The Story!

1: Pew-pew, shoot it with a triad burst
2: Shinji tends to almost die a lot, even when people are around to help. So full-frontal assault.

Logan and Shinji's Appendage-Ripping Frenzy

Inside his machine, Logan was starting to get a little hot under the collar. He was extremely worried about what would happen if his beam saber was ripped out of his mecha's (capable) hands. That was the inherent risk with weapons that are equipped and not built into the robot, but the pilot would otherwise not be able to operate it variously with both hands. At the moment, using both of them was the only thing that stopped the Third Angel's purple gelatinous limb from becoming the weapon's new wielder! The young man became desperate, aware that he had no other melee weapon capable of going toe to toe with an Angel.

“Charge the top Triad and lock onto the whip! Do not miss, Adam!” said Logan, obviously aware that the computer would not purposely miss under these circumstances. He was hardly thinking straight in light of the fact that Shamshel was so much huger than the Wonderchild. As the top of the triangle started humming and glowing, another command was issued. The grey-haired diplomat asked Shinji to “Go for the core! Please don't stop until the crystal's broken!”

Thankfully, the 01 did just that, going into blur-range with the front of the juking snake. Logan would have to trust Shinji to start on his own, as he was firing his burst at that very moment. Only using the energy to power one single TC, the W-E, its interface and its pilot all fired in sync! Arcing masses of electicity sliced into and through the lithe tentacle before it even had a chance to pull back into the protection of the barrier! The piece of tentacle that had been grasping the plain white energy sword went slack and fell, leaving it free to be placed back at hipside. Amazed at the gnarly and uneven cut the energy produced, Logan actually gasped! He was doing it! Now it was all up to his roommate to seal the deal!

It was then that Logan realized he could probably leave Shinji. The Eva was made to kill Angels, so there would not be a tremendous need for him to remain. The exact status of the Pink Ranger's fight wasn't clear, and this lack of more specific intel than 'the Airport is still safe' was a definite source of anxiety for the Ambassador. Still, he was loyal to his young pal, and made the decision to give him a little help. After all, even through the blur of interacting AT Fields, the older guy could see that the monster was snapping and striking like the snake it was. Despite both its whips being torn off, it was clear that the fight was not over. Some additional aid would be necessary, as Shinji had established a pattern of not reacting well to being in striking distance.

Compulsively screwing with the sleeves of his uniform, Logan thought about what he could do to make things a little easier for his friend. He initially considered just rushing in and seeing what it was like to be inside the blur, but that was not likely to yield terrific results. He needed something smarter, something that played to the strengths of his giant robot instead of playing against type. Thankfully, the guy was hit with an idea that he thought would prove extremely effective. He was going to climb on top of the Angel and ride it as a distraction! Logan thought to himself, “No giant monster could predict a mad strategy like that!”

And so he did just that. Taking advantage of Shinji's distracting attempt to kill Shamshel, Logan ran and hopped over rolling hills as he took a wide berth away from the bug. Thankfully it was too busy to acknowledge him, and he was able to circle around entirely like he was some kind of Italian plumber. He did not, however, try to grab the villain by its 'tail'. He grabbed the bull by the horns instead, and took a deep breath. Then he smashed his handles forward and threaded the needle, scrambling onto the purple creature's slender form from behind!

The W-E handled the process masterfully, as did Adam. The helpful interface obviously played some role in the finer points of balance and not falling off, since the mecha... did not fall off. In fact, it actually was able to get a real foothold on the enemy! Stepping onto it didn't seem to trigger the Field, which was a real relief since Logan was starting to hate those. He was entirely lucky, as he was able to climb unabated, even rushing and making it up the tallest vertical distance – it's upraised body in its faux-snake posture. All the way to the top the W-E w-ent, scaling even the snapping head of the foe! Up there, it wasn't quite as easy and stable of a platform as Logan had expected. It was tough, even with Adam, to stay on! The Angel was bigger than his machine, but the Wonderchild still took up a ton of space atop its head. It was head space, and it was at a premium.

