lord. Activate." The roar of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon sounded as the ground exploded around White Dragon Mecha Breaker Lord.

Mecha Breake...I mean White Dragon Mecha Breaker Lord's Cockpit

"Who are you?" Bit asked to pilot who'd just somehow overridden the safety features and docked with Mecha Breaker Lord while forming a new battle mode and then slid into a seat behind Shinji like this was just part of the job.

"Hello Dwebs." The pilot dressed in piloting gear modeled after a Blues White Dragon but to the pilot's knowledge wasn't Seto Kaiba, "Since you decided to not perform as well as I expect, I decided to take matters into my own hands."

"I'm in command of the Command Center-"

"Shut up Mokuba." Not-Seto Kaiba said before closing the channel, "So what's the plan?"

"Same plan we always have." Roger answered though the rest of the team had the same thought in mind, "Show em that he picked the wrong city!"

"MORTALS!" Deathwing roared, further enraged due to Breaker Lord's draconic appearance, "YOU DARE CONFRONT ME WITH A VISAGE THAT MOCKS MY RACE? YOU MUST DIE!"

"Okay, let me set the record straight for you..." Not-Kaiba motioned the pilots for the dragon's name, to which some facepalmed.

"Deathwing." Roger answered politely.

"Yeah! What he said!" Not-Kaiba yelled, "Around here, there's only one dragon that I allow to roam the skies. In fact, you kind of look like a certain dragon belonging to a furry who I make my bitch every few weeks. You're a Red-eyes black dragon! Anyone who remotely knows shit about card games knows that the red eyes black dragon is always screwed over by the blue eyes white dragon! And guess which one of us is white and has blue eyes?" Deathwing just roared and started glowing in dangerous colors, "Let's just kill this thing before he causes anymore damage..."

"Final Finishing Move!" Dragon Mecha Lord held up it's arm, blue energy gathered around it as Deathwing charged a massive chaotic blast in his mouth, "White...Neutron...GIGA…DRIILLLLL…BREEEAAAAKEEEERR RRRR!" Just as Breaker had, Dragon Breaker Lord launched itself like a warhead at the massive dragon. Only this massive drill fired a wave of white energy that canceled out and dissipated Deathwing's attack before Dragon Breaker Lord flew through the dragon and landed on the other side after dissipating it's drill. Deathwing at first stood unmoving, as if it's body was taking time to compute what had just happened, until explosion after explosion encompassed the drake.

This time, it was dead.

Outskirts of Angel Groove

"Show offs." Yoko stated when the shockwave of the explosion threw everyone but her and Nia off their feet...including Leena's gunsniper.

"Shit! I felt that from my cockpit!" Leena cried out as the vibrations of Deathwing's demise rocked the ground of Angel Groove.

"I'm never gonna get used to this stuff." Hitomi lamented as she helped herself up after the shockwave passed.

"It's really pretty." At first Hikari had to pause and relieze what the little girl next to her just said. But on a further look and a glance that told her Shinji's condition wouldn't worsen, she just smiled and nodded.

"Yes it is Nia...yes it is." Hikari just beamed at the agreement and watched the amazing the explosions that continued on for at least an hour.

Clearly Deathwing had had too much Taco Bell.

An hour later...the Aftermath of the battle

"Looks like our attack tore open it's body." Seto Kaiba, who appeared as soon as the mysterious pilot of that blue eyes white jet dissappeered noted as he, Roger, Van, Simon and Bit observed what Kaiba had found in the remains of the dragon that they had just waited an hour to stop exploding after they caused it to explode,"Without it's own armor to keep it in check, Deathwing's energy imploded on itself and condensed down into this shiny orb." The orb caused everyone to oh and awe with it's majestic beauty. It was completely black, but smooth without fault or a dent.

"RELEASE ME MORTALS!" Deathwing's voice boomed from the orb, shocking everyone except Kaiba, who just smirked.

"Which contains the very angry soul of our recently departed friend." Kaiba observed as they heard the growls of Deathwing inside the orb.

"It's his Eldunarí." Van explained, "Sometimes really old and intelligent dragons have these shiny orbs in their bodies that contain their consciousness after they die. That way, allies can draw on their strength and wisdom.

"So what we have here...is the stored power and consciousness of Deathwing, Destroyer of Worlds." Bit stated, the weight of every word sinking into everyone's mind, "What do we do with it?"

"DIE!"

"Nobody asked you!" Simon could've sworn he felt the dragon wimper when he slapped the orb, but noticed someone was missing, "Where's Shinji?"

"He's still stuck in Eva's cockpit." Sargeant Foley said when the others found where Evangelion lied on it's back after Mecha Lord's dissassembly, the sargeant and some soldiers were trying to open the cockpit with no success, "Ramirez! Get me a wielder!"

"His comm's silent." Van stepped up to the soldiers and drew his sword, "Stand aside!

"Need a hand.?" Kamina appeared at the scene with his sword already brandished, Van nodded to him and readied his sword, "One...two...three!" In perfect sync, the two slashed across the cockpit, allowing orange and red liquid to flow out of the perfectly symmetrical box they carved in the capsule halfway pulled out of Evangelion.

"Oh great, now I'll have to bye another capsule." Roger and Simon felt the urge to slap Kaiba but stopped when they saw the state of their friend after Ramirez pulled him out of the capsule.

"Someone call the Medic!" Foley cried as he grabbed the unconcious Shinji and laid him gently on the ground as everyone except Kaiba ran over to see how he was, "Hold on son." It almost pained Simon to see Shinji like this, his body was a mess of cuts, burns and blood.

The exact one's that Evangelion had recieved.

Angel Groove Medical Ward

The team plus a bandaged guy named Kittan from Kamina's group had all gathered in the waiting room outside of Shinji's room. It had been several hours after the battle and some weren't too steller about their victory.

Thanks to Kaiba.

A few hours earlier

"Well...according to that old hag's report, Evangelion is one of those mind-synch robots that require you to concentrate to mentally control it." Kaiba explaned to the worried team as sexually dressed nurses carted Shinji into the operating room, "The higher you synch the better you control it, it also means the higher your synch, the more likely you are to feel the damage evangelion gets." A scream from Shinji only unnerved them even more, "What was Shinji's sync again?"

"85% while in Mecha Lord." A new employee with the nametag Odin Lowe read on a clipboard of notes.

"You sure?"

"Yeah you're right Seto," The employee gave the reports to Mokuba who glanced over them before looking up, "185%...damn..."

"Good news and bad news." A nurse who emerged from Shinji's room said to the team, "Good news is, he should be fine in a little while. The exertion from the fight took a toll on him."

"Glad he'll be alright." Everyone nodded in agreement with Simon.

"Bad news is, his pain threshold was passed." The nurse finished, "He'll have to be put on medical leave." Most didn't know what Pain threshold meant, but medical leave was fair enough. It could always be worse.

"Hi..." The team turned and noticed a young japanese student who Simon recognized as Hikari standing in the hall and trying to stay composed despite her obviously frightened state, "I...heard...that-"

"I'm fine." Shinji said as he emerged from his room, looking like he didn't just almost die, "Just got spooked from having my Eva get mauled by a very angry dragon."

"Then you returned the favor." Van muttered under his breath.

"What?" Thankfully, it seemed that Hikari hadn't seen any of the reports about Mecha Lord horrifically torturing it's opponant.

"Winning." Shinji said to Hikari as he wiped away a silent tear that crept down her face.

"Cute." The team turned to see that employee from earlier suddenly standing amongst them, startling some of those present, "Sir, Mr. Kaiba requests your presence on the bridge."

"Major Ikari...it's recommended that you-"

"I'll be alright." Shinji told the nurse before walking into his room and coming out dressed in an officer's uniform that he found hanging on his bedrail, "Thanks Hikari."

"Well...I thought you'd like a change..." She said half stuttering, Simon smirked at how smooth Shinji was with the ladies, "Since you're alright, I'll just...see you later..." She practically dashed away, leaving Shinji to briefly glance after her retreating form before noticing the pirahnas in the hall.

"Guys...I thought you liked older women." Everyone except Simon gagged at the subtle implication of Shinji's playful words and tried really hard to breathe after absorbing the shock of Shinji's joke.

"What the hell does Kaiba want now?" An annoyed Van asked while the group walked through the halls.

"Maybe he'll just admonish us for the costs we ran up." Bit guessed with a shrug.

"Really? I thought no one died in that battle?" Simon asked.

"Yeah, but shockwaves from our attacks messed up power lines, caused a few blackouts, not to mention the Defense Force Units we destroyed early on."

"Lives cannot be replaced as machinery." Van stated.

"Tell it Kaiba." Roger knew enough about the man to know that lives weren't as profitable as money to him.

"Screw Kaiba," Shinji said, causing a few employees to nearly trip in shock.

"That's the spirit bro." Simon pat his new bro on the back, which caused him to flinch but didn't break his upbeat stride.

"Bro...I like that, thanks Simon...and thanks for earlier."

"You'd have done the same, Shinji...and done it better too."

"That's enough little bros! You're badasses, enjoy the victory!" Kamina said, bringing both boys in for a hug from behind and hanging on to them through some of the walk.

"Wish I'd have been there earlier." Kittan grumbled, he only heard the stories from Kamina, but that dragon would've been an opponant worthy of badasses, "But I got bad directions from a small white mechanical t-rex."

"You're just making up excuses Kittan." Kamina teased, causing the two to start wrestling over who's giga drill would be more badass or who'd have the most badass death ever.

"Man I wish I could just go straight home." Bit said while Van nodded in agreement.

"I've already missed dinner." Roger realized when the group entered the bridge followed closely by the employee from earlier carrying another stack of reports from the intelligence bureau.

"No worries, let's just get this meeting with Kaiba over with and-" Everyone could literally feel the ghosts of despair and depression saturate the air as Shinji gazed on the reason that Kaiba had called them to the bridged, "No...No...no...NO! NO! NO! NO!"

"Hello Shinji." said Gendo Ikari.

Notes:

Author's Notes:
It's Gendo!
I confess that I've never played World of Warcraft so I have no idea if what I've portrayed is remotely accurate. I also gave him a little influence from other dragons including Glaurang from The Silmarillion because will...he's a dragon. Isn't it given for dragons to mess with your mind while they're horribly killing you?

Chapter 6: Blackout

Chapter Text

World-Wide United News (WWUN) Special Report

"Tragedy struck the European Continent when as if from some online video game, a dragon burst out of the mountains of Northern Spain and flew out eastwards. As it flew, a thick toxic coat of molten ash and fire rained down behind it in Central Europe all the way to North Korea. The Casualties are still being counted, but...let's just say that we're gonna have a pay raise soon."

"In London, the Britainian Emperor, Charles the Sixteenth, has sworn to render aid to any nation that may require assistance."

"Food and shelter will be provided...!" A live recording of Charles XVI sitting in a throne covered in puppy fur declared to the camera, "To all who bowww befooree thee might of Britainia!" He raised his proud chin and brushed his massive beard, "Yee nations who we have allowed to prosper, now you see what becomes of those who lie not under the flag of our power! For all men are not created equal-"

"Nice guy isn't he? But on the other side of the Pacific, "the dragon" was apprehended and destroyed, thanks to the efforts of Corporate President and Monopoly Meglomaniac, Seto Kaiba and his well-equipped defense force. So how does the show look from your end, Bruce?"

"Thanks for asking Karen! Cause I'm Bruce Nullen" A reporter standing on a recently charred location stated with a wide smile, "Here live in Angel Groove where behind me, residents work their hearts out to repair the damage created by their most recent attack." The camera turned out to show several hundred workers at their posts, "Indeed, this city's only been around for less than a year, but not only has enough people to make up a small country, but has been through more s%*^ than most countries ever have to think about. Let's see..."

"Three weeks ago, they fought a singing diamond almost completely resembling the one that attacked Tokyo-3." The Camera now cut to footage of a giant diamond shooting laser beams that destroyed entire city blocks, "Two weeks ago, a monster related to the one sighted in the New York "Cloverfield" incident attacked," The camera cut again to footage of a large monster swiping away at defense force gm's, "and a few days later, the f%$king Kraken burst out of the ground and caused flooding for days in several districts." The last clip featured a giant crab-like turtle lobster with tentacles using a purple mecha like a club to beat up it's teammates.

"Fortunately, damage has been minimized thanks to the efforts of the Kaiba Corp equipped Defense Force." The camera cut back to Bruce walking in front of some off-duty pilots looking through burnt playboy magazines to salvage any surviving "articles", "And here with me is one of their commanders, Shiro Armada, a native of the Colonial Federation, who moved here to no doubt escape whatever crappy lifestyle he was in."

"Excuse me?" The pilot and several others stood up and didn't bat an eye lash when a clean photo flew in the wind.

"You obviously left the colonies because they sucked, right?" The camera started shaking due to the terror it's operator now felt from the glares of the defense force pilots.

"I left because it was biologically bombed and everyone but me was horribly killed by an acidic burst." Shiro answered with a tightening fist.

"Well that's happens when you're born on the colonies, cause God doesn't love you folks up there!" Bruce told the silent commander and turned back to the camera, "Well anyway, Karen it's also nice to see that the air is-" A crowbar swung into his face silenced Bruce as several pilots crowded around him to pummel the reporter with punches and kicks, "Please! Not my-"

We are currently experiencing technical difficulties.

Firing Ranch, Classified Location that...doesn't exist

"Man I hated that guy." Toji Suzahara heard one of the pilots of the Security GM's say as they shot at targets on their shooting gallery. Toji himself handled a specially tailored assault rifle and had his targets further away to keep from intruding on the practice of the less tall mobile suits.

"Think he's bad, just wait till you hear the other guy." Another pilot from Texas called out. Hearing these Americans talk was kind of funny for Toji, almost made him forget what he was piloting...actually scratch that last bit.

"Oh great...the frenchman."

"What do you have against the French?" Another pilot asked, Toji did have to wonder. A lot of Americans didn't like French people, why?

"Face it Jon, you guys are the wimps of Europe!"

"Wimps of Europe...D-Day would've never happened if not for the French Resistance!"

"Buckle down, both of you!" The GM captain rebuked and then addressed Unit 03's pilot, "Toji! You've got a call."

"Nice." Toji knew exactly who it was too, "Patch it through." Unit 03 slung the rifle onto it's back as Toji sat back and activated the channel awaiting his call.

"Toji!" On the screen, Hikari Horaki was smiling through what Toji assumed to be a smaller communicator since her head was really close to the screen.

"Hey Class Rep!" Toji greeted, "Just wanted to check in and say how much I don't miss your bossy nagging."

"I've heard Asuka's picked up the pace for me."

"Oh Kami!" The jock slapped his hand on his face, Asuka was a sore subject for him at the moment, "Please don't bring her up right now!"

"Why?" Hikari asked until she remembered something after backing up from her screen, "Oh...I saw your facebook page-"

"Kensuke hacked into it." Toji said, not wanting to think about the truth of that matter, "That Mari girl is a really bad influence on him."

"And you weren't?"

"Oh come on!" Hikari still hadn't forgiven him for the locker room incident, "Ah...they don't have a dress code over there?" The Fourth Child only now realized that Hikari was only wearing a sweat drenched training bra with her skirt and...not only had she been working since going to Angel Groove...

Her bust size had gone up.

"No, it's just really hot." Hikari replied, "The place has been burning up ever since that fight with Deathwing."

"What? You've gotta be kidding me class rep!" He had heard that Angel Groove was affected by the rise of the "dragon", but it was a bit hard for Toji to wrap around that he had a friend directly in viewing distance.

"It's not so bad...area's cooling down now thankfully..."

"Well you've got Shinji over there! Of course things would get better!" At the mention of Shinji, Hikari's smiled faded, "Something wrong?"

"No one told you?" Toji had heard that Shinji was now in Angel Groove, but every time he asked Misato why he isn't coming back, she flips out starts shooting a picture of Nerv's commander, "Nevermind...how's testing?"

"Can't really say anything except that it's tough." Toji answered, "Or I could but...mention any classified info and a ninja in black will bust down you door, shoot you with a chain gun until it's out of ammo, and then burn the house down to leave no evidence."

"Ah...let's not test that..." Hikari had heard a story from Shinji about a high schooler who was shot for trespassing on Nerv property and then shot again until he was dead. That was enough to confirm that Nerv truly wanted to keep it's secrets. Toji was further shocked when he learned that it was true. "The hell?"

"Toji?" Unit 03's screen was losing color and phising in and out.

"Sorry Hikari!...Something's wrong with the comm-" The screen went black on his end of the comm, causing Toji inhale and pray that the blackout wasn't a sign of something bad.

Command Center of Classified Military Testing Center in North Eastern USA...that doesn't exist

"Misato..." Maya Ibuki closed down her laptop, "We've got a blackout on long-distance communications."

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Colonel Misato Katsuragi kicked a chair into a table, breaking the table in the process. She had been having a bad week. She was worried as hell for Shinji, the Japanese Council refused to give her any info concerning his well-being even at gunpoint, and now she had been transferred to an American base in the middle of the desert to oversee Unit 03's completion and train the chosen pilot, Toji Suzahara.

All without air condition.

"Ma'am I'd appreciate it if you didn't kick my furniture." The general in charge of this facility remarked while drinking from a cup of coffee. He probably didn't really give a shit. "But I ain't gonna lie, this is a pain in the ass."

"I thought your men already fixed the power shortage from that storm!"

"They did." The general answered, somewhat offended that the capability of his men had been questioned, "This thing came out of nowhere."

"You're right." The wheels in Misato's head started to move, "It's too specific...I've never heard of a power outage that only got half of a communications system."

"Someone's sabotaging the comm." The general with a scar clawed across the right side of his face took another drink out of his coffee.

"Wouldn't be surprised if Gendo was behind this." Recently, the actions of NERV's commander had Misato worried. Not lifting a finger when Shinji, his own son was captured; allowing Unit 01 to be taken in a deal that everyone knew the pirates wouldn't honor only to have Kaiba buy it and it's pilot from them; and transferring Unit 05 to the Bethany Base and Unit 02 to the German Branch just as Unit 03 was undergoing final testing in the United States.

Weren't the Eva's supposed to guard Lillith from the angels? Why scatter them like this?

"Misato that's just-"

"Maya." Misato grabbed the younger woman's shoulders and brought her face up to her's. Ignoring a cheering private who thought this was the prologue to a make-out scene, "Look me straight in the eye and tell me that Gendo wouldn't set us up like this."

"Misato-" Maya stopped as if something had dawned on her, "Fine maybe he did. But what for?"

"Hate to interrupt," The General cut in, "But we're needed in the bridge." The two Nerv Officers glanced at one another before following the General. Of all the Nerv Personel, Misato was glad that Maya had gone along with her. Hyuga tended to be a bit too nervous at times and Aoba was an uncaring jerk. Maya was still sensitive about combat and all the glorious moments that go along with it, but not only was she very adaptable for a technician and savvy about workings of Evangelion's relationship with their pilots, she also shared Misato's distrust of a certain commander, even if it was at a lower level and for differing reasons.

"General, Colonel Katsuragi, Major Ibuki." The Command Center personnel all stood up and saluted the three as they entered. Despite not being American, Misato did appreciate the respect that came with her new rank.

"At ease." The General told his men, "What's the situation?"

"Sir, we've picked up an unidentified aerial craft on our radar." one of the bridge officers reported.

"Any footage?"

"We've got fighter escorts on it now," A communications techie answered while imagery of two F-22 fighters escorting a helicopter appeared on the overhead, "They've confirmed it to be an MH-53J 'Pave Low' helicopter...but there's no registration code or national identity present."

"Neat." Misato wasn't liking how the situation unfolded. So she stood next to the General, "Why haven't we shot it down?"

"Excuse me?"

"General, you know that this area is a no-fly zone." Seeing as that this was the testing ground for an Eva that was incomplete despite being operational, Misato was surprised that a helicopter would make it this far into a no-fly zone.

"Could be Al-Queda still crying over Bin Laden."

"Order your men to-"

"This is my establishment, jap." The General barked, "Until the radar reads that it's an Angel then this base and it's personnel are under my command and I say that we escort it to base and take the crew into custody."

"Fine." As far as Misato was concerned, let the Americans dig their own grave, but she wasn't ready to let them drag Toji, Maya and everyone else under her command with them. She turned to Maya, who'd already flipped open her laptop, "Patch me through to Unit 3."

"You want me to what?" Toji knew that the situation was growing tense. Not only had he been ordered to stand by in Unit 03 and accompany the Security GM's, but Misato's tone was one he had never heard.

"Toji, I know it sounds like overkill..." Misato related over the comm, "But I've got a really bad feeling about this helicopter. If you see anything, you open fire."

"But..." Toji could see the helicopter approach, one thing was on his mind, "There's...people in it...right?"

"That's war, people die Toji." Even if she was right, the fact that he could kill someone didn't sit well with Toji. He was a tough guy, but not a murderer, "Would you rather for us to die or them? If something happens, you engage that helicopter and don't stop until it's destroyed. Do you understand me?"

"Yes ma'am." The Fourth Child closed the comm and focused on his viewscreen, "It's just a helicopter and you've been training to fight killer alien monsters."

"First live battle kid?" Toji heard one of the other pilots in the GMs, a guy named Camille if Toji remembered rightly, "Don't worry, it'll be over soon...the first time's always the scariest."

"Nah...it's those quiet seconds before the fighting...that's the worst part." Another pilot retorted to Kamille.

"And then the fighting isn't so bad?" One of the newer pilots, a guy a little older than Toji but unlike the Fourth Child, had never seen live action.

"That's what I thought until Qatar." Another pilot said over the comm as the target neared the airspace.

"Epps." Kamille commented with a voice of warning, "We're not supposed to talk about it."

"I know..." Epps replied, "Why does that heli. look familiar?"

"Unidentified object, power down now." The General called to the chopper over the comm, the American-built helicopter landed gracefully in the ring of armed humvees, jeeps, personnel, and security GM's.

"Ah..." Toji rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, "Did the pilot just...phase out and back in-"

"No...that's just the window of the chopper..." Epps told the Fourth Child, though Toji caught a hint of denial as he spoke.

"How did he get that mustache so long?" The pilot's form blipped in and out of existence again, twirling his ridiculously long moustache as if he didn't care that people knew he was up to no good...

"Misato..." Maya stared at her laptop screen as if she saw the inside of a spider, "The signal that's disrupting the communications..."

"It's coming from that chopper?" Maya nodded to Misato's question, "Got your piece?"

"Lot of help it'll do." To the girl's credit, Maya had been eased out of her fear of firearms thanks to Misato's "prodding". But the technician still regarded the pistol on her belt with dread, given her nature, Misato didn't blame her.

"MH-53 pilot power down and step out of your vehicle." The base General ordered over the comm. The Command Deck observed the Pavelov with increasing apprehension. Or perhaps it was an add-on from the blackout, "Or we will kill you." The Chopper seemed to comply with the General's command, it's propellers ceased rotation and neatly folded themselves over the top of the helicopter. An then it emitted a strange techno sound.

"Hold your fire!" Misato heard a soldier cry over the radio right before several troops started to open fire on the helicopter. One of them was screaming about "Not this shit again" or "I thought they said he was dead!", there was too much gunfire for Misato to be sure.

That and the helicopter was shifted and switching around it's composition and beginning to form into something else entirely.

"Shit." Misato couldn't agree with Maya more as some 33 foot machine stood up from where the helicopter used to be and started firing energy projectiles from the guns on it's wrists. Fortunately, Unit 03 had already opened fire on the enemy before Misato had to remind him. Unfortunately, the assault rifle was having little to no affect on the enemy unit's armor.

Then it slammed it's arm into the ground, creating an energy pulse that vibrated across the base, sending Unit 03 flying and shattering the glass of every building on the base...

"All hands battle stations!" Despite the announcement, the base personnel were pretty aware of the situation that they were in. "We're under attack!" Gunfire erupted across the base as the GM's opened fire on the newly transformed machine. The invader released another pulse energy shot that rocketed through the base, disentegrating any mobile suit in it's path and slowly paced through the scene, using it's other hand to fire upon infantry brave enough to engage it.

Panic immediately set in even as tanks were hastily deployed from their hangers. The machine continued to advance, tank fire having minimal effect on it's metallic exoskeleton despite its appearence. After regaining it's composure and weapon, Unit 03 opening fire as it closed the distance between them. The intruder fired another energy shot that flew towards the Evangelion and continued through it's shoulder, throwing it's arm into a nearby building.

The Eva broke the mouth piece of it's helm and roared with anger and pain, blood sprayed out of the wound on it's body as the intruder made the first move. As the taller of the two, Unit 03 swerved from the intruder's bladed attack and threw down it's remaining arm to strike the back of the machine's head. The machine ducked under the attack and fired a point blank pulse shot that severed the remaining arm from Unit 03 while ripping through several nearby GM's at the same time.

The intruder then pulled out it's propeller like blades and stabbed into Unit 03's neck, pulling it down and placing it's arm upon the howling Unit 03's chest...

Misato ducked on instinct when something crashed into the facility's ceiling. When she stood up, she was horrified to see Unit 03 bent over on it's chest, LCL spraying out of the stubs where arms used to be with a large gash in it's chest. She then saw it's assailant, the machine that had transformed from that helicopter Misato warned the general to shoot down. In it's left arm, it held a damaged GM which it lifted into the air. With it's right, it pulled out a long propeller blade and stabbed into GM's torso.

Misato didn't need anyone to tell her why the GM was bleeding.

The Machine then tore the GM in half and tossed it aside before stomping onto Unit 03's back. It bent down palmed the back of it's head while using the other to rip out a piece of Unit 03's armor, revealing the pilot's capsule. From the other hand, several wires wormed from it's arm and integrated themselves into Unit 03's skull as well as the pilot's capsule.

"It's hacking the Magi through Unit 03's mainframe!" Misato heard one of the Nerv tech's cry as Unit 03's pilot cried out, "Cut the hardline!"

"I need a key it's locked!" Technician's scrambled to cut the base's uplink to the Magi facility further south of the area, but were mowed down by gunfire from the invader's free arm.

"I'm not going to lie down and take this!"

"Misato!" Colonel Katsuragi sometimes wondered how she survived to this point. Especially with actions like jumping onto the invader's metallic arm and climbing along it's body as it continued it's hack. Reaching it's head, she took out her pistol and prayed that this wasn't completely suicidal.

Maya's hands jumped from her keyboard as she heard a ferocious cry from the intruder. Fighting against her trained instinct, the technician looked up to see the metallic intruder partaking in a strange frantic dance. Unit 03 was still in one hand while the other was prying at his face trying to dislodge something that was shooting into it's now broken eye socket.

That something happened to be Misato Katsuragi.

What Misato was doing, it gave several GM's and tanks time to position themselves and open fire on the distracted infiltrator. Still in pain and aggrevated by the retaliatory fire that still only had minimal affect, the machine released it's grip on the damaged Evangelion and threw it in the direction of the security forces before slamming it's arm into the ground once more.

For reasons May couldn't explain, Maya was now spawled on the cement outside with a broken leg and at least one broken rib. She remembered being thrown in the air by a blue energy that surged through the ground but didn't recall how she went from being inside the base to being outside.

However, seeing a tank slam down behind her put unimportant questions to rest and forced her to prioritize getting to cover. Right when she did manage to crawl under the damaged tank, a totalled GM was thrown right behind her as the assailant appeared. With it's foot over Maya's colonel. Misato was still shooting at it's face as the Machine looked down on her and squeezed down it's foot, causing Misato to cry out as she reloaded her pistol and kept shooting.

"Ever handled a gun?" Maya's attention briefly turned to the wounded soldier who was now crawling out of the damaged tank that Maya was hiding under.

"Not live..." Unless Misato's training course could be considered live.

"Here, try this one." Maya caught the bulked rifle that the soldier threw her and aimed. Normally, she'd be wetting herself and crying about having to take another life. But this wasn't a life, it was a machine that was crushing her friend.

Maya didn't like to see her friends hurt.

The agent of Deception, the hound of his master, was very displeased with his performance. Sure, he had utterly defeated the imitation of the celestrial Adam, but he had not only failed his mission. He had been blinded by two of the humans.

Both of which were women.

Enraged and savage, the ravager continued to fire all around him, relying on the map he'd downloaded from the Celestrial imitation to pinpoint where the fleshlings would flee. Without their vehicles, they would flee to their planes, without those, they would flee to any remaining armories.

The screams of his victims comforted him somewhat.

But he did acquire a valuable piece of information from the pilot of the celestrial imitation. Information concerning the location of the Lilin, the ones who held the key to his world's revival, the truth of his master's condition and the domination of his race.

"Horaki!" He shouted out the name of the pilot's last contact, informing his detaching companion of the objective. The ground vibrated beneath him as his servant delved into the ground of his pitiful would. He may have failed his primary mission, but he would ensure that none of these humans would live to speak of his humiliated state.

He couldn't see them, but their screams of terror as his pulse weapon disentegrated their carbon-based fleshbags of bodies sent chills of excitement and joy threw his spine. There would be no dawn for they who witnessed the coming of Blackout.

Insert Transformers Transistion que

Angel Groove

To say that the atmosphere of the room was tense...could be the most understated fact of the century. Optimus observed the scene from within the life-support tank Kaiba created to preserve the remnant spark within his head. It wasn't the sort of existence the once-autobot leader would've chosen, but he was content now that the Decepticon threat was ended.

Until now.

Optimus Prime was a veteran of war that waged for much longer than he dared remember. He had seen hundreds of generations born and lost; countless friends, comrades, brothers and sons all killed. He had experienced the edge of death to where it's threat held little care for him. He had also witnessed the same amongst the humans he fought alongside and observed.

Since being brought to Angel Groove, he had seen the capacity of the pilots whom Kaiba had blackmailed. They were a young assembly that had much to learn, but he saw the boundless capacity that they had for good. Even their weakest willed comrade, Shinji Ikari, had shown this potential during their battle with the dragon Deathwing despite the handicap upon his soul.

But now.

Everything that child had built up was now threatened by the man who stood amongst them.

"Father." Shinji's face was looking down at the ground while above him, Gendo Ikari, Commander of Nerv, stood next to Kaiba who himself barely tolerated standing next to the man.

"Did you rape him?"

"Bit!" Van couldn't believe Bit had just asked that question with the same careless smirk he always had.

"Just saying, the kid's reaction reminds me of a rape victim."

"Please...I didn't have to rape my own son." Gendo answered, "I've merely bent the fabric of fate to my will in order to make his life a living hell so that I would be able to control him as an obediant puppet in my scheme to allow mankind to achieve it's evolutional peak."

"So you mind raped him?" Bit's smirk vanished at once, this wasn't going anywhere pleasant.

"In other words, Kaiba did him a favor-"

"Why father? Why didn't you save me!" Shinji cried out, though why anyone would ever want to have that man as his father was beyond most of the personnel on the bridge.

"Because you were of no use to me in captivity." Even if it was hopelessly desperate, to answer your own child's plea with such a cold tone...Roger Smith was not amused.

"But...I thought you needed me-"

"You? It is true, you were useful while you piloted Unit 01." Gendo told Shinji, "But after you were captured and the unexpected completion of Unit 03 with Units 04 and 05 close to completion, I simply found no reason to expend NERV's resources to pay the pirate's ransom."

"I'm...I'm your son..." Shinji was in complete disbelief, "Why should it matter what you would've paid-"

"Again, you had no use to me Shinji." Commander Ikari retorted, "I even considered having you and the Eva transferred back to Tokyo-3 until I found this footage."

"Father...you don't-"

"Clearly, you were a time bomb waiting to explode." Ikari stated without a change in his facial features as the tape played on the viewscreen, showing Unit 01 doing things that even made the Qunari crew member grimace in horror, "Even now, you've allowed your Eva to be damaged more than I would have thought she could handle. This is also a testament to your inability as a pilot. Fortunately, your dismal performance will only be suffered by the spoiled brat with a dragon fetish and also loves to have his prostitutes cosplay as Nurse Joy."

"I take offense to the second and third insults." Kaiba answered while glancing in Commander Ikari's direction.

"Then why the hell are you here?" No longer desperate, Kittan gulped to hear a hint of fierce anger in Shinji's inquiry.

"To manage the purchasing details of the equipment Kaiba will have to replace because you allowed them to be damaged." Ikari answered while bringing to the viewscreen a horribly bloodied and heavily bandaged Unit 01, "And don't bother asking about what Nerv will to say about your exile, you will not be missed."

"Bro...Kittan..." Simon, goggles now on his face, had heard enough, "Toss me."

"How high?" Simon nodded towards the command deck while Kittan and Kamina knelt down. Simon hopped on their shoulders and bracing off, he leapt from the ground floor and managed to catch hold of the command deck's railing and hoisted himself up.

"Mr. Smith, I didn't hear you come in." Roger Smith was now also on the bridge and he was cracking his knuckles silently.

"Good." No one would have guessed that Roger would be fast enough to move closer to Commander Ikari within the speed of a blink. But if they knew who was with Ikari, they wouldn't be surprised when Smith's fist was caught by another bronzed and muscular hand, "And you are?"

"If you have to ask then I pity you." Simon's eyes widened when the large muscular man with red spiral eyes and strange mustache had appeared in time to keep Smith's fist from hitting Ikari's face.

"It's...LordGenome..." The bronze skin, those spiral eyes, Simon grit his teeth, "You...you were the one who threw us into the mines...it's your fault that my parents are dead!"

"And what are you going to do about it, boy?" The spiral king asked, never taking his eyes of the negotiator who was still fixed on the man with the yellow shades.

"Just watch!" Simon wrenched his core drill from around his neck and after clutching it, green fire burst out and formed into a drill over his arm. Simon then jumped forward with his drill ready to pierce...

Which it did.

"Can't let you do that, Simon." Simon spat as his drill was impaled and stuck in the body of a white haired warrior with large clawed paws. The warrior grinned as he formed the claws of one of his paws into drills.

"Hey it's Viral!" Kamina stated as he stepped in to defend his little bro, breaking Viral's drills with his bare hands and clashing his blade with the one Viral produced, "Too much of a chicken shit to go into a fair fight?"

"The mighty Kamina!" Called the shark jawed, white haired warrior who clashed his thick cleaver against Kamina's sheathed katana, "Still carrying around that katana to compensate?"

"You're one to talk!" Kittan appeared overhead and leapt down on the spiral warrior who was unaffected by a huge drill pierced through his body. But, his twin blades failed to hit their mark. "Ah great, scorpion bitch."

"Glad to see you too," Adiane the Elegant said, her scorpion tail easily holding off Kittan's star hilted knives, "How are those sluts you call sisters?"

"Now...now...let's not kill each other yet." Roger turned from the Spiral King to face the man in a white business suit who now entered.

"Hate to agree but yes, let's not have an action scene in the command deck of my property." Kaiba stated, completely unamused by all of the events transpiring in front of him like he wasn't relevant.

"Alan Rosewater...aren't you working on your 2016 Campaign?"

"Every businessman needs a break, least my Angel thought I did." Rosewater replied, "Oh...I hear you and that...lady of yours had a daughter, perhaps she and my son could become...playmates?"

"Unlikely at the present." Roger growled.

"Perhaps we can persuade you, Negotiator." Roger had heard that voice before, he couldn't remember it, but his body registered with absolute dread and terror. Next to him stood a white haired man with a brown turncoat who had a scare on his face and a chilling glare in his eyes.

"You're..." The name came to Roger immediately, "Vicious."

"Don't bother, I know that is all you remember about me." Rosewater's apparent body guard told the Negotiator while the tension in their little area of the room only increased all the more.

"The Spiral King and flunkies, Rosewater Corp's president and a Triad swordsman," Kaiba simply addressed Commander Ikari with his trademark difference, "Ikari, where did you dig these freaks up?"

"Seto, maybe you should just-"

"Shut up Mokuba, I have a reputation to keep."

"Freak? Have you looked in a mirror?" Adiane mused before using her scopion stinger to strike the ground in front of Kaiba, who didn't flinch.

"Obviously you haven't or else you'd never show your face in public." Adiane snarled but for some reason, noticing that "Odin Lowe" was standing behind her with his fingers pointed like a gun seemed to startle her.

"Wow...four of the most powerful people in the world are in that room and only one of them likes us." Van commented to Bit as they watched the viewscreen displaying the command deck where Kaiba and they're teammates were confronted by these strange new characters.

"Wait Kaiba?" Bit failed to surpress a chuckle, "Tolerate would be a better word."

"Yeah..."

"Then these are three pairs of people of who don't like each other." Bit observed.

"Go on."

"Well...The Negotiator has had a bad run-in with Mr. Rosewater in the past and I have a feeling that this Angel has something to do with unresolved sexual tension..." Bit explained to the Fanelian King, "Simon didn't take kindly to how Lord Genome has treated his daughter, factor in the rumors about Genome throwing the miners into the mines in the first place and there's another conflict thread altogether...and then we have Shinji and his father...Then there's...Vicious."

