It's done. His Overlord's story is finished, free to be rewritten however his Overlord pleased. But Woz's is just beginning and he's also free to write it however he pleases. Knowing his Overlord's disposition, Woz has decided to continue his will...by helping a certain Shinji Ikari not follow the story that has been set for him in so many timelines. "Rejoice, Shinji Ikari! For I will help you break away from your fate!" ...can this man really do that? Well, he will certainly try, even if he isn't the best for the job.
"A land of a never ending sun. An old telephone booth in a time locked age. And a boy trying to contact the risque woman on the photo he had been given of her. A rather familiar scene, for those who know of Shinji Ikari, and the story he would follow in most times," said a man in a void, holding aloft a large tome in one hand.
"Do I have your attention?" he said, turning to you, yes you, eyes knowing as he smiled. "Good." He snapped the chronicle shut. "This story? That follows this Shinji Ikari?" Then he tossed it behind him. "As my Overlord would wish, I plan to record a different one." He chuckled. "But then again, I'm sure you already guessed that, if not outright know."
{S}
"All phone lines are currently disabled due to the special state of emergency," said the recorded feminine voice on the phone.
Shinji sighed, mumbling about the poor timing as he returned the phone to the receiver. He glanced around in one last vain hope that the person who would pick him up would arrive. But as he then checked the time on his watch and made a few mental calculations, he knew he would have to go to a shelter. For whatever reason, the woman he was supposed to meet was late. But considering the...photo she had sent to him so that he would know what she looked like had her writing pointing at...an exposed of her chest, he wasn't that surprised. But more than that, he was worried if he could find a shelter in time when he didn't know the area. He looked around once again, trying to remember what direction people had went when the sirens sounded the emergency alarm. For a moment, he thought he saw a girl in the distance, and a man before hi—
"Rejoice, Shinji Ikari! For I will help you break away from your fate!"
"Gah!"
Shinji fell in astonisment...or rather, he would have. But before he could even come close to the ground, the man's scarf grew and caught him. Wrapped around his torso, he was then pulled up and back on his feet. Shinji stared as the scarf shrank back towards its owner, settling around his neck as if nothing had happened. The man, however, said,
"Easily startled, I see. My apologies."
"Er, no, it's fine. I was just surprised," he said on reflex as, well, he couldn't quite decide what to make of what just happened.
What had just happened? This man appeared in front of him, said something about "rejoicing" and helping him "break his fate", and...caught him with his scarf. Which grew gigantic. And then shrank back to a normal size. That was... How was he supposed to feel about that?
"Very well. Still, as I said, I will do my best not to make a repeat of that," the man then said before he took out a very thick looking book to make a note in it. "Can't have you hurting yourself like that by accident after all. It would be hard for you to pilot if you're injured."
He frowned, confused. "Pilot?"
"Whoops." The man shut his book with one hand (how strong was he to hold it with just one hand?), then said with an amused smile, "I got ahead of myself. Such a bad habit of mine. Don't mind that. You'll find out soon enough."
...perhaps how he should be feeling is some form of righteous annoyance, asking who this man was, what he was talking about, and why he was here, particularly the "why". This was a random stranger. He did not known him. But then the air boomed, shaking eveything around him, and he covered his ears, even if it didn't do much. He wondered what it was, while the man just...blinked and turned around. When the sound faded, Shinji followed the man's gaze and saw there were many strange shaped planes in the air, followed by...by... Shinji stared. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen. At best, its silhouette looked like a person's, but it was anything but. Bones were sticking out of it all over, from shoulder spikes, exposed ribs, and spur elbows. It didn't have a "head" in the usual sense, as its "skull" was in the middle of its triangular torso. And it seemed to have some kind of large red orb right under its "head", constrated against its dark skin. It was like something out of kaiju film. And to all that, the stranger just said,
"Hmmm. It's a bit smaller than I thought it would be. Ah, unless that is the other universe I was thinking about."
"Huh?"
Something whirred in the air and Shinji spotted the source: missiles. His heart spiked and he braced himself for immediate death. But when the moment turned into another and he felt not just cloth wrapping around him, but arms holding him steady in the wake of the missiles' shockwave, he dared to check that, yes, once again, the strange man was helping him. Which was good, as not long after those missiles, a plane crashed and exploded nearby, and he suspected he would've felt the shockwave and heat if not for the stranger's protection, though he still had to shield his eyes from the brightness. By the time the light from the explosion faded, the man stopped covering him with his scarf, and he lowered his arms to see...