Well, it wasn't entirely awful up there. For one, he had access to the eyes that he'd seen in the initial footage. Briefly considering re-equipping the beam saber, Logan stopped himself when he came upon the truth of the eyes. Much like the Wonderchild's three recessed 'eyes', these were just for show! It was actually just a pattern of a filled in black circle with a white rim. This struck the pilot as a very strange thing to be the case, not that he had a tremendous amount of time to reflect on it. Instead, his machine was knocked onto its stomach. Shamshel was clearly flailing to get the Wonderchild off of him, and it was all the United Arms pilot could do to stay on!

That's exactly what he was successful at doing, as both Shamshel and Shinji groaned in frustration. It was a messy and loud experience, but as far as Logan could tell it was working. He shouted over comm, “Good job, Shinji!” and used his handles to maintain the very tenuous grip on Shamshel's head. All he could do was believe in his fellow pilot, and it paid off as he heard the monster screech and cry wildly before going both quiet and limp! The blur of the Fields dissipated, and Logan could see that Evangelion 01 was soaked in the Third Angel's blood.

Amazed at what had just happened, Shinji contacted his senior onscreen. “I... I did it! I killed him.” He looked both relieved that the fight had come to an abrupt stop, and a little disturbed at what he'd done. It wasn't nearly that messy when Shinji crushed Bones, so Logan surmised that this must have been the differentiating factor that shocked the teen.

“You did! Shinji, you saved the city again! The crystal's completely broken, right?” Logan asked with a smile, sincerely happy that the kid had risen to the occasion. He'd known he could do it – that's why he told him to try.

The teen nodded and said, “Yes. I'm okay, too. We aren't done though, are we?” He looked a little unhappy at this fact, but didn't complain further when Logan shook his head facing the camera. There was still another fight over at the airport, and they were both needed. It was fair, since the NERV employee had received help with his fight.

Wordlessly, the pair climbed off the corpse of the Angel and started running the opposite direction they came. The airport wasn't as close as either of them would have liked.

“Good job, boys!” came a familiar voice over the comms. Misato continued, “Keep in mind, we've never fought a Repulsa Gang monster at giant size, so we don't know how your mecha will hold up. You have NERV's full support, though!”

That was nice to know.

Tokyo-3 Global Airport, Pterodactyl Dinozord and Arriving Friends VS King Sphinx

“'Nah', you won't take many hits,” said Logan, mostly in Japanese aside from the word 'nah'. The pilots were nearly at the airport, and were ready to help beat the giant sphinx! Of course, Shinji was worried that a monster as smart as a human might target the weaknesses in his mecha's armor that developed during combat with the late Shamshel. Logan was sure he'd be fine, as the three units fighting together were likely to handle anything. That was assuming that King Sphinx was only bigger than Bones, but not stronger. This was a fairly large assumption, though.

After all, it wasn't just a Sphinx. No, this resembled not the iconic Egyptian statue that even the United Arms version of ancient Egypt produced, but a giant humanoid facsimile! It was muscular – no, ripped! Absolutely rippling with muscle, like a cartoon muscle man or a pumped up pro wrestler! Logan was shocked by this, but not by the fact that he was wielding a giant crook staff (typical of Egyptian kings and gods) or the fact that he was wearing a nemes (typical of... yeah, the same categories). The overall look was... kind of what the Ambassador had expected, but not really.

Logan also hadn't expected Kimb to be struggling. While Bones had been ground-bound aside from his prodigious leaps, King Sphinx had a pair of wings the same color as his bluish grey... skin? Fur? Unknown. The Ambassador couldn't tell, but he could tell that the new enemy was flying around. It wasn't as fast as Kim in her Dinosaur, but it was using its crook to block the pink blasts of lightning she was firing at it. Meanwhile, he was firing what looked like glowing question marks through the air, trying to shoot down the Pink Ranger!

Mercifully, the fight was happening above the grounded planes, and it seemed that bystanders had all gotten to shelter. The raid siren did its job well, and now Logan would do his diplomacy job. He shouted over the W-E's speaker: “King Sphinx! Land and surrender immediately!” This was all he was going to yell, as he wasn't about to have a full conversation with someone flapping around erratically. Also, his cameras caught a large burst of light to the southeast – maybe a rush of some non-Ranger lightning, as there were dark clouds on the horizon.