"Sad." Van needed only to look at his comrades to feel ever more grateful for his stable family life, "Glad I don't have to worry about family issues."

"Me too..." Just then, Bit's face shifted to a mask of annoyance and a bit of anger when he noticed someone else enter the command deck, "No...please...let it not be-"

"Well well! If it isn't my arch rival in the game of love and war, Bit Cloud!" Harry Champ called out, flanked by two very nervous robot guards.

"Damn it...what are you doing here Harry?"

"I've been stalking my beloved Leena on Facebook and finally found out that she lives here!" A passing employee stood in place and stared at Harry before shaking his head and continuing on his path, "So where is my darling?"

"She's not interested."

"Nonsense!"

"Okay! Do you want me to cut this guy in half?"

"Don't waste the attack." Bit held out his arm, though he only did so reluctantly, "Did you buy something here?"

"Actually, Champ Inc. has become a business partner with Rosewater Corp." Harry told his rival-in-love, "So that makes me one of the powers behind the American throne!"

"I care because?"

"Leena will clearly see me as the better man now! Not that this wasn't true originally."

"Okay that's it! You annoy me!" Agitated to his limit, Van drew out his sword, "Van slash!" The Fanelian king slashed the air in front of him, sending a surge of magically propelled oxygen in Harry Champ's direction capable of cutting through adamantine bunkers.

Except that another wave of magically propelled oxygen stopped it.

"Keep your sword in it's sheath little dragon boy..." A newcomer announced as he deactivated his apparent cloaking device to reveal his bishonen physique and white well-combed hair.

"Dilandau?" Van was in disbelief, "What the hell are you doing out of prison!"

"Writ of Conscription." Van snatched the piece of paper that Dilandau held out and immediately began to read it, "Lord Genome needed an extra special ops pilot, so I took the job and had me released."

"Oh that is some bull-"

"He is right, Bit." Van admitted in defeat, "This is a valid signature of Lord Genome, consul of the Tribunal...I have no choice but to honor this document."

"Why?" Bit still didn't understand what was stopping the king from slashing this obvious psychopath into itty bitty pieces, "And what's the Tribunal?"

"The Tribunal is only the most powerful military entity in this part of existence." Dilandau answered, "Well they're not officially over anyone, but they're strong enough that most powers including your world respect it's codes. Like the Writ of Conscription, allowing for any individual to be conscripted into the service of a Tribunal entity."

"Great." Bit was loving how the day went so far, first Shinji's evil father, then Simon's evil boss, then Roger's evil business rival flanked by a psycho swordsman, Bit's girlfriend's stalker, and now this friendly guy who Van was not happy about being released from jail, "So what's your story?"

"Don't address this so casually!" Van yelled, "This man is responsible for the murder of hundreds of civilians and soldiers, including those under his command!"

"Well I can't help it if they thought my uniform wasn't fabulous." Dilandau didn't seem to upset about whoever all he had murdered which pissed Van off all the more.

Back up on the bridge, Gendo answered his phone while everyone else continued their "showdowns." The man didn't make a single motion as he turned if back off and motioned to LordGenome and Rosewater, who in turn motioned down to Dilandau and Champ.

"As pleasant as this discussion has been, we have more pressing matters to attend to." Alan Rosewater said with a bow as Vicious left through the exit, "Until another day, Negotiator."

"Hey! I'm not-" Simon however, still had his drill stuck in the grinning but still bleeding Viral, leaving him open to when LordGenome grabbed the boy and threw him down to ground level while blocking Kamina and Kittan's slashes and throwing them down with a sneeze. Kittan was knocked into a wall while Kamina landed on his feet next to his little bro.

"Now you are." The Spiral King called while Simon rubbed his head and Kamina narrowed his eyes at the beastmen who had previously impelled them down into the earth. Especially at Viral who still had that stupid grin on his face.

"Hey look! I'm bleeding!" Viral called down while pointing to the healing gash in his chest, "That means I win!"

"Still...at least some of you had the courage to stand up for yourselves..." LordGenome's words sounded like something to spark Simon but he stopped and saw that Shinji hadn't moved from that same spot he had originally been standing.

"Just...just tell me one thing..." Shinji said as he looked up to his father, "How are...Misato and the others-"

"No, you are no longer of their concern Shinji." Gendo's glare continued to burn into Shinji's very soul. Even with those damn shades he could see them, "Evangelion Unit 01 is owned by Kaiba Cooperation and therefore, it's pilot no longer has any voice or ear in NERV affairs. Even if you did have some small claim, Colonel Katsuragi has made it blatantly clear that she never wants to hear of a boy named Shinji Ikari ever again."

"YOU'RE LYING!"

"Am I? Or are you running away? You are alone Shinji Ikari. Make peace with that simple, honest truth." Shinji clenched his fists and turned his glance to the floor once more as if to escape his father's glance, "Do make my son at home." Odin Lowe kept point his finger-gun at Gendo, even as the Commander turned and proceeded to exit the command center.

"Even our stepfather wasn't as much of a douche-"

"Shut up Mokuba." Seto told his little brother, he was not in the mood to hear about that bastard when another one just as bad was walking out of the command center of his command center.

"Is that why you called us in here?" Van demanded, "So that Genome could throw Kamina, Kittan and Simon to the curve; Rosewater passive aggressively own Roger; have Shinji get mindscrewed by his jerkass father; and annoy Bit with some loser who keeps hitting on his girlfriend? Not to mention informing me that Inter-Planetary Order was slapped by releasing a known criminal into the service of Genome!"

"Actually, I was here to thank you for not causing billions of dollars in collatoral damage."

"Well you know what-" Van paused when he realized what Kaiba had just answered, "Oh...thank you."

"I would've sued all of you for the millions I'll have to spend replacing the GM's you allowed to get destroyed." Seto mused, "But gaining the Eldunari of an ancient dragon of chaotic destruction should make us even, right?"

"MY VENGEANCE SHALL BURN WITH A THOUSAND SUNS WHEN I AM RESTORED!"

"What makes you think I'll be stupid enough to let that happen?" Kaiba told the Eldunari sitting next to his command seat and left the room to talk to his technician staff about repairing that damned Evangelion.

"Bro?" Simon saw that Shinji was even more down then usual. Simon didn't need a degree to know that it was Shinji's "father", but Shinji looked like he'd been kept in a pool of ice for days.

"Just leave me alone..."

"You're really gonna let that bastard get to you?"

"That bastard's my father...what else can I do?"

"Shinji." Roger landed on the ground floor, "I wouldn't bother holding that man's opinion any higher than it should be."

"Well I'm not you am I?"

"Hey now! We're only trying to help you little..." Van snorted when he saw the indifferent glare in Shinji's eyes and turned to leave, "Fine, you wanna be alone, you get your wish."

"Aniki? Can't you punch him?"

"Now's not the time Simon..." Kamina calmly answered his ward, "Sometimes...badasses just get down...what was Bright's number, Kittan?"

"Left my phone at home, I'll have to get it from Kiyone."

"Till then." Kamina gave Shinji his usual smile as he pat the boy on the back, "You know where to find us."

"Are we gonna leave him alone to face this?"

"No...we're just going to give him a few minutes by himself." Roger answered Bit as they left the Command Bridge.

"You do realize that we're talking about the least emotionally stable member of our group right?" Bit brought up, "For all we know, those few minutes will give a kid as smart and depressed as Shinji to come up with a suicide plan crazy enough to kill him."

"Well all of you dropped the ball didn't you?" Odin Lowe asked the group, startling them since they didn't notice he was following them.

Back in the Bridge, Optimus observed the confrontation that ensured in calculating silence. Of the faces who were present, he knew of only a few, specifically the Spiral King with whom Prime had often clashed with and lost many brothers to.

As expected, the guardians of this city acted appropriately once these newcomers displayed their true colors. Optimus had learned and seen enough of the human species to know when they were up to no good.

But now, Optimus witnessed it's aftermath, a child once more broken by his parent...and his handicap was sure to increase. In respect to the boy's wishes, he was left alone on the bridge to ponder into his soul. Though Optimus saw the boy stare down into the abyss beneath the bridge as if ready to leap.

"Shinji you may feel ready to lose faith in others, but do not lose faith in yourself." The boy jumped back, Optimus had grown used to this reaction, "Though I have watched you for only a short time, I have learned enough to know that everything that man told you was false."

"You don't need to coddle me..." As figured, the boy's spirit was already sinking into a vast abyss created from years of neglect and self-depreciation. Optimus had seen this state before...it had claimed many a brave soldier under his command.

"Coddle? I only speak the truth, Shinji Ikari." Optimus told the boy, "I was once within your shoes, the role and burden of leadership and guardianship of my entire race. What you have faced and conquered elevates you above most of your species. My fate has been entwined with your's for the greatest part of my existance and through that entwining, I have witnessed mankind at it's utmost worst."

"But in people like you, the selflish who protect inspite of all they suffer, I see also your greatest asset. In you, I see why the All-Father has chosen your race to inherit dominion of his creation when you prove ready."

"I know you and everyone else is trying to help, I...really appreciate it," Shinji said, "But this...won't go away, he's defined my whole life. Somehow...I know he hates me...he probably thinks that it's my fault mom died. When I was nine, I saw him at my...mother's grave...He couldn't stand the sight of me...he didn't say anything, he didn't even acknowledge that I was there..."

"And yet, you still desired his love." The human need for acceptance and love was not alien to those of cybertronian descent. Optimus too missed the warmth of being amongst his friends.

"I needed it..." Shinji admitted, "Now I know I was only deluding myself...live with myself and others will live with you..." It was flimpsy logic that the boy spoke, but Optimus saw from where it was born. "You know what...he's right...I am alone. The sooner I accept it...the better off I'll be."

"Shinji, fate at times witholds our proper reward for endurance." It saddened Optimus to see Shinji down himself after rising so far, "You may believe that your burden is yours to bear alone...do not allow the fear and hopelessness of the present to isolate you from those who respect and care for you. Pain is an inevitable part of the symbiant lifeform, it is only through that pain will we grow."

"You're Optimus Prime!" Perhaps he had pressed the boy too much, Shinji's outburst was still...unsettling, "What do you know about fear? About hopelessness? What the fuck do you know about pain?"

"I know of these things, Shinji..." Optimus said silently as he watched the boy leave. It was ironic that in his own pain, the boy failed to see nor question the circumstances that led Optimus Prime to being reduced to little more than a head within a glorified jar, "More than I hope you will ever know."

Chapter 7: Update Note

Chapter Text

A new chapter is coming soon for this story, but I need to give the AO3 audience some context.

I continued this fic on fanfiction.net and this account was inactive until the previous year.

Now I've decided to cross-post between sites, but that means doing some backtracking here.

So, I will be posting past chapters and include the original publishing date.

The upcoming updates will reflect my maturation and improvement as a writer, so take that into consideration when you read the writing style of a younger and impulsive writer.

That way, you'll be prepared for what that same writer will do now that he's older, wiser, crazier, bolder and a tad bit more sadistic.

To those who are interested, thanks and I hope you enjoy these and future updates.

Until later friends.

Chapter 8: Bowl or Die

Summary:

Deathwing is beaten and the Groove is safe.
Sure, Shinji is depressed again but that's nothing new.
I'm sure that with proper rest and relaxation, the rangers can renew their strength and get proper peace-
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
No...there's way too many people who want them dead right now.

Notes:

Original Publishing Date roughly Oct 29, 2011

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Earth's Orbit

"Great! We've lost comm with the Fleet!" Jason Todd threw his head phones at the front view of his shuttle and crossed his arms over his chest to sulk. He and his partner, Nolan Satone remained utterly bored gliding above the earth in their Longsword-class Interceptor. This patrol and surveillance mission was simply the most boring and pointless mission that the two scout pilots had ever been given. Now, they're so far from the fleet that they can't even comm back and complain about how stupid this mission was.

"Who cares...let's check on this satellite and go home." Nolan stated as he lied back with his arms behind his head. So easy for him to be calm, he wasn't the pilot. Still annoyed, Jason brought the Longsword to float beside American satellite that he had been sent to check on. Quickly putting on his helmet and waiting until his partner did the same, Jason smirked and decided to make this trip interesting, "Brace!"

"Why-" Nolan quickly grabbed the harness of his vest when he felt the air being sucked out of the cockpit. He really hated it when Jason activated the emergency hatch, he really did, "You know we have a door, right?"

"This was more fun." Jason leapt out and operated the small thrusters on his suit to control his propulsion through space. Between the moon and the earth itself, he and his partner flew towards the designated satellite.

"Todd..." Nolan was growing just a nervous as Jason as they neared the satellite, " Do you...see what I see?"

"Yeah..." Jason replied as they halted their flight on the satellite and observed it's changed exterior. The installation had been covered over by a dark grey metallic growth that penetrated it's surface and vibrated with electric blue energy.

"I don't recall ever having that metallic extension put in." Nolan commented when they realized this growth covered the entire installation, "Screw it, let's get out here!"

"No! No! Let's check it out." Tood grabbed his partner to keep him from leaving, "Bet it's like some kind of alien installation."

"We've already seen aliens and this doesn't look like something any of them would build!"

"Shut it, spoilsport!" Captivated with curiosity, the pilot climbed along the satellite until he found the maintenance hatch that would allow a single individual inside to configure the installed cpu. Nolan watched as his partner opened the hatch, "What the-" Vines modeled after the metallic growth burst out of the hatch and constricted Todd, pulling him inside the satellite before Nolan could say a word. Seeing the metal begin the shift and recognizing the displacement of imagery behind the satellite, Nolan threw himself into a mad dash for the nearby Longsword.

Then a vine wrapped itself around his neck and swiftly pulled him back to the installation, the last thing he saw was the designation SAT-1...

"Soundwave Acknowledges." The ears and eyes of his brothers on this fleshling infested planet, the machine barely stirred from his place behind the human satellite as he picked up the incoming transmission.

"Mission accomplished?" Soundwave heard his ally inquire, for him, it was a small motion to transfer visuals of Blackout's mission to the ally, "What did he find?"

"It is just as you suggested." Soundwave stated, "Eve 01 is a clone of the celestrial mother."

"Tell your comrades to keep a low profile for now." The ally suggested, "When the time is right, you will be given a signal."

"So if what you are telling me is correct." Soundwave began, "The purple demonic machine possesses the fruit of life needed to revive our home planet?"

"Correct," He did not trust this individual, he was a fleshing, yet not at the same time, "Furthermore, my associate is getting closer to discovering the location of your master."

"Where is he?" By Primus, if this fleshling withheld information about where his leader was, Soundwave would discover this and then pay him a personal visit.

"Not yet I'm afraid," The communication's officer scoffed, "If I speak for too long, he'll be able to find me."

"Understood, cutting transmission." The line cut, the communication's officer and lieutenant of his brothers switched the comm to any available brethren and gave out long awaited commands, "Decepticons, move to primary standby. The time for our revenge approaches...the time of renewal, is inevitable."

"If you call that renewal." Though all were within his sight and nothing could appear without him hearing it, Soundwave did not detect the presence of the boy floating beside him until the child spoke, "Don't mind me, I simply require this space to leave a gift."

"Gift?" Soundwave did not trust this glowing pale boy. The child made no attempt to hide his presence from him as though the boy did not see him as a threat. From his many generations of experience, Soundwave took this as a sign that the child was powerful, "Do as you wish, Celestrial."

"I am glad we understand one another." The boy stretched out his hand, a spear of transcending light gathered into his palm, forming into a long shaft with a simple helix blade at the end. "It would be a waste to dispose of one carrying such a majestic voice." The boy took hold of the now solid object and with his other hand, formed four rising strands of what Soundwave knew to be the DNA code of these fleshlings. The child dipped his spearhead onto his hand, smiling as the strands were absorbed into the blade.

As Soundwave watched, the boy then walked a top nothingness as though the earth were his sidewalk and threw the spear down onto the blue planet below them. The Communication's Officer remained silent, but truly curious, he noted to keep track of what would become of the Celestrial's action.

Transformers Transition Que from Decepticon to Blue-Eyes White Dragon

Angel Groove Command Hanger

"What's the diagnosis?" Seto had no idea why Optimus told him to come to the hanger where Mokuba and his team of handpicked technicians were overseeing the currently heavily damaged and bandaged Evangelion.

"How did you feel whenever Gorzaboro bent you over and-"

"Not the wimp, his mecha." Kaiba told the head technician as his glance fell on the mostly intact helmet covering Eva's head. By now, Kaiba was fully aware that this machine wasn't truly a machine at all. But as soon as Seto learned the full story behind this bio-mecha, a single thought stuck to his mind...

What were the Japanese thinking?

"Honestly...if this company wasn't ridiculously rich, then I'd write it off as totaled." The Technician admitted, "Even with the incoming parts from Nerv, there's no way we'll be able to restore it to it's previous state."

"That's fine then." Mokuba stated while sitting along the rails of the catwalk leading to Unit 01.

"Sir?" The technician inquired in surprise. Seto allowed himself to smirk, Mokuba had come a long way from that annoying brat who was always kidnapped, Mokuba had now become very capable and it wasn't too hard to see the younger Kaiba try to take over if Seto ever loses his edge.

At least he'd better after all the times he's had to be rescued.

"Gentlemen, we have the technology, we can rebuild Eva." Mokuba stated loud enough for the whole crew to hear, "We can make it better, stronger, faster, and more powerful than what could've ever been conceived as possible-"

"Shut up and get to the point Mokuba." Mokuba grumbled and handed his older brother a blue sheet that he had pain-stakingly worked on, "Nice Blueprints, get started immediately."

"What does ANIMA stand for?" The Head technician asked when he looked over the blueprints and pointed out the ancronym on the top of the sheet.

"Subaru came up with it, it stands for-"

"Shut up Mokuba," Seto turned as his coattails flew into a techie's face and caused him to fall off of the catwalk, "Get started on the Rebuild of Evangelion."

Angel Groove Command Waiting Lounge

"What do you mean it was out of your hands!" Van yelled into a mystical mist of black smoke as Bit, Roger, Kamina, Kittan and Simon sat on the bench outside of Shinji's room. After the visit from Gendo, Shinji's wounds started to act up and he was forced to stay in the medical center for the past two days.

"Forgive me brother," Van's older brother stated through the black mist that was apparently a Fanelian form of communication, "The Tribunal saw fit to enforce their writ of conscription."

"So you just let that murderer out without argument, Folken?"

"If I had resisted that would have invoked the ire of the Spiral King." Folken calmly answered while the others listened on, "Should I have risked our people for this point of principle?"

"No..." Still visibly angry, Van exhaled and knelt down to a knee, "Forgive my outburst..."

"It is of no concern, you act accordingly for a king of Fanelia." Folken assured Van as the black mist began to thin and fade, "Be careful brother...The tides of fate...are shifting..."

"I will..." When the mist had completely disappeered, Van turned back to his teammates and admitted, "That didn't make me any calmer..."

"Should it?" Bit crossed his arms over his head and huffed out of his nose, "Harry's right next door to Angel Groove! Kaiba's little security net better not let him anywhere near Leena or I'll blast his ass into-"

"There are children present, mind your language." Roger admonished, referring not just to Simon but to a little boy who was visiting his injured older brother, "For now, we'll just have to work with this situation."

"They punch, we punch back..." Simon stated, "We're not going back..."

"Who ever said we were, little bro?" Kamina asked while he sat with his back against the wall as if this had no concern for a man of his calibur of awesomeness, "Your drill doesn't go backwards! It only goes up and forward! If the beastmen try to stop us, just drill em in their faces!"

"Leave the bitch for me though!" Kittan barked before the door to their fifth member opened, "Hey Shinji...how are ya holding up?"

"Well I can't ever go home again, but why worry about it?" Shinji answered, now robed in a patient's tunic with his officer pants underneath, "I'm useless to him, so at least he'll leave me alone."

"You sure he won't try to take Eva?"

"Nerv has about Three active Evas, plus two more in testing." Shinji answered Bit, "Plus they were planning on spanning the series up to Unit 13, they won't miss the test-type Eva."

Unspecified Location...that doesn't exist

"Tell me Gendo..." Seele 09 mused as the changed guard assembled to discuss a recent development, "Why did you allow Kaiba-boy to buy your precious Unit 01?"

"I agree," Seele 07 stated, "Wasn't Unit 01 essential to your plan?"

"Unit 01's role has not changed." Gendo answered without breaking his posture as the members of Seele listened, "I've merely isolated the pilot in an environment where he can more safely be controlled and manipulated."

"Yes, an area close to where the Special Nerv Installation was destroyed." Seele 05 stated, "Do you know anything about that?"

"From what little information we've gathered, there appear to be no survivors." LordGenome reported as scattered cuts of footage from the Unit 03 Testing Center played on the ceiling above. "The Hound is looking for it's master."

"Good luck trying find him." Seele 11 boasted, "That tin-can's been locked up in the deepest part of the ocean. We're not worried about Cybertronians...they're just the last remaining trash from a dead planet."

"Regardless, we should keep an eye out for their activities." Seele 00 suggested, "Gendo, what of Unit 02, seeing as that it has been stationed so close to my little cottage?"

"Do as you wish." Gendo told the associate within Europe, "Until further notice gentlemen." With that, the imagery of all save Seele 00 and Keelz vanished.

"A little while longer," Seele 00 mused as his domino also warped from the room, leaving a very hopeless and dumbfounded Keelz to sit in the dark and wonder to himself about exactly when Gendo Rokubongai, the Tokyo Brawler, managed to wrestle control of one of the most powerful societies on the planet.

Why didn't they kill Yui before she became a threat? Now look what that blasted woman had produced...

Angel Groove District 24 Downtown...where nothing interesting ever happens...

Except when most of the denizens were gathered in the square after a very interesting event happened. At first it was no different than any other afternoon, everyone moved about their day, employees went to their jobs, children passed through for a snack and the bakeries remained filled with eager customers eager to try out sweets from around the world and beyond it.

Then the boy on his Moped had an accident.

Granted, he was driving very recklessly and it was a miracle that he didn't hit anyone in the street or the sidewalk. But that wasn't what caused the accident...Something hit the poor boy in the head and knocked him into the curve while his moped flipped into the side of a gentleman's club. The boy was of course alive but still lying on the ground.

No one wanted to touch what was in his head.

"Are you alright?" An old man asked as he bent down to where the boy in the blue sweat lay while the growing crowd around him watched the scene with curiosity and concern. Accept for the boy's black hair schoolmate who sat down and drained a bottle of Pineapple juice as she sat on the boy's lap.

"He has a lance in his head," The girl stated to the old man, "What do you think?" The lance was almost divine, it was completely white with a translucent aura that gave off the impression that it had fallen from the heavens themselves.

"Of everything that's been thrown into my head," The boy clearly and apathetically lamented to the crowd's utter shock, "God finally decides to try and smite me himself..."

"What did you do?" Another observer inquired judgementally, he clearly did approve of these two teens or their blue robot nearby trying to motion the crowd to leave with a sign that read "Move Along, it's for your own good."

"I just have the right kind of head for this stuff..."

"I don't know, you look a bit like a unicorn." The girl told her partner while a paramedic broke through the crowd and came to where the boy was.

"Uh..." As the medic watched, the boy grabbed the lance with both hands, "Maybe you shouldn't touch it-" Then ignored the medic's advice and started to wrench the lance from his forehead as though it were a minor scrap.

"Yeah yeah, just stand back," The boy warned as he stood up and pulled more and more of the lance out of his head. Soon it became very clear that the boy's head was unlike most others, "I have no idea whats going to pop out once I get this thing out."

"The only thing that's going to come out is-" Just as the boy had pulled the lance out of his head, a pair of arms reached out from the boy's forehead and grabbed the lance before this day became far from ordinary.

That was the part when everyone started running.

Angel Groove Command Center

"So I can't shut him up?" Seto asked his assistant in regards to a recent trophy. As cool as having the eldunari of Deathwing, the Destroyer of Worlds as a trophy that scares the hell out of competitors was to Kaiba, he couldn't stand that it yelled at him at every chance it got.

"YOU DARE TO TRY AND SILENCE THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS?" See, there it was again, Deathwing just wouldn't shut up! You'd think an ancient dragon would be more accepting and at peace with spending the rest of their life in a crystal orb, but no, Kaiba got the one who never knew when they were beaten.

"We've tried everything sir..." The assistant answered, "His voice is just to powerful to absorbed by any material..."

"NOTHING IN THIS WORLD MAY BREAK THE SWAY OF MY PRESENCE!"

"Whatever, it's not like he can do anything worse." Kaiba shooed away the assistant and sat down in his command chair. It actually belonged to a ship in the Federation, but much like the Defense Force GMs, Seto bought the chair and had it removed from it's maiden vessel to be transferred to Angel Groove. The President allowed himself to smirk, knowing now why those Federation Captains always had these chairs, they were so relaxing...

"Sir...we have a situation..." Seto's smirk faded when he saw the Commander of the Defense Force on the overhead screen. He wished that this was a call to tell Seto that the Defense Force would no longer demand salaries, but Seto knew that was a dream too good to be true.

"Armada, I don't have time for small talk!" Seto barked at the Commander, "Are you in the middle of a live-action drill?"

"DO NOT IGNORE ME!" Seto was using every ounce of his ego to keep from taking the eldunari and tossing it into the abyss beneath the Command Deck, but that would be too easy.

"Wish I were sir..." Armada reported as gunfire erupted in the background of Armada's location, "My unit's being engaged and pinned down by four anomalies."

"Anomalies?" Kaiba was going to have to tell these pilots to be more specific, the term anomaly was no longer a suitable description of an identified threat.

"Hold on Mr. Kaiba..." Seto waited while Shiro's GM equipped a bazooka and fired a missile at whatever it was that he and his squad were engaging, "Damn! Residents in District 24 reported seeing a bright light strike the Angel Groove downtown area. We detected a large amount of energy so we sent a unit to investigate."

"And?"

"Getting to it sir!" Seto really hated Armada's attitude sometimes, no wonder the Federation kicked him out, "We found a minor, fifteen years of age and of Japanese descent, the minor had a glowing lance sticking out of his head..."

"Oh great...then what?"

"The kid started pulling..." Shiro stated as another GM was thrown past the Commander, "And he pulled the lance out and...something else along with it..."

"Incoming!" Shiro's GM knelt down next to two others as they started firing at a large swarm of what appeared to be insects before an explosion rocked the Commander and cut the transmission.

"Why does this happen to us?" Seto asked no one, "Why can't these things happen in some other city like New York or Tokyo?"

"PUNY ANT! NONE CAN HOLD BACK THE WHIM OF CALAMITY!"

"Break it or move it!" Seto commanded anyone, relived when "Lowe" picked up the object, put it in a special box and carried it out of the Command Deck to Kaiba's huge relief, "So...annoying..."

Command Center Lounge

"We're under attack again?" Bit asked as the sirens blared through the center and everyone was running like headless chickens, "Who does Kaiba keep pissing off?"

"Whoever ever I feel like!" Kaiba's voice yelled out from the wall, "That's right, I can talk to anyone, anywhere within my own command center, deal with it!"

"What's the situation." Roger requested, seeing no point in argueing with Kaiba given the current situation.

"There's a problem in District 24." Seto told the Negotiator and nearby pilots, "Go deal with it and make sure this isn't another prank!"

"You heard the man." Van called out, "Everyone, get to your stations and let's wrap this up."

"What about Shinji?" Simon asked, reminding himself that Eva was under heavy repairs after their last battle.

"You heard my father..." Shinji stated, "Thanks to me...Eva's in no condition for piloting..." Nothing had changed, Shinji had been this way ever since being readmitted to the medical ward. There was even talk about keeping him under a suicide watch.

"In any case, you're on medical leave Shinji." Roger reminded their teammate, "Even if we could, we won't put you in harm's way needlessly."

"It's not like anyone would miss me-"

"Then why are you still alive?" Van asked, only to have Shinji narrow his eyes and veer his face to the floor, "You wanna mope? Fine!" Grumbling, the Fanelian King exited the lounge to get ready for the battle to come.

"Guess you'll have to make due without the wimp." Kaiba called through the comm.

"Cheer up Aniki," Simon assured his friend, "You deserve a break after that close call." Simon mentally slapped himself for forgetting that Shinji almost died from passing something called the "Pain Threshold". It's just that Shinji seemed to have bounced back so well that Simon forgot about it...then Shinji's father showed up with LordGenome...

At least Nia wasn't there when her father was still here...

"Thanks Simon..." Shinji slowly replied to the younger boy and lightly punched him on his shoulder, "Now get out there...show those anomalies your drill!"

"I'm Simon the Digger," Simon boasted as he slipped his goggles onto his face, "Would you expect less?"

"Just relax kiddo, that's what a team's around for." Bit said to the barely smirking Shinji, "They pick up the slack for each other. So sit back and watch us slave away while sipping a lemonade."

"What Bit means is, regain your strength." Roger clarified while the sirens continued, "A team carries the burden together, so no one should work alone."

"Alone?" Shinji replied almost chokingly, his shoulders heaved as he struggled to breath for a brief moment, "You're right guys, I'm not alone. Now go kick some anomalies around so we can all go home."

"That's the spirit, aniki," Simon's smile grew wider as he and the group started for their mission, "Nia should be by with cookies, so...try em out, they're great!"

"I'm sure they are." Shinji smiled back as he saw his teammates head to their positions. Once they were gone, he was alone in the lounge...no one was here to seek his smile so he allowed it to die, "That's...how they were meant to be...that was how they were created...formed together for the purpose of drawing out the good that they all held individually. As individuals, the cookies hold no value because a single cookie is only thus...once eaten...there will never be another like it again...it is only in the group that the cookie can achieve it's full purpose...Even when the batch is gone...the cookies are still happy...because they were not alone."

"Wow...a cookie is more happy then you are mister." Shinji's widened in shock when he turned to face the person speaking to him. A little boy with black hair and a wide eyed, idealistic expression, "Don't even try to ask...you know who I am."

"Know who you are?" Shinji saw the boy and with just a glance in his eyes, he instantly knew who he was speaking to, "Yeah...I guess I do...Rosebud..."

"Mama liked that movie, you remember?"

"Are you real?"

"What's real, mister?" The boy replied, "Maybe I am a real boy who looks like you when you were three or I am the visage from your past...does it matter?"

"You realize if I'm put in the asylum, you'll come with me, right?"

"When did you get the impression that anyone cares about your state of being?" Shinji's eyes narrowed at the boy's inquiry, "Everyone leaves us...Papa...Sister...Misato...even Mother..."

"Mother was killed by father's selfishness!" Shinji cried, memories of that day unwillingly flooded back into his head as he resisted the urge to strangle this little boy, "She didn't want to leave us-"

"Is that what you believe?" The boy inquired, "Then why did she make us watch? Why didn't she take us with her? Why does papa blame us for her death?"

"Mother..." Shinji felt tears build up in his eyes, but why? He knew his mother's death was an accident, "That's...that's not...that's not true!"

"Face it...Mama left us because she hated us...Papa left us because he hated us...Sister...Misato...Rei...everyone left us because they hated us...hated you." The boy focused his gaze straight into Shinji's eyes, "I'm what's left...I'm the only one who was ever truly happy...are you happy? You think you have new friends...but what will stop them from hating us and leaving us? Leaving you? Alone?" The smiled innocently as Shinji felt a tear roll down his cheek. Everything this boy was saying was a lie and yet...why were they making him sad? "Then again, haven't you alone the whole time?"

"Whoever said I was denying that?" Even as he spoke, Shinji's mind repeated the mantra, "I mustn't run away! I mustn't run away!" Over and over in his mind.

"Because you exist...because you carry on like a toy that still thinks he'll be played with even though his shelf is dustier than the engine of an airplane."

"Doesn't that include you?" The boy burst into laughter as he wiped sudden tears from his eyes. Shinji knew the boy was as sad as he was, but he still wore his smile.

"I'm not the one in denial mister. I always knew that the love of family was uncompromising, neither of them had a reason to hate us. But they did and they left us to suffer...they left us because they didn't want us and then they took away sister and made her hate us too...But then you decided to cover that over with false and flimsy hope that one day that family would come for you."

"I...don't...need him..." Shinji growled almost ready to tackle this little boy, "I can live with myself...and then...others...will love and live with me..."

"Who are you trying to delude?" The boy tilted his head while still wearing the same innocent smile, "Someone who might not be real...or yourself?"

Angel Groove District 24

"You alright Van?"

"I might've been a bit hard on Shinji..." Van lamented in answer to Simon, "I'm still frustrated about Dilandu and that rubbed off on him...A king should be in control of his emotions..."

"You're only human," Bit said to Van and then scratched his nose when he remembered something, "Sort of..."

"You can apologize to him after we come to terms with these anomalies." Roger assured Van before turning to Bit, "Any word from the Defense Force?"

"Shiro got some of the unit to a safe zone, but the rest got trapped and they'll need some help."

"Then what are we waiting for!" Simon stomped onto the ground and commanded, "Drill through, Gunman Lagann!" Simon didn't have to wait long as Lagann drilled to the surface and epically posed behind Simon, "Let's show em that there in the wrong town!"

"Exactly what I had in mind!" Roger took out his watch and called into it, "Big O! Its show time!" In response, Big O shot out of the city street with Roger standing on its raised fist.

"Little excited aren't we?" Bit smiled and yelled out, "Lets go Liger Zero!" At once, Liger Zero jumped out of a hanger in another far away mountain range and roared when it landed behind Bit.

"Keep the breath before the plunge, it's the battle I seek!" Van held his sword and called out, "Escaflowne I summon thee!" A giant rock appears out of nowhere and Escaflowne breaks out of the giant rock and kneels down behind Van.

"Getting a call from the Defense Force." Bit reported as the Team gathered on the border to District 24, "Looks like those anomalies are really wrecking stuff up. They're being forced to split into four groups retreating to different areas of the district."

"Then that's what we'll do." Van affirmed, "Sounds like the anomalies are acting independently anyway, keep the comm connected in case anyone hears anything."

"After what we've been through, these four don't sound that bad."

"We'll just have to see." Roger said to Simon, "Mecha Rangers, move out!" As Big O marched into the District, Liger Zero leapt and bounded on top of buildings as Lagann sped into a rapid dash while Escaflowne leapt up and was gone, a single feather was all that was left.

Angel Groove District 24...what used to be Downtown

"Bought time you woke up." The boy never went to sleep in the first place. He just didn't feel like getting up after having to pull a glowing lance from his head and all the other stuff that popped out.

"Eri..." He hated it when Eri sat next to his head and just looked down. It was too cute and borderline kid's stuff, "What the hell happened?" Finally standing up, the boy realized that he was standing in a desolate square and explosions were going off in four different directions.

"No wonder the Feds want your head." Eri rubbed her hand through the boy's head as if there were cat ears hidden there somewhere, "If it had been mine then it wouldn't have been this bad."

"I didn't see you doing anything..." A few feet away, their blue robot was polishing the boy's moped while reading a war-time playboy edition.

"Except for keeping you and Kanti from getting killed?" The girl asked before walking off from the boy, "You're welcome by the way."

"What should I do to thank you?" Eri immediately stopped and produced a black guitar that she swung at the boy, who blocked caught it with his left hand, "Really? What kind of guy do you think I am?"

"A kid." Eri giggled while the boy grumbled and went into an abandoned cafe, "Shouldn't we go help out those people in the mecha?"

"Nah...I'm sure they have this covered, Ninamori." The boy told Eri as they grabbed some Snapple from the fridge inside and helped themselves. Though Ninamori was enjoying her drink better than the boy did, "Who the hell makes Spicy Apple Juice?"

Angel Groove District 24 North Market

"Please don't tell me..." Liger seconded Bit's annoyance when their target hoped closer to their position. The entire area was now littered with broken apart GM's and debris, when Bit first came to the scene he believed that there was reason to be completely afraid. But now he just unconsciously disbelieving of what he identified on his targeting computed, "Yes Liger...We're being confronted by a grasshopper." Aforementioned green insect impacted the ground in front of Liger, creating a large crater in it's wake as Liger simply growled.

"I know sir! But trust me..." A nearby GM pilot breathed through the comm as Liger half-heartedly roared at the mechanical insect, "It's not just the grasshopper!"

"Is that someone riding on it?" Bit asked when he noticed a small figure perched atop the large grasshopper. The man was wearing a trenchboat, but Bit could make very insect-like features on the man such as antennae and green skin.

"Jean-Henri Fabre...at your service." The man introduced as the grasshopper's wings wildly flapped out of their sheaths and a swarm of bees emerged that swarmed Liger, but much to the Zoid's annoyance, did no harm.

"Who?" Still confused about just who he was facing, Bit was caught unawares when the Grasshopper charged through the swarm, flipped backwards and kicked Liger beneath the face, sending the zoid flipping onto it's back in frustration. "Fine! This is someone I should know! I flunked my history class alright!" Liger rolled back onto it's feet and began to bite and claw at the swarm that now surrounded it and obscured Bit's sight, but with no success.