"Sorry! Been waiting long?"
...the woman who was supposed to pick him up.
"No, not at all," said the strange man. "Let's be on our way."
The man guided Shinji to the car, seating both of them in the back. The woman looked rather bewildered when the stranger had replied, but that disappeared as the sound of missiles echoed again. She shifted gears and hit the gas as soon as they sat down. Shinji shouted before he held on for dear life, the woman racing and swerving as she avoided yet more explosions. Shinji wondered how likely it was to hit his head, but the strange man seemed to have thought of that, as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders and kept him mostly in place, while he steadied himself with his other hand. Up, down, left, and right... Shinji could barely keep track of where going, let alone how long it took, his heart matching the speed of the racing car. But eventually, thankfully, it did eventually end, and he could at last breath.
And the first thing the woman said, "Who are you and what are you doing with him?"
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. Who else?"
"Ah, fair point. You did come to pick him up. Hmm. I prefer to be called 'Woz'." (What kind of a name is that?) "But I'm sure that wouldn't satisfy you, so you may also call me Keisuke Watanabe," he said as if she wasn't leveling a flat look at him, instead glancing at...
Actually, he wasn't sure. It looked like he was looking at the sky outside, but... Shinji blinked. "Where did the planes go?"
"What?" their driver said, blanching as she followed his gaze. She gasped. "Get down!"
Once again, he was covered in cloth and "Woz-san's" arms, and once again, the world boomed, but this time it also jostled as they were tossed and turned from the force of the blast. Eventually, they crashed to a stop, and it didn't seem to take long until the explosion settled down and he was freed from the protection, though he still groaned. His protection did absolutely nothing about the dizziness from the tumbling.
"Hey, you okay?" the woman said.
"Y-Yeah," he replied.
"Indeed. I as well," Woz-san said, and Shinji looked to see he was already standing on the car frame, his hand outstretched. "Here. Allow me to assist you."
"Oh, um...thanks," he said...then yelped as the man lifted him and before he knew it, he was placed gently on the ground outside.
He offered the same to the woman, who accepted his help with a "thank you". As soon as both she and Woz-san were on the ground though, she said, after looking at her car, "All right, boys, help me get this up. We gotta get going."
And so the three of them together pushed her car back onto its wheels.
"Thank you," she had said, smiling now. "I couldn't have done it without you."
"It was no trouble at all," Woz-san said.
He nodded in agreement but said, "I should be thanking you, Katsuragi-san. You saved us after all."
She glanced at Woz-san again but otherwise focused on him as she said, "Then just call me 'Misato' and we're even."
...that was...a little unusual. But nowhere near as unusual as Woz-san, so it was a little easier than before to simply say, "Okay." Then he asked, "So...do we need to do anything else to fix your car?"
The answer turned out to be "yes", though considering that, as both adults explained to him, they had been tossed over by the blast of a non-nuclear mine that was just as powerful as a nuclear one, they were lucky it was just only "busted". But the "how" she would fix it...
"Um...Misato-san?"
"Hmm, yes?"
"Was it okay for you to do that?"
"That" being...taking batteries and parts from other vehicles nearby and using them for the car. Luckily for them, not only had there been plenty, but Woz-san had some knowledge on fixing cars, so with both him and Misato-san, they were able to get it up and running faster. And he was glad for that, but...they were still basically stealing from others.
Unsurpisingly, Misato-san's answer was, "Oh don't worry about it. I had to get the car moving, right? And I might not look like it, but I'm an international civil servant."
"That's not very covincing."
"Admittedly, no, it is not," Woz-san said, seemingly unbothered with the tight fit in the back, the seat filled with batteries. "...but it is an emergency. If we didn't fix it, you would've likely died."
Okay, Shinji could concede to that. "But still..." It didn't sit well with him, even knowing that.
"Oh, lighten up. For a kid with such a cute face, you sure are uptight," Misato-san said.
Shinji frowned. "...am I?" Why was she calling him that? It made him feel like he was just a little child.
She smirked. "Oh, are you mad?"
He didn't even dare deign that with an answer.
"Haha, sorry. You're still a boy after all."
That, though, he answered with, "Actually, you still seem childish for your age, Misato-san."
A look of disbelief and annoyance before—
"Eaaghh!"
—his heart threatened to explode out of his chest as Misato-san swerved hard left and right.
"I would prefer if you didn't prematurely kill Shinji-san," Woz-san managed to say over the screeching tires.
Thankfully, that did have her slow down and finally give his heart a break, but only so that she could glower at him and say, "It's not that bad."