The giant humanoid monster was surprised at the fact that he was addressed by someone besides the Power Ranger. He was even more shocked to see the grey and purple giant robots at ground level, having called out the Pink Ranger to a battle. Just like Bones, King Sphinx was able to speak. Not with a Jamaican accent, just a low growly voice speaking English. He stopped, flapping his wings to maintain height and answering, “I'll do no such thing! Damn you, Power Rangers! You never fight one on one, it's always cowardly ganging up! Well, I'll get you Grey Ranger! And you too, Purple Ranger!” The King shook his crook and left the battlefield, flapping away to the north at quite a clip!

Logan wasn't about to let that happen! He was not at all comfortable with the notion of a giant Sphinx flying the skies of Japan, waiting to get his revenge when there were fewer robots around. Chase was given, and the Wonderchild tried to keep up. He had just started to run when Shinji came onto comms. “Logan, I don't think...”

The older guy cut him off, “I know you don't want to fight, Shin-”

Kimb cut Logan off, “No, Logan...”

Logan cut her off, “We don't need him, Kim, we're fine al-”

Misato screamed over the screen, “Logan! Stop and look at Tokyo Bay!”

The airport was directly adjacent to the bay, and Logan looked at the footage from his backside cameras before rapidly whipping around to face it. Something was rising out of the water, and it wasn't a robot. It wasn't an Angel, and it wasn't anything like what the Rangers seemed to fight. It was a gigantic, pitch black reptile. Gnarly and covered with scales, Logan realized as story after story of the beast rose out of the bay that this was the biggest creature he'd ever seen. It was larger than any of the heroic mecha, even unit 01. Intimidation the likes of which the Ambassador had never felt creeped in as he realized that this horrid beast stood upright like a human, and had giant, horrendous spines all along its back. They extended onto a long, prehensile tail that was lifted out of the water, and swung menacingly as the creature stood.

It was looking at them, and it roared.

Yeah, I'm going to stick with "shoot it."

>2. SHOOT IT

Showdown at Tokyo Bay

Logan froze for a moment, giving in to hesitation. The plan had sounded solid before, but without Shinji tanking he didn't think their odds of taking the black tower of scaly flesh down with melee attacks. It didn't really occur to the pilot that even on its back, Eva 01 was still technically defending against an attack, since he wasn't the type to be okay with his friend's mecha taking unnecessary damage. The unnamed monster looked extremely mad at the fact that its attack hadn't made contact with the W-E, and it was very obviously smart enough to recognize the fact that its purple enemy had put up the shield that stopped it from happening! Logan couldn't let that happen! He knew in his heart that a single strategy wouldn't be enough! He had to stick to the plan, at least for now. That meant firing the final Triad Cannon bursts, which Adam already had humming and strumming on standby as requested.

However, the third nemesis of the day was very close to Shinji, practically about to mount 01. Shinji, based on his mecha's posture, seemed horrified by this prospect. Instead of efficiently doing a dramatic kip-up and landing on 01's feet, the machine was just awkwardly scrambling backwards, never successfully getting off its back! This was ineffective as hell, and would make his teammates' shared task much tougher. Despite this, Logan pushed all fear and doubt out of his thoughts and screamed at his camera. “Adam, fire Triads at his head! One at a time, starting with the bottom and leaving the top Cannon for last!” was what he shouted, and he planted his mecha's feet to ensure maximum stability!

“Confirmed, sir.” confirmed the computer to his sir, and the humming reached its glorious apex. Shining colorless light soared through the skies, hooking straight into the face of terror! Predictably, the enemy was hurt by this, with the power making contact with its scaly, dinosaur-like face. It cried out so loudly that even the water behind it rippled, and was held in place for just one moment. That was all it took, as another dino-looking giant ripped out of the skies once again, hovering at face level and firing blue lightning once again!