"Well don't look at me!" The GM pilot cried while he subtlely fell back from the scene, "I cheated my way through!" Though it only had one leg, that didn't stop the GM from falling back to where the rest of his crew had fled, leaving Bit and Liger all by themselves.

"Hold on Liger..." Bit opened up the channel to see Leena playing a game about a dragon age and having to fight zombie orcs after the main heroine gets high from drinking Hawaiian punch. Yeah, Bit didn't see any appeal that kind of game would have, "Hey Leena!"

"Just got your text." Leena stated over Liger's comm while he was rocked when Liger ran into a wall, this swarm had yet to let off, "Jean-Henri Fabre?"

"Yeah, who the hell is that?" Bit grimaced when he felt the grasshopper land on Liger's back and and jump off, forcing the zoid down on it's underside while he growled in frustration.

"Born in Saint Leons in 1823, Jean-Henri Fabre is renowned for his popularization of the study of natural history involving insects, also known as entomology." Leena read out to Bit as Liger failed to connect his claw with the grasshopper's face, "Although a reclusive amateur with no scientific training, he was an acute observer of insect behavior and is credited with setting the standards of observational patience and accuracy that were adopted by all subsequent investigators including Charles Darwin."

"So this guy helped prove evolution?" Bit asked as Fabre's swarm parted to reveal a red stinger that struck Liger in the side of the neck and exploded. The explosion wasn't fatal, but it had damaged Liger's right optic and would hinder manueverability in the right leg, "Wonderful!"

"Why did you wanna know?"

"I'm fighting him right now." Leena's whistled as Bit overlooked the damage that Liger had just sustained and forced himself to smile, "Crazy right?" This was just another challenge for the Zoid's pilot. Sure, Fabre had the full advantage in manueverability and that cloak of locusts and bees had yet to let up despite the explosion. But Bit was confident the he would find a way to win.

After all, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Angel Groove District 24 South Park

"Wait..." Roger arrived at the Southern District Park to a scene he did not expect, "The anomaly stole a gm?" Standing before Big-O was a navy blue GM surrounded by several other battered or totaled Defense Force Units. Unlike the others, this GM was armed with a single beam saber and apparently drew static electricity into it's legs somehow.

"It's worse than that sir!" Eleanor, one of the few GM pilots still standing reported, "It's some kind of...electric battery samurai hacker! He just...threw out the pilot, wired himself into the cockpit and...started shooting stuff out of the gm!"

"What stuff?" Roger's question was answered when the GM emitted an electric aura that stopped a hail of bullets shooting it from behind and it's left. As Roger watched, the electric charge evaporated the halted bullets and surged out towards the attackers, disabling the two groups of GMs and causing the lights to go out in the adjacent buildings before they collapsed, "That explains the blackout...all units fall back! This isn't first time I've played with wires."

"I'm sure it isn't, Negotiator." The hacker stated from the stolen GM's comm, "Forgive my rudeness, I merely read the files in this gm's mainframe. I am Hiraga Gennai."

"You're an obscure legend in Japan." Roger remarked, "Found notes on an electric generator from Holland and then replicated the technology and brought it to Nagasaki during the Edo period."

"So my exploits are not unknown." Gennai mused as the GM's beam saber emitted an electrical charge that surged through a nearby building and caused it to crumble, "I am flattered."

"I must return the sentiment." Roger stated as he readied Big-O, "It's pretty rare to have a dead man call me by my profession."

"Honestly, it was just a memory that popped up in my mind." Roger's eyes widened when he realized exactly what the man was talking about, he heard Gennai chuckle as the man continued, "Funny thing about memories, you just never know if it's one you simply forgot or one that was never yours to begin with...but you know all about that don't you, Negotiator? Or is that simply your current avatar...Tom?"

"Who the hell are you working for!" Roger roared as Big-O thrust it's fist into Gennai's GM, only to have it impact against it's powerful electrical field as sparks began to cover the Megadues' arm...

Angel Groove District 24 Corporate Sector

"Why didn't you tell me earlier that he could fly?" Van demanded as Escaflowne swiped it's sword to propel concentrated air pressure in the direction of a dark brown aerial glider emitting steam. To Van's frustration, the glider maneuvered out of the way and allowed the attack to slice a nearby building in half.

"Sir...we were busy surviving sir!" Lieutenant Karen of the Defense Force yelled to the Fanelian King as he and several GM's rushed to keep up with their aerial target, "He's very agile while in flight and he's also capable of dropping bombs on us."

"Bombs? What kind of bombs?" Van asked as he observed the brown glider drop a pair of small pin shaped objects down onto it's pursuers. Though settle, Van recognized the scent of their composition as one tapped onto Escaflowne's shoulder, "Oh...that kind." A powerful explosion erupted from the objects and bloomed within the area, shrouding Van's vision and throwing Escaflowne off balance. While this fire attack was not the most powerful attack the guymelef had ever suffered, it's spontaneous nature and violent expansion caught the Fanelian King off of his guard.

"Are you alright sir?"

"I'll live." Van assured the lieutenant as Escaflowne slowly stood up and the King of Fanelia picked up a strange transmission that he couldn't understand, "What is he saying?"

"He's speaking German...hang on, let me write down what he's saying." One of the GM pilots, a younger boy by the name of Michael volunteered as Otto maneuvered between two buildings to avoid the Defense Force's fire.

"Could you be quick about it?" Van didn't want to be pushy, but discephering this glider's language could be the key to understanding how to defeat him, who he was, and why he was there.

"Got it!" Michael yelled, "His name's Otto Lilienthal...pioneer of human flight."

"Who is that?" Van had no idea as to whether or not that name had any meaning. He had to sit through several of Hitomi's history classes, but he never heard about a "German" by this name. The only ones he knew about were the Nazis, Oscar Schiendler and the Inglorious Bastards.

"A renowned pioneer in human gliding technology..." Michael explained to Van, "From the 19th century..."

"Bizarre..." What magic allowed for the revival of the long-deceased? Van threw that question to the back of his head as he watched Otto glide back towards him. Readying Escaflowne's sword, Van focused on the incoming pioneer.

Angel Groove District 24 Residential Complex

"Found my unit!" Simon called out when Lagann slid through the vacant street. He then started running towards a group of battered Defense Force GMs, "Guys, what's going?"

"Hey! It's Simon!" One of the pilots called out, "Thank the Lord! We're safe-" The comm cut out when a red pole swung through the GMs legs and caused them to topple down as a yellow blur flipped over the mobile suits and landed in front of the now confused Simon.

"Is that...a buddhest priest?" The Digger asked as he observed that he was up against a monk robed in yellow and wielding a red pole, "Hey! How come I got the easy-" Simon was cut off when the same red pole from earlier slammed into Lagann's side and threw the gunman into an adjacent building before another red blur smacked into the gunman's underside and fired it into the air.

"So easy to you now, young man?" The priest asked as Simon felt Lagann fly higher and higher into the sky.

"Cool! You can extend your pole that long?" Simon excitedly asked as he saw that the priest was rising on level with Lagann and standing upon his also rising pole, "How high up are we?" Looking around, Simon realized that he was higher than the clouds themselves. It reminded him of when he first escaped Jeeha Village with Kamina and Yoko. This was the epitome of freedom, nothing to safeguard the descent, but that's what made it all the more exciting, because this was life.

"It matters not, you will not be this high for much longer..." In his excitement, Simon almost forgot about the man who had tossed him into this high altitude.

"Why not-" The priest grabbed the pole and pulled out from under him as both continued to rise. As the priest brought the pole into both hands and raised it over his head, Simon instantly realized what was about to happen, "Oh..." The pole slammed down into Lagann's face, propelling it into a madly rapid descent back down through the sky. Though from his previous height, the world looked like a map, it was now becoming dangerously more detailed and full, right up to the point where Lagann impacted the earth.

"I will indulge you with my name." Simon heard the Monk state as his pole retracted and brought the man down level with a leaning building, "In my own land, I was named Hsuan tsang. But in other lands, they call me Genjo Sanzo." Lagann stood back up, though scratched this wasn't the worst attack that the mini-gunman had ever suffered. Though the ripple-effect of Lagann's crash did damage several nearby blocks.

"Who?" Unamused, Genjo swiped his pole into Lagann, launching it into the bottom of the building behind him and caused the structure to collapse on top of the young boy as Genjo brought the pole over his shoulders and shot a stream of fire out of his mouth that expanded over the general area he had thrown Simon...

Notes:

Author's Notes:
Why the hell are these obscure historical figures attacking Angel Groove? How did they get there in the first place? Will the only partially recovered team manage to pull through?
What? I'm not telling you know, you'll have to read the next chapter to find that out.

Chapter 9: Blow Through the Cloud

Summary:

Big O battles an electric Samurai; Escaflowne dances with a steampunk glider; Lagann trades blows with the Monkey King; and Liger Zero dukes it out with a mechanical grasshopper.
One of these things should not be a threat, but welcome to madness.
Meanwhile, Shinji recovers from the wounds to his body while his mind and spirit teeters on the edge.

Notes:

Originally posted on FF.net November, 2011

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Residence of the Negotiator, Skyline District

"That's really good Annie." Nia complimented the little girl after the two finished a song on the large piano, "You're almost as good as Simon." Nia giggled, seeing as that Annie had wanted to teach Nia how to play when she learned that she didn't know how.

"Thank you Miss Nia!" Annie smiled and turned to her mother, "Mommy can Miss Nia play another song with me?"

"Of course Annie, if Nia doesn't mind." Dorothy answered without taking her eyes from the book she read, "I must thank you and Nia again."

"It is no problem Mrs. Smith." Hikari noted as Annie started playing a softer song than earlier, one with a more relaxing tone perfect for studying.

"Dorothy will be just fine Miss Horaki." Mrs. Smith told the young school girl, "Or do you prefer Hikari?"

"Hikari is just fine, ma'am." Hikari returned the favor as a door opened and another guest entered the living room, "Hey Leena."

"What's up Hikari?" Leena Tauros asked when she entered, now wearing a black dress that she regarded questionably, "I complained at first, but black really goes well with my hair."

"Easy for you to say..." Hitomi at the counter admitted as played around with her tarrot cards, "I feel like I'm going to someone's funeral..."

"The usual sentiment then." Norman dully commented, "Mistress Dorothy and Miss Leena, I must inform you that Master Roger and Mr. Cloud will be late to dinner tonight."

"Yeah...where do all these guys come from?"

"Presumably the same place as most others..." Norman answered as if bored of having to deal with giant monsters and other stuff that Roger had to fight.

"Thank you Norman." Dorothy said to her butler as he sat in a chair and wrote in his journal, "You as well?"

"He's a King of Fanelia, first into the charge and the last to leave it." Hitomi stated, completely unworried that her fiancee was likely in a battle to the death as they spoke.

"Isn't that the motto of the Kings of Narnia, mommy?"

"The Fanelian Kings adopted the code to honor them Annie."

"Oh..." Annie smiled without missing a note on the piano, "Like how daddy lets mommy wear red to make her happy."

"Red?" It was hard to notice at first, but the girls soon noted that Dorothy's dress was indeed a darker shade of red, "Oh...a really dark shade of red...cleaver."

"My husband can be a loush at times..."

"That's men, they're all hopeless..." Hitomi stated while Nia and Hikari switched places on the Piano to give the white-haired girl a break.

"Simon isn't hopeless..."

"Don't worry about it Nia," Hikari assured Nia, "It's just a phase they're in in, that's all."

"Oh...a phase..." Leena hummed to herself, "How about your little phase with Mr. Ikari?" Just then, the rythemic harmony fell into chaos.

"What?" Annie watched as Hikari lost her tract and stopped playing when she couldn't get her self back in sync, "What are you talking about?"

"Rising body temperature, abnormal pheremone level...increasing breath and..." Dorothy listed off as Hikari's face became redder, "Rising pulse, it's clear as day."

"Why are you embaressed?" Nia asked when she noticed Hikari's tomato red face, "Is there something wrong with liking Shinji? I like Simon and I'm not embarrressed."

"Guys..." Hikari shook before she calmed down and composed herself, "He's out of my league anyway...He's the type who'd probably want some exotic chick or...a fiery red-head...not some plain class representative..."

"What does plain mean mommy?"

"Plain is a woman without anything unique or special about them." Dorothy explained to her daughter, "A fictional term created to instill insecurity no doubt..."

"Plain?" Hitomi laughed as she remembered those days in her life, "I was "plain" too and I'm now the fiancee of the King of Fanelia..."

"And you can see into the future with 70% accuracy..." Leena pointed out, "So you probably knew I was going to say that!"

"I didn't say I did." Hitomi innocently stated, "But when you leave, try taking the elevator this time around."

"Besides...he did think you were really nice."

"What?" Hikari said when Nia's comment somehow managed to reply in her ear, "Don't lie Nia..."

"But I'm not lying...After that movie, he talked about when he first met you and thought you were a scary...what did he say..."

flashback

"Stuck-up stiffler for the rules..." Nia giggled while Shinji talked about his classmate from Japan, "I swear, me and Toji used to see her interrogate teachers on being too lax! When we laughed about it, she made us take over as janitors for the whole week!"

"That doesn't sound nice..." Nia commented, even though she didn't exactly understand why cleaning for a week would be bad, but Shinji was a pilot. What if the angels attacked his home but he couldn't fight because Hikari was forcing him to clean?

"It's just her job...outside of school, she's actually pretty nice." Shinji continued, "She even let me borrow one of the music sheets for my cello...I still have it, I need to return soon..."

"Bro would call her a keeper then," Simon stated, "Got her number?"

"Yeah..." Nia noticed Simon smirk when Shinji answered and for whatever reason, Shinji started blushing, "It's not like that..."

"I didn't say anything..."

"I thought Hikari is a keeper?" Nia asked, "Don't you want to go on another date with her?"

"Yeah she's a-" Shinji caught what Nia said and his blush became darker, "This wasn't a date!"

"A boy taking a girl out to have fun by themselves," Nia said while Shinji's face turned more red, "Isn't that what Kamina calls a date?"

"Uh..." Simon bit on his Drill Core while he pondered the question, "Pretty much..."

"Simon!"

Present

"He's...he doesn't want to be bothered with me." Hikari blinked and placed both hands in her lap, "Besides, he's the pilot of Evangelion, trying to protect the world from the Angels."

"But why?" Annie asked, "I thought angels were good people sent by God to protect us."

"Oh no! Not those angels..." Hikari always saw something like this happening, little children being scared because they would think God was sending evil demons down to kill everyone.

"Annie...these are actually monsters that pretend to be angels, but they're not." Dorothy gently explained to her daughter, "They're bad creatures that cause destruction wherever they go."

"Why not call them demons then?" Leena asked, the naming pattern of the Japanese really confused her.

"You know...that's a good question..." Hikari admitted.

"Maybe Nerv believes Heaven is against them..." Hitomi figured.

"Wouldn't be surprised with Shinji's father." The other girls paused when they noted a very uncharacteristically hateful glare in Nia's eyes, but to their relief, the glare vanished when she smiled, "Speaking of Nerv...aren't there other pilots besides Shinji?"

"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say anything..." Even though Hikari remembered that the stuff Toji had told her was supposed to be classified, Annie's subtle curious kitten face was really unbeatable, "Oh screw it! There's about five others that I know about..."

"Really? Who's the competition?"

"Leena! Two boys in my class were just made pilots, Toji and Kensuke...a girl from Europe named Mari, but I haven't met her...and then there's Rei and Asuka..."

"The main rivals for Shinji's affections..."

"Will you knock it off!" Hitomi just shook her head while Hikari continued, "Rei was the first pilot and Asuka transferred to Japan shortly after Shinji came...but from what Toji told me...Asuka was transferred to Germany for some reason."

"And they're all your age?" Dorothy asked, perplexed that any military group would see children as effective pilots, "What organization employs children to pilot against the Angels?"

"Shinji told me that it's because no one else can..." Hikari said, even if she still didn't agree given what the Eva's could do to their pilots, "Only people born after...The Impact...can pilot Evas..."

"Damn..." Hitomi said, "Van told me that they only recruit young people under extreme conditions...war does horrible things to a young person's mind..."

"What Shinji?" Leena asked, "He seems like a nice kid to me."

"It's always the nice ones..." Hitomi said while Norman absently nodded in agreement, "I wouldn't be surprised about the weird dreams they have..."

In a certain boy's psyche

"Father!" Shinji cried out as he blew a JSF soldier into a tree and broke another soldier's neck with his bare hands, "Where is she?"

"Obey me or she dies, Shinji." Gendo, now dressed in black armor and voiced by James Earl Jones, stood just outside the circle of soldiers held up in the air by Shinji's wrath.

"Never!" Shinji threw out his arms as he levitated in the air, sending out a shockwave that tore into the soldiers and disentigrated them into white dust that blew out and covered the ground.

"Rise above this, she means nothing!" Gendo commanded as Shinji landed and brought out two glowing blue lightsabers, "So be it." Gendo lit his own lightsaber as father and son confronted one another...

District 24 South Park

"This is Roger, what's everyone's status?" Big-O fired another round from it's remaining arm while the other dangled useless at the Megadues' side thanks to the GM's electric charge. The same charge that had created a field capable of absorbing the full blow of Big-O's arm-cannon and allowing the bullets to bounce off of the GM's armor almost insultingly.

"Bit here...I can't see a damn thing!"

"Van present, it's pretty hard to keep up with mine."

"Can I call you guys back?"

"Here I was hoping for some backup..." Roger admitted before switching off the comm and focusing on the GM that now swung at him with it's beam saber, "Think...this guy's electrical charge doesn't come from nowhere...I have to cut off the link between him and that GM he's in." The Negotiator winced as he felt Big-O take a nasty blow to the chest, not too far from the cockpit in fact. The only way to counterattack now would be melee combat, but with that electrical field, Big-O would just render it's remaining arm useless.

"Open fire!" The concussion from a blocked artillary blast forced Gennai's gm apart from Big-O, bringing Roger's attention to the squad of hover tanks lining the street in the block next to their's.

"Dalstan?" Roger could recognize that man amongst the crowd any day, "What are you doing here?"

"Bailing your ass out!" Dalstan reported through the comm while his unit continued to open fire, "Armada called out my unit to give you some support! Problem?"

"Nope, just glad to hear that you're paying back your debt." Roger noted before he realized that Gennai was virtually uninterested in the tanks opening fire, "Keep providing covering fire, but keep back. His electric charge won't leave much of you."

"Don't worry, Roger...I've seen you in action enough to know when to stay back."

"Glad to hear..." Roger stated until he saw that not only were some of the tank shells lying in a small pile around the GM, but one shell managed to impact and explode on the mobile suit's hip, "Hold on...his electric field is...weakening?"

"This is not...honor!" Gennai cried as he swiped the GM's arm, creating an electrical current that tore through the buildings separating him from the tank division, "They who interfere in a Warrior's duel shall die!" Gennai swiped again, sending out a current of lightning that covered over a portion of the battalion tanks and destroyed them along with the buildings behind them.

Amazingly, no one was electricuted to death.

"That's it!" Noticing the charged points of the ruined buildings, the tanks shells, and the totaled tanks, Roger formed a plan, "Dalstan! Do you have any communication rods?"

"Yeah, but what-"

"I'm pulling rank! Load them into the cannons and fire them around the anomaly!" A chain burst out of Big-O's pointed hip and flew out to wrap around the GM's wrist as Roger pulled. The GM was knocked off of it's feet, but managed to keep from hitting the ground by using it's electric field to cushion it's fall and send a current through the chain and into the megadues' system.

"You better know what you're doing!" Roger heard Dalsten shout as multiple metallic rods were fired into the air and fell down into the vicinity. Roger had to admire the man's aim, he managed to line them perfectly along the street without hitting Big-O or Gennai and sometimes into the wreckage.

Perfect.

Sensing what he thought was an advantage, Gennai pulled himself along the chain. Unaware that Roger had regained functionality of his other arm. Smirking, the Negotiator popped out the arm's piston and punched the air in front of him before the piston moved back into place. The resultant controlled shockwave tore through the now weakened electrical field and into the GM's right side along with destroyed it's arm.

"Just as I thought," Roger concluded, "Your electrical abilities make you immune to metal based attacks, but...when working around metal itself, your attacks run the risk of diverting into the metal instead of your opponent. Furthermore, your field may be able to block most attacks, but once deprived of it's charge, you become more vulnerable to non-metallic attacks."

"Coward..." Gennai spat as the GM weakly stood, "You resort to trickery in order to defeat me? Perhaps you are not the warrior that I thought you would be..."

"You are completely correct," Roger admitted while fixing his tie, "I'm not a warrior, who preys on the weak and finds satisfaction in bloodshed, nor am I a soldier who protects the innocent, mostly from warriors. I am a parent and Negotiator. As a Negotiator, I quell conflicts before they claim more lives and ensure solutions that make every party as happy as possible. But as a parent, I can also concede that there is a time when there is no way to make everyone happy. So who's happiness do I work for? That of my family. And right now, you're too dangerous to allow to walk freely or to fight at your full destructive potential. You might hate me when I send you back to the other side, but I can live with that. That's what parent's do, we live with the hatred of the world on our back until our child is old enough to face themselves!"

With the court in his favor, Roger pulled on the chain to propel the damaged GM forward. The mobile suit attempted one final move, positioning it's saber forward as the distance closed. Unfortunately, the rods were doing their job and depowered the weapon mere seconds before Big-O's fist slammed into it's chest.

Roger moved the fist up to propel the GM into the air before blowing out his piston, ignoring the electric glare that sparked out from the damaged GM as the piston shot back forward. The resultant blast blew the mobile suit in half and caused it's pieces to catch fire as it fell to the damaged street below.

Looking for answers, Roger opened the hatch to Big-O and leapt out onto the street, using a grappling hook to swing himself along the megadues' leg and keep from breaking his legs. The Negotiator searched through the area, finally spotting what was once the GM cockpit, the hatch was open and on the ground before it was a dying man torn from his appropriate era.

"I confess," The samurai clearly spoke, his body fading away into specs of dust. Roger approached the dying warrior and knelt down to his face, even in defeat the warrior was somewhat tranquil, "You speak as a negotiator, but I see in you now the spirit of a Guardian. For my previous words, I ask forgiveness."

"Accepted," Nodding his head and laughing softly, Hiraga Gennai fell still on the ground, his body faded into dust picked up by the wind. Roger exhaled as the scene unfolded before him and pulled up his wrist to call HQ, "Area secure."

District 24 Residential Complex

"Keep it up Lagann!" Simon coached his gunman as it's drill-covered hands rapidly clashed with the graceful dance of the monk, Genjo Sanzo, "How the hell is he moving so fast?"

"You are powerful young one..." Genjo complemented as his staff became sheathed in fire, "If not for my compulsion to destroy you, you would have made an excellent apprentice..."

"Compulsion?" Lagann blocked the incoming attack and answered with his own, "You're being controlled?"

"I am aware that I have been revived against my will..." Sanzo pointed out as he blocked one of Lagann's drills with his fist, "But I am unable to cease my attacks...please forgive me." Said fist then chopped into Lagann's drill and shattered it.

"How can a dead guy be controlled?" Simon asked, confused about this whole fight or how this guy was so impossibly durable, "Why haven't you fought it then?"

"I cannot." Sanzo sadly admitted, "Death is the only thing that can release me now..."

"You sure?" Simon wasn't really sure if this would count as a real fight since the man clearly was being forced to fight, "I didn't know that you could kill a dead man."

"Yes...you possess the Spiral." Genjo noted peacefully after ducking underneath one of Lagann's attacks, "Think of me as merely an obstacle to your rise young man...nothing more..."

"Alright sir!" Lagann increased the speed of it's drilled punches while Genjo twirled his staff in front of him to block the attacks before breathing out a torrent of fire that was propelled by his staff-improvised as a fan and blown into Lagann's direction. The gunman, though blackened, was mostly undamaged except for the broken drills on it's arms, "Oh come on! Is your staff unbreakable?"

"Yes, yes it is." Sanzo answered as Simon whistled at how badly damaged his drills were, "I must apologize for you having to face this weapon."

"Like you said...it's just another obstacle in my way!" Lagann ditched the broken drills and began to roll in place. Genjo slammed down his staff just as the gunman began a high speed roll in the monk's direction and inevitably clashed with the staff.

"Impossible..." Despite it's increased length, the monk was stunned when his weapon failed to halt Lagann's rapid roll and broke his staff.

"Thanks, cause that's what I do!" Lagann spun around and punched Sanzo full-on in the stomach, sending the monk flying into a parked car, "Kick reason to the curb and do the impossible! That's the Gurren Brigade's motto...DAI-GURREN BRIGADE!"

"I see...I salute you then and wish you luck on your rise, Spiral Warrior."

"The name's Simon the Digger!" Simon punched the drill core formed into his console as he prepared for a move he'd been working on, "Finishing Move: SPINN ONNN!" The Drill Core spun as large drills formed along Lagann's arms before they were slammed together to form a bigger drill that had smaller drills portruding out of it as it was hauled over Lagann's head.

In response, Genjo summoned a torrent of fire that engulfed it's restored staff when he held it over his own head, allow the staff to rapidly lengthen up and beyond the sky itself. The monk spun around his staff and leapt up along it's long shaft as Lagann charged forward. Somewhere in space, Genjo appeared on the other side of his staff and summoned all of his spiritual ki to his palm before slamming the palm into the staff and pulling back the staff and thrusting it down with the force of a thousand hurricanes.

Genjo's eyes widened when he saw a green spiralling drill dig it's way through Genjo's legendary staff as the small boy had gathered his own power.

"So small..." Genjo mused as the red gunman broke through the staff and punched the monk in the face with it's bare fist, "And so...powerful..."

District 24 Corporate Sector

"This is getting us nowhere!" Van cried as Escaflowne furled out it's cape to clear away the cloud of debris obscuring it's vision, "As long as I'm on the ground, he'll have the advantage!"

"Wie gut ist ein Schwert, wenn Sie Ihren Feind nicht erreichen können? (German: What good is a sword if you cannot reach your foe?)" Van heard the German Pioneer, Otto Lillienthal mockingly inquire as his glider soared across the sky above Escaflowne.

"Why doesn't this translator work both ways!" Escaflowne slashed horizontally when the glider came within reach, but the pilot veered the steam powered contraption down and spun to avoid the attack, "I knew Bit's little gadget wouldn't help!" Another grenade dropped to the guymelef's leg and enshrouded Escaflowne in another explosion.

"Schweigen Sie plötzlich und tragen Sie, Sklave des Ernstes halten! (German: Fall silent and yield, slave of gravity's hold!)

"Shut up!" Van honestly didn't care if this man understood him, the pilot's arrogance was starting to anger him and divert his focus. "Sargeant Foley! If able, disrupt the path of his flight!"

"Got it sir!" Van heard the DF Sargeant reply, "Ramirez! Use the Predator Drone and try to keep it busy!"

"We have one of those-"

"Ramirez don't argue with me!" Now Van was curious about this "predator drone", "Your Highness, you might want to clear out soon."

"Why? What is this Predator Drone?" Hearing Bit's gadget beep, Van pushed one of it's buttons to show the black and white view of a city...with Escaflowne inside of it. When the screen started zooming in on the brown blur closing in on Escaflowne, Van quickly put two and two together and had Escaflowne jump up...

"Direct hit!" Ramirez shouted when the Predator missile impacted the square of the district. But his joy didn't last when the glider flew out of the cloud of debris, "Oh that is some bull-" Otto Lilienthal's glider dropped another grenade before Ramirez could finish. The private picked up a rocket launcher and fired, but his attack never came close to the speeding glider.

"Was?(German:What?)" The German pilot asked when he saw the missile explode harmlessly to his left, "unglaublich!(German: Unbelievable!)"

"Did you believe the sky was your playground alone?" The King of Fanelia cried out from atop his newly transformed Escaflowne, "I have flown since I was a boy!"

"Sie können fliegen? (German: You can fly?)" Otto increased his speed as the predator now saw the roles reverse and it was now the prey running from this archaic dragon.

"He can fly?" Shiro Armada asked in denial and shock. Why didn't he do this anytime earlier?

"Van can fly?" Roger noticed when he saw the scene from inside his cockpit.

"Ha! He can fly!" Bit laughed despite the tight spot he was in.

"You can fly!" Simon excitedly cried like a little boy who'd just seen Peter Pan.

"He can fly?" A jealous Leena yelled in outrage and reluctant awe when she heard the news.

"He can fly!" Annie said joyfully to her mother now that her imagination had just been sparked.

"He can fly..." Hitomi romantically related to her group, blushing while she thought of all those times her fiancee carried her through the sky...

"You can fly!" cried Peter Pan when he zipped over the scene and clapped for another fellow flier.

"He can fly? Big f&%(in deal!" Kaiba yelled over the comm, apparently very annoyed when everyone reacted to Escaflowne's flight mode. So what? It was blue eyed or white, so what was the big deal? "You can fly! Take him out of the sky!"

"As you wish!" Van steered Escaflowne and watched as the German Glider increased it's speed when the Dragon-formed guymelef bore down on the steam powered contraption. Just as Escaflowne began to catch up and overtake the glider, Lilienthal dropped a grenade out that flew into the dragon's mouth and exploded. Though the attack caused the dragon to lose some elevation, Van quickly focused and allowed the guymelef to fly back on course.

"So das, warum die Taube neben des Falken nicht fliegt...(German:So this why the pigeon does not fly beside the falcon...)" Otto stated as Escaflowne flew over the german glider, "Kleinere Vögel werden durch das größere verschlungen- (German: Smaller birds are devoured by the larger-)" The Pioneer was shaken when Van's ancient war machine rammed the top of the glider and grabbed it in it's claws.

"Bird? Birds don't drop powerful grenades on people!" Van corrected as Escaflowne tightened it's grip on the delicate glider and lowered it's elevation, "You are a dragon! And guess what the Kings of Fanelia do to dragons?"

"Sie töten sie (German: You kill them)..." Faster than you could say crash landing, Escaflowne lowered to ground level, dragging the glider through the dirt as it roared and lowered down it's skull to clamp it's jaws over the front of the glider. Bringing up it's jaw to cease it's flight, the guymelef parted it's claws and ripped the glider in half, momentarily allowing an explosion to engulf it before it flapped it's wings and blew out the reaction.

"Have you any last words?" Van asked when he found Lilienthal underneath a piece of his glider and lifted the piece of burning wreckage from on top of the man.

"I envy you...dragon slayer," Otto confessed before spitting out blood, "To invent an airplane is nothing. To build it, a beginning. To fly...is-" Before his words could be finished, Otto Lilienthal's body stiffened and fell silent, blowing away as his life ended.

"Though a man of pride...he never forgot his true passion..." Van watched the last of the pioneer fade away with the wind, his life's work, crumbled into ashes soon after, "Foe vanquished..."

District 24 North Market

"Come on Liger!" Bit coached as his viewscreen remained covered by the swarm of bees, "We've gotta get this swarm off of us!" Recovering from another attack by Jean-Henri Fabre's grasshopper, Bit fired another round into the swarm, but like before it did nothing to even dent the group of bees.

"Major Cloud?" Bit heard over the comm, "We're the reinforcements you called for! What are your orders?"

"I called for you guys?" Bit asked as he felt that grasshopper push Liger down into the ground again, "So that's what this button is for...what do you guys have?"

"Just the standard equipment," The pilot replied, "And a prototype incindiary cluster rocket launcher, but it's not exactly tested-"

"See the swarm?" Bit had no idea as where these guys were, but he had to get this swarm off of him somehow, "Fire into it!"

"Sir yes sir!" Bit could not tell as to where this attack would come from but decided to start counting anyway...

"5...4...3...2...1..." Immediately picking up his pilot's intent, Liger leapt into the swarm with it's claws glowing and gun blazing. Bit watched as a sudden wave of fire engulfed both Liger and the swarm as the zoid continued it's jump and landed in front of a group of GM's, "Thanks for the help!" Bit called out to the nearest GM that had just bailed him out of the now scorched and scattered swarm of insects.

"No problem sir!" Ensign Udaki reported in as Fabre's grasshopper leapt up on top of a nearby parking lot, "Besides, you had that whole thing planned...you knew that we would have incindiary rounds and would be quick enough to dodge when we fired in the area around you. But those insects didn't catch on until it was too late, leaving them dead and you free to engage Fabre..."

"What?"

"No way..." Udaki could not believe it... "No way was that a fluke..."

"I asked myself the same question all the time..."

"Brad?" Bit asked, recognizing the voice instantly, "What the hell are you doing here!"

"The Defense Force called for volunteers, so I signed up." Brad answered as Liger dodged the Grasshopper's red stinger and fired a round from it's undermounted cannons, "Besides, I've gotta pay for that new thruster on Shadow Fox somehow!"

"Sure...in it for the money..." Bit said unconvinced while the Grasshopper emitted a strange sonic boom from it's anteanne that nearly knocked Liger off balance, "Would've been nice if you'd have brought the Fox out!"

"And spend money on repairs?" Brad asked while Liger leapt upon the Grasshopper but hit the street since the grasshopper managed to dodge, "Maintenance is enough of a pain in the ass! Can't wait till Tauros gets into town though."

"Dr. Tauros?" Liger roared when Fabre avoided yet another one of it's strikes, "Why's he coming into town?"

"Not to spy on you and Leena," Brad assured as Fabre landed on top of Liger and pushed it down again when it leapt up, "There was an open position at development, so he took it. At least until the Season reopens."

"Strike Laser Claw!" It's claws enlightened by hot energy, Liger Zero leapt up just as the grasshopper did and ripped it's front paws through the grasshopper's underbelly, effectively tearing the insect in half as Liger landed, "Alright buddy! Now let's see about the rider!"

"Incredible!" Udaki said while the Defense Force cheered, "He timed his Liger's leap to be able to counter the grasshopper's jump! He must have known that the grasshopper would jump higher, so he adapted and calculated exactly when his jump would meet with Fabre's and take him out!"

"Or it was a fluke..."

"No...F%^ing...way!"

"He...molted?" Bit observed while climbing out of Liger Zero to give his partner a rest, "Looks like he had antennae for a reason..." Parts of the grasshopper still twitched, but Bit was sure that the creature was down.

"I am dreadfully sorry for the mess..." The now young Fabre apologized as Bit came closer to his downed foe.

"Don't worry about it...you didn't kill anyone..." Bit assured the young boy, even though the boy wasn't showing any damage, Bit almost sensed that he wouldn't last much longer.

"Oh thank God..." Jean-Henri smiled as he slowly stood up and took in his surroundings, "This place...it is beautiful..."

"Yeah...it is..." With the buildings around them trashed or downright destroyed, their view of a nearby garden was unobstructed. If Bit recalled correctly, it was one of the "farm gardens" that Kaiba had grown to make the city more "self-sustained." Mainly to cut down on foreign reliance and gain more money, but Bit knew that there was more to it.

"A marvelous place...to make a garden..." Fabre inhaled and lost his footing, Bit managed to catch him in time as his pulse weakened, "But what...kind of...plant...would grow...here?"

"Whichever kind can." Giving a final nod, Fabre smiled before he fell still and began to fade in the wind, "Tango down, I repeat: Tango down."

District 24 Downtown

"Told ya they'd be alright." The boy told Ninamori as they sat on the top of the abandoned restaurant and watched the explosions in the distance, "But we're still stuck in this town..."

"Heard that Kaiba gives out housing to orphens and etc..." Ninamori brought up without moving her head from the boy's lap.

"Doubt it'll be that easy..." The boy thought out loud, "Did you see the security coming in? Anyone who wasn't a kid had a gun on them the whole time! You really think that the people here will give us the keys to our own apartment if we ask?"

"Kanti already did." On the side of the roof, the aforementioned robot was taking pictures of the couple, much to the boy's annoyance, "This sounds like a good place to crash for now anyway...nothing interesting ever happens around here, Naota."

"See now you just jinxed it!"

"You jinxed it by suggesting that we should come here!"

"Come here? I said that we should just pass through!"

"Pass through? That's why we've been here for the past week, right?"

"Can you blame me for taking advantage of perfectly good beds that are abandoned?"

"Just admit it! You like it here!"

"Oh quit it! That's kid's stuff!" Kanti just watched the two teens argue, not worried because the robot knew where this was going to lead. They would fight for about an hour and then start making out and maybe a few things that Kanti will wisely leave the two alone to do or get one of the two guitars smashed into it's head.

Hang on...they stopped arguing...seeing the early beginning of their "make-up", Kanti jumped off the roof to find a library.

Angel Groove Command Center

"Good job...you've defeated an electric samurai, a chinese monk, a steam-powered jet glider, and an insect-man riding a grasshopper..." Kaiba read off, completely unimpressed, "If anyone asks, come up with tougher and cooler monsters that you fought."

"Like what?" The Fanelian King inquired, appearing to have been offended by Kaiba's suggestion.

"I don't know...Mecha-Streisand?"

"That's kind of harsh..."

"Got any better ideas?" Hearing none, Kaiba continued with his orders, "Report back to HQ and then that'll be a day."