"Yes it is, because you're being childish about it."
"Do you want to get killed instead?"
"If you're fine with proving Shinji-san's point, then by all means."
Misato-san shouted in exasperation, and honestly Shinji could see himself feeling the same if this was what the ride going to be like. He hoped that getting to his destination wouldn't be as confusing and exhausting as dealing with these two.
{S}
It wasn't. When his father had called (demanded) for him to come, he wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting (there was nothing to expect), but...
"A giant robot...?"
...it certainly wasn't this. An actual geofront, an underground world on its own, with landscapes so much like the surface he wouldn't have been able to tell it was deep in the earth if it weren't for the "skyscrapers" on the "ceiling". Within it was a large pyramid, the "main base", as Misato-san said. And in that base was an actual mecha, one that towered before him, staring at him with yellow eyes and white pupils. And that was just the head, made even taller by the large single "horn" sticking out of its samurai helmet-like head, as the rest of it deeper in the water of the holding bay. He flipped through the employee orientation book Misato-san gave him earlier, checking to see if there was anything about the robot in it, but Akagi-san, Misato-san's colleague who guided them here, was quick to tell him it was built in complete secrecy. ...that explained a lot, but soon any questions about this didn't matter.
"It's been a while," said a long unheard, but still familiar voice.
Shinji tensed and stared. Right above the robot, there he was... "Father..."
(W)
And so the biggest player makes his appearance, Woz thought as Gendo Ikari at last arrived, standing in an observation room overlooking the holding bay. So far, there hadn't been much in the way of timeline divergence. Katsuragi arrived and picked Shinji up, they got lost when they reached the base proper, and now they were here, in the holding bay that held a giant robot, an Evangelion, Woz managing to follow only thanks to Katsuragi's insistence on rushing. And above the Eva, was Shinji's father, who now declared Unit-01 to be launched, with Katsuragi protesting the decision. That was to be expected, considering he only planned to start major interference not long after this, but there were still smaller moments he felt he needed to address. Such as now, with Shinji distressed from his father's appearance. It wouldn't do to have him upset before the fight. So he put a hand on his shoulder and asked,
"Are you all right, Shinji-san?"
He startled at his hand on his shoulder, but instead of answering his question, he simply said, "Why?"
"Why what?"
"...why are you asking?"
Ah, right. Questioning his intent due to trauma from being abandoned by his father. It seems he would have to address that sooner rather than later. But before he could reply, Shinji's attention was diverted Katsuragi-san's colleague, Akagi, who said, "Shinji Ikari."
"Y-Yes?"
"You're going to pilot it."
And that led to another protest from Katsuragi, and Akagi once again reminding her of the stakes. A giant monster was just outside, ready to destroy everything. If things played out as usual, Shinji would ask Ikari why did he call for him after so long, leading to him being blackmailed through seeing the only other Eva pilot being heavily injured. So before it would reach that point, Woz said to the boy,
"I asked, Shinji, because to fight against your fate means I have to make sure you are well." (Because my Overlord wouldn't let me simply ignore how you're feeling if he was here) "So I ask again, are you okay?"
"...no, I..." He gulped. "...I have to fight that thing outside if I pilot it, right?"
"Correct," Shinji's father said before Woz could. He wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or mildly impressed on regaining control over the situation again.
"But why me?! I don't want to do that!" he said, snapping towards him with barely held tears. "Why send for me after all this time?! I thought you left me because you didn't need me!"
"Because it's impossible for anyone else, so I sent for you."
"It's impossible for me too! I've never seen or heard of this thing before. I can't possibly do it!"
"Learn how."
"That's..."
But he wasn't going to let Ikari-san have it. So before the now-tearful Shinji could continue and become all the more upset, he squeezed his hand still on the boy's shoulder and said, "You'll be fine."
Shinji stared. "What?"
Katsuragi frowned. "Hey, what are you..."
He focused on the young boy, meeting his gaze. "You'll be fine."
"But... How? There's... There's no way I can pilot this..."
"Yes, you can. It won't be just you. You see all the people here maintaining it?" he said, gesturing towards the technicians and such all across the holding bay. "Those aren't the only ones ensuring this will work. So you won't be by yourself in this, I promise you that." Because I will be making sure of that myself.
As he planned, his words got through to Shinji. At first, he was stunned and looked down, but as the seconds passed, his body relaxed, and then he said,
"Okay... Okay. I'll... I'll pilot it."