“Suck energy, moron!” screamed Pinky, her words dripping with a level of aggression that none of her fellow pilots had seen before. Bolt after bolt of blue energy fired from each of the Pterodactyl's forward-facing cannon holes, and they did not let up! The giant monstrosity actually ducked its head, trying to cover its hands with its claws, but it continued to push ahead! It was implacable, but Kimb did not care! She kept her assault up, remaining just out of range of the amphibious terror's limbs – no swipes would be pulled on her aerial unit, and this empowered the others to continue attacking! It was unspoken among the trio, but they knew that the safety of the city hinged on them being able to stop this huge bastard. They couldn't afford to stop attacking for even a second, otherwise they'd be totally screwed! That was no understatement – based on what they'd seen from its beam, none of their mechas were safe if they were torn into. Anything that could break an AT Field was nothing to be trying to survive attacks from.

Logan kept up the assault, slamming both handles upwards in the motion needed for a jump, and he sent his machine rocketing into the air straight in front of the advancing semi-humanoid! “Fire the second Cannon at its chest!” said he, waiting for no response before directing his attention to his screen. “Ranger! Circle around and shoot it from the back of its head! He can't tank us forever!” requested the grayhead as he kept his machine facing straight at the chest its burst was currently sizzling into. It looked like it hurt the creature, but the external damage just didn't look to be piling up. How strong could a living creature's natural armor possibly be? That was what Logan had to ponder, though no answer but 'not strong enough to beat your team' would suffice.

Thanks to the projectile assistance of the other two mecha in the fight, Shinji was finally managing to get his mecha to its feet. The problem was that he looked like he was somehow dazed. He wasn't looking like he was in any position to mount an attack of his own, but the Power Ranger was! She was doing as was requested of her, but even in the midst of this heated fight she happened to have some snark. As the blue laser lightning streams made contact with the ridged, spiky back of the great lizard's head, she shot at Logan as well. The American girl asked, “Uh, Corgan, you do realize you're not my boss? I'm actually the leader of the Power Rangers, and I assumed it'd be the same sitch here. A little please action would be great, mkay?” Clearly, she was trying to lighten the frightening situation up while also asserting herself.

Logan rolled his eyes, not really in the mood for a discussion of authority, or banter that could spring from it. Instead, he spoke to someone who wouldn't give him lip: Adam. He was on the monster's left side now, and requested that the computer “Fire at his chest again! This is our last shot, make it count!” Obviously, the second sentence meant little to the interface, since the W-E's targeting system would obviously give it the old college try even without extra encouragement. As before, the monster didn't even try to dodge! It just took the arcing, glowing electricity square to its chest, standing tall and tanking the extreme voltage of the Triad Cannon! The creature that had shown up as part of the eruption was truly fearsome, being such a glutton for attacks. The Angels had relied on their AT Field for Durability, and Bones was all about dodging, but the natural armor plating of the beast of the bay was enough to literally handle shot after shot from Logan's only projectile! Even Kimberly's assault wasn't knocking his block off or anything, just proving to be an annoyance!

Logan had been afraid of this. He'd been scared that even with the Commander's machinations and his team's implementations doing their best, it would not be quite enough to take down the black mass. It was now time, he knew, to strike out with his own plan. It was a hell of a bold one, but he knew that if they didn't route this thing, airplanes were soon going to be crushed. Then would come the buildings, and then the citizens of the city. The raid siren continued to blare, singing its warning song as a backdrop for the human resistance against his very non-human threat. Holding his glossy white handles (now covered with his fingerprints, as glossy things tend to get), Logan gingerly drew his white light blade's handle from his holster. The W-E held it aloft, activating the blade shaft and pointing it toward the fiend.

The sword was drawn not a moment too soon, as the lizard had reached its target. Eva 01's hands were grasped by the black monster's claws, and the comparatively smaller unit started trying to jerk away. It looked like it was having trouble, as the godlike lizard seemed to be forcing Ikari's unit to its knees! From there, who knows what kind of mutilation it would be capable of. Surprisingly, the Evangelion was putting up a fight in the test of strength. Well, kind of. It was being manhandled, really, but the fact that the teenager was mounting any kind of muscular resistance with his giant robot was impressive to the Ambassador.