"Why can't we go home?" A tired Simon asked, "What more could you possibly want to know about this situation?"

"I call BS!" Bit shouted, "You're just looking for something else to bill us on!"

"You mean like the minutes on this call?" Yes, that always quieted any argument from these ungrateful brats, "So either get your asses over here, I'll charge by the minute while you keep arguing!"

"We'll discuss this later, Kaiba."

"Very well Negotiator," Once Roger signed off, Kaiba decided to bring up a question that had bugged Seto since the boy defeated his anomaly, "And Simon, what happened the yellow monk?"

"I don't really know..." Simon scratched his head in confusion, "I punched him and he...vanished..."

"According to this report from one of our satellites, we are literally unable to determine that," One of the bridge bunnies reported, "Except for the fact that Simon punched him out of our dimension..."

"So he's still alive?"

"I don't think he could survive being in another dimension-"

"Shut up Mokuba, that's not the point." With all of the things he had seen in the past two months, Kaiba wouldn't be surprised if that monk found a way back to this dimension.

Why doesn't anyone double-tap anymore?

Unknown Location

"Did I mention that I hate this f%^$in heat?"

"How about hating that we're on the run from a killer robot that can transform into a helicopter!"

"Who's bright idea was it to hold our fire?"

"How was I supposed that we'd be fighting some killer robot that can fire plasma waves, hack our network, and kick our asses? This is some bullshit man!"

"Shut it!" When Maya spoke, everyone listened. Voices stilled and the entire convoy huddled into the desert sand as they watched the sky. They heard the clapping of a charging horse as the Pavelov Chopper hovered overhead, it's apparent pilot twirling that damn mustache as he surveyed the area. If they had to breath, the survivors did so very softly and quietly as their hunter kept it's altitude. Content, the Pavelov hovered away, but the survivors remained still until they were sure that it was gone, "Coast is clear."

"Why is it still around here!" For the past few days, Misato had been growing more and more nervous as the robotic hunter came in and out of sight, "Isn't it happy with this pain I'm going through?"

"You're in pain?" Toji called out from atop the covered Unit 03, "I'm still not convinced that I still have both arms! Not to mention the nightmares I'm still having!"

"That's how I was too..." Epps related, "The first time...I didn't even think it was real...Now, it feels I got pushed back into a nightmare...and it ain't going away..."

"Where to now?" Kamille inquired, truth be told, the group had simply started running during the chaos of the base destruction. The only reason that Pavelov hadn't found them was God's own mercy and apparent damage to it's optical capability.

"We head north." Misato stated as the convoy started moving out, "Find civilization, then call Nerv HQ and have them pick us up."

"Ma'am, there's nothing North of us..." One of the US soldier's pointed out, "Except of course for the North Star and-"

"You've gotta be kidding me." Another US officer shouted when he realized where else they could go, "Angel Groove? That place is a fortress!"

"Unless you know someone on the inside." Misato said to herself, "Maya? How much longer till you can get a link?"

"You mean one that "they" won't see? Two days at best."

"Two days of hide and seek with a metallic death dealer that will rip you into pieces, crush those pieces until they're on a microscopic level and then transform into a helicopter to fly-by and waste the whole area where you died to make sure nothing's left." Toji said out loud before he grunted under the trauma from the damage Unit 03 received that night, "I'm never gonna get used to this, am I?"

"What the hell is that thing after anyway?" Misato thought out loud, the machine, transformer as Epps put it, wasn't out for wanton destruction. It was looking for something, "Maya, did you figure out what it was after?"

"It hacked the whole data system in record time..." Maya replied while she continued typing away on her computer, "But it was only after files relating to Second Impact, Lillith, the Angels, and..."

"The Evas?"

"Their pilots." Maya contiuned, "You're little stunt cut off it's link before it could get locations and photographic id's..."

"Go ahead, tell me the bad news."

"It also hacked into call history..." Misato gulped, knowing full well what that meant, "If the pilots contacted anyone within two hours of the attack...it'll know who and where they are."

District 7

This was it. This was where his superior had sent him.

The servant leapt through the surface of this planet and landed upon the barren ground. The mechanical organism examined his surroundings intently, looking for any sign of it's objective. This area still stank with the heat of a recently concluded battle. A battle against a forced that his superior was very glad to never have to face himself.

Scorponok figured it was because his master would find the challenge boring.

Off in the distance, He could make out the lights of this fleshling civilization. It was so pitiful, yet at the same time reminded him of his true home. A home that he and his brethren would now fight to rejuvenate.

"Reedman, what is your ETA?" The servant watched as a police car appeared from the distance, the vehicle came to a halt as the mechanical organism's claws emitted a plasma glare, indicating that it's weaponry was armed.

"Officer please..." A Law enforcement officer exited the vehicle, now recognizing both the officer and the vehicle as an ally, the creature lowered it's weapons and went silent. The officer then pulled a young female fleshling from the car, "I didn't do anything wrong-"

"Silence citizen, I am an officer of the law." The officer stated apathetically, sometimes Scorponok wondered as to what was the point of personally interacting with humans? Did transforming into their vehicles and appliances not work by themselves?

"No...I'll do anything you want...just..." The blond female wrapped in a silk dress meant for "flashy" occasions gasped when she saw the mechanical representation of what fleshlings call, Scorpions, "What...what is that?" Fear, that was exactly what Scorponok meant to impose when he took this form.

"You don't need to worry about that." The female's fear only grew as the officer retrieved a pistol from his holder and aimed it at the female's face, "Return to your recon, Barricade." Having received his instructions, Barricade grumbled and drove away. Leaving Scorponok with the officer and the increasingly frantic female.

"You don't have to do this..." The female begged as she walked backwards from the gun, "I...I have a little sister...she's only five...I'm all she's got...please..."

"I am sorry for the loss your sister will endure..." The officer offered, wearing a badge that read Reedman, "But for the preservation of our race, the one must be sacrificed for the many."

"I'll do anything...anything..."

"Disgusting..." Reedman spat at the female when she started unbuttoning her clothing, "Do you honestly believe that I would want anything to do with your pathetic carbon based-liquids? Have you no dignity, fleshling?"

"Please don't shoot me!" Scorponok grew bored, with the weeping female's attention focused on Reedman, the servant crept up behind the female as his comrade lowered the pistol which wasn't even armed or real, "Thank you...oh thank you-" Scorponok was efficient. His stinger penetrated into the female's midsection of her spine, quietly injecting his paralysis toxin into her nervous system and blood stream. The female never even screamed, when the servant removed it's stinger, she fell forward on her back, her eyes still wide open and she was still conscious.

"What did you discover?" Scorponok went to work, bringing the end of it's tail over the female's legs and switching it's function to open the stinger into a maw which pressed over the female's feet and hauled her into the air.

"Here is the District where Horaki lives." Reedman's hand disformed as several metallic balls rolled along Scorponok's head and relayed the information into his system, "We've had difficulties pinpointing her exact dwelling."

"Barricade was never suited for infiltration and reconnaissance." Scorponox mused as he grumbled from a sudden complication, "Continue...you gave me a heavy one..."

"She will provide more fuel for your objective." Reedman countered as he watched the servant struggle to adjust for the female's hip size, "You do seem to enjoy this."

"It is a necessity, why not try to gather joy from it?" The machine asked as it's tail pulled in the female's abdomen up to those mounds of flesh that these female fleshlings seemed to have.

"Why should I, it's disgusting..." Reedman was glad that the female wasn't facing him as she vanished within Scorponok's maw and her form slid down into the tail, "Finished?"

"I haven't eaten...in years..." Scorponok admitted as Reedman took on his true form while Scorponok scratched the ground of this fleshling escavated area, "It will be some time before we discover Horaki...until then, I will wait and feed." With that, the servant of the Hound leapt into the soil and vanished underground, leaving no trace of what had occurred there.

Apart from the two holes in the ground, but who's going to notice that?

Lunar Cathedral

"It still amazes me that you've allowed this colony to flourish." Tabris related to the Spiral King sitting on the lunar hill towering over the Messenger of Free Will, "Is there no concern that they will discover what lies here?"

"No more than for them to discover what you've buried." Genome spat, Tabris smirked...even after thousands of years, the Spiral King's enmity for Tabris' brethren had not ceased. It must be lonely, watching over these powerless humans, tasked with preventing their own destruction by becoming that which they most fear, "Why did you call for my presence?"

"I desired to refer my latest toys to your judgement," The Spiral King carefully regarded the lances in Tabris' hands, one of which emitted an aura from a power that he had not felt since... "You recognize this one? To be honest, I am still debating on which one to send first..."

"Tabris, you enjoy your free will far too much."

"Ironic coming from you..." Tabris regarded the Spiral Warrior as though he were a simple guest. He held up the Lance that Genome was focused on and placed his ear to it's shaft, "Do you believe this one will react so horribly?"

"Do what you wish." LordGenome spat, "But do not cry to me when Ikari pulls your leash."

"I despise Ikari..." Tabris stated, his smile faltering from the reminder of how much of a hold Ikari had on the Messenger, "Such a small cowardly human who only seeks to escape pain."

"We will only placate the fool for as long as we must." LordGenome stated, "I believe that Ikari will allow us to break the cycle."

"True..." Tabris' smile returned as he balanced the lances in his hands, "I wonder if Shinji-kun will find happiness this time?"

"This time?" This child still had yet to outgrow his habit of peeking into other courses of time, "Don't let your mind wonder to probabilities that have long diverged from ours, keep your intentions focused in the here and now."

"Is that the only way you've been able to live with yourself?"

"Does it matter?" Genome watched as one of Tabris' lances faded and the Spiral King exhaled, realizing the Messenger's choice, "So you've decided?" The boy lightly skipped to propel himself into a soft flight off of the ground and threw the lance into space between the moon and the earth.

"This one will make things interesting..." Tabris noted as the two watched the lance break free of the moon's gravitational pull and sail into Earth's blue surface, "Does Shinji-kun not know of the other?"

"Why do you care?" Tabris' interest in the son of Ikari sickened the Spiral King, "That boy is dangerous, just like his father. A child like him was born to be alone, because when he comes to love something, heaven help the force that keeps him from what he loves."

"So you believe it best for him to be unhappy?"

"Yes." The Spiral King answered, "With love and attachment comes pain and loss...beings like Ikari and his child are unable to cope with such loss...It is best for them to accept the reality of their fates."

"What if they refuse?"

"It will change nothing." LordGenome had encountered many beings of the same kind as the Ikari's many times, their stories never ended in their favor, "The fates have been written, even the so-called gods cannot rewrite them."

"Do you speak of yourself?" Tabris inquired, "Personally, I would prefer to wait and see...something is different..."

District 32 Outpost Sentry

"Well...you took your damn time Johnny!"

"Got held up by traffic..." Johnny said as he put his GM into position, "All's quiet on the Western front then..."

"It's always quiet on the western front!" Johnny's partner yelled as they looked out from the wall looming over the wasteland outside of Angel Groove, "Why is it even called the Western Front when we're facing east!"

"Because whoever comes from that way will be traveling west."

"Whatever..." Bill exhaled, not up to arguing with Johnny at the moment, "I just wish something interesting would happen already!" Bill of course would get his wish when that interesting something broke through the atmosphere of the planet rocketed into the ground in front of the wall. The shockwave was only briefly felt, but it could've easily been mistaken for an earthquake.

"Did anyone else feel that?" Another pilot on the other side asked when he came up the wall, "Does anyone else see that crater?"

"Finally!" Bill switched off the safety of his GM's long-range shoulder-mounted cannons as the smoke rose from the newly created crater, "Now we can get some action!"

"You know the drill Bill..." Johnny loved raining on this guy's parade, "We're the Postmen, we call the main corp and watch from the sidelines..."

"But...that's...stupid..." Bill argued like a spoiled brat, "Since we're the ones who spotted it, we should get first dibs!"

"Tell you what." Johnny decided that the best way for the idiot to learn was to get his feet wet, "I'll call for back up and then you can shoot at whatever the hell is lying inside that smoking, molten hot, crater...cool?"

"Cool!" Johnny crouched his GM down as he started patching through to HQ. This was a bit soon after that incident in District 24, but he was just the errand boy.

"HQ, we've just had an unidentified object land just outside the city perimeter," Johnny reported in when he got a signal, that and it was hard to hear while Bill opened fire with his cannons, "I can't see much of anything, but the object hasn't made any hostile action-" A little girl started screaming and Johnny looked up to see that Bill's GM was no longer on the wall. He looked down to see his comrade get dragged into the smoke covered crater by a hand attached to a cable and before Johnny could open fire, his partner was gone.

"Correction," Johnny patched back through to HQ and watched as Bill's GM was thrown back into his position, save that the cockpit's hatch was torn out and the mobile suit was practically totaled, "It engaged and completely pummeled one of the sentry guards when provoked...checking his status now."

"I think...all of my...ribs are broken..." Bill managed to say as he weakly crawled out of the GM.

"We'll need a medical evac and some increased security." Johnny reported before closing the link and jumping out of his GM to check on his partner, a First Aid kit in hand, "Cool huh?"

"Shut up..."

Angel Groove Command Medical Ward

"Where am I?"

"You're in your room..." Shinji now realized that Hikari was sitting in a chair next to the bed, "A guard saw you black out in the Lobby, so they brought you here to rest."

"Oh..." Shinji frowned, realizing that he had just been someone else's burden, "Hey! How are the others-"

"They're fine, they're in the Command Center getting debriefed by Kaiba." Hikari explained, Shinji managed to lightly smile assured that his new friends were alright. That they wouldn't be hurt because he was too weak to be with them.

Or maybe if he was there, then they would've been hurt because of his weakness...it didn't matter, they won and they were safe.

"Are those..."

"Nia made them," Hikari said when Shinji noticed the plate full of cookies on the table next to the window, "Everyone in Simon's team says that they're terrible, but Simon likes them...and I think they're sweet."

"Here, I'll try one..." Shinji stood up in his bed and started moving his legs to get out until... "You really don't have to..."

"Shinji, you're on Medical Leave from feeling things most people pray to never feel." Hikari reminded the Eva pilot while holding the plate in one hand and bringing it over to Shinji, "After that blackout, you shouldn't strain yourself..."

"Alright..." If it would make her feel better, then why not? Hikari sat down on his bed and hesistantly brought one of the light brown cookies to Shinji's mouth. The young man was trying so hard not to blush when he bit down on the morsel, "It's good..."

"She thought you would like them." Hikari giggled while Shinji quickly wolfed down the cookie and reached for two more. A few minutes later, Shinji reached for another, but the plate was sadly picked clean. "What is it?"

"They're almost the same..." Shinji said, when a memory came to his mind, "The same kind of cookies...mother used to make." It was true, these cookies had tasted the exact same as the one's he ate as a child. Sugar with a drop of lemon...

"I...heard about...what happened to her..." Did everyone know about his story? "It must have been hard...growing up without her..."

"Or my father..." From what Misato had told him, everyone in his class had lost their mothers...that was why they were all viable to pilot an Eva, "At least you still have your dad...and a family that loves you."

"I can't imagine that..." Hikari admitted sadly, but perked up with a smile and said, "Now I see why Nia and Simon like you so much."

"They're still kids..." Shinji didn't begrudge them for it, at least they had that luxery, "They like everyone who treats them nice."

"Exactly." Hikari pointed out, "Nice people treat people nicely, you don't get a good apple from a bad tree."

"Then what does that make me?"

"A good person...and a strong one..." Hikari finished, grabbing the boy's hand for no real reason, "At least that's how I feel."

"Thank you..." The hand...it was...soft, why was even affected? Did so few people ever grab his hand that... "Even if-"

"Major Ikari-" Startled, Hikari jumped onto Shinji when a clerk entered the room, "Oh...am I interrupting anything?"

"No! I was...just leaving..." Hikari released Shinji from her grip and stood on the floor, quickly composing herself, "I'll see you tomorrow Shinji."

"Until then, Hikari..." Shinji smiled and wave when the class rep waved back and was gone, "What is it?"

"Mr. Kaiba requests your presence in the Command Hanger."

"Which one?"

"Mokuba," The clerk answered as Shinji finished changing into his uniform, "He'll also understand if you can't make it sir."

"It's no problem." Shinji assured the employee before getting up and leaving his room. As he started down the hall, he saw a woman who resembled Ayanami holding a little boy's hand as she pushed along a baby stroller.

Just as he wondered if this was real, his body seized up for another one of his "fits". By the time the "fit" had dissipated, the small group was gone. Had Shinji truly seen them or was it...

Deciding that there was no point, Shinji shook his head and started for the Command Hanger.

Notes:

Author's Notes:
Seriously though, what is with so much fiction where people go into clearly bad ideas and are surprised when it doesn't work out?
Quick Random Lesson: Types of Badass
1. Loud and in Charge- The most common type, these badasses are very boastful about their ability to kick ass and don't care who thinks that they're just being arrogant idiots. Often, this abrasive trait causes outsiders to overlook any other trait that this hero has in their advantage.
Exp: Kaiba/Kamina/Guy/Domon Kasshu/Naruto/Luffy/Vegeta/Megatron/too many anime heroes to list
2. Educated and Civilized-This badass will likely kick your ass because you pushed their limit. They tend to be wise/gentlemen-like/calm/peaceful characters who will politely warn you that you are signing your own death warrent. But when you push them, they'll push back...hard.
Exp: Roger Smith/Piccolo/Samurai Jack/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Most Jedi/Seraph
3. Downtrodden and Depreciative-These are characters who are very skilled and strong in their own right. But due to low self-esteem or a dark and troubled past, they tend to look at themselves as pathetic little bugs that don't deserve to live. Another word for them would be...Tragic Badass?
Exp: Shinji Ikari/Simon (1st half of TTGL)/Hinata Hyuga/Rock Lee/Krillin(even if he gets his ass kicked all the time)
4. Brave and the Bold- Another common type, these are characters who will set out to do what they say. Even if it's insanely impossible or if they are outmatched.
Exp: Goku/Simon (2nd half of TTGL)/Van/Optimus Prime
5. Disreactive and Silent- These badasses usually won't say that they're going to kick your ass. They just do it and call it a day.
Exp: Blackout/Viral/LordGenome/SS2 Gohan
6. Accidental and Extemperaneous- Badasses who seem like complete idiots or really lucky SOBs to observers; but are either faking a part of their personality to fool others or don't pay too much attention to how badass they are.
Exp: Bit/Ruronai Kenshin/Vash the Stampede/Father Abel
7. Calculative and Intellectual- These badasses aren't just capable of kicking your ass physically. They are also capable of stomping you mentally and tactically, either through conventional means or methods that shouldn't work but they're just so epic that they make it work.
Exp: Lelouch/Kira/Heero Yuy/Trieze Kushrinada/Char/Amuro Ray (eventually)
These are just a few and no one character can be labeled in just one category. For instance, Goku is would fit 6 despite mostly being a mix of 4 and 2.

Chapter 10: Bending the Norm

Summary:

The rangers take a well deserved breather from the chaos-
What's that? A new challenger appears. Oh well. Time to work for a living.

Notes:

Originally posted on FF.net in Nov, 2011

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Diekirck, Luxembourg

Damn ungrateful bastards!

So what if their country ceded land to Germany to pay for damages in the southern half? Or maybe it was to pay off their debts to Britannia or both.

Either way, they were rioting in the streets and creating an annoying little mess. So, the new Baroness was called upon to clear the people out and clear out the area for the Minister's plans. She acted responsibly, telling the people of Diekirck that their home had been lawfully sold and set a reasonable deadline to leave.

It had been a full week since said deadline and most of them were still here. Acting responsibly, the Baroness called in the clean-up crew.

"HELLO!" One of said members was a young man in black leather with combed white hair who now stood before the rioting masses. "Haben Sie eine große Nacht? Sieh gut ... Sie sind auf dem Eigentum meines Freunds, und Sie reisen noch nicht ab." (Are you having a great night? See well...you're on the property of my friend and you haven't left yet.)

Not understanding that time was up, one of the protestors approached the man expecting to be able to reason with him.

Wir haben keine Waffen. Das ist gerade nicht schön-(We have no weapons. This just isn't fair-) The man gasped, a typical response to having a sword thrust through his chest and was kicked down as the young man licked the blood off the sword as he pulled it out.

"Oh Es tut mir leid, dass sagte er etwas?" (Oh I'm sorry, was he saying something?) The man asked while the protestors regarded him with pure terror. The young man simply cleaned off the sword with his tongue and then licked his lips, "Wer sich sorgt, lässt kommen zum lustigen Teil!" (Who cares, lets get to the fun part!) A pair of massive wings unfurled behind the young man, revealing a large dark red mecha that seemed to materialize out of thin and breathed fire from it's mouth.

Setting many protestors on fire as the young man continued to sing.

"Brennen Sie! Brennen Sie! Verbrennen Sie sie alle! Sehen Sie, dass sie schwellen und schreien! Zerquetschen Sie ihre Knochen und schlitzen Sie ihre Hälse auf! Leben ist so äußerst!" (Burn! Burn! Burn them all! Watch them swell and scream! Crush their bones and slit their throats! Life is so extreme!") The young man saw that a protestor couldn't run due to a crippled leg. He regarded the young woman with mild interest as he drained a bottle of German-made beer he picked up earlier.

Then he belched out a stream of fire that lit the poor woman on fire and took a picture with his camera before walking off to continue his carnage.

"Does he do this all the time?" A nearby member of the clean up unit asked her partner. She had dreaded that violence would break out, but this was just too much.

"Yeah..." Her senior-sargeant replied wearily, "Dilandau...where did our lovely Baroness pick up this piece of work."

"Brennen Sie! Brennen Sie! Verbrennen Sie sie alle! Sehen Sie, dass sie schwellen und schreien! Zerquetschen Sie ihre Knochen und schlitzen Sie ihre Hälse auf! Leben ist so äußerst!" Now the protestors were dispersed and the next part of their job commenced. Show the locals that this wasn't their home by destroying anything that could be mistaken for one.

"We need him...why?" The pilot thoughtlessly had her Gareth ignite it's equipped flamethrower and open fire on a nearby hospital. Fortunately, it was long since abandoned so the chance for casualties were low.

"Orders from the top..." The sargeant replied, "He's supposed to be part of some new special forces unit forming in North Germany."

"People! Wicked Bitch of the West approaching!" Another pilot cried out as a large tall mecha landed in their midst, it's two pairs of green eyes glowed brightly in the night time blaze.

"Right!" The Sargeant whispered and started firing indiscriminately into wreckage as the Baroness passed through, "We're very busy and productive! Yes! We love being worked like slaves and not getting overtime!"

"Was nimmt so lange?" (What is taking so long?) The baroness demanded of the sargeant from within her mecha.

"Baronin, die Leute haben sich ergeben und ihre Waffen aufgestellt-" (Ger: Baroness, the people have surrendered and laid down their weapons-)

"Ich sorge mich nicht, ob sie sich ergeben haben! Sie sind noch hier!" (I don't care if they've surrendered! They're still here!)

"Baronin-"

"Sie sehen, was er tut?" (You see what he's doing?) The young girl pointed to the Red Dragon mecha as it fired it's flames indiscriminately into both crowds and buildings, "Irgendjemand, der nicht bereits aus der Proposition ist, könnte ebenso weggewischt werden!" (Anyone who isn't already out of the premise might as well be wiped out!)

"Natürlich... Baronin der Gnädigen Frau." (Of Course...Madame Baroness.)

"Stichwortgeber... Ich dachte, dass ich sie alle hinten verließ, aber ich glaube, dass sie überall an diesen Tagen sind..". (Stooges...I thought I left them all behind, but I guess they're everywhere these days...) The baroness gracefully leapt out of her four-eyed monster and her short dress and cape lightly flowed as she practically glided down halfway down, "Wer ist Bengel, ist das?" (Who's brat is this?)

"Ball!" A little boy was happily dribbling his ball as the Baroness approached the oblivious child.

Sie müssen Ihren Ball lieben. (You must love your ball.) She bent down to the boy's level and watched the boy roll the ball to her.

"Ball...Ball..." The boy laughed, he had after all found a playmate. The baroness smiled and lightly kicked the ball up on her feet while the boy cheered.

She then kicked the ball up with greater force and flipped up and kicked the ball over the boy. A puppy whimpered as the boy looked back and saw that his puppy had somehow broken his leg and the broken ball was lying over a piece of wreckage, catching fire and and trapping the wounded puppy.

"Wachsen Sie Bengel auf" (Grow up brat.) The baroness said as the little boy began to cry over his lost ball and the poor puppy already burning to death, "Je eher Sie es tun, desto besser von Sie sein werden." (The sooner you do it, the better off you'll be.)

"The Young Baroness..." The private commented as the young girl from Japan climbed back into her monster, "Who died and gave the little winch her title?"

"Ask Lelouch, he's the one who gave it to her."

"Wasn't that guy exiled?"

"Look...I have no idea what goes on up top most of the time!" The sargeant barked as a warning beacon activated, "Ah shit..." The private raised her shield in time to avoid being demolished by a series of missiles that engulfed the other Gareth's as a large red blur flew over them and landed between the desperate crowds and Dilandau.

"Hey! You're in the way of my barbeque!" Dilandau yelled in outrage as the intruder, a Bulky Red Mecha who's arms mostly resembled engines, stood unmoving before the Draconic guymelef, "Do I have to speak German again? Move!"

"I stand in the way of your meal?" A voice, calm and wise asked across all channels, bring a shiver of terror to the private, "A meal is earned through predatory action. A symbiont cycle where prey provides for the predator and in time, the predator's corpse provides fertilization for the prey."

"But you stand outside of that cycle. You are a ravenous beast who slays without moderation...a living plague that takes and never gives. You are a symptom of the upset cycle, a tumor that poisons all that lies around it."

"Hence you shall be removed." A burst of air fired out of the intruder's arms, sending out a greater gust of air that put out the fires of Diekirck and caused several Gareth's to retreat in panic.

"So I'm a beast that kills everything else?" Dilandau inquired, "Why thank you! I don't really eat much anyway!"

District 3, Angel Park

Today was just an average day for this troop of ants.

They had just cleaned out a nest of hornets and were now climbing out of the crumbling hive carrying their prize of hornet corpses and larvae.

As they marched down the tree twelve by twelve, they came upon a strange sight. A spider with long legs emerged from the tall grass and came before the ants.

"I am the Replicant Engineered for Galactic Infiltration and Sabotage Mark 5, I cannot be stopped." While multiple soldier ants surrounded the spider in preparation to slay it, the rest of the ants continued with their parade.

"Insignificant insects, The REGIS Mark 5 mocks your feeble attempts of destruction." The ants regarded this strange noisy spider with mild surprise. However, their feral instinct to hunt and gather overcame them, prompting the ants to swarm the spider and attempt to tear it apart, "Your pathetic organic mandibles are incapable of hindering the REGIS mark 5."

"REGIS will incinerate this planet and enslave all of it's occupants." The spider spoke as the ants swarmed it, but were still unable to break it down, "Stand aside or you will be struck down." Unable to understand the noises of this spider, the ants continued to follow their instincts.

REGIS was not amused.

"Die then." Suddenly a wave of energy engulfed the ants and incinerated them, leaving only the black spider in the middle of the dead ants. Searching the perimeter, the spider tracked the ants to the entrance of their lair and entered.

Within seconds, the colony was completely cleaned out.

"You are no match for the superior tactical abilities of the REGIS Mark 5." Victorious, the spider stalked away from the scorched ground that used to be the colony and disappeered into the forest of grass next to it.

Angel Groove Command Hanger

"Shinji, great to see you." Mokuba called out when the man he wanted to see approached, "You look rested."

"I am." Shinji stated, "So what's up Mokuba?"

"I wanted your input on the repairs we've made to Eva."

"Eva..." Is that all he was good for? "Is that all?"

"I also wanted to see how well you've recovered." Mokuba stated as they entered the hanger and approached a door labeled: The Mokuba Cave, "Follow me please."

"Is that?" Shinji was trying very hard to register what he was seeing, "What did you do to Eva?" They were in a hanger where what was supposed to be Eva was being worked on.

However, apart from the head, Shinji hardly recognized Unit 01.

"Introducing Evangelion ANIMA!" Mokuba called out as a series of screens pulled up in front of Eva's head as the young Kaiba continued, "Equipped with a pair of heat-laced saber knives capable of a heat yield equal to 700 degrees celsius and has a burn rate of 2 kilojoules per second."

"The armor has been restyled to increase manueverability and allow for more natural control from the cockpit. Furthermore, forming into Mecha Lord should be a less cumbersome process."

"Inside each of your shoulder pylons are the two halves of a lance which connect to each other and then an emitter reacts with your AT field to project energy that solidifies into a helix-blade head that can extend the Eva's AT field out to wherever you happen to throw it."

"The Internal battery was removed and replaced with an entirely different one designed to more efficiently utilize the Neutron-Plutonium stored within...how long?"

"12 hours sir." An engineer called out after welding a piece of metal into the back of Eva's shoulder pylon.

"Twelve hours of full active combat and...we'll say three days if in a statis mode." The screens displaying all of ANIMA's statistics folded down as Mokuba knocked on a stunned Shinji's head to make sure he was still home, "So, what do you think?"

"Of course it's not finished yet." Mokuba continued since Shinji was still in entralled in shock and awe, "We still have to work out a few bugs with interface between the Eva and the pilot; The recognition function of the AT field; and-"

"We still need to put in the rocket powered boots!" The top Engineer cried out after jumping down from the shoulder.

"There aren't any-"

"Jet powered boots?" Shinji couldn't quite picture Eva with rocket powered boots, but it had a certain appeal to him, "That's sounds kind of cool-"

"No jets!" Mokuba barked, "Expensive, unoriginal, and too chaotic of a factor to consider reliable!"

"Sir!" The Top Engineer argued, "What about the boosters on the feet of the GMs?"

"Those are assist-grade only." Mokuba explained as he stood up to the older man three times his height, "Mainly for jumping moderate distances or controlling yourself in space."

"I don't know...I don't see why Eva wouldn't-"

"Eva's native structure doesn't allow for the installation of wings. Without wings, then adding a jet attachment to Eva is asking for someone to die very horribly!"

"Don't trust everything to goes on in the simulator-"

"Do you remember Kikaider?"

"Kikaider? You mean that cyborg who actually became human-minded?"

"The very same!" Mokuba continued his argument with the engineer, "July 18th, 1996! Everything was great, Japan saved from another psychotic Doctor...The idiot just installed boosters on his feet and didn't pay attention...When he turned them on, they flipped up and kept going...taking his legs with them!"

"Kikaider...was still working out common sense-"

"Joe Shimamura aka Cyborg 009! November 18th, 1982! Accelerated into Mach 4 and into the side of a passing Guntank! Pieces of him were found on the moon!"

"Look, you can't generalize based on-"

"Astroboy! April 3rd, 1964! Right leg booster gave out while in enroute from Japan to Madagascar! His head was burnt beyond recognition by the time they found his broken body in the Himilayas!"

"Spartan-RT38 Blaze! Didn't equip jetpack and missed his ship by a mile while in space! They haven't found him yet!"

"Bernard Wiseman! One-year war, Side-6! Overlooked a malfunction in the left rocket booster of his Zaku II and threw himself off balance and crushed his head against the side of his cockpit!"

"Jet Link's still alive!" The Engineer countered to which Mokuba lowered his head.

"Don't get me started on Jet Link...Cyborg 002..." Mokuba slowly said, "February 8th...1986...smoking outside of a Hardees enjoying a good meal...when he dropped his cigarette onto the ground and stepped on it..."

"I think the kid gets the point-"

"The heat of the cigarette set off a chain reaction in his leg that threw him into the sky before giving out at 25,000 feet above sea level...Jet Link may be alive...but I'm sure he wishes he wasn't..."

"So in short..."

"No Jets!" Calming down, Mokuba brushed off the engineer and went back to Shinji, "Sides, once you get the hang of her, you won't even need something like jet boots! Jet Boots! Come on!"

"Why...did you...do all of this?"

"Mostly because we couldn't restore it to it's original state." Mokuba admitted while the two walked over the catwalk stretched out in front of the Evangelion, "And while going over the blueprint, I found so many...flaws...I don't get me started! So I started writing up my own blueprint while playing "The World" and after talking with my friend Suberu, I worked out what would eventually be built into what you see in front of you."

"Wow...I really like how it looks."

"Good, if you'll follow me to my office, then we can over the pilot candidates."

"Candidates?" Shinji took a moment to get the word through his mind, "You're...you're replacing me?"

"Not exactly...to be honest only reason you were piloting Unit 01 was because Seto thought no one else could." Shinji felt the world grow silent, "Even though you would have the most experience, Seto learned a few things about who else could be a pilot."

"You're manipulating me..." Shinji knew exactly who else could be a candidate.

"What?" Mokuba asked caught off guard by Shinji's low voice.

"I know what you're doing..." Shinji grabbed Mokuba's collar and pushed him against the railing of the fragile catwalk, "Are you going to ask Hikari to pilot?"

"No-"

"How dare you threaten her!" Shinji threw Mokuba to the floor of the rumbling catwalk and turned away, "I won't allow it! I'll climb into Eva...even if it's just what my father wants!"

"Shinji-"

"You're just like my father! I'm just a pawn to you...aren't I?" Mokuba was speechless, "I get it. You won't have to worry, soon as I'm out of medical leave, you'll have your pilot." Shinji spat out away from the Eva and walked off the catwalk and out of the hanger as the crew watched him with rising panic.

"You could planned out that conversation better you know."

"Shut up Optimus!" Mokuba yelled into the interbase comm, "He reminds me of Seto when we were living with Gorzaboro..."

Angel Groove Command Lounge

"Longest...debriefing...of...my...life..." Bit rubbed out his eyes trying to get every last inch of sleep dust out, "You'd think he'd give us a break over repair costs."

"I know, we did just save the city again!" Simon yelled, was it really his fault for all of the craters his fight caused?

"A man like Kaiba...no way." Roger grudgingly admitted, even if he had a fair point about the structural damage and liberal use of ammo that Smith had ordered.

"Ungrateful spoiled little..." Van never got used to being taxed for doing his duty. The people were safe, what was all the fuse about costs and repairs?

"Hey guys!"

"Bro!" Simon waved at the blue haired paragon of manliness, "What are you doing here?"

"Decided to pay Shinji a visit." Kamina stated before bumping his fist with Simon's, "Heard you had a really tough fight."

"Umm...yeah..." Bit started whistling and picking out of his teeth and was surprised when a bee flew out.

"I bet it was some huge lizard with three heads!"

"Well..." Roger leaned against the wall, mildly shocked when static electricity zapped him, "It was a challenge..."

"So what did you fight?"

"A really hard guy! He tossed me into the air and breathed fired out of his mouth!"

"Simon?" Kamina looked his little brother in the eye, "Something wrong?"

"Well..." Simon didn't have the hard to keep this charade up, "It was buddhist monk with an extending staff and could fire...I swear he was tougher than he sounds!"

"That..." Kamina brushed his thumb under his chin as he thought about what Simon described, "Sounds WICKED! What about you guys?"

"Gardener with a grasshopper and swarm of bees."

"Electric samurai who hacked a GM."

"German Steam-powered jet glider."

"They called you out for that?" Kamina asked, "Can't the Defense Force do squat by themselves?"

"Kaiba wanted us to make up something tougher..." Van admitted, even if he knew personally about how dangerous that glider was.

"Day's saved either way, right?" Kamina stated, brushing off everyone's embarressed anxiety and noticing another member, "Shinji! We were just about to look for you."

"Hey guys..."

"Shouldn't you be back in bed Aniki?"

"Heading there now." Shinji told Simon as he walked with the group, "Mokuba just wanted to talk to me about a few minor adjustments he made to Eva."

"Like what?" Bit asked, intrigued that Eva would have some adjustments done to it.

"Nothing big, just modified armor and some weapons."

"That doesn't sound exciting..." Simon admitted.

"Like I said, minor adjustments." Shinji stated when the group noticed someone was missing, "Bit?"

"I just realized that I need to catch up with someone." The Zoids pilot called to the group with his back turned to them, "See you at the pad Roger."

"Is it just me or..."

"The temperature dropped..." Roger said exactly what was on everyone else's mind, "Somethings bothering Bit."

"I thought nothing ever bothers that guy."

"That's exactly what he wants you to think." Roger said to Van as they watched Bit stalk down the hall, "Men like Bit, the most generous smile holds a thousands secrets..."

"Whatever they are," Van said to himself, "He seems in control."

"Maybe..." Shinji thought out loud as Bit almost slipped off his feet.

"After a hard day's work, I almost slip on the wet floor." Bit somewhat bitterly yelled as he righted himself and kept going, "THANKS GUYS!"

"Not..."

District 25

"Glad we finally got some shopping done!" Eri laughed like some little girl with candy while she skipped out of the store.

"I guess I should thank you for not making me carry stuff." Naota acted distant, but to be honest he hadn't seen this skip in Eri's step since they left home.

"Why?" Eri straightened her glasses, "I was only looking for a few things."