It was then the room shook, the monster outside starting its attack in line with the original timeline. And with that, the room burst into activity, as Akagi and the technicians readied to launch and Katsuragi guided Shinji to get inside the giant robot. Though not before pausing and giving him a look and a nod. If he had to guess, she was grateful to him for managing to encourage the hesitant boy without being harsh, considering how much she protested at forcing Shinji despite knowing they needed him. So he nodded back in answer. The only one who had yet to move was...Gendo Ikari, staring at him from above. Woz huffed in amusement before heading off himself. He will admit, he was quite satisfied with the outcome. While he would commend Ikari-san's play in the original timeline, where he called for the other pilot when Shinji refused, knowing he would change his mind the moment he saw her grievously injured state, it reminded him too much of "White Woz", the him from another time even now he could barely fathom. (As if you don't know how you could end up like him) His Overlord would be appalled at the man, and thus would be quite pleased with Woz's choice were he here. (But he could never be here) But he put that amusement aside, looking for the perfect spot to slip away before anyone realized he did. He had an untrained pilot to assist. Author's Notes: Welcome to "You May (Not) Rejoice!"! Where I decide to indulge in writing my idea having Woz interfere in NGE's plot despite not having pre-written or pre-planned as much as I wanted to join this year's summer first chapter/new story contest (as of writing this). Is it a stupid idea? Probably. Why didn't I wait? I don't know. I just really wanted to try this time. ...okay, maybe I'm just impatient to try making a new work alongside my main fic project, Persona 5: Refraction, and also hoping that maybe participating in the contest will get more eyes, and thus feedback, onto this idea than it would have otherwise...but mostly because I really wanted to try! I have fun with contests once i get over my nerves and I've been meaning to do this for a while anyway. But as a result, full disclosure, while I have some chapters ready, once I exhaust them, I am going back to prioritizing my main fic project while having this be on the side. Basically I'm saying after a certain chapter (which won't take long), chapters aren't gonna be on a consistent schedule compared to Refraction. Hopefully you, prospective reader, don't mind.
Also hopefully don't mind too much if I mess up with the Evangelion characters...I'm not purposefully trying to mangle there character, but I'm not as familiar with them as I'd want to be (again), but hey! If Ultra Sonic can start writing Shin Persona Evangelion with minimal familiarity with one half of the crossover and gain familiarity over the course of writing, I can too! ...at least that's what I tell myself... Ahem, but I digress. Basically, feel free to poke holes at character portrayals while I'm still getting used to NGE (otherwise known as actually watching the show instead of reading fanfics of it). I'm likely gonna need it.
And I wanna say thanks to my good friend, @mehmeh1, for listening and giving his thoughts on the fic, and @Ultra Sonic 007 and the folks over at the Advice & Trust thread for answering my NGE questions as well. They've been (and will likely still continue to be) a great help in the process of making this fic so far. Oh and uh... tagging @blindinkpoet. Because reasons.
And now... It's time for me to get incredibly rambly. So I'mma just put that in spoilers 'cause the above was what I felt was the important bit while the rest is practically trivia/behind the scenes for this chapter.
One, I wrote this with the assumption that the reader would be familiar with Evangelion but not Kamen Rider Zi-O, the series that our interloper, Woz, comes from. Hence why I had the beginning of the chapter play out as it did. Both you and Shinji have to deal with the amazingness weirdness that is dealing with Woz.
Two, Because of the premise of this crossover, I'm not too hopeful of adding that many elements from Zi-O into NGE, but...I got an idea or two at least.
Three, I'm a little worried I made it seem too easy for Woz to convince Shinji to get in the robot, considering how (reasonably) reluctant he was to get in, and yet at the same considering he still came to Tokyo-3 in the first place on the hope of Gendo wanting him, I can also see him listening, specifically the part "you won't be alone". So yeah.
Four, I will admit, it's been long enough that I'm not entirely if my memory of how I came up with my idea is true, but it's the perfect excuse to use a certain "this is all x's fault" tag what I got, so here: this story started when I read Ultra's post about ideas for positive influences on the Eva cast, and one of my first thoughts was Woz. Because he's my favorite character in Kamen Rider (so far; I am admittedly a neophyte when it comes to KR...I've only seen some series so far, Zi-O included). And I thought it'd be funny and a perfect excuse to write him. And thus, this was born! Though, uh, again, the actual writing for most of this didn't happen until the contest popped up and invigorated me to do it.
