Sorry for the major delays in updating…Life has been intruding, obviously…
But I plan to; starting from now, begin updating this more frequently. Maybe every other week or so…I don't want to leave it hanging, I have it all planned and I know how I want it to go.
So, try to stick with me…new readers, welcome…Let's get this going!
Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or its characters. Gainax does, and they rock. Who else could create both Evangelion and FLCL!
Tessamaru Village
"So you understand, there's plenty of good in it for you?"
Naraku stared transfixed at the little peculiar fellow that had somehow wormed his way into Naraku's current base of operations with little difficulty or resistance.
He was a short, bald, blue-skinned creature with dark glasses and short, pointy tentacle-like legs, smiling into Naraku's surprised eyes.
And for some reason…he instilled a calm subservience in the great demon amalgamation, instead of the rage he would've usually felt. In fact, his ideas had sounded remarkably sound.
"A…tournament? Are you sure?"
"Yes…I believe it would solve all of our problems. The land you seek to inherit and conquer with the Shikon shards…it is wild and full of fighting men."
Ubik paused, staring intently at Naraku as he continued.
"There is a way…you see…provide the proper bait and prize…the proper tournament…and all your enemies will simply kill each other."
Naraku responded rather dumbly. Indeed, he felt rather lethargic and was keen to simply take this fellow's advice. Thinking clearly was getting difficult.
"Hmmm…but…what bait?"
Ubik smiled and Naraku could see images flashing in his demonic consciousness. Somehow he figured they were from Ubik.
A female with long strawberry-blondish hair and beautiful features, another female with pale skin, red eyes, and light blue hair, and finally another female with long black hair and a pleasant face, wearing a school uniform with a short green skirt. They all seemed to be roughly the same age, rather young, in their teens.
Three of them…three…
"That female trinity and the remainder of the Shikon shard shall be sufficient."
Naraku stiffened, suddenly regaining some of his former independence as his eyes widened and he spoke in a tense whisper. He couldn't allow this!
"The shard?!"
Ubik silenced him with a dominant look, sneering.
"Don't worry about your precious weak artifacts. You can keep the bait if you make sure you kill whoever wins the tournament. Game over."
"G-Game…over?"
"Yes. Game over…I'll be…"
Ubik suddenly shimmered and disappeared, but an instant later Naraku could hear the fellow's voice behind him, in front of him, all around in fact.
"…here watching over you…"
Unknown Location
That familiar darkness was still there, but now it was weighed down by a horribly distinct silence. No longer were there screams and growls, the great connections of glowing pink pods and capsules now brittle and red, no longer translucent and full of fluid, the air itself heavier.
"Ubik did quite well, didn't he? A finite and well-crafted plan."
"Indeed…it all works out…"
"Griffith, rather, Femto…he will be attracted to the tournament, to that many powerful souls ready for the taking."
"He'll slaughter them all, certainly, without trouble…then we can recapture him…we cannot allow him to stay out there in his current unstable form."
"If he pushes himself too far into absorbing the souls of instrumentality…he himself could deconstruct!"
"And it will eliminate any nuisances in that land, including that foolish young human male."
"Indeed…"
"We have wrested control of the local powers well, Ubik persuaded them quite efficiently."
"However, I find his methods unreliable, this demon sycophant we have tasked with running the tournament…Is it really completely a given that his minions will be able to wrest away the trinity from those that irritate us?"
They hovered there, shadowy figures of God Hand, muttering as they floated in nothingness.
"True…Apostle Slan…can you go?"
A nude woman with bat wings sprouting from her back and a shock of squirming black vipers upon her head, glanced at the figure who had spoken.
"You ask me to travel to that world myself and assist this personally? Is that not a bit much, Apostle Void?"
The figure she had been speaking with stiffened and it was clear that this Apostle Void was filled with rage, his skull-like face giving off an aura of pure destruction.
"Make haste."
The female nodded to the other figures, nodding quickly.
"Y-Yes…so be it…Apostle Lillith may have betrayed us, but we will make everything right…quickly and without mercy."
The rest of God Hand nodded, speaking in unison.
"Aut vincere aut mori!"
Tessamaru Village
Kagome stumbled backwards from the dust of yet another Windscar, not noticing a loud buzzing close by…not noticing the presence of something other….something in the air…
Inuyasha snorted angrily as his latest attack seemed to have no effect on the crazed young man he was battling.
"What the hell are you?!"
Shinji Ikari only shrugged, smiling with evident madness. The Shikon had fully detached him from reality and from his own true soul.
"What am I?! What does it matter! Die! Die! Die!"
He swung his sword again, charging wildly at Inuyasha, who barely dodged it and the massive burst of destructive reddish energy that issued from the young man's outstretched palms in a terrible blast.
"Gah…what's the big idea you-"
"INUYASHA!"
Inuyasha whirled away, completely distracted away from the fight by the female voice that had called out his name in panic. Only Kagome could call his attention away from a battle in this way and he turned just in time to see her in the grasps of a massive winged bat-like demon.
"Bat demons?! What the hell?! KAGOME!"