"It's just how most women are." Naota said and started leaving the front of the store when he felt her hand grip his, "Not in public..."

"Cops..." Eri whispered in Naota's ear, without looking back, Naota looked around and saw the rearview mirror of a parked car. In it, he saw a very odd looking police car with the slogan: To Destroy and Enslave.

Nothing out of the ordinary there.

"Stay calm, we've got nothing to hide." So the young teens proceeded on like they did have nothing to hide.

Except when their robot stepped out in front of the cop car.

"Kanti!" Kanti smashed his fist into the cop car's hood and promptly kicked it into the side of a nearby building, "That was completely unnecessary!" Kanti pointed to where he kicked the car and the kids followed. Watching as the car transformed into a damaged 16 ft. tall robot that roared as it threw a spiked lance at Naota.

"Really?" Naota asked annoyed as he held up the large lance with his hand, "I think this is your's!" Naota lightly tossed it and didn't move as Ninamori jumped over him and slammed her black guitar into the lance and launched it into robot's head, sending it flying back into the same building and crashing out on the other side of the block.

"Naota...we just got done dodging the feds! Now you want them to come after us again!"

"That wasn't the feds!" Naota stated, "It was some kind of...transforming robot!"

"Excuse me Citizens!" An ED-209 unit called as it marched in front of the teens and robot, "Have you seen a Robot with transmorphic qualities."

"I just knocked it over there."

"Thank you for your assistance citizen." ED told Naota, "Move along."

"And you were worried about the Feds." Naota laughed while the ED robot entered the wreckage in search of it's target. That was when he noticed something about Ninamori's outfit, "What do you have on under..."

"Naughty Naota...wanna find out?" Naota really hated it when Eri jumped up on him and forced him against a wall. Especially in public.

"You know teasing is kid's stuff right?" The girl just smirked as the two started making out, completely oblivious to the gunfire and carnage that ED was unleashing in the next district.

"Hey!" Some looser with a blue hat and black jacket shouted from the window above the two, "Get a room kids!"

"Should I?" Eri raised an eyebrow as she mischieviously smirked, "Let's have some fun..." Eri suddenly screamed and jumped into Naota's arms.

"Spider!" The girl screamed, frantically pointing and yelling while a black spider emerged from a crack in the floor.

"Spider?" The little bug couldn't be any bigger than his toe and Eri was more scared than a cat, "Oh who cares-"

"Kanti?" The two teens looked around and didn't see their robotic companion around. They did see trail dust left behind by him though.

"Yes." Naota was geniunely freaked out to hear a voice come from the spider, "The robotic construct is correct in fleeing before the REGIS Mark V, even if futile."

"A talking spider?" With Ninamori still in his arms, Naota jumped up onto the roof of the building and set the frightened girl down, "You owe me later!" He then grumbled and hopped down to where the spider was inspecting a recently roasted puppy and brought out his guitar.

"The REGIS Mark V is the ultimate harbinger of your doom. The destroyer of civilizations, the devourer of stars, the bane of an entire species-" Naota brought the head of his Gibson guitar down on the spider like a hammer and ground it into the cement. For good measure, he also spat on the spider's crushed corpse and smashed into the ground with his shoe.

"Now you owe me." Naota said to Eri, who had climbed down from the rooftop and somehow didn't gain anyone's attention.

"If you want...we could-"

"Come on! Let's get to our room first!" Naota grabbed the girl's hand and rushed her from the scene. As they left to do whatever it was that they had planned, the spider's remains carefully knit themselves together just in time to confront a swarm of roaches that had come from inside the shop.

"Do not panic." The spider assured the roaches as series of guns emerged from it's reconstructed body, "You will all die." It then opened fire on the poor roaches, confusing the hell out of anyone paying attention to the foot-sized creature.

Unknown Location

"Why the hell won't it leave us alone?" The Pavelov helicopter hovered over the area once more.

"Because we're witnesses." Misato as the convoy of survivors huddled in a small trench left over from some obscure war, "It was looking for intel and didn't care much for survivors. If we make it back to civilization...it's mission might be compromised."

"Down!" Something crashed into the ground above the trench, likely the Pavelov in it's true form. Misato slowly crawled up the trench and looked over to where the mechanical destroyer sat with a knee bent.

"Can you translate what it's saying?" Misato called to Maya next to her as the machine began to make a loud and disjuncted sound.

"It's some kind of...bio-electronic...code..." Maya replied while typing away on her laptop. Misato didn't even bother to ask how she climbed up with the laptop, it wasn't important right now.

"Is that even possible?"

"At this point, all definitions of possible and limitations of possibilities have been thrown out the window." Given the stuff that had happened recently, Misato didn't bother to argue, "Seeing as that we're dealing with robots, why not?"

"I have found no sign of the survivors." Misato watched the conversation play out on Maya's laptop. Strange letters were displayed while a subtitle at the bottom translated what it was saying.

"Then why do you persist in your search? Great, this guy had a friend.

"I know that there are survivors, they are eluding my sensors somehow."

"I see. I am also faced with the same problem. I know that they are in that desert."

"What shall I do?"

"First, we cease this line of communication. They are deciphering our code even as we speak."

"Blackout accepts." The machine, Blackout, rose up to it's feet and emitted a red ray from it's eyes that started scanning it's surroundings.

"Shit!" The two women dropped down into the trench as everyone huddled down further next to the covered Unit 03, praying that Maya's configuration to Unit 03's AT field would keep them hidden, "Thanks Maya!"

"This was your idea!" Maya harshly whispered back, "We'll just have to be more careful..."

Skyline District, Home of the Negotiator

"Mr. Bit, I believe that now would be the proper time for sleep." Norman suggested to the blond sitting on the balcony overlooking the night time city, "It's one of those days...very well, if you require a midnight snack then we have enough bread for sandwich. I'm sure Master Roger won't notice."

"I heard that Norman." Roger called out, who by the way, was currently sleeping on the couch with a thick blanket.

"I am aware sir." Norman stated as he left the two to their rest, "All these years and he hasn't changed a bit..."

"Before I go to sleep in my comfortable couch-"

"Look, you're the one who decided to sleep on the couch." Bit harshly said to the Negotiator, "Stop complaining and go to sleep."

"Apparently, you don't want to be bothered." Roger pointed out before tucking himself in, "Good night then."

"Might've been a bit harsh..." Bit admitted quietly. He leaned on the railing and looked over the city that had most of it's people turning in for the night. Angel Groove really was a nice place to settle down and maybe...start a new life.

Okay, the giant/weird monsters that keep popping up and Kaiba might be detractors, but other than those two glaring flaws, this was a nice city to live in.

"Bit..." The Ace pilot shivered from hearing someone whisper in his ears while a pair of arms wrapped around his waist, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Bit assured Leena before turning to face her, being careful not to break her grip on him. "I don't think Roger would approve of your nightgown."

"When the hell are you going to be honest with me?" Leena bluntly asked, somehow her annoyed face plus her "special" nightgown really lit up Bit's mood in ways that it probably shouldn't.

Not that he didn't like it mind you...

"I'm more honest with you than most people." Bit admitted while kissing his girlfriend's forehead, "Besides, you don't want to hear about stuff from my stupid troubled past."

"Losing your parents isn't stupid, Bit."

"I was kidding-"

"I'm not." Leena really wanted to get his attention, was he really acting that strangely? "Now tell what's going on?"

"I...had a run in..." Bit wasn't sure what he should tell her, she knew most of the big picture but some things... "No...more like I was contacted..."

"By who?" Bit was about to answer when someone sluggishly walked past the two and rubbed his hands over the railing, "Roger?"

"Due to the discovery that I can sleep in the same bed as my wife without harm to either of us." Roger announced with a relieved expression, "I will pretend that you are not blatantly violating my policy concerning sleepwear, Miss Tauros or that you and Mr. Bit are on the verge of violating my policy concerning sexual conduct. Have a good night you two."

"How much longer until our apartment is unflooded?"

"About that..." As much as Bit would rather not tell Leena that they would need to find another place to live...

It was preferable to the other conversation that was about to break out.

Fanelia Embassy

"What a day and what a night..." Hitomi breathed out, it had been a long time since she just laid down on the grass and looked up at the sky. In fact, when she thought about it, she hadn't done this since she was a child.

"All of the stars in the heavens are out." Kamina stated while leaning back and watching the light show.

"Hey...remember when we didn't know what those lights in the stars were?" Yoko asked while lying back against Kamina's firm muscular chest.

"Didn't you say that they were fireflies once?" Simon asked his older brother, "Thinking back, I'm kind of glad that you were wrong."

"Simon...you simple little creature."

"Rossiu, didn't you believe that all of those stars were cracks?" Nia brought up, to which Rossiu grumbled and went quiet, "So...where's your home Van?"

"Let's see...Gaea is..." The Fanelian King looked around the sky for a while until he sat up and looked at Hitomi, "Okay Hitomi! How the hell can I see Earth from Gaea but I can't see squat from Earth?"

"Magic? I don't know." Hitomi laughed and pointed up, "But...Your world's over there."

"Where's there?" Van asked, who had no idea about how to read stars.

"Above Orion's Belt, silly."

"Wonder how it would fit."

"What?" Now Van was confused in a funny way, "Orion's Belt?"

"Hell yeah!" Kamina boasted, "I'll put it on and every other star will think...damn it...how come I'm not as bright as Kamina?"

"Like you need a belt, bro." Simon told his older brother, "If you can fit out a belt that big...I don't think it would be all that it's cut out to be."

"Sagittarius!" Nia cried out excitedly and pointed out the cluster to Simon.

"Really?" Yoko thought and brought out her sniper rifle to look through it's scope, "What do you know!"

"Sagit...what?"

"It's a bigger group of stars." Hitomi explained to Van, "This one...if you connect the dots, they look like a centaur out on the hunt."

"Kind of cool. Maybe I'll ask him for food when I meet him."

"That's impossible Kamina." Rossiu stated, "It's just a gimmick invented to find your way home in the dark. There's no centaur riding the heavens shooting people with a bow and arrow."

"Maybe not, Rossieu." Nia said, "But it's another half of the universe...there's probably planets out there...with people and families just like us..."

"Hey bro..."

"Whats up, Simon?"

"When we reach the heavens, let's look around Sagittarius...or...maybe find a world out there."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Why bother." Rossiu yawned, "With that many stars so close together, any world inside the pattern is likely uninhabitable..."

"There is at least one world in there." Nia countered, "And everyone was just fine."

"Really?" Yoko smiled when she saw Nia absently smirk, "Least they have good view from out there."

"What! Someone chose to live up there?" It was too absurd for Rossiu, it made no logical sense, "What idiot...even if there was such a world...it's probably dead by now...I...look! All those stars would roast you alive-"

"Well who asked you Rossieu!" Everyone was startled when they heard the volume and venom in Nia's voice. The young girl inhaled and stood up, "I'm going to bed..."

"Nia?"

"Good night, Simon." Her eyes hidden by her hair, Nia started back for the embassy to turn in for the night.

"Nia..." Yoko said as she suddenly kissed Kamina, "Catch up tonight." The busty sniper stood up and jogged off to the embassy.

"Men..." This was a perfect night and their damn testosterone had to go and ruin everything. Frustrated, Hitomi jumped to her feet, "Good night."

"Is it something I said?" Van really wanted to go after Hitomi, but somehow he got this burning vibe from her that following would be a bad idea.

"No it's something that...ROSSIEU SAID!" Kamina clarified when he slammed his fist into Rossieu's face and forcing him into the ground.

"What?" Rossieu asked while rubbing his cheek as Van, Simon and Kamina glared at him.

"You made Nia upset!"

"Simon! Grit those teeth!" Simon didn't have anytime to react when he was punched in the fist, "You should be comforting her!"

"But why does this-"

"Did I say you could speak!" Kamina yelled as he slugged Rossieu again and turned back to Simon, "I don't know what's up...but be a man and go see if you can cheer her up."

"You have very odd...mentoring tactics." Van commented as Simon ran off to the embassy calling for Nia's name.

"That's what big brothers do." Kamina said to the Fanelian King, "They slug the little ones in line and make em stronger."

"Mine never did that as much..." Van absently rubbed his face as his face waned, "Especially after...he failed."

"Failed?" Kamina had heard that Van went through a pretty badass test to become king. Since he was the youngest that meant that the older brother must have failed, "You mean that dragon test?"

"Yeah..." Van answered sadly, "When he returned with a missing arm, everyone believed him to a failure...a disgrace to the line of kings. So...as you can imagine, I had to pick up...the slack..."

"Why didn't he just try again?" Was there a rule against going against the dragon again?

"I don't know..." Van admitted, "Maybe he didn't to bring further disgrace...on himself..."

"Well...you're king now."

"How come you're king?" Rossiu asked when he finally got back on his feet.

"Because when I went on my trial two years ago, I slew my dragon and then used it's heart to power Escaflowne. Signally that by Destiny's decree, I was to become the King of Fanelia-"

"And what kind of stable government is that?"

"Rossieu..." Kamina warned, the kid had already ticked off Nia and was about to go on a roll.

"Seriously! Who sends their heir out alone and without aid to hunt a vicious man-eating dragon as some basis for whether or not they can run a country!"

"Kid..." Kamina noticed Van's serene posture begin to ebb away as Rossiu kept talking.

"I mean...if the leadership of the Dai-Gurren Brigade was based on who could bang Yoko the hardest then of course brainless Staunch Armstrong would be our leader in a heartbeat!"

"Shut up..." Now Van was violently shaking his arms.

"I'm serious...just because some overgrown lizard peeled over and died, that doesn't mean you have the qualities of a favorable leader! It's a commune of the masses that should determine the qualities of leadership, not some suicidal ritual that could possibly deprive you of every heir prematurely!"

"Shut up!" Van punched out, but the young boy easily dodged the blow.

"Ha! See this Kamina! Now you'll see the violence inherent in the system!"

"SHUT UP!" Van violently released a burst of magically charged air that slashed through where Rossiu was standing, but again, the boy managed to dodge.

"You see him trying to hit me Kamina? Now you see the violence inherent in his system!" Rossiu dodge another magical attack and kept talking, "See! See! I'm being repressed!"

"BLOODY PEASANT!" Van cried as he almost drew his sword until Kamina stopped him and walked up to the brashly confident Rossiu.

"HA! MY POINT EXACTLY!" Another fist to his fist, caused all trace of consciousness to ebb from his vision and cause Rossiu to fall down on his face.

"He does that all the time..." Kamina muttered while Rossiu quietly called for Kinon in his unconscious dilerium, "Can't really blame him, he came from mine based in religious idiocy and it rubbed off badly on him."

"You shouldn't call another's faith idiocy."

"So it's not idiotic when they kick out twin children unable to take care of themselves?" Van shrugged his shoulders in concession, "That kind."

Angel Groove Command Center Medical Ward

The moon was out tonight.

He didn't know why...but Shinji always hated it.

Lying here in what could be best termed a helpful prison, Shinji was forced to watch that damned moon shine it's light into his room. He never really knew why he hated it...

He hated it because his sister did.

Of all of the memories he had left of her, Shinji always remembered that she hated to see the moon out. It always made her sad.

And yet, even if he could, destroying the damned thing would make life worse. The moon controls tidal patterns and helps Earth maintain it's orbit around the sun...without it, life would suck all the more.

So he'll just have to live with it...just like everything else...like the little boy who was standing on the wall next to the door.

"What do you want now." Shinji knew that the brat was there, he was still there even when Shinji didn't look at him.

"Stop ignoring me, mister."

"Visiting hours is over." Shinji finally turned back to the boy, and saw that he had that same damn smile on his damn innocent face, "Go away."

"Again, who gives a damn about you?" Yep, Shinji was convinced that his kid was really a symptom of his pathetic life, "When will you understand that everyone hates you?"

"Never...because they don't..." Shinji shifted his gaze to the empty plate at the table near the headboard of his bed.

"Cookies...that's your only defense?" Shinji did everything in his power to refrain from covering his ears. Even if the little boy's laugh was so cutely annoying, "You are pathetic mister."

"At least I'm real."

"How do you know that I'm not?" Shinji could have thought of a thousand reasons why he knew this boy wasn't real. Yet, the boy was, "At least I'm not in denial mister. Everyone hates you...they only keep you around because you're useful."

"Nothing?" The boy asked again, walked up to Shinji with that same little smile, "What about today in the hanger? Why would Mokuba say anything about other pilots?"

"Because he's looking for-"

"WRONG!" The boy screamed enough for Shinji to cover his ears and if he didn't know better, he would've thought that he felt blood, "He was manipulating you! He knew you'd pilot if he threatened to make someone else do it...like Hikari."

"She is cute...but what makes you think she cares about you?" The boy asked while Shinji shifted and turned away, "Why should anyone? Those friends of yours? They only keep you around out of pity. You're teammates? You're useful to them."

"Just like back in Tokyo." Shinji just wanted the brat to go away, but he knew that he wouldn't, "Misato and Asuka...boy did they love to tease and boss you around. But nope, soon as you're not needed, they ditch out here at the mercy of a loser who sells trading cards as a job. Maybe you should've done something with Asuka that night she was sleeping in your bed."

"Hell...even sister just saw us as a toy! Has she ever tried to find us? Does she even remember that she has a brother, let alone if she's still alive? What sad failure you are..."

"But...at least Hikari's just as desperate as you." Shinji turned back to the boy, "Maybe when you're pathetic life comes to an end, at least you won't die a lonely virgin! And she'll remember all of those wonderful 16 seconds that you-" At his limit, Shinji jumped out of his bed and gripped the brat's neck with both of his hands.

"Stop it..." The boy begged as he whizzed while Shinji tightened his grip more and more, "You...know...what's...going...to..." Just as he was ready to snap the little brat's neck, Shinji felt his own air constrict and suddenly he passed out onto the ground.

"Told you..." Shinji swore that when he woke up...that brat wasn't going to get away again...

District 32 Borderlands

"Shift's up, get some sleep."

"Yes sir!" With that, the small group of GMs returned to the Sentry Wall while Shiro and four others took up position around the crater that was just barely within Angel Groove's total land territory.

Any further outside...and it's someone else's problem.

"Private channel sir." One of the pilots chimed in.

"Private channel go ahead." Shiro gave the okay and switched his comm to a private channel.

"Well...I've gone over the numbers and none of this makes sense!"

"What the hell has made sense in the past few months?" Shiro never would have believed that half of the shit he'd seen recently was real. Diamonds that shoot laser beams...Dragons...Krakens...Robots that can create giant drills...Yeah, the rulebook on realistic was rewritten at some point.

"No...I mean...this honestly doesn't make sense..." The pilot, stated while sending a file over to Shiro labeled "Shit Be Whack yo!", "I keep replaying footage from the objects descent and...well...take a look."

Shiro played the footage in his cockpit after the file downloaded and watched with widening eyes as the object edged closer to the planet.

"You mean to tell me...it spontaneously grew?" Whatever breached earth's atmosphere, wasn't the same object lying the crater.

"Yes sir." The pilot answered, "Under normal circumstances...this shouldn't add up...there wasn't even a catalyst...one minute...it's a spherical object...the next..."

"It's a head in a crater." Shiro stated, he then turned his screen and looked down at the head poking out of the crater. It looked faintly familiar to the DF Commander, it was white save for a gold horn that stuck out from it's forehead and bore a green gem at the bottom of the horn, "What the hell are you?"

"Commander! We're picking up heavy activity coming from the object!" Shiro didn't need to be told twice, he saw the head's eyes start to gleam red in the early hours of morning.

"Stand by." Shiro commanded, several nearby GM's formed a line behind him and his retreating unit as the ground around the crater began to shake, "Whatever comes out of that crater...we stand our ground!"

"Sir, yes sir!" They were few, but they were a happy few. Maybe it was because Shiro had known some of these guys from the academy. Maybe the impossible perils they had faced had brought them closer together.

Whatever the case, Shiro wasn't at all hesitant to have these guys backing him up just before all hell broke lose.

Notes:

Author's Notes:
Does anyone else run into a odd quirk where chapters become longer for no real reason? For instance, the whole fight with Deathwing was only supposed to be one chapter...at some point...it became two.
With this next arc...I only planned for it to be two chapters and now...see this why you shouldn't set non-specific road maps for your story. Too much can get left out!
Anyway, there's a basic term for establishing that a character is evil when they first do something meaningful or are first introduced.
The villain might kick a dog...beat up an opponent while they're down...kill a parent in front of their children...Do something that shows that they've crossed the line a long time ago...or breaking a poor child's ball.
As Redlettermedia put it: Make the audience hate the Villians. In whatever way you can. No matter how cheap.
Whatever the case, this moment exists purely to tell the audience that this is someone who they or/and the heroes most likely won't like.
These moments are designed to make you hate whoever is doing these things. Sometimes they can come off as cheap and unrealistic...other times...they leave an impact even after the character reforms.
(Example: The first thing we see Vegeta do in the Anime is destroy a bug planet for no real reason (After he saved it from an evil overlord mind you!))

Chapter 11: Bow or Stand part 1

Summary:

Down a comrade, the rangers do battle with a powerful new challenger.
Meanwhile, Shinji struggles against the wounds of his body and soul to find his resolve.
However, the lonely teen will need a loving hand or two to steady his steps.

Notes:

Originally published on ff.net in December, 2011

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

District 32 Sentry Outpost

"When did we get to this place?" Shiro asked while still keeping all focus on moving a downed GM into the back of the Defense Force as they engaged the anomaly.

"What place sir?" Eleanor asked from the safety of a hidden Type 74 Hover Truck somewhere behind the sentry wall.

"The place where we fought shit worse than anything we ever did in the Federation?"

"Probably when we thought we'd ever be safe." Shiro grudgingly admitted that Eleanor had a point as he set down the downed GM and went back to the fray while a crew of medics helped the pilot out of the totaled mobile suit.

"Live by the sword, die by the sword right?" Shiro muttered as he saw another GM levitate into the air and explode as an unseen force ruptured it's fuel.

"You read the bible sir?" Michael asked in a GM armed with an anti-armor bazooka, which he was in the process of reloading.

"Ever since we came to this city." Shiro answered as he heard a phone ring in the middle of this chaotic mess.

"Sorry Commander..." Michael apologized while the ringing stopped, "Mom? Hey! How are you?"

"Make it short!" Shiro yelled while surveying the status of the unit. Right now, there were four confirmed casualties, fifteen injured and at least twenty still in active combat-

Never mind, another one bit the dust.

"Look mom I'm in the middle of something-" Shiro prayed that Michael's conversation was worth it, because the kid's GM barely avoided a bolt that surged in the mobile suit's direction, "Well I lost track when I got called out on guard duty...no I'm not making it up!"

"Michael!" Shiro cried as the anomaly pulled a pair of GMs towards it and threw them back a moment later...scorched.

"Yes Kiki is fine too..." Michael muttered as his GM finally reloaded and fired a round in the direction of the target, "Mom...no I haven't knocked her up...MOM!"

"Ensign!" When five more GMs were pretty much totaled, Shiro was all but convinced that this was something that would need more than the handful engaging the target now.

"WE ARE NOT GETTING INTO THIS RIGHT NOW!" Michael yelled loud enough for the whole unit to hear, "DON'T TELL ME THAT! I'M FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE RIGHT NOW!"

"Everyone fall back!" The DF Commander ordered as he opened fire to buy time to evacuate the wounded and the dead.

"Gotta go, bye!" Michael raced up to Shiro's position and fired another missile, "Sorry Commander-"

"You really need to start standing up to-" Both GMs ducked to avoid the shrapnel thrown out from the missile that impacted the anamoly's vicinity and began to slowly crawl back as the DF Guntanks commenced their barrage, "Foley!"

"Already on it! But nothing's hitting it!" The infantry sargeant called out as dust began to cover the entire area outside of the Sentry walls, "Shit...RAMIREZ! GET THE F*%K OFF THE WALL!"

"I'm not getting paid enough for this shit!" Ramirez complained as he and several other infantry leaped from the top of the wall, just in time to avoid the energy beam that tore through that section of the wall and send tons of debris into the air and the city.

"He really wants in, doesn't he Commander?" Michael asked as the two former federation recon pilots got up and started sprinting for the Sentry Wall.

"You tell me!"

Angel Groove Medical Ward

"I hate this..." Shinji managed as he lied on the floor, his breathing only now returning to normal after coughing for close to an hour.

"Hate what?" That damn child was still in his room, still wearing that stupid little smile, "Yourself?"

"I'm tired..." Shinji stood up and sat down on the bed, he slouched forward, but his glare was locked with the boy's, "Go away."

"No."

"Why!" He barked in frustration, "Why won't you leave me alone!"

"Stop ignoring me." The boy's smile was gone now, replaced by a disappointed frown, "Every time you ignore me, you're just running away again."

"Running away from what?" Shinji asked, he choose to really think about this, "There's nothing to run from anymore." Even if there was, where the fuck would he go?

"Then why are you breathing?" Shinji exhaled as the boy walked up to him and stared straight into his eyes as Shinji tilted his head down, "Why bother being here? Why keep going? Why keep fighting?"

"Shouldn't you know?" Now that Shinji was this close to the boy, he realized that one of the child's eyes was scarlet red...just like...

"I'm asking you." The boy redirected as his eyes furrowed, "Do you believe that your existence has some benefit for something or someone? Do you believe that you have something to fight for? That you possess a purpose that warrants your existence? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know?"

"Is it...self-actualization? Peace? Fear? Selfish preservation? Belonging? Perhaps love? All illusions." The boy giggled as his smile returned, "Fragile concepts created by the human mind to construct it's own reality and paint it as something that it is not. A feeble attempt to justify a life that is without purpose or meaning. In your case, a pathetic ploy to convince yourself that you are something other than a pawn...a puppet who exists only to do what you are told."

"And what happens to the puppet after it's purpose is fulfilled? It gets thrown into the fireplace to be used as firewood for the master's stew! Or else, it's thrown into a ditch and left to the flies! Broken down and reduced to the barest of minerals as compost lost within a heap of trash!"

"I am not a puppet." Even if he had been used in the past, the young pilot knew that he was no doll. That was what this was all about, wasn't it? Shinji tilted his face up as he finally figured out this little child's game.

"You know that I'm right!" The boy cried as if sensing that Shinji had not succumbed as he was now obviously trying to do, "You know that there isn't any reason for you to be alive! You know that your very existence is only to be filled with empty sadness...because everyone hates you! They'd rather see you disappear! They're lives would be better if you were never born!"

"Why Mister?" Now the boy sounded desperately frustrated as he growled out his words, "Why are still alive?"

"Major Ikari?" Startled, Shinji stood up and noticed a nurse entering his room, "Are you alright sir? Your monitor almost dropped-"

"I'm fine Ino, thank you." Shinji assured with a smile, convinced, the nice woman closed the door behind her and left Shinji in his room, alone.

The brat got the message.

"Who said I can't breath? Even then...why should I listen?"

Kaiba's Estate

"Seto!" Mokuba cried as he broke his older brother's number one rule and entered the Kaiba Corp president's room.

"Oh Kisara!" Seto was enjoying a very...predictable dream, "A little more...Yes! You're so...moist and wet-"

"Seto..." Mokuba really hated it when his big brother had these kind of dreams, Mokuba thought that they were creepy if not all together disturbing.

"The feather! Use the feather!" Mokuba had now heard enough and relaxed before he said the one phrase that he knew would piss off his brother.

"Card games on motorcycles."

"CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES!" Seto launched from his bed and heavily exhaled before he noticed that his little brother was in the room with him, "Mokuba! I had a horrible dream where some Yusei guy beat me in a Children's cardgame while riding a motorcycle and performing the karma sutra with-"

"THE CITY'S UNDER ATTACK!" Mokuba screamed while his young mind was being bombarded by the inappropriate things that his brother had said, "Must...focus...must...keep...disturbing...images...away..."

"Again?" Kaiba was really getting annoyed with these attacks, "Lovely, let's go Mokuba."

"Think...of...Subaru...with...wet...bikini-"

"Give it up, she's probably a lesbian." As Seto threw on his overcoat, he heard his little brother scream in shock and terror before passing out onto the floor. "You okay?"

District 32

"Why do all of these people always show up at the most inconvenient time!" Van grumbled as the team traversed through the now abandoned District 32.

"It's called Murphy's Law, King." Bit said to Van as he dragged behind the team due to his Liger's equipment.

"Everything that can go wrong...will go wrong." Roger stated as Big O spotted a group of GM's nearing their location. From the look of their mobile suits, this situation was pretty serious.

"Rangers..." The GM Commander breathed through the comm before coughing, "Thanks for showing up."

"What's the situation Shiro?" Roger asked as a GM collapsed and it's pilot bailed just before a snuff of flame blew out of the compartment.

"We didn't even get any warning..." Shiro told the rangers while getting his breath under control, "It just...popped out and...went to town on us..."

"Where's the rest of your unit?" Bit asked when he noticed barely more than a dozen GMs standing and half a dozen more wrecked beyond repair.

"They're gone sir." The DF Commander swore under his breath, not bothering to cover up his frustration.

"I'm sorry we didn't come sooner." Roger clenched his hand, several families had just lost something irreplacable, "Take the survivors and get back to HQ, we'll take care of this."

"Yes sir. Alright ladies! Regroup at HQ!" Shiro commanded, sounding determined to not allow another pilot to die. Not under his watch anyway.

"It's coming!" One of the pilots cried out as GM's damaged or undamaged started running past the rangers, "It's coming right for us!"

"It's...It's already here!" Shiro corrected when the Rangers found themselves confronted by the Anomaly of District 32.

"What the hell is that?" Bit asked as the Rangers sighted the white bipedel mecha that approached them, marching at a brisk pace as though it had all of the time in the world.

Angel Groove Command Center

"The Rangers must be careful," Optimus stated when the target's picture came to the screen, "That is a Zymorgenic Offensive Relentless Destroyer."

"What?"

"A Zord..." The Autobot stated to Kaiba, "An ancient war machine used during the War of Shattered Skies...that one would still be in existence...and functional..."

"Anything else you can tell us?" Mokuba asked as technicians used the footage to analyze the zord's stats.

"Yes...it's description...the language on it's helm..." Optimus was silent for a moment as the autobot dove into his own memory, "This zord's name is Cyclopsis...it apparently originated from the world of Dora Talos before the planet was made uninhabitable before Time Remembers...I can say nothing else...anything more about this zord has been lost to legend."

"Detecting increasing energy readings!" One of the bridge bunnies yelled, "It's preparing to attack!"

"Then we'll fight back..." Seto did not seem phased by Optimus' warning, "Rangers! Kick this Zord off of my property!"

The Action begins

"You heard the man!" Roger cried as the creed of terms flashed over Big-O's console, Cast in the Name of God. Yee Not Guilty. "Big O! Action!"

"Look guys, I'm going to butt in." Bit muttered in a low voice as Liger Zero stepped out in front of the team and an increasingly louder hum began to emit from Liger's green armor.

"Bit?" Van asked as Liger's armor mounted twin cannons started to glow and various panels and pods slid out or opened.

"Liger Zero Panzer, like it?" Bit asked as the team suddenly became very uncomfortable, the question was why, was it Bit's unusual vicious tone or the amount of gunfire he now had at his fingertips? "Well I've got some steam to blow, so sit back and enjoy the show!" As Liger Zero Panzer began it's assault, the sheer amount of guns and ammunition didn't seem very loud to the Negotiator.

All he heard was an odd sound that seemed very reminescent to a nail being scratched across a steel plate.

Command Center

"If I could think of the times that would've been useful-"

"Shut up Mokuba." Seto said as the Command Deck watched with awe at the hell-fire assault that Bit's liger was unleashing on the zord. "If he succeeds, then we can all go to sleep."

"See, now you just jinxed it-"

"Does your brother need to repeat himself-"

"Shut up Optimus!"

Back to the action

"You think you fired enough ammo?" Roger inquired with both amusement and dull surprise as the smoke settled from Liger's barrage of cannon fire, missiles, machine guns, beam weaponry, and grenade launchers.

Amazing what you can fit into a small set of armor.

"As Leena always says, you can never fire enough." Bit called out as Liger roared in agreement, "Unless, you didn't take out the target."

"It would be a waste if you did-" Van cried out in surprise when a white fist attached to metal cord flew out and slammed into Escaflowne's chest to send the guymelef flying into a nearby building as another hand appeared and grabbed the over-heated and lumbering Liger Panzer and lifted the zoid into the air.

"Bit!" Simon watched as a violent electric current flowed through the cable and overran Liger's armor. The zoid cried out in pain along with it's partner. Thinking quickly, Lagann leapt onto the cable attached to the hand and began drilling into the metal cord.

"What the?" To Simon's surprise and shock, his drill wasn't even making a dent in the thick cord, but it did manage to divert all of the electricity from Liger to Lagann. Simon grunted as wave after wave of electric energy coursed through Lagann and his cockpit, it so much energy just to stay conscious much less keep Lagann's drill spinning.

Fortunately, a metallic chained hook clamped onto Lagann and pulled the small gunman off as Escaflowne sliced into the cord, causing it to release Liger as the damaged, but intact cord retracted back to it's original place.

The arms of the waiting warzord.

"You alright?" Van asked as Big-O engaged the zord and began to pummel Cyclopsis with a barrage of heavy punches that caused it to fall back with each hit. Lagann meanwhile, sat quietly on the city street as Simon gripped his heart and heavily breathed to recover from the attack he just went through.

"Yeah...just give me a minute..." Bit breathed while Liger staggered in place, attempting to maintain balance despite it's damaged state. Meanwhile, Big-O nearly fell out of balance when Cyclopsis headbutted the megadeus, but Roger retaliated by shooting a series of hooked, rocket-powered chains into Cyclopsis chest and forcing it further back before pulling the zord back to Big-O's readied fist. The resultant force cracked the side armor of Cyclopsis torso and threw it to the ground.

"That's a hit!" Just as Bit celebrated, Cyclopsis rose to a knee and brought it's arms up to it's forehead. In the blink of an eye, a large cycling orange beam fired out of the Zord's forehead and blazed into Big-O's direction, "Roger!" Though the Megadeus was intact, much of it's chest paneling had been destroyed and one of it's eyes had lost lighting.

"Impossible..." Van muttered in shock, "Let's see you stop this!" Escaflowne slashed it's sword, sending a stream of concentrated air into Cyclopsis' direction. The ground and buildings around the zord gave way, but Cyclopsis remained in position, holding a crescent shaped energy in it's hands that it soon threw at Escaflowne.

"Well...this is a pretty shitty start..." Bit stated as Escaflowne flew overhead and landed on it's back, a large gash etched into it's lower chest thanks to it's own attack, "At least this is only first quarter..."

Command Center Medical Ward

"Don't worry, your family was already evacuated." Hikari assured the injured patient while she finished applying his medicine.

"Thank you..." The private managed under his labored breath, "See this why I should listen to my wife more..."

"Ha! Hasn't been ten years and you're whipped already!" The private's squad mate mocked and soon after shook under the pressure of the injury to his lower stomach, "Pain...pain..."

"Serves you right!" The private barked back before he lied back and moaned from the agony of having a broken ribcage, "Why did I take that hit for you..."

Hikari had learned about their story from just watching. The two apparently were injured in the recent attack and one fell off the wall while the other was crushed under rubble...and somehow they met at a midpoint while trying to find the other.

And here they were, throwing a fit at each other like little boys with toys. It's funny what you'll find while volunteering at the Medical Ward...at least compared to a few other harsh facts...

Such as eighteen confirmed casualties and...rising...

"Hikari?" Nurse Jenny passed through with an empty stretcher, "Listen, why don't you go on break for a while?"

"I'm fine ma'am-"

"Relax, it's not like you're getting paid for this..."

"I'm not here for money!"

"Relax! I'm only kidding with you..." The mid-twenties nurse laughed while Hikari reluctantly grinned, "Save it for the real rush, Hikari. We'll really need you then."

"Alright..." Giving in, Hikari undid her apron and rubbed the sand from her tired eyes. Sometimes she wondered, with the start of the art equipment in this center, was she really needed as a volunteer?

Feeling the area shake, she realized that the battle up above was likely growing more intense even with the Rangers deployed. All but one, who she had unknowingly been walking towards ever since she went on her break.

"Shinji..." The boy turned to acknowledge her and then when back to whatever it was he was doing...outside of his room, "What are you doing?"

"Suiting up." Shinji answered as he threw on his jacket.

"What?" It took a moment to understand what Shinji had told her, but she caught on, "You're still on medical leave! You're going against your orders-"

"Screw my orders Hikari." Shinji straightened out his jacket as he purposefully evaded Hikari's eyes, "I'm done with doing as I'm told. My friends are getting whipped out there and they need my help...even if they won't want it."

"Shinji..." Hikari knew that Shinji was saying something else entirely...his eyes reflected frustration, fear, and determination.

"I didn't want this burden Hikari..." The boy admitted while she listened, "No one ever asks me if I want to pilot Eva...to be entrusted with saving the world...sacrificing my own sense of being...and no one ever asks if they should thank me..."