Five, yes, as far as I can tell, Woz seems rather aware of the fourth wall. Hence why the whole "you" thing in the beginning (which is in itself a reference to the intros before the OP in most episodes of Zi-O involving Woz reading out a recap of last ep and a teaser of the current ep). I will mainly relegate that as him simply being aware of other universes and thus knowing any universe has the possibility as existing as a show in another, including himself, unless I think of a joke involving breaking the fourth wall.
Six, chapter title is a simple "change" from NGE's Ep 1 of "Angel Attack". Instead it's a "stranger", not only 'cause it's someone new, but 'cause he's strange. Meanwhile the fic's titled "You May (Not) Rejoice!" in reference to the naming scheme of the Rebuild of Evangelion movies 1-3 and that one of Woz's "catchphrases" is shouting "Iwae!" (which was translated as "Rejoice!"), usually followed by a monologue introducing the newest form of the protagonist, his Overlord, Sougo Tokiwa.
The answer turned out to be "yes", though considering that, as both adults explained to him, they had been tossed over by the blast of a nuclear mine, they were lucky it was just only "busted". But the "how" she would fix it...
Not a nuclear mine, but an N² mine; N² is short for "Non-Nuclear", and is essentially a weapon intended to have the same explosive power as a low-yield nuclear weapon (complete with EMP pulse), but without the radioactive fallout and the associated side effects.
So far, there hadn't been much in the way of timeline divergence. Katsuragi arrived and picked Shinji up, they got lost when they reached the base proper, and now they were here, in the holding bay that held a giant robot, an Evangelion, Woz managing to follow only thanks to Katsuragi's insistance on rushing.
I admit to doing a double take when I saw that tag. XD
/an interesting start, thus far
//and meanwhile, Gendo be looking at Woz like
///SEELE is starting to get sloppy with their spies; this one is way too obvious.
did not expect a kamen rider cross, let alone one of my fav riders I've watched so far (it was a fun ride as it released!)..
crossed with NGE??
Will have to try and read this over the weekend
Not a nuclear mine, but an N² mine; N² is short for "Non-Nuclear", and is essentially a weapon intended to have the same explosive power as a low-yield nuclear weapon (complete with EMP pulse), but without the radioactive fallout and the associated side effects.
did not expect a kamen rider cross, let alone one of my fav riders I've watched so far (it was a fun ride as it released!)..
crossed with NGE??
Will have to try and read this over the weekend
Okay, but seriously, happy to have you! I hope you like it, 'cause as I said in the author's notes, I love Woz too. He's my fav and wanted an excuse a reason to write him, and this was the answer.
Unfortunately, no... This is just the anime timeline. It'd be fun to handle Mari considering that I hear plenty of people don't like her, to put it mildly, but I decided on the anime mostly 'cause I'm more familiar with the show than the movies. ...unless... Hmmmmm... -jots down ideas- Actually, we'll see. It depends on what I think of while outlining, but for now it's a "no", and at best a "maybe".
Unfortunately, no... This is just the anime timeline. It'd be fun to handle Mari considering that I hear plenty of people don't like her, to put it mildly, but I decided on the anime mostly 'cause I'm more familiar with the show than the movies. ...unless... Hmmmmm... -jots down ideas- Actually, we'll see. It depends on what I think of while outlining, but for now it's a "no", and at best a "maybe".
"In which Shinji fights his first Angel a little bit differently, and a little less lonely, this time."
{S}
"Yes, you can. You won't be by yourself in this, I promise you that."
Shinji couldn't help but repeat those words in his head as he got used to the (rather stinky) water filling the cockpit, readying the robot for launch. He had thought that Woz-san had been sent by his father, or at least part of his work. He had been protecting him because he knew Shinji needed to pilot the robot, the Evangelion. Just like... Just like how father only wanted him here for the robot, instead of... (Did you really expect otherwise?) But now... He wasn't so sure. Shinji still didn't understand why he wanted to help him, why he wanted him to pilot the Evangelion, and least of all, why he wanted to make sure he was...okay. But he did. And that he wouldn't be alone, he promised, so—there was knock against his chair. Shinji frowned and turned his head, only to shout.
Or at least he would have, if Woz-san hadn't covered his mouth as he said in a whisper, "Apologies, but there wasn't many other options for appearing without startling you."
Of course he was startled! How was Woz-san here? Thankfully, it seemed he was aware of that fact this time.
"Don't shout, keep your voice low, and I will answer your questions while they're preparing to launch," he said.
Shinji nodded. The man let go, and so he could say, doing his best to keep quiet, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to assist you in your fight," he said as if it was the most natural and obvious thing in the world.