Logan quickly looked at his camera, addressing Zordon's champion. “What do you think, 'Boss'? Should we head in for some close-range combat?” He had no time for the semi-sarcastic backtalk that a more direct demand to do it would instigate, so he just decided to defer for now. Plus, if she had a better idea, he was open to it.

“Sounds good to me! I'm going in! Roll Action, begin!” said the superhero as she gave a thumbs up onscreen. Apparently, this meant launching upwards briefly to build up momentum, and give herself time to begin twirling! Yes, the giant pink and white platform mecha was corkscrewing in midair, inverting repeatedly as she bore down on her target! It was a dizzying sight to even watch, and Logan would have been tremendously impressed at how precisely she was descending if he wasn't charging with his own weapon. When the girl's robot got in range, she legitimately smashed into it while twirling! It was a full on crash, but the fact that she, mid-spin, had impacted exclusively with the heavily armored bottom of her unit had saved her! Instead, the invader from another Earth took the brunt of the impact, staggering it a bit! This bought Evangelion 01 a little bit of extra time to stay on his feet, which clearly it needed to prevent being crunched.

Logan, despite being massively outclassed sizewise, was totally in. He was adjacent to the smashed-into lizard, and was ready to cut and cut while Kim took to the sky for another roll slam. She was really good at that, proving Logan's fears that the Pterodactyl would be poor at melee to be unfounded. Her style was all her own, and it encouraged Logan to fight in his own way – boldly and taking advantage of the situation! After all, he had too many plans at this moment to just stick to the range, and even then he was already out of luck in that department. If he had time, he'd have had thoughts about possibly requisitioning an additional ranged weapon. Even one of the guns from the non-customized previous generation of Action Frames would be nice if they didn't feel like designing something brand new for him so soon.

The reality that he was in, though, was that he was ready to chop a foe that had its arms occupied by grappling! He swung back and forth, chopping with his mighty blade as if he was trying to chop a great oak! This 'oak' of black scaly flesh, though, was quite resistant, and even though pilot Hart successfully smash-rolled it a second time from the opposite side, the invader's flesh was not giving! The scales were proving resistant even to his patented sword, and that was a problem. Sadly, Logan's problems had barely begun. Yes, even though it was occupied, it was still charging a blast of bright blue glow inside of its mouth! Logan was afraid he or Shinji would be targeted, but as the Dinozord came in for a third roll, the being whipped his head towards her, letting fly with the dense and thick beam of force! The expert pilot barely had a chance to pull up, and was grazed by the giant blast! Her mecha was sent flying, and looked to have taken visible armor damage to its bottom despite it being an indirect hit!

It was a nasty and wicked looking bit of damage, but she was still flying and Logan was still trying to cut! He had to keep going, with the hope that if he kept slicing he would eventually penetrate the abomination's natural armor! He couldn't give into fear and let the size difference become insurmountable! Shinji was counting on him! So was all of Tokyo-3, and Kim! Actually, speaking of that girl, she spoke to Logan directly. “Jesus Christ! I'm out. Logan, this girl can't risk another hit like that, I have to go!” Righting her machine from its minor unplanned spin, she took to the skies once again. Logan was about ready to try convincing her not to, but she ended the onscreen communication line between their units. The dark clouds had covered the battlefield, and lightning fizzled in the near distance as rain began to fall. It had been on the bay for a while, but now it had reached the remaining units.

As his unit was rained on, Logan quietly frothed inside of his mecha. That damn superhero had just up and left! They needed her to beat this thing and she'd flown away! Off to California? It didn't matter, as the only place they needed her was right there! He barely had time to get angry, as he suddenly found his machine being smashed into by a grand, horrible appendage of flesh and black armored scales! It was the tail, which was, in retrospect, obviously available despite the NERV unit grappling with its hands. The horrifying truth was that the tail alone was easily at least as thick as Logan's mecha, and it was probably even longer than it as well. It had swung with prodigious speed, knocking the Wonderchild into the air and off its feet entirely! A minor blare briefly sounded out inside the Ambassador's cockpit, and he was warned of a very unpleasant fact by Adam as the grey and white mecha landed on its chest.