"Then..." It had been something she thought about ever since Toji and Kensuke became pilots, but now that there was a chance she was needed, "Let me pilot it-"

"No!" Hikari jumped at the raised volume of Shinji's voice, and she wasn't the only one. Half of the pilots in sick bay had also been startled, "I can't...I can't ask anyone else to do something that I wouldn't want to do...it's unfair to them."

"What about you!" He sounded like a broken record but yet it made sense. He wants to protect his friends without being sure that he's their friend...he hates piloting and yet, he won't let anyone else take his place. How could someone be this tortured and brave at the same time? "If you carry this for too long you'll crush yourself Shinji! You can't do it alone!"

"Why not? I've been alone all along." Hikari gasped as Shinji frowned and walked past her, "Besides, no one will miss me." For whatever reason, she couldn't turn back. Maybe he didn't mean it, but it hurt to hear him say something like that.

"You...You...IDIOT!" Hikari screamed, uncaring that a few dozen people likely just heard her, "Don't say things...without asking...if their..."

"Why aren't you following him?" Startled, Hikari jumped up when she just now realized that a wide-eyed Nia was standing right behind her.

"Nia? I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

"Please answer my question." Hikari found her eyes now drawn to Nia's, "Why did you let him go?"

"Because he's an idiot..." Hikari confessed, "I sound like Asuka right now!" "He complains about being alone and yet...he doesn't want others to help him..."

"Then show him that he's wrong." Nia directly stated without blinking, "If a child is never shown the truth, they'll believe that 2 + 2 = 5 for the rest of their life."

"What-"

"Come on!" Nia grabbed Hikari's hand before the poor girl could realize that she was being led, "Let's show Shinja that he has friends."

"Shinja?"

"I'm sorry...I meant Shinji..." Nia corrected while rubbing her light hair, "Where did that come from?"

Returning to the Action

"No...why are you picking on me?" Bit complained as Liger Panzer was lifted into the air by Cyclopsis' apparent telekinetic abilities and thrown back down towards the ground, only to slam painfully into the air above the city streets, "Did you just knock me into air! Come on!" Panzer fired a round from it's intact cannon that hit the zord's face, but a cadre of missile launchers pulled out from Cyclopsis' upper chest and barraged the zord with a screen of missiles.

"I've had enough of you!" Van cried as Liger fell to the ground all but defeated, "GETSUGA TENSHOU!" Slashing with Escaflowne, a very visible light-blue energy swath bladed out towards the ancient zord.

"It's gotta have a weakness." Roger said to himself as Big-O pointed up it's arms and then punched them together to fire a white laser that shoot out at Cyclopsis just as Escaflowne's energy swath was about to impact the ancient zord.

The zord threw out it's arms as the two attacks halted in place in front of it and pushed out again and forced the two attacks back towards their casters. Slicing off Escaflowne's arm and broke off a large portion of Big-O's left leg while Cyclopsis folded it's arms over it's chest.

Spotting easy prey, the warzord stalked towards the paralyzed Gunman still lying in the city street while Simon struggled to restore power despite his own injuries. Cyclopsis stomped down on Lagann and drove it into the ground as Simon continued to turn his drill core in strained desperation.

"Get off my precious little brother KICK!" A Red blur suddenly slammed into Cyclopsis and knocked it off of the grounded Lagann.

"Bro!" Simon called out with raised spirits as Gurren dodged one of Cyclopsis' punches and knocked the ancient zord back from his brother.

"Who the hell do you think I am PUNCH!" Kamina yelled as Gurren's fist slammed into Cyclopsis' chest and sent the ancient zord flying back through the city district, "Alright, where's the bastard that woke us up early?"

"That was him, bro." Simon pointed out as he finally got power to Lagann, but still had trouble dislodging himself from the ground.

"Oh." Kamina muttered in surprise as Cyclopsis recovered from the attack, "What the hell is that? That's the dumbest looking mecha I've ever seen...Viral has more class than this punk!"

"Looks can be deceiving..." Bit stated from the badly battered Liger Zero Panzer, "Apparently...the focus was placed on effectiveness rather than looks...what does he have to show for it? He's kicking our asses right now."

"Wait a minute..." Kamina muttered as Cyclopsis stood out of it's crater and just stared at Gurren, "How dare you copy the Brothers, Gurren Lagann!"

"Bro?" Simon jumped when Gurren kicked the ground and knocked Lagann into the air. Fortunately, Gurren managed to catch the mini-gunman without even looking.

"Look at it Simon!" Kamina said as he held Lagann out to get a better view of Cyclopsis, "It's some cheap rip-off of Gurren Lagann and Mecha Lord!"

"It's called a Zord." Van corrected as he managed to get Escaflowne standing despite it's extensive damage.

"Like I said! It's copying and mocking us!" Kamina yelled as Cyclopsis pointed out it's open hand, but was surprised when nothing happened to Gurren, "Simon! Let's show em that they're playing with the big boys!"

"Right behind you Bro!" Confidence at it's peak, Simon punched his drill core as Gurren tossed Lagann into the air above it. The small gunman drilled downwards, slamming into Gurren's head and initiating it's combination sequence.

"Super Ultra Combining, Gurren Lagann! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE!" Gurren Lagann complete, it pumped it's arms allowing the awesome of it's presence to leak into the area and cause another volcano to explode somewhere in the world.

"You know...why can't you do that in the beginning of the fight!"

"Wouldn't be as cool."

"Save your energy." Roger suggested, "I'll give you guys an opening!" A myriad of chains shot out from Big-O's arms and hips that flew out towards the ancient zord and wrapped around it's arms as the two mecha began to tug against each other.

"Don't mind if I have cut in!" Van cried as he held Escaflowne's blade and threw it out towards the ancient zord. Distracted by it's chains, the ancient zord was impaled through the lower torso and thrown off enough to be unable to defend against a series of missiles that Big-O fired from it's chest and the downed Liger fired from it's armor.

"Goes double for me!" Bit cried as he fired a set of airborne pods that flew over Cyclopsis and rained down a barrage of grenades that emitted a thick fog that covered Cyclopsis as it struggled to pull out Van's blade and hold off the chains around it.

"This'll be too easy!" Kamina cried as Gurren Lagann threw out it's sunglasses, which then split apart and hooked into Big-O's chains before digging into Cyclopsis' arms and holding them out.

"GIIIGGAAA..." Gurren Lagann pulled up it's right arm, forming a drill that quickly elongated and then spontaneously expanded as Simon continued, "DRILLLL BREAKKKEERRRR!" Like a rocket, the combo gunman lauched its self at the tied down zord and prepared to punch straight through the zord's white armor. In the span of less than five seconds, Gurren Lagann's drill met with Cyclopsis' upper-body.

"Bro..." Except that Cyclopsis' upper-body remained...in fact, the drill had been broken into by the horn of Cyclopsis' head. As Simon's eyes remained widened, small currents of red and blue electricity circulated through the horn and concentrated into the green gem on it's forehead.

A bolt shot out from Gurren Lagann's right shoulder, destroying the joined arm and shattering the halted drill as the ancient zord kicked the Gunman's head into the side of one of the larger fragments of the drill. As Gurren Lagann remained unable to recover, the ancient zord telepathically halted the drill pieces and threw them at the Gunman.

"Don't worry about it Simon! We'll just make a bigger one next time!" Kamina boastfully assured the still stunned Simon as Gurren Lagann weaved in and out of the cloud of drill fragments while Cyclopsis also used the fragments to break out of it's bindings and fired a pair of lightning blasts from it's shoulders that impacted Big-O and Escaflowne while a larger fragment stabbed into Liger's underside.

"If there's a next time." Simon breathed as the cloud finally let up and Cyclopsis flew out and landed a punch on Gurren Lagann's chest and didn't leave a scratch.

"Ha! Is that all you got?" Kamina was answered when a long elongated blade pierced out from the Combo Gunman's back.

"Bro!" Simon called since that blade had pierced dangerously close to the cockpit.

"Simon watch out!" Heeding his brother's warning, Simon returned focus to the ancient zord. Just in time to see it's red eyes boring down on him before a great flash blacked out his vision.

Evangelion Anima Maintenance Hanger

"Are you sure that you're supposed to be here-" The technician didn't bother arguing when he saw a pistol pointed to his face, "I'll be quiet now.

"Have to hurry!" The techie watched as the fifteen year old Japanese major ran up the catwalk and jumped onto the inactive Evangelion Anima before accessing a manual hatch and leaping into the cockpit, "Cool, a how-to-guide, thanks Mokuba."

"Oh come on...does anyone read anymore!" The techie cried as pair of girls found their way into the "Super-Secret-Forbidden-Hanger." Sometimes he wondered why the Kaiba's bothered to keep the place off limits.

"Sorry sir, but we need to help our friend." The younger of the girls apologized sweetly while the older ran along the catwalks and stood in front of the Eva.

"Shinji!" Girlfriend? Oh joy, the technician sat down in his chair and started chewing gum as he watched the drama unfold.

"Hikari..." Major Ikari said when he poked his head out of the cockpit, "Stop trying to stop me!"

"Shinji! This is crazy!" It was like a textbook example of UST arguing, "Do you even know how to activate it on your own?"

"I read the instruction guide." Shinji answered as he held up the book and then ducked back into the cockpit, "Now let me do my-"

"Yeah...we were still working on that." The technician answered as Eva hummed with life and then returned to silence to indicate a failed activation, "The recognition mainframe isn't completely functional."

"Recognition mainframe?" The little girl asked.

"Yeah, that's what allows the Eva to recognize whether or not the pilot can synch with her." The technician answered, "Without it, she'll just assume that it's an intruder."

"She?"

"Oh crap...I shouldn't have said that..." The technician corrected himself and tried to think of a hundred plausible lies for his mix-up, but seeing those cute wide eyes killed that plan, "Oh whatever, turns out this thing isn't really a mecha at all-"

"GET UP!" Major Ikari screamed inside of the inanimate Eva ANIMA and then started screaming in Japanese. The technician never bothered to read up on Japanese, but he did notice Miss Hikari grow a bit pale when she heard the boy scream.

"What did he just say?" The technician asked while not being sure that he wanted to know.

"In less vulgar terms, he called Eva a piece of junk for not getting up." At least one of those words could be substituted for another word too vulgar for the younger girl.

"MOVE DAMN IT!" Shinji yelled as he started kicking the inside of the cockpit, "I am not about to let my friends die because of you!"

"I'm sure they're alright..." To assure the boy, he picked up his phone and watched a live feed of what was going on up above on the city streets...it wasn't pretty, "Ah shit...Simon..."

"Simon?" The younger girl heard him say that name and immediately ran up to the technician,, "What's wrong with Simon?"

"IS THAT HOW YOU WANT TO BE?" Teens, did the kid just go throw another wangst episode? The techie had issues as a kid, but nowhere near as bad as this kid, "THE ONE TIME I HAVE A CHOICE AND YOU REALLY WANT TO JUST SIT HERE AND DO NOTHING! YOU'RE JUST AS BAD AS MY FATHER! DO YOU WANT ME TO SUFFER YOU STUPID LITTLE WAREME!"

"SHINJI IKARI!" Hikari cried out in utter outrage, "THAT IS NOT A WORD TO USE WITH-"

"FUCK THIS!" Yep, the kid was going to be thrown in the doghouse after this, "I'm...I'm not going to pushed around by some machine!"

"Ah...you might not want to-"

"I'm going up!" Shinji cried out as he started flipping a few switches that Mokuba warned weren't at all safe to use at the moment, "If you don't agree with that Eva...Let me put you in my shoes!"

Stop cutting away from the action!

"Simon!" Blasted back by Cyclopsis' eye-beam attack, Lagann smoked within a long crater while it's pilot fought to stay conscious in spite of the heavy gash he had on his shoulder. If not for the danger sense he had honed for years by working in the mines, that attack might have actually killed him.

In it's state, Lagann could barely stand on it's own and could only watch as Cyclopsis appeared in front of it and slashed down. The mini-gunman produced a drill in defense that spun even as Cyclopsis thrust with it's wrist-blade and held off the sharp weapon.

Then it brought out it's other arm and produced a similar blade from the wrist and stabbed into the drill's midsection instead of it's point and the drill crumbled around Lagann.

"Cheap bastard!" Kamina yelled he planted his feet to keep his blade from slipping out of place, one misstep and the zord's next attack might hurt Simon, "Don't ignore me!" The Dai-Gurren Brigade leader slashed out and continued his frenzy, madly clashing blow for blow with Cyclopsis' wrist-blades to protect his little brother.

As for those cuts he kept getting on his own body? They were merely scratches, that's why he wasn't hindered by the blood loss that would kill most people.

"Get down!" Roger yelled out as Big-O opened up it's right arm and fired it's stored gatling cannon at the ancient zord, knocking the zord back as the megadeus continued to fire while Kamina effortlessly pulled Lagann out of harm's way.

"He had that along and-"

"He uses it as a side weapon." Simon told his older brother as Kamina jumped in to check on his little brother's injuries.

"Side weapon? That thing-"

"Could take out...a whole army..." Simon managed as Big-O ceased fire and withdrew it's unloaded weapon back into it's arms.

"No...That's just not..." To Roger's bewilderment and shock, Cyclopsis...was still standing. The white zord stood with arms crossed and surrounded by a field of levitating orbs of combustion and energy...

Caused by Roger's ammunition.

"No." Van was in disbelief at this sight. Dodging bullets was a very powerful skill, but stopping them? Let alone ones the size of automobiles? This had to be a stark nightmare that they were all going to wake up from-

"Roger!" Bit cried out as Big-O was barraged by the orbs as swiftly as they were originally fired as bullets. When the attack was done very quickly, the black megadeus stood on one intact leg while one of it's arms lied at it's riddled side.

"Big O...please hold on!" Roger implored his partner, but with little response, "I know it's tough, but we don't have a choice!"

"Enough!" Despite Escaflowne's condition, Van refused to stand down while this Zord destroyed his friends, "You want a fight? Then take me!"

"With pleasure." Startled that this zord had a voice, Van was momentarily distracted and left open for when his own sword was thrown into Escaflowne's chest.

"Van!" Bit cried as the impaled royal guymelef flew back through the air, "To be fair, you did kind of ask for it-"

"Who asked you!" Van cried out as Cyclopsis just surveyed the scene as though it were looking for another to step up and challenge it. Liger Zero might be able to rise up, if not for the weight that the damaged and already heavy panzer armor held on it's system.

Escaflowne was currently impaled into the ground with most of the blade stabbed too deeply for the sword to be pulled out quickly.

Big-O, barely managed to stand, but had been decimated when it's own attack was turned against it.

Gurren Lagann lied in pieces, it's main body lied abandoned behind the ancient zord while it's damaged head and core was being cared for.

Satisfied in it's apparent victory, the ancient zord sharpened it's wrist-blades against each other and prepared to finish off it's fallen opponents starting with Lagann.

"E-ANIMA! Engage!" A loudspeaker announced as a nearby hatch opened wide to reveal a tall and lean purple and green mecha that no one would be able to identify except for it's indistinguishable single-horn helm and the signal that the team had not expected to see...

"Success!" Mokuba cheered as his brainchild took the field.

"Shut up Mokuba." Seto barked as the bridge bunnies all gulped when they saw that Eva had been deployed, "Considering especially that you allowed it be deployed at only 90% completion!"

"It was only minor stuff." Mokuba assured his older brother.

"Like what?" As a business tycoon, Seto knew all to well that no detail should ever go overlooked.

"I don't remember right now." Mokuba shiftily stated, causing Kaiba to roll his eyes back to the screen.

Why all of these cuts?

"Shinji?" Simon rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't just dreaming, but he wasn't, "You're not supposed to be out here!"

"Eva looks different." Bit noted while he and the team scrambled to patch a line out to the purple Unit 01, "Shinji, do you read us?"

"ANIMA's communication line isn't functional sir!"

"Only minor stuff?"

"Well..." Mokuba adjusted the collar of his shirt while under his brother's gaze, "He can still receive messages, he just can't respond."

"Oh..." Kaiba returned his attention to the main screen, "I suppose that isn't too bad."

Seriously? Why cut away from Action?

"Hey Shinji! Give us a thumbs up if you can hear us." The Evangelion turned back to Liger and gave the zoid a thumbs up, "Good."

"Are you good to pilot?" In response to Van's question, Eva motioned it's head and nodded up and down.

"Please tell me Kaiba didn't send you." Eva shook it's head to Roger's question, "You came out here on your own?" Eva shrugged it's shoulders and turned to face the now recovering zoid.

"Thank you, just don't push yourself too hard aniki." Eva gave another thumbs up in Lagann's direction just before it broke into a charge at the walking zoid.

"Watch him Shinji!" Bit warned as Eva ducked under one of Cyclopsis' punches and brought it's leg down on the zoid's head, "He's very fast and maneuverable...not to mention resilient and has either deflected or withstood everything that we've thrown at him...not to mention tricky..." Bracing itself off of Cyclopsis, Eva barely managed to avoid a lightning blast that tore through the ground, marking the space between the zord and the now crouched Unit 01.

"And we were worried about the kid." Bit breathed as Eva pulled out a heat-laced knife out of it's wrist and locked it with one of Cyclopsis' blade-wrists while using the other arm to hold back to the other wrist. But did not anticipate the lightning bolt that tore through it's shoulder, "With good reason..."

"The Emergency Pain Suppression system?"

"Maybe..."

This is getting old...

"That sounds like..." Simon muttered to himself as he heard Shinji scream more like a girl than he usually did while Eva was kicked down and forced to drop it's knife. The zord was momentariy distracted by the blood-like liquid that had splashed on it's white armor, allowing Eva the chance to pull out another knife and stab into Cyclopsis' chest.

Only for Shinji to cry out again when a twin pair of lightning bolts stabbed into Eva's lower torso and out it's back.

"Pilot's health readings are dropping sir!"

"Pain Threshold holding at 54% and dropping..."

"Adjusting the synchronization input system to non-lethal levels?"

"Okay! I wasn't exactly clear about your directions as to what non-lethal means!"

Oh! Come on!

Cyclopsis kicked Eva back into the air and watched unimpressed as the Evangelion flipped back and landed on it's feet.

The zord then fired a beam of energy from it's horn that violently impacted Eva's now very active AT field. Eva reached onto it's back and pulled from it's shoulder pylon's two identical shafts that it connected together to form a lance with a faintly dim energy blade on the end.

As it's AT field began to give way, Eva shifted a foot back and threw it's lance into the AT field. To the team's amazement, the spear impacted the field and as it exited, focused it around the lance as it flew out towards the Ancient Zord.

"Damn..." Kamina whistled as the glaive was barely halted by Cyclopsis' telekinesis but was still pummeled by the AT field that had been extend out around it and slammed across the city district.

Breaking out into a dash, Eva grabbed the glaive on it's way and might have caused a sonic boom as it leapt into the air and shifted it's weight down and over the still stunned Cyclopsis.

A large crater formed around the zord as a thin unseeable barrier was all that keep Eva's glaive from piercing the Zord's armor. The zord fired another cannon from it's horn, but the attack was safely diverted apart due to Eva's AT field as Eva pushed down it's assault as it began to push back whatever defense Cyclopsis had erected.

However, Eva was so focused on piercing the Zord's defense, that it failed to keep it's surroundings in check. Specifically, the downed GM that slid into the expanded crater. One which now had it's arm strangely holding up a beam rifle.

"Watch out Shinji! It has ESP!" Roger's warning came too late as the GM's gun fired a round that seared into Eva's lower back and then fired another one that pierced it's wrist. Having made it's opening, Cyclopsis pushed up and threw the Evangelion into the side of the crater and remained unmoving as the downed GM was thrown at Eva and exploded...

"What about the defensive recognition system of the AT field-"

"Look...you gave me a lot to work with, okay?" Mokuba shifted his gaze to a notepad in his hand and went through the notes that he had hastily scribbled down, "Half the time, we were struggling to make sure she agreed with us!"

"She?" Optimus inquired, knowing that he was somehow not going to like what the Kaiba brothers would probably tell him.

This better be the last time!

Emerging from the crater, Eva hobbled on it's legs as it searched for it's enemy. It turned back when it noticed that Cyclopsis was hovering just above the crater ceiling with it's arms folded, daring the Evangelion to attack it.

Taking the challenge, Eva leapt up at Cyclopsis, was diverted and thrown to the side of the crater when a large chunk of debris smashed into the side of it's chest.

The zord levitated down before Eva as it rose to it's feet and charged for Cyclopsis. Once more, the zord did not move as an unseen barrier protected it from the Evangelion's glaive and it remained unmoving as refueling semi slammed into Eva's back and spilled it's contents out onto the purple mecha before catching on fire.

The very ground beneath Eva rose as the purple mecha was lifting into the air by the floor it stood on and lost balance enough to fall through fragile debris and slam it's back into the ground. Cyclopsis did not move, but a set of now activated DF beam sabers appeared around it and circled into a violent dance as the beams slashed into Eva's chest one after the other.

"Aniki!" Uncaring that his injuries had only just been repaired, Gurren Lagann leapt down before Eva and destroyed the sabers with it's drill-covered arms as it prepared to charge the still unmoving Cyclopsis.

"Get down." Unsure of who had called, Gurren Lagann ducked and covered Eva as a large chaotic particle beam flew into view and encompassed Cyclopsis.

The attack likely had failed to leave a lasting impact on the white mecha, but as the team slowly regathered, a winged humanoid mecha flew down and landed in front of them.

"Mission Accepted." The pilot of the Winged mobile suit acknowledged as Roger recognized his voice.

"Hey! It's that Lowe guy!" Bit called out while the smoke cleared to reveal the mostly unharmed zord.

"That was my codename." The pilot stated, "From this point on, my name is Heero Yuy."

"Heero Yuy!" Shiro cried out over the comm in shock and amazement.

"Heero Yuy..." Roger had heard things about this man...most of them weren't very pleasant.

"At the moment however, my identity and name remains irrelevant compared to the adversary before us." Heero commented as his winged mobile suit propelled itself into the air and fired another round from it's buster rifle which was soundly parted around the white zord, "I recommend that you regather your strength now."

"And who the hell do you think you are bossing us around?"

"At the moment, I am your shield from death." Heero told Van while he flew off as Cyclopsis slowly followed, "Make the best of it."

"Heero..." Bit muttered to himself as the winged mobile suit flew out of sight, "I've heard of him before..."

"Aniki! Can you hear us?" Simon cried out as Gurren Lagann helped the damaged Eva to it's feet, "Thanks for covering for us, Shinji."

"Looks like the team's back together again!" Bit exclaimed as they watched Heero's Winged Gundam fire beam after beam from the gundam's buster rifle while flying in a circle around the zoid, keeping a safe distance at the same time as well.

"What's this?" Van asked as he and everyone else saw a signal light on their consoles, "Shinji's sending out a signal to form Mecha Lord."

"Break the lock!" Mokuba commanded while most of the bridge looked at him as though he had no idea about what he was talking about.

"Sir..."

"Do as he says," Seto stated, amused that his little brother was about to do something really useful, "If this screws up, it's all on him..."

"Final Fusion authorized!"

"Yes sir..." A cute bridge bunny acknowledge while typing away on her keyboard, "Final Fusion...PROGRAM LOCK DISENGAGED!" She slammed her hand into a glass-protected button, bringing up a sequence of screens that Seto knew Mokuba had to have put in for a moment like this.

"I better not regret this."

"You won't." Mokuba assured his brother as the two brothers sat back to watch the real show.

Damn it! Stop cutting away!

"Everyone up for it? Then let em rip!" Simon took his drill core and slammed it into it's console, watching as the spiral indicator turned green in preparation for the combine.

Big-O blew out it's pistons as its legs were brought into it's body to form a chest-piece and arms for Eva to fit on.

Liger Zero roared as it combined it's legs together and became a set of legs for Eva to leap into and connect with and allowed Panzer's parts to form into additional armor and thrusters facing forward along the legs.

Escaflowne turned into a draconic shape that wrapped around Eva's waist and melded into the Unit to form into upper legs and lower torso armor complete with a draconic tail.

"Mecha Breaker Lord. Activate!" Born from the flames of manliness, a volcano exploded behind it as the Mecha roared to life.

"Final Fusion Success!" The bridge bunny announced while the crew cheered in celebration.

"Glad you finished something."

"Shut up Seto like you could do better!"

"My blue eyes white jet could..." Hearing a very disrespectful sound, Seto pulled out a trading card and counted every employee in the Command Center, "Who snickered?"

Mecha Breaker Lord Operations Deck

"Well this was unexpected..."

"Simon! You're okay!" Nia estatically jumped into Simon's arms as the rest of the crew, except Kamina and Shinji, remained shocked as to how she was in this cockpit.

"Nia!" Simon returned the hug, but looked in the direction of Unit 01's pilot for answers as to how his sweatheart ended up in Mecha Lord.

"Sorry Simon..." Shinji apologized as he gritted his teeth, "I didn't have a choice in the matter..."

Flashback

"Nia...if this is a joke-"

"It's not Hikari." Nia said to the older Class Representative, "You said yourself that anyone born after Second Impact can pilot Eva right?"

"Right..." Hikari answered, wishing that Nia hadn't remembered that conversation.

"Shinji is 15, Simon is 13, and I'm the same age as Simon which means that I was born after Second Impact, and that means I can pilot."

"Not by yourself-"

"The hell you are!" Shinji objected from the open cockpit of Eva, "Nia! This isn't like a gunman! Eva will take more than it will give!"

"But you are unable to activate it on your own, no?" Nia directly asked, leaving Shinji unable to talk further, "Even then, your condition is very serious. If anything happened to you, Simon would be sad."

"Nia-"

"And Simon's in danger! So I'm going to help you to help him!" Nia cried out, Hikari knew that Simon had something to do with her plan. Ever since she saw that technician's phone...she had been silent, thinking about this course of action, "Hikari...I know that you are only acting because you're worried about Shinji, but right now, we have to help our friends."

"Nia..." Hikari knew that Nia had a good point, but...somehow, it didn't sit well with Nia. Not just because she was a little child going into warzone, but... "This going to be dangerous..."

"I know." Nia's hands were clenched and her skin was at least a complexion paler than normal, "That's why I'm going with Shinji. So either you let me go with him or we both let him go by himself."

"Just...just be careful..." Hikari said in defeat, and felt a gentle hand grab her's once again, "What?"

"Well come on!" Nia encouraged as she led the older girl towards the catwalks, "You have to say it to him." Hikari felt blood run through her checks as Nia led her along the catwalk and right up to the portion leading to the open cockpit of Evangelion ANIMA.

"Nia...I already told you-"

"How about we pilot it together?" Nia suggested while Shinji visibly shook while shifting his gaze from the cockpit to Nia, "Can Eva use two pilots?"

"Yeah...but I don't think-"

"It's settled!" Without warning, Nia let go of Hikari and jumped into the cockpit before anyone could object.

"No way..." The technician stared on as Eva's eyes flared with life and a nearby chart read that Eva was ready for launch,"Eva just activated!"

"She can't ignore two people I guess." Nia smiled and for some reason, Shinji did as well. Come to think of it, when the two of them were this close together..."Now let's go help Simon."

"Nia..." Apparently Shinji shared Hikari's concerns for a few different reasons, "You don't even know how-"

"Exactly, I'll make sure the link between you and Eva is strong." Nia assured the disbelieving pilot, "You can worry about piloting it, okay?"

"Have I already said how crazy both of you are?"

"Yes." The two pilots answered at the same time, causing Hikari to blush at how cute the antic was.

"Just make it back alive, alright?" Hikari asked, knowing that nothing she did would tell these two not to go through with this plan. "And don't tell me not to be worried Shinji. If you don't come back...I'll miss you."

"Hikari..."

"And don't tell me that I shouldn't!" Stunned at her volume, Hikari didn't have any resistance when she wrapped her arms around the young man going out to battle, "Good luck..."

"We won't be long then." Shinji returned the hug, slowly, but in a caring way. If the hanger hadn't suddenly shaken, neither one would have wanted to break off the hug.

"Take care of him Nia..." Hikari waved as the pilot capsule slid shut and Eva was shifted back onto the launch system.

"E-ANIMA! Engage!"

End Flashback

"Kids..." Bit chuckled after the explanation was laid out, "Was I ever that dumb? Right...of course I was."

"Nothing we can do about it now." Van stated as if he was no stranger to uninvited allies, "We'll discuss this little problem later."

"Right." "By the way, shouldn't we focus on that thing?"

"Correct." Roger agreed, "Nia...thanks for helping, but let us handle things alright?"

"Alright Mr. Smith." Nia said as she jumped out of Shinji's seat and sat down next to Simon before abruptly passing out against his chest.

"Nia!"

"Don't worry, she's just exhausted..." Shinji assured the worried boy, "I'm sorry about that..."

"What good would that do?" Van brought up, "She made her choice to help you, honor it by not regretting it."

"In a way...I'm kind of glad she's here..." Simon said while rubbing the check of his resting sweat heart.

"Kind of?" Bit inquired with a smirk, "Don't you think you sound a bit ungrateful?"

"That's not what I-"

"You have replenished your resources?" Heero asked over the comm as his winged mobile suit landed next to Mecha Breaker Lord. It was still in decent shape, but had taken some damage, "Then we should focus our efforts and pool knowledge."

"So...that's seven in all?" Kamina inquired, his teeth itching to get back into the action, "With odds like that, how can we lose?"

"By not heeding the golden creed. Eliminate all obstacles."

"You kidding? That's what I've been doing my whole life!"

"You tell him bro," Simon smirked before reaching out his fist to Shinji, "Good to have you back, Aniki."

"I'm glad to be back." Shinji said as he slowly reciprocated Simon's fist bump, "Now lets give this guy a proper tour of our fists."

"We have a lady amongst us." Roger observed as though no one else had noticed, "Shall we give her a show?"

"Cast in the Name of God...Ye Not Guilty."

"Mecha Breaker Lord. Action!"

Notes:

Author's Notes:
For the record, consider Cyclopsis a sort of "Wake-Up Call Boss", kind of like he was in that Power Rangers episode where he demolished the Megazord, Dragonzord and Dragonzord Battle Mode.
This time, most of it's abilities are pretty well in-line with the zord's canon abilities...but I...might have exaggerated one or two of them...

Chapter 12: Bow or Stand part 2

Summary:

The Battle against Cyclopsis continues and rises to an explosive climax...

Notes:

Originally published on FF.net in December 2011

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Defense Force Hanger

"How does it look out there?" DF Lieutenant Kou Uraki asked one of the technicians working on his personal mobile suit.

"Yuy just flew in!" The techie replied, "We might not be needed between him and the Rangers!"

"Don't count on it!" Kou cried up, "How long until I'm ready to go?"

"Fifteen minutes sir!"

"You've got five!" The techie just went back to work while Kou surveyed the line of damaged mobile suits on the opposite wall. Most of which were obsolete models, so Kou wasn't surprised about their condition.

If only Kaiba wasn't too cheap to buy more newer models...

The former Federation Ace was pulled out of thought when a bouncy white and red blur slid into his side and flipped him onto the metal floor.

"I'm so sorry sir!" The blur apologized when she knelt down to the ace, "Are you Kou Udaki?"

"It's Uraki! And I'm fine." Kou stated as he pushed himself and faced the young girl with a bandage wrapped in her hair, "Who are you?"

"Sir! Noriko Takaya reporting for duty!" The girl answered with the enthusiasm of a rookie in boot camp.

"Noriko Takaya?" The girl just nodded in reply while Kou regarded the girl with mild intrigue, "Looks like you just walked on today..."

"Correct sir!"

"How old are you Noriko?"

"I...I don't remember sir...16?"

"I don't know, I'd say you'd pass for 14." Yep, Kou had heard this story before. Young kid wants to be a hero so they pretend to be older or play the "I don't remember card."

"Guess I'm 14 sir." The girl happily answered, she really didn't remember did she?

"Then you'll have to escorted out," Kou stated as he grabbed the girl's arm, "The minimum age for application is 16 with guardian permission, 18 without."

"Why would the enemy care?" Noriko asked as she struggled pretty well against Kou's attempts to drag her off, "They'd kill me just the same!"

"Good point, but I'm not about to let a child go out to war on my watch..."

"You mean like you're doing with Shinji and Simon?" Kou had heard this argument before and he knew exactly what was next, "Simon's even younger than me and I don't see anyone objecting!"

"How do you know them?"

"Not personally sir..." Noriko admitted, "They're friends with my roommate..."

"Roommate?"

"Hikari Horaki sir!" The girl answered loudly, why the enthusiasm? "I met her while she was touring Okinawa and kept in touch! She was my penpal until we were both transferred here-"

"Okay, too much info." If he gave the girl the chance, Kou was sure that she'd tell him her entire life story, "I don't know the full story, but those two are special cases...Even then...do I look like an idiot?"

"Sir?" Noriko looked confused and afraid that she had done something wrong.

"You're a 14 year old girl." Kou pointed out as he loosened his hold on the girl, "Does anyone around here look like they shouldn't be in a mobile suit?"

"No..." Noriko used her free hand to fiddle with her bandana as she looked down.

"Do you really think..." Kou really hated to make the girl feel bad, but he had to get this point across, "That I would allow a teenager who has never piloted a mobile suit to jump into this battle and possibly get herself killed along with all of my friends? Do I look that stupid?"

"No..." She was trying, but failing horribly to hold back tears.

"Don't cry..." Kou released his grip and grabbed the girl's shoulders as she kept tearing up, "Besides, it's the Commander's call, please stop crying..."

"I'm sorry..." Noriko apologized with her arms still on her side, "I just really want to help protect my friends..."

"Come on..." Kou hated to admit it, but he was really bad about getting the point across in a way that didn't offend, "Please don't do this now..."

"What's going on?" Kou and Noriko straightened up and turned to face the Commander, "What's all of this about Udaki?"

"Just a mix-up sir, and it's Uraki!"

"At ease, Lieutenant." Amada stated and then turned to the still tearful girl, "What's wrong Noriko?"

"He said...that I was too young..." The girl said while wiping away tears and trying to look tough, "I'm sorry for making you look like an idiot..."

"Please stop crying..." Kou muttered before catching the former MS Commander's glance, "Don't give me that look Shiro..."

"If I didn't think she had heart and spirit, I wouldn't have sent her down here."

"But she's never even piloted a mobile suit!"

"Neither did I." Shiro stated, "Or pretty much anyone in the corp and look where we are."

"Sir..." It was pretty easy to forget about one's roots. Unlike most others in the force, Kou had been trained to pilot mobile suits before sitting in one.

"Put her with the Arc J's."

"Yes sir." Kou replied as Shiro smiled and turned back towards his own mobile suit, "You heard the Commander, follow me."

"Really!" Noriko's tears evaporated as a look of determination crossed over her features, "Thank you sir! I won't let you down!"

"Better not." Kou lightly warned while leading the girl along, "The controls will probably look like it, but don't forget that there's no reset button on this game..."

"Why would I think that it's a game?" The girl asked with a smile, but her eyes gave out another story.

"You're sharper then I thought." Then again, that was why Shiro was the people-person and the Commander, "There's hope for you yet, cadet."

"Cadet?"

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing official." Kou clarified, "Just a force of habit from the old days."

"What old days?"

"When people killing people was the worst thing we had to worry about."

Angel Groove District 29

"Interesting..." A silver haired man watched the distant battle with raised intrigue, "Will you be able to find the enemy's weakness?"

"Hey Secs! The burgers are ready!" One of the man's new apartment-mates called out from a window on a lower level.

"That's not how you say his name."

"Then how do you say it Kiva?"

"It's pronounced as Zechs-"

"Don't care! Hungry for burgers! You coming pal?"

"I'll be down shortly!" The man called down and pulled the scope back up to his eye. What truly caught his interest was the winged gundam using it's shield to block one of the mecha's attacks, "Heero Yuy, it looks like destiny will cross our paths again."

Mecha Breaker Lord

"Momma...Where is my momma..."

"Nia?"

"I'm fine Simon." Nia muttered as Breaker Lord blocked one of Cyclopsis' punches and delivered one into the Zord's chest and blew out a piston to blast Cyclopsis back.

"No you're not." Simon knew his friend way too well, "Come on Nia..."

"Don't worry about me-" Nia gasped and grit her teeth as she bent over and held onto Simon while her whole body shook uncontrollably.

"Nia!" Suddenly the outside battle didn't really matter. Simon slung an arm around his sweetheart and held her as firmly as he could. Outside, Breaker Lord was pushed back when it's barrier repealed a beam attack from Cyclopsis' horn as Gundam Wing flew down and sliced into the zord's right shoulder.

"Hold on Nia..." Shinji said as Nia tightened her hold on Simon, "Just remember that what your feeling isn't real..."

"Shinji...whats wrong with her?" Simon asked as the gundam was slung onto it's back and punched in it's chest, cracking the green gem in the gundam's chest.