"Assist?"
"Yes. Because you have absolutely no training and we do not have the time to train you."
"You know how to pilot the robot?" Then why...?
"No, but I know how to fight, so I will guide you as best as I am able during the fight."
So that was what he meant when he promised before... Despite all the noise, his heart racing from dread, and the uncertainty of if he could truly be up to the task, Shinji felt himself relax a little at the answer. He meant it.
"Okay," he said, then asked, "S-So...what do I do?"
"For now..." He tried not to jump as the man put his hands over his. "...simply think of me as...what was it? Ah yes. Training wheels. You will lead, I will follow-up. We don't have time for much else."
"Okay."
Then, someone shouted, "Launch!" and he braced himself as he felt, for the third time today, the crushing weight of a speeding vehicle. Just like then though, it didn't last for long, and soon Shinji found himself staring at a city in miniature. Except it wasn't a miniature, he was legitimately taller than any of these skyscrapers.
"Woah..." He couldn't help but stare.
At least until he heard Misato-san say, "Are you ready, Shinji-kun?"
"Uh, yes ma'am!" he said, gripping the handles harder as he tried to ignore his trembling.
"Focus, Shinji. Unsteady hands lead to mistakes," Woz-san whispered. He hummed in thought. "I believe it's the same playing cello."
"Cello?" How did he—
"Shinji."
"Ah, right. Sorry."
Before more could be said, Misato-san's shouted the final command, and he felt as if he had just been floating and let go. He tried to right himself, like when he was stumbling, when he heard Misato-san's colleague, the woman with blonde hair, tell him, "I just want you to concentrate on walking for now."
"Okay." Take a step... But first, he had to settle his hands. Like playing cello, eh? That... Yes, that he could do. So he took a deep breath, stretched his fingers, and then held the handles in a loose yet firm grip. Then, he moved. Since they were handles like a bicycle, and that there were two legs, he pulled then pushed on one. As Woz-san promised, he simply moved along as if a mere shadow. With that movement, he felt the familiar sensation of his foot hitting the ground, despite not having moved his foot, as well as relief. He sighed, but then took another breath as he took another step. Then another. And another. One, two, one, two, one, two, until it felt like a rhythm. At that point, Misato-san's voice came through again.
"Okay, Shinji-kun, you're doing a good job. Now I need you reach up to your left shoulder and grab the knife."
Knife? He glanced to the side just as he saw the knife in question pop out of his shoulder. Like a cello. Like a cello. Like a cello. And so, like shifting on the fingerboard, he leaned his right hand forward and left, while shifting his fingers slightly, inching it higher on the handle. As he hoped, the robot's hand reached out and took the knife before he moved it back to his side. And just as before, Woz-san shadowed his movements. Once that was done, Misato-san gave a few more orders for him. Swinging his knife, changing his posture, jumping in place... With each successful command, Shinji couldn't help but be surprised. He was actually doing it. He was moving the robot. He—
BOOM
"Gah!"
"Are you okay?" Woz-san asked.
"Ugh...yeah... What was...?"
"Shinji-kun! Get ready! It'll be here in one minute!"
He gasped. It's here. He looked up, and sure enough, there it was. The same, vaguely humanoid monster from before. But now...now it was looking right at him. He gulped as his heart raced. They might be the same size now (and wasn't that a wild thought), but seeing the monster that had, mere hours ago, survived something as powerful as a nuclear bomb... How was he supposed to fight it? Sure, they said this robot was supposed to fight it, but how was a robot like this better? How—
"Shinji, you need to focus. Remember, you need steady hands."
That's right. He forgot about the shadowing man. "But how am I supposed to fight it?" he asked, barely remembering to whisper.
"Destroy the core. You see that red spot there?" He nodded. "Do whatever you think you can to get to it and destroy it with the knife. I'll be assisting you the entire time."
Whatever he thought he could do? He looked at Woz-san. The man noticed his gaze and met it, but said nothing else. He also didn't look the least bit worried. He wasn't sure how he wasn't, but he wasn't. Just like all the other questions he had about the man. But he had promised to help him, and he was doing so now. And if he was here...
"O-Okay," he said, crouching the robot.
...then maybe he did have a chance after all.