"INUYASHA! HELP!"
Kagome barely managed to yelp that out before the massive winged creature took flight, escaping into the sky and soon becoming a distant dot.
Inuyasha growled, crouching and preparing to give chase.
However, it was then he noticed something odd…sticking out of his chest…
He had…forgotten his opponent…Shinji Ikari had not forgotten him, however.
The young man's sword protruded out of Inuyasha's right side, painfully.
"You…bastard…"
Shinji Ikari only smirked, pulling his blade out with a flourish. Without the blade inside of him, Inuyasha toppled to the floor, blood pouring out of his severe wounds.
Inuyasha snarled, his vision blurry and his body heavy as he heard the familiar voices of Sango and Miroku approaching.
The pair landed quickly, appraising the young man with a bloody sword.
Shinji glared intently at the one dressed like a monk and Miroku responded by preparing to take off his prayer beads and let loose his Wind Tunnel.
"Why did you attack Inuyasha?! Where did that thing take Kagome?!"
However, before he could attack, a flourish of long reddish hair stood between him and his opponent.
Miroku's eyes widened as Asuka stood between him and his opponent.
"What're you doing?!"
She was trembling and pale, glancing at the man who had attacked Inuyasha.
"N-N-No…don't hurt him…Shinji?! Shinji?! Is…that…you?!"
"You know this fellow?! What're you doi-"
However, Miroku was cut off as another massive bat-like creature hurtled down, snatching up Asuka in its grasp and flying away so quickly it was as if she had never existed.
Shinji simply stood there, stiffly watching. The appearance of that red haired girl had spun his mind into a confused dementia and a distinct feeling that something in his mind was missing.
Sango readied her massive boomerang to hurl at the escaping flying beast but then halted as she realized it was too far and that Miroku was threateningly approaching the young man again.
"We don't have time for him! They took Kagome and Asuka! You saw that, Miroku!"
Sango nodded to herself when Miroku turned back to her, sweat beading her forehead as she helped carry Inuyasha and place him on Kirara with Miroku.
Shinji simply stood there stiffly with the bloody katana in his hand, watching them in a detached fashion. His entire body felt like it was aflame.
"Alright…let's move then!"
And with that the massive wild cat flew up into the air, carrying the two humans and their wounded half-demon comrade in pursuit of the demons that had taken their friends.
Shinji watched as they left, barely pushing his energy-filled arms down as they lusted to fire off salvos of destruction at the retreating party.
Kill them…kill them all…
Shinji Ikari ignored the fierce voice in his skull, ignoring the pain and rushing energy all around his left arm as he grit his teeth and watched the strangers leave.
"No…I don't…I don't…I won't let you take my mind…I won't let you take her…"
Her name…what had it been…he hadn't heard it…he couldn't remember it…he could remember her smell, her voice, her eyes, and the way she made his chest sore with adoration.
But her name…
"Sure, sure, I bet you're just afraid to kiss a girl on the day of your mother's anniversary; scared she's watching from beyond the grave?"
"I'm not...I'm not scared of a kiss"
"Really? Okay, you're sure, now?"
"Sure"
"Then close your eyes! Here we go…"
Shinji gasped for air, feeling a strange but comfortable warmness in his chest and cheeks.
Who?! Who?! What was her name?! Who was she to him? Where had his cursed existence begun?
It mattered but little. He was remembering, slowly and painfully…
Of things lost…of those two young women, one blue, one red, of many other faces…all things that had been important to him.
While he could not fully understand him, they elicited a warm feeling inside of him that seemed to delay the voice in his skull and power in his left hand for the time being.
For the time being, Shinji only had one thought, and the voice in his head seemed to temporarily acquiesce.
And with that, he stared up into the sky, still seeing the tiny dots of those strangers flying away. Nodding to himself, he began his pursuit.
Save them…save them all…I won't let you…won't lose any of you again…
Unknown Location
"Two down, Apostle Void…"
"Splendid…Apostle Sane…Slan will handle the final member of the trinity…"
"She is protected by that nuisance of a man, you know…the one who tried to kill Griffith…he remains alive."
"He is still merely a man…he will prove no trouble to an Apostle of God Hand."
"Indeed…"
They had come from an earth where there was only pain and misery…where their kind was damned.
And they had seeked paradise…an impact that would change and render the world into a heaven for themselves.
Surely, Gendo Ikari would've sympathized.
However the catalyst for this operation, Cheza…she was gone…for some reason, the instrumentality, the paradise, it had failed.
They had found themselves here.
But now, the white wolf and his wolf pack moved full speed through the forest.
He could smell her…or something much like her…
In a flash the white wolf transformed into a young man with long dark hair and blue jeans, staring out into the forest around him and then glancing to his companions slinking behind him. He was known as Kiba.
A young man with dark skin and a cross-shaped scar on his chest, a boy with brown hair and kind eyes, and finally another young man with scrappy brown hair and a yellow jacket. Tsume, Toboe, and Hige, the rest of the pack.
They were driven by fate and by the misery of their pasts, by the comradery between each other. They couldn't stop searching for "paradise" if they tried.