"She'll...need some medical help..." Simon's eyes fell at seeing Nia in this state, "It's nothing major...just expected..." Breaker Lord leapt out and pulled out it's sword to slash across the zord's chest and allow the gundam to sit back up.

"Does...Eva do this to everyone?" Breaker Lord clashed it's sword against Cyclopsis' wrist-blades, actually managing to break one before another regrew in it's place.

"Everyone who pilots?" Shinji sat back and thought about the answer carefully, "It depends..." Breaker Lord stabbed it's sword through Cyclopsis' torso and slashed out as it knelt down. Not moving as a beam of energy punched into Cyclopsis wound and blasted the zoid back and creating an explosion as Breaker Lord stood up.

"Here's a good question." Van said as Wing Gundam walked up to Breaker Lord's side, "How come we haven't gotten an upper hand yet?"

"That is strange..." Roger admitted as Cyclopsis climbed out of the newly made crater and started stalking towards it's opponents, "We have the zord outnumbered and outgunned, but it's still holding it's own."

"Likely due to it's Adaptive AI." Heero suggested as Wing Gundam reloaded it's rifle while keeping it's shield raised, "Zero detects that the warzord may have one equipped. That is how it is able to maintain tactical footing against our combined ability.

"Not for long!" Bit yelled as a series of missile launchers and grenade pods opened up along Breaker Lord's legs, "Paybacks a bitch, isn't it!" The Mecha Lord was shifted back when a payload of missiles and machine gun weaponry fired out and covered the warzord before it could react.

"Calm down Bit." Roger said as he really noticed the unusual mood that Bit was in.

"Sorry..." Bit stated as his barraged ended to leave Cyclopsis in a rather brittle state, "This guy caught me at a bad time!" Breaker Lord reached down and grabbed two cannons which attached to it's arms and fired them in Cyclopsis' direction as Wing Gundam joined in with it's buster rifle.

"Target energy reading dropping." Heero reported as they saw the now hornless warzord stand forlorn, barely able to take another step forward. The sight was pitiful, as though it was using every once of determination just to stay standing...

"Let's push it down further!" Shinji cried as Breaker Lord produced a helix-topped lance that it threw it at damaged zord and the rangers watched as the lance drove straight through it's chest while a orange force field pushed into the resultant hole and caused the zord to go completely limp as it continued to stand.

"Shinji..."

"I know..." Shinji sat back in his seat while the team just shook their heads at his pointless brutality, "I'll never become a saint."

"Okay." Heero answered as Wing Gundam fired another beam from it's cannon that went through the large hole and encompassed the warzord.

"Thing that got it." Roger affirmed as they watched the beam break down the zord, "Thanks for the help Kamina."

"Don't sweat it." That was when a bright object flew down from the sky and dispelled Wing Gundam's attack when it struck through Cyclopsis' barely intact head, "What was that?"

"Alright...who jinxed it?"

Command Center

"Why is everyone looking at me?"

"Because you jinxed it Seto..."

"Shut up Mokuba!" Kaiba ordered his younger brother, "It was a valid question."

"Some things are best left unquestioned-"

"Shut up Optimus!" The younger Kaiba said to the cybernetic head floating in his cylinder.

"But if questions are never answered then how will we ever-"

"Shut up Rossiu!" Optimus said to the young boy who had somehow found his way to the Command Center.

"As a junior cadet, I believe that-"

"Shut up Weasley!" Rossiu barked as he slapped the cadet hard enough to make him cry, "No one cares what you think!"

With the team

"What did we just see?"

"A glowing object that always recharges the enemy." Roger answered Kamina, "And we still can't figure out where they're coming from."

"I don't see a problem." Heero brought up as his gundam stood by awaiting any changes.

"You usually don't until the last minute..." Bit pointed out as a dim light flowed over the damaged warzord while it's head remained staked by the light object that now appeared to be a spear of some sort.

"Just stay alert." Roger suggested, "There's no way to know just whats about to come our way."

"Then why are we waiting for it?" At Kamina's urging, Breaker Lord pulled out it's sunglasses and threw them at the still zord, pinning it's arms against the air, "FINISHING MOVE!"

"GIGGGAAA..." Breaker Lord held up it's arm and formed a drill over it that soon grew into a larger one, "DRRRIIIILLLL BRREAAAAKEEERRRR!" Rocketing into motion, Breaker Lord guided it's drill towards Cyclopsis and thrust it's weapon into the warzord.

And was held off by the Warzord's crossed arms and it's regrown horn, in addition to the white spikes that sprang back on either side of Cyclopsis' head. It swiped it's arms across, shattering the glowing drill to the shock of the entire team.

"WHAT?" Kamina yelled in outrage as Breaker Lord fell backwards and regarded the reformed zord as it stood with it's arms crossed daring the Rangers to attack, "Is is just an off day for us, huh Simon?"

"Yeah...let's just go with that..." Simon muttered, stunned that the drill that was meant to pierce the heavens couldn't even pierce this damn mecha.

As the team recovered from their shock, Cyclopsis stood in place as the pieces of the shattered drill flew up and launched out at Breaker Lord. The Mecha Lord held out it's arm to produce a field in order to halt the shards, but the remnants of the drills formed themselves into smaller drills that punched through the field and barraged both Breaker Lord and Wing Gundam.

"Heero!" Van cried out as both mecha fell to the ruined floor and Breaker Lord struggled to get up, "Heero! Respond! Are you alive?"

"My rifle's power is close to exhaustion." Heero responded as his gundam knelt down due to it's damaged leg and used held up it's shield in time for it to deflect a beam that fired out of Cyclopsis' shoulder, "My recommendation is to fall back and regroup."

"Well who died and made you king?" Bit argued as Breaker Lord ground itself into the floor and ducked under the large piece of a building that had been thrown at it.

"That would be you unless you listen to your common sense." Heero answered as the zord charged and simueltaneously engaged to the two mecha with it's enlarged wrist-swords while the team fought back in a deadly duel where one slip up would mean death.

District 25

"XLRMega has logged in." Naota read out while sitting in the living room with his laptop in his lap, "Awesome! Hey Eri! We've got the whole party online!"

"I saw it!" Eri answered from her bedroom, "Suberu...Tsukasa...ManSecs...been awhile since we've had the whole party..."

"Well what the hell are you waiting for?" If they waited too long, then Naota knew that they would most likely be locked out of the TOR servers.

"I'm coming!"

"It'll be a few more minutes..." Naota muttered to Kanti who was sitting at the table with his own red laptop, "By the way, why is your name AtomAnt?"

"It's Game Over man!" Some college guy whined as he ran into Naota's open apartment door, "We've gotta get out of here man!"

"Why?" Naota asked while Kanti briefly looked out the window and pointed to the explosion in the distance.

"The hell is wrong with you people!" Hudson yelled, "The battle's about to come into this district!"

"And?" Naota asked annoyed that this wimp had bothered him, "We're having a pajama TOR party!"

"Who's still playing around here with-"

"About 50,000 people." Ninamori answered as she walked into the living room and raised an eyebrow when Hudson noticed her, "What?"

"Is that all you wear to bed?" Hudson asked when he saw that the girl was only wearing a t-shirt and...yeah, what looks like shorts but could also pass for...

"Yeah...problem?"

"Aren't you a little young to-" Hudson was cut off however when he was thrust into the opposite wall and was pinned to it by Naota's foot.

"Then why are you looking?" Naota dangerously asked while Hudson just gulped and breathed to try and calm himself.

"I'm leaving now," Hudson said as the teen pulled off his leg and the college graduate just started running down the hall to the stairs, "Enjoy the agonizing death!"

"Will do!" Naota called back before walking back into the apartment and grumbling at how Eri had stolen his spot, "Everyone's still logged in?"

"Yep." Eri answered without even turning from her laptop and Naota was trying very hard not to get too hung up on her..."pajamas".

"Lets play some KOTOR." Naota sat down but couldn't start playing because a certain girl was now sitting in his lap.

"It's called the Old Republic." Eri corrected to Naota's annoyance.

"Same thing." Naota answered back.

"No it's not! KOTOR was a silly one-player-"

"Bullshit! KOTOR was the greatest RPG of all time!"

"Of it's time! The plot was too linear to give a damn about!"

"I don't see your precious Fable getting any game of the year awards!"

"Like your precious Dragon Age II?"

"No! No! We're not going over that again!"

"Single Player games are the past! MMORPG's allow you to connect to other people!"

"You're still just playing pretend on a computer! It doesn't make any impact on real life!"

"If you don't like it then why are you playing?"

"I wanna see if Revan comes back!"

"After 200 years? Don't kid yourself Naota!"

"If Indiana Jones can survive a nuclear blast with a fridge-"

"Oh here we go!"

"What? I liked that movie!"

So the two teens went at it again while Kanti waited for the load screen to finish. Since those two would probably chew each other out before jumping on each other to do "Stuff", Kanti just ignored the pair while carefully monitoring the battle in the distance.

And keeping a look out for that black spider.

Back to the Action!

"I have a plan." Roger said as a heavily damaged Breaker Lord crouched behind a broken set of buildings, "Heero, you mentioned something about it's Adaptive AI?"

"Correct." Heero answered from his one winged and one armed gundam, "Zero determined that this Warzord is equipped with an archaic learning computer."

"Learning computer?"

"Sounds like the Ultimate X system that Liger has."

"It's similar, but it acts at a faster pace." Heero clarified for Bit, "The system appears designed to literally alter the zord according to conditions that it faces in battle."

"Like increasing it's armor strength..." Van said to himself, "It's speed...what it uses against us...it makes sense..."

"What do we do then?" Bit asked as the sensors showed Cyclopsis coming closer to their position. Not that hiding was a lasting solution in the first place.

"Overload it. It is a fast system, but it isn't perfect." Roger stated to the team, "Notice how it never makes an endearing counterattack until after a few moments."

"Say that again?" Shinji stated since he was in a slight daze from the beating that the mecha had received for a while.

"Hold on..." Simon thought to himself, "He's right! That Zord needs time to adapt and stuff! If we keep switching our plan then we'll overload it!"

"Not just change plans!" Kamina called out from under Simon, "We've gotta switch up our combining scheme!"

"Kamina?" Somehow, Roger knew that he probably wouldn't like where this train of thought was likely to go.

"Simon! Split us up!"

Command Center

"Please tell me that I didn't just hear that..."

"You did brother. This makes sense though-"

"Shut up Mokuba."

Back to the Action! Again...

"Are you sure about this?" Heero asked from his gundam, "Zero calculates a .000251 chance of success."

"Is that a zero?" Kamina asked with his arms crossed while the warzord just waited for their next move.

"No."

"Then we have a shot!"

"Everyone! Emergency Separation!" Roger ordered as he and the others punched a glass protected button that initiated the emergency separation. From it's joints and crevices, a blue substance shot out and formed into an orb of blue liquid that swirled around Mecha Breaker Lord and Wing Gundam.

Cyclopsis fired twin lighting blasts at the orb, but could not penetrate it. So the zord stood and watched as it grew larger and disappeared, leaving three mecha in the place of two.

"Big Lag-O!" Simon and Roger called from Big-O's that now had grown larger arms and now sported a red flame along the elongated shoulders.

"Liger Zero Escaflow!" Bit and Van cried within Liger which was now covered over by a draconic armor that came complete with bladed wings that were attached to Panzer's cannons.

"Wing Gurren Evan!" Kamina roared from within the changed Evangelion. Eva stood up onto it's feet with Gurren acting as chest armor and a Gundanium alloy pauldrons and upper back armor that had wings attached to them.

"Okay..." Bit stated within the controls of his zoid and noted on how...organic some of them looked, "This wasn't what I had in mind."

"You and me both." Van seconded from inside his cockpit, whose screen was littered with too many targeting recticles and statistics that the Fanelian King saw little need for, "How do you keep track of all of this stuff."

"I thought Eva couldn't have wings." Shinji stated while he looked over the interface of his cockpit and looked over the schematics.

"Says who!" Kamina yelled from under Shinji.

"Actually, the wings come from my gundam and that's attached to Kamina's gunman." Heero explained from behind and below Shinji.

"So everyone's confused as hell?" Kamina asked across the intercom, "Perfect!"

"Bro?" Simon asked in the familiar setting of Lagann's cockpit as he sat above Roger, "How is that gonna help us? And where's Nia?"

"She's with me Simon." Shinji answered through the comm, "I don't know either..."

"And if we don't know, then that rip-off won't either!" Kamina stated as the three fused mecha stood off against the warzord.

"So the plan is to figure out our strengths and abilities as we go along?"

"Exactly!" Kamina roared as Wing Gurren Evan (WGE) furled out it's wings, "Simon! Take the first shot!"

"Got it Bro! Ready Roger?"

"As ready as ever! Big Lag-O...Action!" Big Lag-O charged towards the warzord with both arms formed into large drills. It's drills were just inches from the warzord before Cyclopsis' telepathic abilities halted the megadues in place.

Lag-O's drills began to spin as the pistons in it's arms punched out and back in, striking the air and forcing back the warzord from the sheer pressure that it faced. It then opened up it's right arm and opened fire with it's Thunder Drill Gatling Cannon as Lag-O's form-arm rotated rapdily and began to fire massive energy bullets out of the barrells behind the hand.

If they hit the zord then their drill-like structures dug into the zord's armor. If they were halted by a telepathic burst, then the bullets fired out smaller drills that would explode when they hit something.

"Next up! Liger Zero!" Bit called out as the zord flapped it's wings and soared into the air, "We can fly?"

"You can fly?" Roger asked in surprise.

"You can fly!" Simon and Simon cried out in renewed excitement.

"You can fly..." Heero noted with mild interest.

"You can fly." Shinji said unsurprised but truly content for his friends.

"We can fly!" Van affirmed as Liger dove down and drove it's wings forward and thrust them into the zord's back just as Lag-O drove a fist into it's chest. Liger then skid down in front of Cyclopsis and opened fire with a twin pair of energy rounds from the barrels mounted on the zord's draconic armor.

"So can I!" Kamina yelled as Eva was thrown into the action and charged it's head into Cyclopsis' torso and threw it back across the area, "Give em hell Shinji!"

"Unknown substance has replenished my rifle..." Heero reported as WGE pulled out a buster rifle from the back of it's wing pack, "Is that Spiral Power?"

"Nah...it's the manly fighting spirit drawn from the three...four of us!"

"Good enough for me!" Shinji cried as Eva pulled the trigger and fired a massive beam of orange outlined green energy that spiraled towards Cyclopsis and encompassed it just as Liger and Lag-O moved out of the way.

"Watch it! You almost hit us!" Bit yelled as Cyclopsis was pushed away and an explosion flew up in the form of a cross.

"Wow...Why is it shaped like a cross?"

"Really?" Simon asked Bit and then noticed the explosion's shape, "Come to think of it-"

"Can we not start this now!" Shinji yelled, "Eva probably thought that it was shiny, so lets go with that!"

"What if it's some sort of symbolism for-"

"I said we're not getting into that!"

"Alright Shinji, you don't have to raise your voice..." Shinji immediately felt bad when he remembered that Nia was sitting in his console.

"Sorry Nia..." The girl just smiled, apparently starting to feel better from her mood earlier.

"That was quick." Bit noted after the explosion dissipated and the three mecha stood in front of the crater trailing off towards where the Warzord was launched. "Good plan Kamina!"

"Heh!" Kamina raised his arms over the back of his head and whistled, "Who does this guy think he is-" Just then, a white blur launched out and punched into the WGE's lower torso and emitted an energy beam that slashed out through Eva's back as Kamina yelled out in pain.

"Bro! Aniki!" Simon cried out as his eyes widened from hearing Nia's screams of pain as well, "NIA!"

"Simon! Focus!" Roger called up as the ground beneath Lag-O shifted and formed into circular wall that began to crush the megadeus.

"Hell no!" Liger slashed through the rock formation to free the damaged megadues before it started opening fire on where sensors indicated where Cyclopsis was. "You guys alright?"

"We're fine..." Roger answered as Liger turned to hold the line against the approaching warzord and leapt to the side to avoid a series of lightning blasts.

"I will never fall again..." A low voice stated from the zord as it's arm levitated back to it's shoulder and melded back into place, "AEEETTTHHEERRR!" The Warzord instantly rushed out towards the zord and punched it in the head before it could react and bounded off to avoid a punch from Lag-O and kicked into the side of the Red and Black mecha to launch it into the air before firing a blast from it's forehead...

Command Center

"Maybe we should...Do something!"

"You're right Mokuba!" Seto agreed before pointing to his aide, "You there, do something!"

"Yes sir!" The man pointed to a bridge bunny, "Do something!"

"Do something!" The bridge bunny cried to a technician.

"DO SOMETHING!" The technician yelled into the intercom.

"Delightful...The screams of my slayers gives me such ease..."

"What did I tell you about speaking!" Kaiba was really starting to hate the shiny black orb in the room, "And who brought you in here anyway?"

"You believe that because I lack physical form, you are safe from the POWER OF MY WILL?"

"Seto, we're gonna have to find something to do with Deathwing's eldunari-"

"No you're going to try to install it into Escaflowne..."

"Darn!" Mokuba snapped his fingers in disappointment, "How did you know?"

"You just told me." Seto pointed out, "That and I still have personal copies of all of the other projects that you and Suberu have thought of."

"I already smell the blood from their inevitable deaths!"

"No one's bleeding yet!"

"Well I'm not waiting around to find out!" Mokuba ran over to the control consel and pulled out a blue and white phone, "Arc Troopers deploy!"

District 32

"Just take a deep breath Nia..." Shinji watched Nia grip her chest as her face held a wide-eyed expression of terror and shock, "I know it doesn't feel like it...but you're alright..."

"I'm alright...I'm alright..." The girl said to herself, but Shinji knew that she didn't believe her own words.

"Kamina? Heero?" Shinji called out to the others as Wing Gurren Evan pushed itself up onto it's feet.

"I believe that my left leg has been broken." Heero answered in an "as a matter of fact" tone, "Apart from that, I am sound."

"Don't worry about me Shinji." Kamina assured despite the slash in the side of his chest, "It's gonna take more than a poke in the ribs to take me down!"

"Simon I need you up there!" Roger cried within the cockpit to his megadues. Behind him, he could hear Simon listening to the intercomm for the others.

"Nia..." It didn't take much for the Negotiator to see what was bothering the usually upbeat child. He was apparently terribly worried for Nia...he didn't blame the young boy.

"I understand, but you have to be strong if you want to help her." Roger encouraged, knowing enough about gunman to know that he would need Simon at his best spirits if Lag-O was going to make it through this fight.

"I...I get it!" Simon answered and then called through the comm for another pair, "Bit! Van!"

"We're good!" Bit assured despite having a single wing fall out of place and one of Liger's eyes had been broken.

"Speak for yourself..."

"Come on! You can take it King!"

"Incoming!" Liger leapt back to avoid Cyclopsis' shot-out arms and fired a retaliation shot at the warzord's arm. But the attack was dissipated by an unseen field as the zord fired a lightning attack from it's shoulders that blasted back the fuzed zoid.

WGE, still holding it's torso, fired a blast from it's rifle that dissipated when it a barrier in front of the zord and small crystal sparks flowed into Cyclopsis and various remnants of damage faded away.

When WGE ceased, Lag-O launched out a series of drilled chains that were halted by Cyclopsis' telepathic skills and were thrown back into the megadeus' torso and it collapsed onto it's back.

"Simon! I know you can give more!"

"I'm trying!" Simon called down, but Roger recognized the subtle hint of doubt in Simon's voice.

"Stop trying and do!" Roger didn't want to sound harsh, but he had a family to get back to and he needed Simon at his best to do that, "Watch it!"

"Get off of Simon!" Nia yelled as Eva emitted an orange barrier between it and the warzord as it hobbled back onto it's feet, "I'm alright Simon! And so's Shinji and Kamina and Mr. Yui."

"It's Yuy."

"I'm sorry." Nia apologized as Eva leapt down in front of Lag-O alongside Liger and opened fired with their attacks which were redirected by Cyclopsis' barrier despite pushing back the warzord.

As the beam struggle continued, Lag-O stood up alongside the others and punched it's arms together as a massive cannon fired a spiral shaped blast from it's chest that conjoined the previous three attacks and together they struggled against the warzord.

"That's more like it Simon!" Roger commended as the struggle continued with the odds tipping into their favor.

"Sorry everyone..." Simon apologized, "Today's been a real off day!"

"We all have them, aniki." Shinji assured the younger boy, "Least your's wasn't a week-long...or longer..." Assured, the three mecha continued their combined assault while Cyclopsis was held at bay.

Until the ground around it rose into an earth-like barrier which deflected the attacks. But despite seeing that their attacks had been deflected, the team found themselves unable to cease their assault until after their weapons had been completely depleted.

"What just happened?" Roger asked as Simon tried to get back power but found minimal success.

"It...forced us to us all of our energy..." Bit uttered in shock as Liger slumped down, too exhausted to even roar in protest.

"Bullshit! I've still got all of my limbs so I'm ready to kick some ass!" Kamina called out from the back of Wing Gurren Evan while Shinji looked through the manual for the emergency back-up controls.

"Well this is a bust..." Bit noted as Cyclopsis lifted the three zords into the air and blasted them with a series of lightning blasts as their powerless states left them unable to counter.

"Inazuma...KKKIIIICCCCCKKKK!" Faster than it could say, what?, a gray blur clashed against Cyclopsis' head and caused it to skid backwards while it's attacker fell onto it's back.

"Interesting?" Heero noted as the newcomer's thrusters activated and put the mobile suit back into an upright position as it fell back onto it's feet with it's arms folded over it's chest.

"That's as far AS YOU GO!"

"Noriko?" Shinji asked, recognizing the voice coming from the dark gray mobile suit that had just saved them, "You're part of the defense force?"

"Just joined today!" Noriko cried as Cyclopsis stood up from the ground and faced the new-come mobile suit, "They even gave me my own custom Jegan!"

"Jegan?" Bit asked, "Isn't that a Federation model?"

"They had a surplus and sold it." None of the rangers seemed to surprised from Noriko's answer, "By the way, what is a surplus?"

"Watch out!" Nia cried out as Cyclopsis thrust it's arm into the jegan and pushed it back across the city district as the mobile suit clumsily ski across the ground.

Cyclopsis then thrust out it's arms and fired a green beam from it's forehead that blasted out towards the mobile suit.

"BUSSSTTEERR BEEEAMMM!" Noriko's jegan punched it's fists together and fired a golden beam from it's crowned emblem that clashed with Cyclopsis' and both attacks diverted each other and caused two different explosions on opposite sides of the district, "That all you got!"

"Don't get cocky rookie!" Another Jegan fired a series of cables that latched around Cyclopsis' head and pulled it down to it's shoulder as an electric discharge covered over the warzord.

"Like you were any better Chuck!" Another Jegan leapt down and slashed it's beam-laced double sword across the zord's back before the warzord levitated the mobile suit up and threw it back after cutting off the cables that had held it.

"Why don't you old-timers sit back!" The pilot of a Chobham armored dark blue and white MS stated as it fired it's beam rifle into the back of the warzord's leg and knocked it off balance while the Rangers noticed the arriving group of mobile suits.

Cockpit of the Defense Force Commander

"Cut the chatter!" Ordered the Pilot of the Ez-8 Ground MS as he looked over the names of the gathered group completely comprised of GM's with two exceptions, "Recon Leader Shiro Amada to Arc Troopers, all Arcs report in!"

"Arc 10 Matt Healy standing by!"

"Arc 7 Def Stallion standing by!"

"Arc 3 Christina Wiseman standing by!"

"Arc 6 Bergh Scred standing by!"

"Arc 9 Chuck Keith standing by!"

"Arc 2 Hathaway Noah standing by!"

"Arc 11 Riddehe Marcenas standing by!"

"Oh! Arc 5 Noriko Takaya standing by!"

"Arc Leader Kou Uraki here!" Kou called in from a white and blue mobile suit with two Universal Booster Pods on the backpack. "Arcs! Engage the target!"

"Yes sir!"

"Hai! I mean...yes sir!"

"This is Recon One to the Rangers, please respond." Shiro patched through while the Arcs formed a circular formation around Cyclopsis and continued to open fire, "AG Rangers, this is Recon One Shiro Armada! Please respond."

"We read you, Recon One..." Shiro breathed in relief when he heard the Negotiator reply, "Thanks for the back-up."

"Bout time we saved your asses for once!" Shiro called back, "Preventer Wing already told us it's weakness, we'll keep it guessing until you guys get on your feet."

"When did you tell them that?"

"I had Zero transfer the data through the Command Center's Communication Hub."

"Who's Zero?"

"A friend in my head. I'll explain later."

"That would be very nice of you. Engage at will Recon One, just don't get yourselves killed!"

"Understood." "Arc Leader! Attack Pattern Delta!"

"Roger!" Kou responded, "Arc Troopers go out!" The Arcs blitzed out in a single file as the zord fired a beam from it's forehead. The Arcs scattered into nine different directions to avoid the attack and opened fire on the zord's head.

The attack only managed to minimally scar the head, but it did prove Preventer Wing's theory about the ancient warzord. Now they just had to keep it from being able to adapt to this changed situation.

As a bonus, an explosion chipped off a piece of the zord's wrist-blade when it was hit by a shot that Shiro recognized had come from a long distance.

"Who's shot was that?" Arc 6 asked as his Jegan fired it's heat-laced bazooka into the zord's chest before leaping out of the way of a lightning attack.

"Mine sir!" A female voice responded, "Yoko Littner! Thought you guys could use a sniper!"

"Keep it up then!" Shiro commended as his group continued to engage Cyclopsis. As much as civilian interference was discouraged, turning a blind eye to "interference" from skilled individuals did tend to serve the Commander well in the past.

Somewhere on the Angel Groove Highway

"Glad you haven't missed a shot yet!" Leena said to the sniper in the gunman mounted on top of her Gunsniper, "Cause those rounds are bitches to replace!" The Zoids ace took aim with one her targeting recticle and fired a round from the barrel mounted on Gunsniper's right shoulder.

"Since when were you a sniper?"

"Sniper?" Leena just laughed as her round came closer to the Zoid attacking their boyfriends, "I don't go for accurate as hell shots."

"That wasn't even-"

"WHEN YOU CAN CARPET THE WHOLE FIELD!" Leena yelled when her round broke apart into a field of mines that opened up into smaller mines that sprinkled over the zord and exploded.

But the zord probably noticed them, because it turned and fired a green beam of light from it's forehead that rapidly closed the long distance between it and the girls.

Fortunately, another late-comer managed to divert the attack into the distance where it destroyed part of the highway system in that district.

"Is that a Gundam?" Leena asked, stunned to see that a red and white mobile suit now knelt down in front of the Dayakkaiser Gunsniper, "How the hell did you-"

"Yes! I have a gundam!" Hitomi yelled from the gundam as it twirled it's naginata to deflect another beam of energy, "It's an early engagement present, don't ask anything else..."

"Then why aren't you out there-"

"WHAT DID I SAY!" Yoko shrugged her shoulders and went back to targeting the enemy as Hitomi's gundam pulled out a bow that was mounted on the left arm and fired a glowing projectile that followed after Yoko's shot.

District 32

"Whoever they are, we need to recruit them..."

"Stay focused Arcs! We're not done yet!" Shiro stated as he fired his bazooka at the target and watched multiple mines latch onto the target's unseen barrier, exploding as Arc 2 flew by and slashed into the zord's side with a beam-sword while it was distracted.

"Damn...this thing won't stay down!" Arc 2 muttered while the zord repaired it's damage and held the jegan in place with it's "telepathy". Fortunately, a small rocket flew into the back of the zord's head and released the jegan from it's hold, "Nice one Ramirez!"

"Who says EMP rockets are a bad idea?" Kou stated as he flew down and engaged his beam saber against cyclopsis' bladed wrists while it's abilities seemed to have been halted by Ramirez's attack.

As Kou fell back, he had a feeling that the zord was about to rectify that mistake.

"Ramirez get the f%&k off that roof!" Kou commanded as he flew in and engaged alongside Arc 5, but was too late to stop the zord from firing a lighting blast at the building where Ramirez and his team were operating around.

"Already done!" Ramirez reported as he jumped off in time to avoid being crushed by the attack and landed on the midfloor of another building, "Can I have a raise?"

"We'll talk about it later." Shiro answered as the warzord brushed off Arc's 2 and 10 and pointed it's horn at Arc 3. "Watch it Arc 3!" Shiro watched as the blast burst into the mobile suit's armor and chunks of melting metal fell to the ground.

"Thought I'd go down easily!" Arc 3 yelled as it punched it's left arm into the warzord's chest, "Point Blank Bitch!" It then unleashed a barrage of rounds into the zord's armor that punctured it before the zord pushed the gundam away with an unseen burst.

"Like shooting up GM's do ya?" Arc 7 asked as his Jegan fired a mega beam launcher at the warzord and watched the blast sear into the warzord's back, "Well here's a little message from Arc 7!"

"What is this guy made of?" Arc 11 asked as he and Arc 7 fired their mega beam launchers at the warzord and were stunned when the attacks were diverted into a loop around the zord that nearly hit their comrades and then refocused into an orb that launched out at the stunned Arcs.

"Stand back." Recognizing the voice, the two jegans jumped back as a Winged Gundam appeared and reflected the orb with an engraved circular barrier that emitted from the gundam's shield. The gundam then pointed it's beam rifle and fired off it's last shot at the warzord as a chain wrapped around it's arms and held in place.

Expectedly, the beam was dissipated by the zord's telepathic abilities, but that didn't stop Escaflowne, Liger, Gurren Lagann, and E-ANIMA simueltaneously clashing against the zord's pressured barrier before Ez8 jumped over the circle and broke it's shield against the barrier.

"NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!" The Defense Force Commander roared as it opened fire with it's submachine gun and bazooka, managing to break the pressured barrier and land a direct hit into the zord's face before the Rangers pummeled it with kicks, slashes, and punches and threw it across the area while the Arcs regrouped.

"Thanks Recon One. We can take it from here."

"Good to hear from you Major Ikari."

"Likewise." Seeing their que to skidue, the Arcs didn't need to be ordered to fall back as the Rangers and their new Winged ally grouped together as Cyclopsis rose into the ground in the distance.

"You in Heero?" Kamina asked the pilot of the battered winged gundam.

"If it will help accomplish the mission then so be it." Heero answered as the wind around the six mecha gently rose with what was to come.

Big-O blew out it's pistons as its legs were brought into it's body to form a chest-piece and arms for Eva to fit on.

Escaflowne turned into a draconic shape that wrapped around Eva's waist and melded into the Unit to form into upper legs and lower torso armor complete with a draconic tail.

Wing Gundam shifted into a bird mode that flew up and latch onto the back and formed into a thruster pack complete with a set of long wings. A pair of white shoulder pauldrons layered onto the shoulders as the shield flipped over onto Eva's chest to become an long breastplate that extended down to the torso.

"Mecha Wing Breaker Lord. ACTIVATE!" Born from the flames of manliness blown upon the Winds of Courage, a volcano exploded behind it as the Mecha levitated within the sky with with it's arms folded over it's chest.

"Wow..." Noriko said, reflecting the opinions of the Arcs as they watched the winged Breaker Lord levitate down to the ground with the wind still at it's whim.

"Do they do that all the time?" Arc 2 asked.

"Pretty much." Arc 9 admitted in amazement.

"Damn...they sure know how to make an comeback..." Kou stated before turning his gundam around, "Arcs! You remember your orders! Fall back!"

"Give em hell Rangers!" The Arcs yelled as they fled the field, the fate of their city in more than capable hands.

Command Center

"Is the battle about to be over?"

"Tune in and find out!" Mokuba flinched after feeling his brother's hand slap the back of his head, "What?"

"Never say that again."

"I concur."

"Shut up Optimus!"

Mecha Wing Breaker Lord

"It would be nice to know about how we can form up before-"

"No time to worry about it now." Roger stated as Wing Breaker rapidly flew towards Cyclopsis and punched it in it's chest and hurled the zord into the air before rocketing upwards and throwing the zord down onto the ground below.

"We can fly!" The Rangers said together as they flew down in a spiral and impacted against the zord's armor and thrust the warzord into the ruined ground below, creating a massive crater and launching a cloud of debris into the air of the district.

Cyclopsis used it's telepathy to slow down the mecha lord enough to levitate itself out of the crater and fire a twin set of electric beams from it's shoulders that Breaker Lord diverted with it's barrier as two chains shot out from it's torso and pulled the zord into the barrier before Breaker Lord pulled out it's right arm, now covered in an orange energy that formed into a massive claw and raked the energy claw across the zord and threw it out of the crater.

"Awesome!" The group cried together now truly feeling like the battle was definitely in their favor for the first time since this battle had started.

"Whatever. Lets see what this bad boy can really do!"

"Calm down Kamina...all we got was a pair of wings-"

"AND A GUN!" Heero shouted as the Mecha flew up and pulled out a pair of beam rifles that were thrust together to fire a concentrated destructive beam into the still damaged warzord and launched it across the ruined district, "Sorry...I don't know what came over me..."

"I have that effect on a lot of people." Kamina stated as Breaker Lord regarded the damaged warzord and flew down towards it with drawn twin blades that cut into it's chest and threw it to the side.

"Look at it...it's slowing down." Roger noted as the warzord sluggishly stood up and was apparently leaking energy out of it's head.

"We've overloaded it's capabilities." Heero stated, "It's AI is only capable of storing so much information, introducing more without time to reload, not to mention the number of combatants...it was inevitable."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Kamina asked as Gurren's glasses materialized in Wing Breaker's hands as it flew back and tossed the glasses at the warzord.

"Finishing Move!" Cyclopsis could do nothing as the glasses pinned up it's arms and legs while Wing Breaker Lord pulled up it's rifle as a powerful energy surrounded it, "BUSTER WINGGGG GIGGGAAA DRIILLLL BRREAAAKEEERRRR!" Wing Breaker Lord pointed it's rifle at the target and opened fire, allowing the gathered energy to swirl around the shot and form a massive energy drill that spiraled towards the warzord.

"COME ON! JUST DIE ALREADY!" Kamina yelled in outrage as Cyclopsis' horn clashed against the energy drill and put up enough resistance to keep the drill from destroying the zord.

"Simon! We need more juice!" Shinji yelled as the energy from Wing Breaker's assault began to wave out and obscure even the view of the pilots from each other due to the brightness of this struggle.

"I'm giving it everything I've got!"

"THEN GIVE MORE!"

"JUST SAY WHEN!"

"Fine! THIS CLOUD'S PITCHING IN!"

"AS SHALL THE KING!"

"JUST A MOMENT! THE TERMS ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE!"

"This obstacle offends and obstructs me. ALL WHO OBSTRUCT GUNDAM SHALL NOT LIVE TO TELL OF IT!"

"I'LL HELP TOO!"

"Nia?" Simon asked when felt a delicate feminine hand hold onto his as Lagann's spiral monitor began to spin out of the charts, "Nia stop!"

"NO!" Nia shouted as she held onto Simon's hand despite her visible pain, "We fight together! Or we fall apart!"

"Nia..."

"I fight because I believe!" Nia cried out, "I believe in the Simon who cares for and believes in me! I believe in the Me who believes in Simon! So I'm going to fight at your side as the Nia who believes in me!" Seeing her determination, Simon nodded and went back to work.

"Sing it girl!" Kamina agreed during this torrential struggle, "WHO DOES THAT GUY THINK HE IS?"

"Better yet...oretachi wo..." Shinji gripped the controls as tightly as he could as he roared to the zord...to the world that shunned him and the father who wanted nothing more to do with him...to all of fate that would strive against him, "...DARE DA TO OMOTTE YAGARU!"

As if hearing the resolve of it's pilots, Wing Breaker felt a renewed concentrated surge of power flow into it's attack as it's rifle formed onto it's arm while the Mecha grabbed the weapon and boosted forward with it's wings. It soared into the chaotic stream as though it swam through a river and thrust the rifle into the drill as Cyclopsis managed to free it's arms and fire a three streamed beam into the drill to hold it off.

But the drill spun faster and faster, eventually redirecting Cyclopsis' counterattack completely as Wing Breaker pushed into the energy drill and finally collided with the warzord. The drill engulfed the zord as Wing Breaker pulled the rifle apart and formed the two halves into drills that covered over the Mecha's arms and enlarged as it thrust forward and dove straight at the overwhelmed Cyclopsis.

Stopping on the other side, the drill dissipated as Wing Breaker stood relinquishing it's drills as Cyclopsis just stood in place.

The warzord fell down into it's face as explosion after explosion engulfed the white zord and Wing Breaker's sunglasses returned to it's place on the victorious Mecha Lord.

This time, the team was sure that the zord was down for the count as explosion after explosion broke out on top of other explosions.

Command Center Medical Ward

"Sounds like the battle is over..."

"It is." Jenny said as the two pulled off their aprons since they wouldn't be receiving any more wounded...or dead, "You're done for today Hikari, wash up so you can welcome him back properly."

"Welcome who back?"