(W)
Woz would admit, he had underestimated just how much the soul of Unit-01, Shinji's mother, would reject him when he slipped in. But it wasn't the first time he was within a body that held two other souls and one of them disliked him ("I don't listen to you!"). If anything, her dislike was still much milder, so she was easier to handle. All he had to do was tell her he was simply here to help Shinji and that he wasn't actually going to pilot her, merely assisting her son. And so with her placated, and controlling his clothes to be as thin as he could manipulate them to be, his presence should be as minimized as he could make it and lead the technicians to simply think the interference from his presence were irregularities from Shinji synchronizing with the Evangelion for the first time. Thus he was able to ensure Shinji was of the right mindset to fight without being noticed by the staff, and thus not add to his downward spiral in the original timeline, as well as support each of Shinji's movements as he went through each of Katsuragi's orders. Though he would admit, he was lucky the cello comparison helped. Typical human reassurances wouldn't have worked during this point, from what he noted from the original timeline, so he had to improvise on how to calm Shinji. Remembering the boy regularly took to music in the original timeline, he realized he could use Shinji's experience to calm him down and focus, Woz recalling his own experience in (attempting) playing an instrument. And it worked. And now, the Angel had arrived, and it was time to see if it, and the extra time used to get comfortable with moving, paid off. Shinji charged in right away, his knife in both hands. The Angel swatted him away the moment he was close, only to grab Unit-01's torso. Whatever confidence Shinji had left him as he screamed and punched the hand grabbing him repeatedly. For a moment, Woz thought he would have to more directly interfere, but then Shinji stopped trashing and stabbed the arm with his knife. But then when the Angel let go, Shinji briefly paused in relief, and so he gripped the boy's hands and swung the handles, managing to dodge the Angel's followup just in time.
"Shinji. The core."
"Agh, but—"
"Shinji-kun! Stay calm! It only feels like it grabbed you! You're fine!" Katsuragi said.
This time, Woz let the Angel pin them down as it focused its energy into the spikes in its elbows. Shinji screamed as it stabbed them through Unit-01's shoulders, keeping it in place. But just as Woz was going to use this chance to stab the core, Shinji kicked at the Angel and pushed it off, bringing the energy spikes with it. The boy was still groaning in pain, but got himself up and charged once again, knife aiming for the red center of its chest. And with the enemy staggered, it should've hit. But instead, it was blocked by an orange pane in the middle of the air. Woz frowned. And there's the A.T. Field, he thought, watching the pane of orange energy shimmered and the support crew shouted their dismay. He had hoped to damage the core before it decided to use that, but now he would have to figure out how to have Shinji use his ow—
"Woz!"
He was startled, but listened. With all his might, he and Shinji pushed against the handle; pushed against the barrier that blocked their way. The knife creaked and cracked until it broke, but still Shinji was undeterred. He screamed as they then pushed against the barrier with its bare hands...and it groaned and broke. The Angel staggered as the pane shattered. Shinji shouted and tackled it. As it fell, they slammed their fists against the core. Again and again and again. Until Shinji stopped, panting at the body below them.
"Did... Did we do it?"
CHYOOM
The world spun and spun and spun before the robot crashed. Woz groaned from banging his head against the seat. He only had enough time to wrap Shinji in his scarf from the worst of it. But as he called it back, as he expected, it did nothing to prevent Shinji from being knocked out from the force of the blow.
"Zero biometrics! Pilot connection has been lost!" said one of the bridge operators through the comms.
I had hoped it wouldn't come to this... With Shinji simply knocked out, Unit-01 might not have enough power to berserk the robot. At least, not before he got more injured, which he couldn't ensure now that the timeline has had a significant divergence. There was a higher chance of Shinji dying by accident from here on out. And he wasn't going to risk the soul's ire by injuring Shinji himself. Not only would it mean he might get rejected even worse later, on the low chance his hand was forced and he had to come inside again, she might focus on him rather than the Angel outside. So he was going to have to use his transformation belt. He sighed. Oh well. For now, he'll use his Quiz form. Hopefully, that will stall time for either Shinji to wake up or Unit-01 to consider him in danger and berserk, all while, preferably, not tipping off Ikari and the other players behind the scenes. Before he did so, he made sure Shinji was secure enough to not be uncomfortable, but still seem like he had been jostled from the tumble. Then, just as he reached for his Beyondriver in his coat, the world turned red...and moved. Woz blinked as he felt the very familiar feelings of rage and protectiveness surround him. The cockpit shook as Unit-01 no doubt ripped apart the Angel outside. Even here, he could hear the crackle of bone and marrow, the booms of titans stomping, and the roars of a demon unleashed. So Shinji's state was enough for you to rampage... He opened his chronicle and made note of that for later. For now, he was not needed anymore, so when he was certain Shinji's mother's attention was solely on her opponent, he slipped out of the Evangelion and then returned to the point he left the base, a moment into the future.