“Reckless Logan, that tail-swipe did heavy damage to W-E's legs. Verniers were already too power-consuming to use, but now the legs themselves are unlikely to enable even basic standing.” This was already being confirmed by Logan himself, as his machine was not successfully uprighting itself despite multiple attempts. This was possibly the worst damage he could have taken, from a tactical perspective. His energy stock was all out, and there he was prone with only a melee weapon that had hardly been effective even when he was vertical.

Hope was not, however, lost quite yet. Nearby to where he'd landed was the Pallet Gun! He initially wondered how it got there, but surmised that it must have been knocked from Shinji's back as he scrambled away from the amphibian and knocked in the same direction he was by the tail. This was as fortuitous as he could have hoped for, and Logan put away the sword once more and swung his handles around to make his unit roll! It swung around onto its back and then onto its stomach once more before it was close enough to grab the rifle, but he got it! Unfortunately, it had been built for a far larger robot than the new model of Action Frame, but that needed to be a non-issue! Barely able to get a good grasp on both the weight of the rifle and the trigger with his arms close to as far apart as they'd go, Logan made his robot's hand clench! The Pallet Gun's trigger was activated, and a stream of hefty bullets fired in the general direction of the opponent! He was shooting the monster with everything he could possibly think of, and this was possibly his last shot! Despite doing a semi-good job at keeping the gun on track, it didn't seem to matter. The rifle was proving ineffective against this seemingly unendingly tanky lizard, and Logan grew even more frustrated when it ran out of bullets. He didn't have the ammo for it, and the unit that might be carrying some more was having troubles of its own.

Shinji's mecha was on its knees, its arm strength having failed to stop it from being dominated. Finally the hold was broken, and the huge claws begun being swiped at the purple mecha. For now, its armor was holding, but it took visible damage with every slice. That was the kind of damage Logan had been hoping for with his sword, but failed to achieve. He realized with mounting anxiety that his team was losing, and losing badly. Was this situation too FUBAR to salvage? What could he even do?

Choice Time

>Escape!  Logan needs to drag himself from the battle, by his machine's hands if he needs to!  The W-E is too precious and so is his life!  He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day...  Shinji will have to fend for himself.

>Keep fighting!  Logan needs to drag himself towards that enemy, by his machine's hands if he needs to!  His friend is too precious and so is Tokyo-3!  He who stands by his friends will defeat all evil!  Shinji cannot fend for himself, so Logan will keep fighting on behalf of him!

Tokyo-3 Global Airport, A Desperate Situation

Logan was absolutely horrified. He needed a solution, some magical strategy that could make it better but it just wasn't coming to him. He'd been abandoned by the Pink Ranger, and his roommate was about to have his mecha torn apart by the unknown monster! He couldn't even dash over and try literally propping Eva up like he had once before, so wrecked was the condition of his mecha's poor legs. He realized that if there was any chance left of destroying this freak, any chance at all, it was going to have to come from the largest heroic mecha available. That meant that somehow, his friend was going to have to find it in himself to kill both the beast and his own hesitations. The Ambassador began forging forward slowly, his machine's legs practically useless except to aid its arms' dragging across the rain-soaked tarmac. Looking rather like tears were pouring down its three-eyed 'face' on its torso, the W-E, Adam and Logan persevered.

Desperate to help his pal, Logan also addressed his screen as neutrally as he could. If he showed Shinji how miserable he truly was, the kid would never believe that he could get the job done. Instead, Logan simply encouraged him directly. “Buddy, I need you to get up! Get Eva's legs up and draw the Progressive Knife! Do you hear me?” asked Logan, not getting an answer for a few moments.

Shinji's face came back onscreen, contorted with apparent pain and fear. He was breathing heavy and could barely even make eye contact with his camera. He just started rambling and raving, terror having clearly dominated his emotional state entirely. In Japanese, the wide-eyed teen spat out, “Logan! I... I can't use the knife you have to get me out of here this is too much I can't take it it's too much! Help me, please! He's gonna kill me! It's too much! Aghh!” The teen degenerated into groaning and yammering, his speech completely incoherent.