"Major Ikari, who else?" Jenny just grinned when Hikari leaned against the wall and distantly looked up at the ceiling, "Smitten aren't we?"

"What! No way-"

"Don't give me that look...you should be past denial by now."

"I'm not his type..."

"Exactly! He doesn't have one!" Jenny laughed while Hikari's thoughtful face remained red, "A boy like him, he'll give what he receives. Just be there to welcome him back, you've told him that your in his corner, now prove it."

"You know about-"

"You trespassed into a restricted area." Jenny lightly pointed out to the girl while she covered her eyes in embarassment, "Mokuba had to get you somehow."

Command Center

"Bless you sir."

"Thanks." Mokuba said to a bridge bunny after he had sneezed, "Wasn't that-"

"Yes, you are a genius Mokuba, I can go to sleep now?"

"What about cleaning up all of the collatoral-"

"That's your job Mokuba." Kaiba stated as he stood up and started leaving the Center.

"But you're the one whose in charge!"

"Correction! You are now in command!"

"In that case! I order you to help clean up!"

"Then you're essentially giving command back to me and therefore, my original plan stands!" Seto stated before he walked out of the center with his coat-tails flowing with the non-existent wind.

"Damn!" Mokuba just slumped into his brother's command chair and allowed his chin to rest on his palm "How does he screw the rules so well?"

"My hope is cheated yet again...but I take comfort in knowing that your mortality shall slay you yet!"

"If it's not working the first time around then why try for the twentieth time!"

"And what shall you do to stop me? I AM ALREADY DECEASED! YOU CAN TAKE NOTHING MORE FROM ME THAN YOU ALREADY HAVE!"

"Actually...there is something that I can do." Mokuba corrected as he pulled out a box with wires attached to it and placed the eldunari inside of it with gloved hands.

"What is this?" Deathwing asked as Mokuba closed the lid over the box and pushed a button to turn on Deathwing's favorite musical theme, "No...NOOOO!"

"Enjoy the music Bitchwing..." Mokuba smirked with satisfaction while the muffled pleas of the dragon barely registered outside of the box.

"Sir!" One of the aides reported, "We've registered a faint energy signal! It's coming from where Cyclopsis was..."

"Probably residue from the wreckage." Mokuba assured as he watched the screens already calculating the collatoral and structural damage to District 32 and other nearby districts.

"There's a life sign detected in it sir." The aide stated as Mokuba turned his attention to what he knew would be the aide's next words, "A pilot..."

"Wonderful."

Notes:

Author's Notes:
Yeah...I did it again...there's a third part coming after this, an "epilogue chapter" to this fight if you will...
How do these chapters keep ending up longer than I intended? Oh well, as long as you guys enjoy it then it really doesn't matter.

Chapter 13: Raise Tranquility

Summary:

The Rangers check over the remains of their fallen foe and then settle in for a well deserved rest.
For real this time.
However, Kaiba has a secret to hide...

Notes:

Originally published on ff.net in Jan 2, 2012

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

District 32...what's left of it anyway...

"It's just the head..." Bit pointed out as the Rangers plus Heero, an observant Kamina, and quiet Nia walked out towards the large crater where the warzord cyclopsis had once stood.

Instead, it's head was lying in the smoking crater, damaged but still intact despite the devastation that had been unleashed on it.

"See what I meant?" Kamina spoke up as the team came up to the damaged head, "What does that remind you of Simon?"

"A...gunman?" Suddenly it became clear to Simon. The facial features hidden underneath peeled away armor, the hint of a cranial canopy now shown, the overall smooth design of the white head wasn't the same, but take that away and Simon could see the resemblance.

"I thought this was an ancient zord?" Shinji asked in confusion, "This thing was a gunman the whole time?"

"Not just any..." Roger noted, "It's almost the same as...Lagann..."

"It's exactly the same." Rossiu reported from the Command Center, "Data Files confirm it...that head's energy signature is a similar match to a lagann-type gunman."

"What?" Rossiu's words confused Simon, but he put two and two together and did nothing to deny the similarities between this wreckage and his lagann, "You're right bro...what does that mean?"

"It means don't drop your guard." Van stated as he drew his sword, "This lagann must have been combined with the warzord or used as a component in the overall zord..."

"Just like...father..." Nia muttered to herself, a shadow on her eyes as she thought back to when she lived with the Spiral King. Knowing about what she was thinking, Simon gently tightened his grip on Nia's hand to tell her that it was alright.

"So a lagann can be permanently fused with it's partner." "Why haven't you-"

"Simon doesn't need me to butt in on all of his fights." Kamina replied as he charged at the head and brought back his leg, "I just showed up cause this bastard woke me up!" Cyclopsis' "lagann-like" head budged a little from it's place thanks to Kamina's kick and the other rangers went on edge after it's intact eye emitted a green glow.

"Hold your fire!" Michael called out to the other nearby GMs and Jegans as a crowd of armed infantry swarmed over the crash site and surrounded the head, "Not till you see the whites of it's eyes!"

"But it's a robot..."

"Don't worry about it..." Michael said to Simon from within his battered GM, "I've just always wanted to say that..."

"Target's going inactive." Heero reported while tapping the head phone on his right ear, "HQ detected a Faint life sign..."

"Someone was in there!"

"Calm down Noriko..." Shiro radioed the now shaking giril, "It happens..."

"We lost a lot of good men to this thing." Foley said after spitting out a wad of psuedo-tobacco, "Think we oughta see who we were fighting. Ramirez! Open her up!"

"Right." The former ODST marine stepped out from the infantry ring and brought out a pulse laser rifle with a large chainsaw blade attached to the front. As the rangers watched, the rifle fired a continuous laser into the mecha's head before digging in with the chainsaw and began to cut a hole.

A few seconds later, the cut out metal gave way to a diluge of brown liquid that splashed out onto the ground as the Defense Force and Rangers watched as stray splashes of whatever it was stained the white exterior of the cut open head. But what truly drew everyone's attention was a mound that more slowly slid out of the carved out hole. Is it fell into the shallow pool, Cyclopsis' eye blinked and then faded out.

"Clear!" Ghost yelled out as the infantry slowly moved around the mound covered in the dark brown liquid, "Target confirmed neutralized...as for it's pilot..."

"What...what is it?" One soldier asked as the pale hand rose out from the mound, followed by a full arm and a shoulder.

"It's...it's a..." Out of the mound crawled a humanoid figure, with long light-blue/pale-blonde hair that was practically stuck to the figure's pale back as the infantry and Rangers observed it.

"A woman..." Bit said as figure's more...feminine physical features became more obvious and bare to the others, causing a few to have an absent nosebleed while others turned a way somewhat, "Well...it looks feminine..."

"Aether..." The woman crawled forward, reaching out her hand towards a stunned and now frightened Nia as the pilot's narrow eyes widened with pure rage, "Aether!"

The woman reached out as Nia fell back in sudden fear and passed out into Simon's arms. As the rangers watched, the woman looked each one in the eye as she held herself up. Van was horrified by this sight, Bit was stunned and disgusted, Roger was appalled at the pitiful expression that she held, Shinji's expression was almost cold, questioning why he should feel sorry for this monster, Kamina kept his glasses on and his sword sheathed, Heero had his hand on his holstered gun while Simon kept his gaze on Nia's face.

Finally, life left her eyes and she fell into the liquid, her eyes still wide with anger and rage as Ramirez knelt down next to her to cheek her vitals.

"Pilot's gone..." Ramirez reported as he stood up from the now still pilot, "As soon as her cockpit was exposed to the planet's oxygen...it crystalized her organs..."

"Who was she?" Simon asked Shiro as a crew of infantry wrapped the woman in a dark cloth and hauled her over to an ambulance for transport.

"Soon as we clean out this head and take it the lab for analysis...we'll have more answers for you..."

Command Center

"Anything you can contribute?"

"No..." Optimus answered, "The pilots of the zords were seldom seen...it was long believed that the pilots became the zord when they entered it..."

"Wonderful." Mokuba rubbed his chin as he went over the schematics of the warzord that was just felled, "But then again...the pilot wasn't inside the zord...it was in the head..."

"You have that look on your face sir..."

"Oh it's nothing..." Mokuba knew that he wasn't fooling anyone though, "Could you get me Leeron's number again?"

Yuma, Arizona

As he stood up on the rocky ridge, the eleventh prince of Britannia exhaled in exhaustion after climbing. True, he had chosen this expedition in order to build up his lackluster physical aptitude and endurance, but how he ever allowed his current companion to talk him into this was behind him.

Now that he had climbed the ridge and looked out, it wasn't very high at all in perspective, but the view he had did nothing to appease his utter hatred of this region's high climate. There was a small city around here, it was a decent place to have a vacation, but around it were the carbonized ruins and wreckage from former districts destroyed or abandoned during and after Second Impact.

Even now, the prince could hardly believe it. If not for the ancestors of a small kingdom dedicated to the suicidal path of non-violent pacifism, Britannia may have had to call this little patch of a wasteland the capital of an empire in exile.

Lelouch just couldn't see it.

Fortunately, an opportune call pulled the eleventh prince from this ridiculous thought as he answered his phone.

"Yes?" The uppity and excited voice on the other line was very pleased to hear from Lelouch, "Hello my lovely baroness." Lelouch set himself down and allowed his legs to dangle over the edge of the cliff as he listened to the little girl prattle on about her assignment.

"That easily? Oh...did you say a Red Megadues?" One of his colleagues did mention something about a flying red mecha that was very similar to the black megadues of the Negotiator, but until now it was dismissed as an irrelevant fact.

"I see...Very well, I will not keep you. Do well my valkyrie." Lelouch smirked though he felt a tenth of his hearing die with the shrieking of this girl he had appointed as baronness, "You don't like that play?" This was one of the many annoyances that Lelouch had with the girl, she had no appreciation for the true works of art.

"Alright Asuka, farewell until we meet again soon."

"So how was the little baroness?" Lelouch's red-haired companion asked while the prince didn't keep from wavering his gaze between her eyes and her barely covered and sweaty "tracts of land", "You know that I hate it when you do that?"

"Then why dress to draw such a gaze?" Lelouch pointed out, now managing to stay fixed on the girl's face. Not only did he wish to show his respect, but it was often wise not to anger an individual who is ten times physically and martially stronger than you could ever hope to be. "Despite the teasing, I think the look suits you."

"Is there a single Britannian who isn't perverted?"

"And the Japanese are not?"

"At least we're not hypocrites about it-" The girl stopped as Lelouch just smirked, as with most battles he didn't win, he allowed her to lose, "You win, enjoy it while it lasts then."

"Gladly." Just as Lelouch was about to go back to his lovely view, his phone rang yet again. A year ago, it would have been more difficult to suppress his rising feelings of frustration, but now, he had mastered the little trick and turned on the phone, "What is it Milliardo?"

Command Center Hanger

"Well done...Arcs..." The Commander said to the gathered pilots after their mobile suits were committed to the Maintenance Center for repairs and touch up. Leaving Shiro Amada and the nine members of the Arcs to rejoin the other pilots in the Debriefing hall.

"Nice kick newbie!" Bergh complemented the newest member of both the Arcs and the Defense Force as they entered the hall and were greeted with the cheers of at least a hundred if not more pilots both stable and wounded.

Already, Shiro noticed the missing faces.

"Thank you..." Noriko replied to Bergh as the Arcs rejoined their celebrating comrades who had already broken out the victory wine.

"And Kou here thought she was making him look like an idiot..." Sanders laughed as he pat the gundam ace on his shoulder, "Oh look! He did that himself!"

"Alright guys, Udaki's learned his lesson." Shiro stated after draining a cup of the victory wine, savoring the slightly bitter aftertaste of the Side 7 brewed drink, but he was never picky about his drinks anyway.

"It's Uraki!"

"Whatever...In all seriousness people, well done." Shiro looked from face to face, seeing the eyes of old, young, weared and spirited waiting for his words, "We lost some good people today...and we've taken a lot of damage. Some of which we can repair, others we can't ever replace."

"But I want you all to know. You've saved over Thirty Million people from another ridiculously powerful threat to their lives. Everyone did their part and you all did well today. Yeah, you weren't the ones who dealt the finishing move, but no one's gonna forget about our contribution anytime soon."

"And if they do? The hell with them!" The men cheered after Sanders spoke to which Shiro just shrugged, "I'm done, shower and fill out the schedule for next week tomorrow...you've all earned a rest."

"Get your asses home." As the men prepared to leave, Shiro turned to Kiki and held out his hand, "Give me the report."

"It could be worse sir..." The girl sadly said while her hand remained gripped with a nearby Michael's with the other arm situated in a sling due to injuries. The two just stood and waited for the commander as he read through the sorted out casualties.

"That is true..." Shiro agreed while putting the report into his jacket and patting the two on their shoulders, "It always could be worse."

Angel Groove Command Hange

"Hey! You made it!" Hikari waved from the catwalk and ran over to the now docked E-Anima as the pilot capsule rose out of the Eva's back and opened. Spraying LCL across half of the hanger as the Evangelion completely powered down.

"Yeah..." Shinji jumped down from the open capsule and was tackled into a hug by the pig-tailed class representative, "Hikari..."

"I'm glad you made it back." The equally wet Hikari said as Shinji slowly returned the hug, but though slow, he did so with less reluctance. It felt...good to have someone there to welcome him back, "Where's Nia?"

"She's with Simon and Kamina," Shinji answered as he broke their embrace and climbed back onto Eva after realizing something, "She should be fine."

"What about you?" Shinji hopped down with a towel in hand and seized up suddenly after landing, but managed to keep himself under control enough to keep Hikari from noticing. At least he had something to thank the damn dragon for.

"I'm sore all over..." Shinji admitted while rubbing the towel over himself and wrapped it around the equally soaked Hikari as a smile grew over his face, "But...I've never felt better." Just as the two started walking in the opposite direction, Shinji noticed Hikari smirk after realizing that she was wet from the LCL spray.

And she was wearing white, Shinji had been socked enough by Asuka to know never to even look if you doubt if she has anything on under, but based on what he felt during their hug...

"Let me fix that." The same technician from before called out when Shinji came to the maintenance console and handed the pilot a stack of papers, "We're gonna need feedback from your test run."

"Test run?"

"What part of 90% complete did you not get?" the Technie asked with a chuckle, "We still need to work over the other 10%."

"Alright, I can fill this out." Shinji said, but wasn't quick enough to keep a nearby school representative from snatching the papers from Shinji's reach, "Give those back!"

"Oh no! Not until you get your rest!" Hikari said as the Technician just laughed and Shinji knew that he'd just lost. However, she merely placed the papers on the console desk, surprising Shinji somewhat, "If it makes you feel better, you're off medical leave."

"Really?"

"Yeah, if you're fit enough to pilot E-ANIMA, then you're good to sleep in your own bed."

"Actually, there's a still a day on your medical leave." Mokuba reported over the comm, stunning Hikari while Shinji just exhaled for what was coming, "Which you'll be spending with Miss Horaki or you won't live to see morning."

"What?" No, he didn't see this one coming.

"That's what happens when you break ethical code, steal an incomplete project and all while breaking into a restricted area."

"How am I restricted?"

"Your friends were and you even let one of them pilot E-ANIMA along with you." Mokuba pointed out calmly, "I was going to just suspend you for the month with a severely reduced pay, but I kind of like this idea better."

"Don't worry about him," The technician reported to the two nervous and stunned teens, "Think of it as the boss' way of giving you a slap on the wrist."

"By the way...Sorry about-"

"Don't bother kid," The technician said before Shinji could finish, "I'd honestly rather not have a gun pointed in my face, but you were on a mission. And since your insubordination did pay off, I'm gonna pretend that none of that ever happened. So you never put a gun in my face and threatened to shoot if I didn't open the door."

"In other words, we're cool Major."

"Thank you," Shinji replied with genuine gratitude when curiosity brought out another question, "What does Mokuba do when..."

"You don't want to know." The technician warned Shinji as he flipped on his 3ds and quietly recalled the reason why he's still awaiting the transfer to Seto's shift instead of Mokuba's, "Trust me."

Unknown Location

"You appear to be unhappy."

"The Messenger held that which was obliterated," The Commander of Nerv continued to walk through the unlit hall as the Spiral King continued to speak beside him, "What say you to this? Ikari?"

"Tabris has his own agenda now," Ikari stated as he opened a door leading to an escalator that would take him further into the sub-basement of Nerv's HQ, "But not one that will deviate from the scenario."

"Are you so sure?" LordGenome inquired, "I am beginning to doubt your decision to send your child to the groove of angels."

"For two reasons I would guess." Gendo spoke up, having knowledge of all of the Spiral King's secrets, including the ones that he had withheld, "You fear that he'll discover-"

"That reason is a pointless concern, she will remain a doll regardless," Simply because of how subtly defensive the Spiral King had become, Ikari decided to count it as a nominal victory, "You know of what I speak."

"How did you know?" Ikari was internally very surprised that Genome knew of the Commander's true reason for allowing Unit 01 to "fall" into Kaiba's hands.

"Do you believe me blind simply because my eyes are not turned in your direction?" The Spiral King asked as Gendo stepped off of the long escalator while LordGenome followed, "You are treading upon fragile ground."

"The road to ascension is always narrow to weed out the unworthy," Gendo Ikari declared to a being who was once the mightiest warrior and pilot to ever tread across the stars, "Surely you would know from your own experience."

"We are done here." Fading away in miniscule squares, the hologram of LordGenome faded from Commander Ikari's sight just as he came close to another room. One that he had more recently created under a collaborative effort with Rosewater and LordGenome.

The Chamber of Sod

Despite the simple design of the door, it would only accept key of Nebuchaddezer as the way to open it. The very key which Ikari had imbedded within his very being, the regenerating remnants of the Ancestrial Being that had brought about Second Impact.

With a little nudge from his own plans of course.

Opening the door, the Commander was greeted with a view of the other ancestrial being crucified upon a massive red cross. Yui had always wanted a survielance chamber to be closer to Lillith to ensure that she would not somehow restore herself.

Fortunately, Gendo had found a method to both utilize and restrain the angel in a way that Yui may have found humorous, considering everything that Lillith took from her.

But this chamber was not here as a personal window to the Second Angel, this place held a more...recent essential component to the Commander's plans, in fact not even his whore Ritsuko or the Professor knew of this place.

And not even LordGenome knew of the true purpose of that which lied within.

"I await the day," The Commander said unto the darkness of that chamber, "In which I will no longer require his assistance. An empty shell is always easy to fracture and once found, the shell is crushed."

"Now...now...he still has a use for us. Right...father?"

Hanger of the Negotiator

"We sure did take a beating..." Bit draped his jacket over his shoulder after cleaning up and changing from the battle that had been concluded earlier. Even though Mecha Lord's final fusion took care of any repairs that Bit dreaded having to start, both Big O and Liger's Panzer armor had been depleted of all ammo.

Something else to book Kaiba for.

"But we did learn something from it." Roger noted as he and Bit went into the elevator and Norman closed the door behind them, "Thankfully repairs have already been accounted for."

"I'm just surprised that Kaiba didn't want to ball us out again."

"No, apparently he turned in for the night."

"Like he did any hard work. The guy acts like he's being eaten up all the time."

"A young man like Kaiba in a sense is constantly troubled," Norman added as the elevator kept rising, "With an ego of his size and his position? Keeping all of you at arm's length is likely his way of coping, or so I would think."

"Who knows..." Roger sat patiently as the elevator rose out of the underground and ran up along a windowed shaft giving a nice view of the city, "Speaking of people with problems...have you been alright lately?"

"Where did this come from?" Bit asked with both hands on the back of his head.

"You acted pretty hastily during the fight." Roger pointed out, "That's...not like you."

"Let me guess, you overheard me and Leena..."

"Not intentionally..." Roger admitted, "Whatever is going on, you sound like you could use someone to talk to."

"Don't worry about it Roger..." Bit assured, but Roger did notice a hint of passive aggressiveness, "It's just stuff about my parents when I was a kid, you remember that stuff right?"

"Unfortunately..." Roger paused as the elevator bell rung to tell it's occupants that they had made it to Roger's pad, "I don't..."

"Sounds rough..." Bit stated as he walked out of the opening doors, "Night Roger."

"Good night Bit." Roger replied while slipping off his jacket and putting it on a coat hanger, "Good night Norman, sorry for waking you."

"Do not worry Master Roger." The butler dismissed as he left to turn in for the night, "Good Night sir."

"You smell like you've been out." Roger overheard Bit in the guest room as the Negotiator was on his way to his own bedroom,.

"What did you think I'd do? Sit here and wait?" Leena replied as Roger quietly closed their cracked door, "But...I did think about taking a nap."

"Nah...that doesn't sound like you..." Smiling, Roger kept going, his own wife technically didn't need to worry about it. But that didn't mean that she didn't want Roger's warm body to warm her's.

Fanelian Embassy

"Bro..."

"Stop worrying about Nia!" Kamina yelled to Simon as they sat outside on the porch of the embassy, "She'll be alright."

"I still find it so fascinating..." The Dai-Gurren Brigade head technician muttered next to Kamina as the Dai-Gurren Brigade leader jumped up in shock, "I think that I will collaborate with that adorable little Mokuba."

"You're not his type Leeron," Kiyal said while sitting on the porch railing, "Where's Shinji?"

"He's walking his girlfriend home." Kittan answered as Simon failed to supress a smile, "He'll probably stay over for the night too."

"Shinji's growing up already..." Kamina said while one of Balgus' trainees desperately attempted to push him up while Kamina sat on the boy's back, "Simon! Take Nia back to her room!"

"I already did."

"Did you say good night?"

"Yeah..." Simon knew where his brother was going to go now.

"Did you kiss her good night?"

"On her cheek..."

"Good enough..." Kamina said as they looked out and saw that Heero was still lying out in the field behind the embassy stretching out his limbs.

"What is he doing?" Van asked in shock as they hurt grunts and gasps of pain as they watched Heero continue to grab his limbs and do...stuff with them.

"He's relocating his limbs..." Merle answered in shock as everyone but Van and Kamina grimaced from the sickening thuds and cracks that Heero's self-therapy was making, "Do I smell latex?"

"No..." Hitomi shyly rubbed her arm as she entered the porch with Yoko. Merle kept sniffing over and came closer to the japanese schoolgirl as Simon also picked up the smell.

"I smell it too-"

"Don't be silly Simon!" Kamina slapped his little brother's back, "Latex is for over-the-top show offs who are too badass to look stupid while wearing it!"

"Right..." Hitomi waved her hand through her hair nervously while Yoko just sat unsurprised for some reason.

"You know we have healers here..." Van offered their newfound ally as he wrapped his relocated limbs in bandages and stood up from the ground.

"That won't be necessary, but thank you." Heero answered as he turned to leave.

"You're leaving?" Van called out, "We have plenty of beds if you need rest..."

"I believe that I will pass-"

"No you won't! Not with that arm." Kamina cried as he appeared in front of Heero and prevented the man from leaving due to the sheer force of awesome that would have crushed any lesser man, "Or leg..."

"I just put them back into place..." Heero pointed out uncaring of the fact that there were blood stains showing through the bandages.

"And now they need rest!" Heero grunted as Kamina slung him over his back and carried him to the embassy, "Come on, lets find you a bed!"

District 9

Another disappointing day for this agent of Deception.

He had failed to track Horaki yet again, disturbance from the recent battle had overcharged it's sensors while it dug underground and erased much of the data that had been recently received.

So Scorponok went forth to it's default directive, wait and fed.

Tonight, it's tail was currently engulfing another fleshling female. It had already taken in one of the three males that it did not kill after stumbling upon them taking the female, effectively doing the agent's job for it.

But between the two, females were easier to devour. Not because they were biologically weaker than males according to Scorponok's database, but because they were of smaller build and provided more efficient energy to be processed. Either way, Scorponok couldn't stand their the feel of their slimy, sweet covered skin being brushed against the inside of it's efficient metallic structure.

It felt like a virus.

Still, the agent did what had to be done. And was as the female's unnecessarily large flesh mounds were consumed, the agent detected an energy signature in it's immediate vicinity.

"Help..." The freckled female begged as Scorponok turned around with claws ready and was met with utter disappointment, "Help me...please..."

"You will all beg for mercy in vain." The small box sized black metallic spider spoke as Scorponok observed it, "The debris from your planet will litter this solar system. I shall stomp upon your very atoms, Cybertronian."

"A bold claim, puny ant." The agent answered as the female was consumed and her form slid in through the agent's tail, "I do not recognize your composition. What is your designation, machine?"

"I am the REGIS Mark V. I will destroy all." Scorponok immediately armed it's cannons upon hearing that designation, "REGIS will incinerate this planet and enslave all its occupants."

"Not before we do." Scorponok boasted as it raised it's tail and stabbed it down through the REGIS's back. Picking up the metallic machine and blasting it with a dozen rounds from each of the cannons mounted within it's claws.

"Annoyance." Scorponok tossed the trashed machine aside and burrowed into the ground, that creature had to have been a fake...

District 36

"Look...I can make it back-"

"All the way to the Embassy from the Command Center?" Hikari asked as the two of them made it to Hikari's apartment complex, "It won't be that bad Shinji..."

"No! That's not what I meant...I just don't want to make you uncomfortable..."

"Same here..." Hikari gasped and grabbed Shinji's arm as the other gripped his chest as another fit hit him, "See what I mean? You were acting recklessly Shinji..."

"Guess you're right, Hikari..." Shinji said as the fit subsided, Hikari still appeared concerned but she took her place in front of him and led him up to the fourth level where her apartment was.

"Come on..." Hikari said when they reached her room marked 43-2, "After everything you've done, the least I can do is give you some rest for the night. K?"

"Alright..." Shinji decided to stop fighting this, it wouldn't be bad at all. It's not like they were going to...and Shinji stopped his thoughts before he went into "hentai" territory.

"You'll be able to use-" Shinji instantly saw Hikari's body tense after she opened the door. Not in a bad way, but in a surprise and shock manner, "Noriko?...I thought..."

"That I'd be sleeping in the barracks?" Hikari's roommate asked with a giddy smile while sat on top of her bed, "No...it smells over there..."

"Okay..." Hikari nervously replied, it appeared as though she wasn't counting on Noriko being here since most of the DF were either sleeping in the barracks tonight or still out partying, "Shinji's staying over for the night, is that cool?"

"Shinji!" Shinji waved from behind Hikari while Noriko bounced onto her feet and gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, "Hell yeah it's cool! Everyone was talking about you in the DF!"

"Really?" Shinji asked curiously while Hikari walked over to her bed to set down her stuff, "What did they say?"

"That you're awesome and their glad that you're on their side." Noriko simply answered while fixing her bandana, "And wanted me to thank you on their behalf."

"Thank me?" Why? What had he done to deserve their gratitude and praise? If anything, it should be Simon and the others who should be thanked. All he did was get Nia hurt and then have to get saved..., "I was just doing my job. They're...You...are the ones I should thank..."

"Then we're even." Noriko replied as she lied back on her bed while Shinji yawned and looked for a mat or something for him to sleep on.

"You can have one half and I'll have the other..." Hikari said, her hair undone and freely flowing down to just above her shoulder blades.

"I've..." Suddenly, Shinji felt something come undone. Maybe it was sleeping in the same bed as a girl and realizing something about Hikari, but he needed to breath, "Mind if I use the bathroom?"

"Go ahead..." Hikari said with a gentle smile while Shinji kept from running into the bathroom and briskly walked instead. The bathroom wasn't all that big, but it was clean, cleaner than any bathroom that he had seen in the past several months.

Which made it easier for Shinji to collect his breath and change out into pajama shorts and a t-shirt that he had brought over for the night. He took care of business, flushed and told himself over and over that it was just for tonight and left the bathroom.

"Noriko..." To have Noriko Takaya standing in front of him with her arms crossed over her loose t-shirt and wearing a smile. Shinji did not like where this was probably going.

"What were you doing in there?"

"Going number one..."

"Why did it take so long?" Was in there for that long? "You're nervous about Hikari about you?"

"Yes..." Shinji didn't see any point in trying to hide his nervousness, "I've...never slept in the same bed as girl...okay?"

"I could tell..." Noriko said as her arms fell to her sides, "Think of it as...sleeping with a sibling..."

"Oh...and just so you know..." Shinji couldn't even register when he had been grabbed, but now he was being held up in the air by a very serious and determined Noriko, "Do anything she doesn't like, say anything she doesn't like, or touch her in a way that she doesn't want. I'll grab you by the balls, bash in your skull with that lamp there, strangle with with this bandanna here, throw you out that window there and then I'll jump down and kick you with these feet here...Hai?"

"Hai..." Shinji replied, though he had no intention of taking advantage of Hikari in anyway, this did not stop him from nearly wetting himself at the true hostility that was within Noriko's voice and eyes.

"Now that that's out of the way..." The girl allowed Shinji's feet to touch the floor as her features softened back to the cheery girl that everyone knew, "Oyasuminasai!"

"Oyasuminasai..." Shinji slowly replied as the girl jumped into her bed, pulled the covers over her and went to sleep while Shinji stood stunned for a short minute.

He had fought a masked angel that broke his wrist and blasted out an eye, a tentacle creature that flew him over city blocks and ran him through with it's tentacles, a singing diamond that shot him through the heart with a laser beam, a mutated whale that nearly ate him, twin angels that buried him halfway into the ground, had to fight the singing diamond again, a giant monster that ran him through, a mythological Kraken, a dragon that very nearly killed him, and an ancient warzord that also very nearly killed him.

But not even his father had scarred him as much as this girl just did.

All the more reason not to create anymore reason for Shinji to be frightened. So he steeled his nerves and walked over to Hikari's bed, slipping under the covers and lying on his back with his face looking at the ceiling.

"Hope Noriko didn't scare you..." He heard Hikari whisper next to him.

"Don't worry about it..." Shinji answered while still looking up at the ceiling. Asuka's sleeping habits had taught him to never take for granted someone else's idea of sleepwear, "She just cares about you..."

"Right...you're right..." Hikari said as Shinji heard her shift in the bed, "I'm nervous too by the way..."

"What for?" Shinji asked, realizing that he was not looking at the ceiling, he was now looking at her face and her pretty auburn eyes. "Think of it...as sleeping with a sibling."

"Yeah right."

"Well...you could always kick me onto the floor..."

"And be an inconsiderate host? No..." He didn't dare move, she had closed the distance between the two and was now holding him with her arms, her head resting against his whether than the pillow, "Much better..."

"Hik..." Was it truly fear? Or was it the simple fact that he had never been this close to anyone like this? It was both horrifyingly scary and excitingly euphoric at the same time. Here he was, brought to this girl's room and being allowed access to her in her most vulnerable state and she wholeheartedly trusted him. Maybe he was reading too much but it felt too damn good to think of anything else.

"Yeah...it's better now..." Shinji wrapped his arms around the girl's back, lightly brushing her hip and hair on accident and smiled as he drifted off to sleep.

Beneath the Angel Groove Command Center

"Why am I even down here?" Kaiba asked himself as he leaned against the back of the elevator and watched the rocky formation that he traveled down through, "Coming down here is like pretentiously asking for nightmares for the rest of the damn week...but here I am."

Kaiba knew why he was coming down here. It was to remind himself why buying this city was the biggest gamble of his life. Sure, it was a good deal and despite the numerous setbacks in the form of repair bills and other expenditures, Kaiba couldn't have found a better deal if the original seller had thrown the furry's little sister dressed in a torn-up maidservant outfit.

"The water's supposed to be pure but...I'm not going to trust it." When he and some aides had first come down to this underground wonder, a few of the interns decided to swim in the vast lake that Seto was now looking upon. But something about it really bothered the Kaiba Corp President.

And not even those stories and visions about him being a reincarnated egyptian priest ever really bothered Seto.

"The Grove of Angels." Seto said to himself as he exited the elevator and looked over the grass filled land, "Why do so many people want this place?" Seto exhaled and began the long walk to what he knew was keeping him up today. In the distance, he could already spot the thin white object pointing upwards from this underground utopia.

"Gee...maybe it's whoever's been impaled beneath you." Kaiba noted as he neared the large and long white bident, "And how the hell are you holding yourself up?" Truthfully, the question was more on Kaiba's mind since half of the bident had been snapped off at some point in the past and what remained was cracked in multiple places along it's interwoven length.

What made this question even more poignant was that the downward half of the bident's two binds also came further together enough to practically crucify the masked pale human-sized being that lied upon a giant rock.

As much as the giant rock impressed Seto, what really caught his eye were the following ten words carved into the rock in a pretentiously coordinated pattern.

Keter, Chochmah, Binah, Da'at, Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malkuth. The ten attributes that make up the Tree of Sephiroth.

Kaiba knew what each of those words meant. Gorzaboroh used to always bend him over and swing his spiked golf club onto his back every time he failed to correctly state what each of those damn words meant.

The masked albino's hands were impaled through the Chesed and Gevurah symbols while it's legs lied in between the spaces separating Netzach and Hod from Yesod. Already Kaiba could hear some symbolic nutjob prancing around behind him calling for Kaiba to ask what all of this meant.

One thing was certain to Kaiba, whoever this thing was had been impaled here for a reason. And as much as he heard a subtle voice calling for him to go get his jet and pull the lance out of the ground...Seto knew that following that idea would end horribly.

"Seto!" Kaiba heard his collar cry out, "Why are in the Sub-base?"

"I was going for a walk." Kaiba said to the collar as he finally turned away from the being, "What is it?"

"There's something you might want to know about Unit one-"

"Yes! ANIMA is awesome! Stop saying it!"

"It's not about ANIMA! It's about that girl!"

"Nia?" That unbelievably cute girl with the plus-shaped eyes? How could Kaiba forget that freakishly cute girl? "What about her?"

"Come see for yourself."

"This better important..." Kaiba stated as he turned off the collar and felt his breath decrease when his gaze returned to the being, "Did I just see movement?" For the briefest second, it looked like the being had slightly tilted it's head towards Kaiba.

Why did it do that?

How the hell was this being still alive after who knows who long it had been impaled into the giant rock?

Judging from the stains, this thing did have blood once. How would it be able to move after being completely drained? Not to mention the circular gash in it's chest that obviously denotes the lack of a heart.

Biting himself for not heeding his better judgement, Kaiba stepped closer to the being trapped beneath the broken lance and stepped over to it's head. It's head covered over by a mask with a design denoting rays of light going forth from a single eye.

Someone was really asking for attention. That's probably why the damn mask was put here, so someone could jump up and down destroying their minds wondering exactly what all of this meant.

So why was he down here? Why did he come down here knowing that he would hear whispers in a dead language that his bastard stepfather made sure to beat into his memory?

"Seto!"

"Shut up Talking Collar!" He turned from the crucified being and speedily walked away from the site. Thanks to mentally drowning out the whispers that came back and echoed through his ears, he made it to the elevator and collapsed against the elevator wall as it climbed out of this underground utopia and back up to his own city.

The more Seto thought about it, the more he wasn't surprised about what he learned about the last city built here...

Notes:

Author's Notes:
So the Rangers finally have their well deserved rest...how long will it last?
Spoiler: Not very long!
This chapter turned out pretty short compared to most chapters on this story, but it works for me.
PS: You have my permission to open up a betting pool for possible enemies for the Rangers to face, but only if I get 20% of the earnings. Nah I'm just kidding, gambling isn't good for you.

Notes:

Author's Notes:
Alright, a little history about this story and the chapter that you've just seen.
Originally, I'd made this as a fun one-shot that made of fun of what would happen if you got a bunch of anime mecha pilots and placed them in an absurd power rangers-esque situation.
I even added 2 more chapters as you'll see eventually that poked more fun at the characters...come chapter 4 and...it became something more.
Superb Awesomeness or Epic Silliness? I'll let you be the judge of that.
To those who've been following me since I first posted the story in 2010, consider this a sneak peak at the Extended Cut that I'll be posting while working on the finale of the first season. If you have any questions that you'd like me to answer in this Cut or something that you want me to expand on, then PM me or add it in a review and I'll do my best. Plus, I felt like I should update the quality of the first few chapters of the story as something more appropriate for a multi-chapter tale.
Thanks you for your support; Read, Review and Enjoy!

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emROCKS123, Imgonnakillurfamily69, KingVessel, TrinityReformed, Emblemofthedigi, DarkscytheDrake, Bad_Kobold, badwolfkaily, betsybugaboo, and RandomNumbers452351 as well as 20 guests left kudos on this work!

Comments

Hachiman (Guest) on Chapter 3 Thu 05 Jan 2023 09:41PM UTC

I have no idea if you will read this. But i really loved reading this story. I actually reread it 5 times since 2016. Characters and plot was very intriguing. Hope you will continue this story. Stay safe and good luck

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Miri (Guest) on Chapter 8 Sun 30 Oct 2022 06:15PM UTC

Seriously… this is one of the funniest stories I have ever read! Love it!

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Miri (Guest) on Chapter 9 Sun 30 Oct 2022 06:31PM UTC

Well the German is a bit off but still funny 😄

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