Kiba dashed forward as the others followed in their human forms, Kiba turning to Tsume who only growled in skepticism.
"I smell it too…but it can't be Cheza…do you really believe this shit anymore?"
"Whoever it is…we have to find them…they are the key…that scent is unmistakable…"
Tsume only shrugged, Toboe giving a wry child-like grin while Hige chuckled.
They were alive…they were continuing forward. They would find salvation from the pain and misery of existence.
That was all that mattered.
Gutts snorted, having slammed his massive blade down and sliced the terrible creature that had assaulted them in half. It seemed to resemble a massive winged bat and it let out a terrible dying roar as Gutts only smirked and wiped the blood off of his giant sword.
Rei watched calmly behind him, as silent as ever.
"You're a pretty peculiar girl, you know…always so quiet, but since the minute I met you I've had all these goddamn demons swarming around us…What the hell did that bat thing want?"
Rei only shook her head stiffly, glancing back into the forest as she spoke softly.
"I…do not know…"
I…feel inside me…a reason for my existence…Lillith? Lillum? Why do I yet exist…it is a question that makes me long for Commander Shinji Ikari…
"You don't know much huh?"
The muscular warrior laughed, brushing the spikey black hair from his face and then glancing at Rei.
What he saw made him stiffen.
Behind her was someone he had hoped to never see again.
Or did I? I can't be a coward…not now…I should've known that if I made my mission to crush Femto that I would encounter God Hand…but so soon? Maybe I've been killing too many of their Apostles and pissing them off.
Despite the obvious danger of encountering a member of God Hand, Gutts felt himself flooded with a certain excitement and anticipation rather than fear.
"Apostle Slan, am I correct? It's been a long while…maybe the last time we met was
She smirked cheekily, speaking in her flirtatious feminine tone.
"You actually remember me? Oooh…I'm flattered."
"Oh, I never forget a woman…Especially an ugly bitch like you…"
Slan clicked her tongue, shaking her head sadly as the snakes on her head writhed wildly.
"You know, I was going to make it quick and painless, but you're getting on my nerves, human…"
Gutts strode forward, pushing Rei roughly into the bushes behind them with one hand and then raising his sword.
"I'm not the same human you met back then…I'm not some pushover…Apostle of God Hand…or did you not know of the many brethren of yours I have slain?"
Suddenly, his eyes widened and he realized she was now behind him.
That…speed?!
"Brethren? They were cheap knockoffs. You're dead, honey."
The wolf pack sped on at full speed, as they could hear sounds of battle and the scent of the girl they needed close by.
Kiba picked up his speed, urging the others to do the same.
"Onward…Onward to paradise!"
They surged close and then out into the clearing where they had smelled the scent's origination.
Gutts glanced back at the newcomers, still grunting as he tried to keep up with the madness that was Apostle Slan.
Blood was oozing from the many wounds all over his body, and yet he couldn't even read her movements or sense what weapon she was using.
Her speed was just astonishing, and even worse he couldn't use his sword fast enough to strike her or block her madness.
She taunted him, her nude body glistening as the snakes writhed atop her head.
"Hah! Given up already, human?"
"I'm…tougher than that…Apostle scum…"
"Tell you what, bend over, lick my toes, apologize, and give me that pale girl with blue hair and I miiiight just let you live."
"What do you want with her?"
"Why give answers to a dead man?"
Gutts grit his teeth, glancing back at the group that had just entered the clearing. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve, definitely, but he couldn't let this girl that God Hand apparently wanted stay and possibly get caught up in the crossfire.
He had no choice.
The group of four young males had abounded into the clearing and now they were staring intently at the fighters and at Rei.
Kiba's eyes widened.
"You're…of the same kind as her…Cheza…But you're not her…"
Rei stared calmly at them.
"I am me…there are no others like me…anymore…"
She added the last part slowly.
The wolf pack stood over Rei, not sure what to do or make of the brutal battle going on.
However, Gutts glanced back, noting that they seemed to be human or at least not Apostles.
Gritting his teeth as he felt a particularly painful blow slam into his chest and make him spit blood, he called out to them in a terribly loud booming voice.
"TAKE HER! TAKE HER SOMEWHERE SAFE! I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE…BUT THEY WANT HER! YOU CAN'T…LET THAT…HAPPEN!"
Kiba and his friends turned back to Rei, shuddering.
It was happening again…the terrible madness to take hold of the lunar flower…It had happened with Cheza as well, thousands fighting to take possession of her.
Tsume smirked darkly.
"Déjà vu, eh?"
Kiba nodded, sighing.
"There's no time…Let's move."
And with that they took Rei's conciliatory hands and began to run as quickly as possible through the forest, away from the killing and madness.
That's it with this chapter…I hope to update this fanfic consistently and end it at like Chapter 60…I don't want this to be left hanging.
FYI, the wolves, i.e. Kibe, Tsume, Hige, and Toboe, they're from the anime Wolf's Rain. It's a great anime actually…pretty cool…
Anyway, see you next chapter! Hope I still have SOME readers left.