Logan had finally reached the enemy, and had realized that his teenage friend had gone off the deep end. There was not going to be getting through to him, so he just did what he could – he started chopping at the monster's feet. Unfortunately, this was as ineffectual as anything else, and W-E just got ignored under the savagery happening above its prone form. Streams of what seemed like blood rained down from the claw strikes, joining the rain on the Wonderchild's form. There was no time to consider that fact, as suddenly the trajectory of the battle changed profoundly.

Evangelion 01, its cord intact, had jumped up to its feet! Amazed that his friend had made a recovery, Logan felt his heart rise! That was good! So was the fact that it had taken a solid, wide legged stance! It was the first time the young man had seen Eva stand like that, and he concluded that he must have been trying to mirror the godly lizard's intimidating posture! Whatever he could do had to be more helpful than just standing there, so now all he had to do was draw the Progressive Knife like he'd been told to! The problem was that he hadn't, and that the nemesis' stance had also changed to one a bit more pensive and less forwardly aggressive. Instead of just clawing, it was starting to back up slightly, glaring down the purple machine.

“Shinji, that's good! Really good! Just get the knife out!” said Logan, smiling into his camera. He was greeted, however, with absolutely no reaction. Shinji's video communication was totally inactive, and there was no indication he had even heard what his senior had said. He tried once again, figuring that it was possible that his camera had gotten damaged. “Shinji, confirm that you got that last message and draw the Progressive Knife. It's backing off a little, you should take advantage and stab it!” said Logan, trying to sound as hopeful as he could. If he could be as encouraging as possible, maybe they could beat the amphibian after all!

However, once again Shinji failed to respond to Logan's words. Instead, Evangelion 01 spoke for the first time. It spoke of gutteral, primal aggression, and it spoke in the form of grunting that sounded more like whale songs than human speech. Logan stared up at the purple unit, realizing that the blood had come from it and not the monster! In this moment, it all crystallized for the United Arms pilot. The teeth he had seen it use to finish off Sachiel, bleeding wounds when its armor was punctured, and now a haunting voice that seemed to be intimidating even the behemoth? There was no other explanation.

Evangelion 01 was alive.



Suddenly, the Ambassador was acutely aware of the size difference between him and the other two. Even in the W-E he felt tiny as he lay at the feet of the two titans standing off against one another. Realizing that he should probably get out of the way, he rolled and scrambled, pulling himself away as fast as he could. It wasn't even problematic, since the creature in the purple armor and the one with natural black armor both ignored his pitiful avoidance measures. He was not their priority. All that mattered now was who would be the first to make a move. And the answer to that was Eva.

Turning around to watch, Logan saw the giant creature in purple armor literally tackle the bigger enemy! Despite its heft and height, the tail-sporting horror was sent flying to the ground along with its attacker! The pilot was amazed that Shinji could be so bold, and even more amazed that the umbilical cord loudly clicked and detached from 01's back! He shouted over comms to the Captain, “What's going on? The cord fell out of Shinji's back, how can I put it back in?”

The purple-haired woman's skin looked pale and clammy, and she'd started sweating. She answered slowly, “Don't. That isn't Shinji. Stay out of its way!” Logan's older roommate looked even more terrified of what was going on with Eva than she had been by the monster from the eruption. What did she know that he did not? Apparently a fair bit, since Evangelion 01 had taken the lead and looked like she was pounding and biting the monster's chest! It screamed and roared in apparent pain as the brutal creature atop it ripped and shredded with obvious wild abandon.

It was nothing like the behavior that the timid teenager directed the machine towards, its vicious style entirely new and never before seen. As Logan finally pulled himself behind an airplane hangar, and positioned the Wonderchild to view what was going on, he saw the bright blue glow once again. The invader was taking advantage of 01's unending offense to charge the beam! That thing had broken an AT Field and even a grazing was enough to visibly damage the Pterodactyl, so what the hell would a point blank mouth beam do to Eva?! Luckily, the pilot didn't get to find out, as the humanoid in purple and green rolled clear off of the monster, and out of targeting position!

The black spiny creature also rolled, reaching his feet with less style than the defensively-oriented machine currently carrying a possibly helpless Shinji Ikari. Instead of keeping his beam charged, the reptilioid fired it into the air, roaring loudly as a show of dominance. The 01 maintained its posture, standing wide despite its still-open wounds bleeding in the rain. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun striding towards them, the great black leviathan turned around and began walking away. The unit Logan had previously assumed to be a mecha did not give pursuit, and merely held its woulds, bellowing and roaring at the leaving creature. Minutes passed of this, and the creature's rage did not subside even once the black flesh tower was out of sight.

Just as Logan was about to contact NERV and ask them what to do, Eva whipped its head around, glaring at the Wonderchild. Its eyes shone in the darkness of the storm, but this was all it could do. It stopped moving, its features frozen in a dramatic, predatory posture. An uneasy quiet came upon the young pilot, and he addressed his computer. “Adam, I think we're safe.” said the diplomat, completely unsure what else to say about the situation.

“Yes, sir. For now.”

NERV HQ, Medical Wing (Late at night, some hours after the cessation of hostilities)

That had gone absolutely horribly. Sterile hallways were all Logan could see, as he slowly made the walk towards the room he'd been directed to. Even though he personally didn't have any injuries, he couldn't help but feel a tremendous sense of loss over the earlier events. The W-E was hardly the worst casualty, as the United Arms had agreed to repair it right there at Tokyo-3 Global. It would be fine fairly soon, but it was questionable as to whether his budding friendship with the Pink Ranger would be. They hadn't spoken since the battle, when she just launched off the scene. It blew his mind, since he had assumed that she would be a total team player. “Maybe she just didn't see us as the team she plays for.” thought the gray haired young man. The Power Rangers would probably always be her priority if it came down to a life or death situation, or at least they were at the moment.

The much bigger problem was with Shinji, and the entire organization that he was in the stomach of. He'd thought he had been reaching out to them appropriately, but now it seemed that they were keeping even more secrets than he had been expecting. Somehow, during the scuffle the teenager had been injured, and they had not been keen on granting the UA Ambassador access to him. It had taken quite a bit of demanding and obnoxious yelling to even be let in the front door, since they said they were “preparing” some bullshit. He needed to see the Third Child right now, but now that he was nearing the hospital room containing him, he was actually getting a little anxious. He wanted to be reassuring to the kid, but he also needed to get some serious information.

Finally, he reached the door. Glancing in through the room's tiny window, he confirmed that the younger pilot was in there. Logan took a deep breath, turned the handle and entered. Right away, the Japanese youth turned to him, looking completely miserable as well. On closer inspection, it was obvious that his shirt was off, and Shinji's slender chest was wrapped in some fairly thick looking bandages. His hands were also taped up, and the teen overall looked smaller and more vulnerable than his friend had ever seen him look. Neither man spoke initially, but it was the injured one that broke the silence.

“I feel what she feels,” shared pilot Ikari. “Everything she feels.” His voice was flat and plain, like he barely had the energy to speak.

Logan was horrified. Did that mean what he thought it did? That not only was Evangelion a living creature, but any time Shinji took damage he would have to experience it in his own body? That seemed to be the only explanation for the bandages corresponding to the locations 01 had taken damage. But that thing had bled during the battle. Not just a little bit, either – it had bled profusely when the creature had assaulted it. Never mind that his hands were surely burnt from blocking the tail end of the bright blue mouth beam. If what Shinji had said was true, this was more than just your average injury!

Taking a chair that was in the room and positioning it next to the patient, Logan gently placed his hand on the younger guy's exposed shoulder. Barely above a whisper, he admitted, “I should have been more concerned for your safety. I had no idea Evangelion was such an insane and monstrous project that it would hurt you just to fight. As soon as you're healed, we're getting you out of here. It's too much to ask of you.”

His eyes opening widely, Shinji gasped his answer. “Do you promise? That I'll never have to fight again? I don't ever want to go inside Eva even one more time.”

Choice Time!

>”Yes, I promise.”

>”I can't promise that, Shinji.  This city relies on you beating the Angels for its safety.”

>”I'll keep you safe, no matter what.”