(W)
"Keisuke Watanabe, Commander Ikari has ordered your confinement while he verifies your identity. You will come with us."
(Oh. He forgot. He wasn't home anymore) Author's Notes: ...is this me indulging in Woz being with Shinji for at least the first fight? ...yeah, 'cause admittedly, even if someone poked holes at this part and the excuses I gave, (unless you're very convincing) I'd be stubborn to change it 'cause I want it to be that way. Suggestions for consequences would be nice though to, uh, make up for that (I guess?), because I want this to bite Woz in the butt (besides what happens in the end), but I'm not sure how yet...
Anyways... I realized after writing chapter 1, since Woz managed to convince Shinji to get in the robot, I figured that would mean he gave him some extra time because now the time spent arguing and calling Rei and such is spent with deploying. Since, afaik, there isn't an official time on how long it took between the first explosion they felt in the OG timeline to when Unit 01 meets Sachiel, I figured I'd just outright use the timestamps in the episode, which ended up being 4-5 mins. And thus Shinji has a some time to practice. Not a lot, but some.
Also yes, Woz still has his henshin driver and alternate forms. I feel like you can easily say he still has his drivers at the end of Zi-O as well as not, but in either case, I'm mostly having him keep them to make things more interesting. And fun. And also for a specific plot reason later down the line.
Chapter title is, other than the straightforward "first match" as in "first battle", a reference to "Best Match!" being one of the belt phrases from Kamen Rider Build. Because why not have it be a reference?
Thanks! I hope you continue thinking it's nice cause, uh...I have no plans for having Ohma-Zio pop up...
Anyways! New chapter! and also if anyone wants to, give some summer reactions to the chapter 1 posted in the contest too because apparently it's encouraging participants to basically ask people to vote for them but like i don't really know how to ask without like...idk. guess seeming too shameless since i don't exactly think i'm winning the contest or anything but i'm not gonna half-ass it so here's me sayig this aaand imma stop now befo— Chapter 3: An Unfamiliar Place
"In which Woz settles into Tokyo-3 and Shinji goes through the motions."
(W)
Woz wasn't sure whether to be annoyed at himself for not even thinking this would've happened, or at how much more work this meant for him. NERV was not like his Overlord's uncle (not like home), overly generous and kind, and its current commander all the more so. He should've known that the moment the danger had passed, he would be detained while they decide what to do with him, and more specifically to the commander: how much Woz interfered with his plans. That meant that Woz couldn't just plant some identification papers in the past and call it a day. He couldn't even forge them, plant them in the past, and call it a day, not unless he wanted to risk the chance of them finding out and having more excuses to keep him away from Shinji. No, he would have to do as he did when he infiltrated the rebels while under his original Overlord: travel through time and stay long enough in the past to hide the fact that he wasn't from their time. That would mean at least a few years or more, which was inconvenient. He had hoped to deal with Shinji's fate immediately, but he had little choice if he didn't want to be inconvenienced, or worse have his plans ruined, later down the line. Oh well... he thought as he readied to slip through time again. At least it's simply an inconvenience. Thanks to the way his time travel functioned, whatever cameras this cell would have simply see his jump as if he glitched out in the footage for a moment, so long as he returned the second after he left. While a few years would be necessary, from Shinji's perspective no time would've passed at all. And Second Impact was the perfect "starting point" for him, the chaos after a practical apocalypse not unlike the original future of his Overlord, for the kind of profile he wished to create.
{F}
There were a lot of things that had Kozo feeling his age. Names he knew being met with unfamiliarity instead of recognition by the people that surrounded him, work that been menial before now as draining as pulling an all-nighter...and seeing old faces much more grown. Despite knowing he had aged, it was still a sight to see Shinji Ikari, not as a small boy just shy of four but instead the young adolescent almost fifteen. It reminded him how much time had passed, how quickly it had flown by...and how long Yui-kun had been gone. Her son looked so much like her. It made the weight of everything he was doing apparent once again, made all the worse with his aging bones. But that had been expected though. He knew that seeing Shinji-kun would amplify the burdens he has carried thus far. This, however...
"Keisuke Watanabe?"
Ikari-kun looked up from the files he was reading. "You know of him?" he said, tone plain, but Kozo knew he was questioning why he hadn't mentioned him before.
"I hadn't realized it was the one I knew," he said just as simply, ignoring the man's look. "Any particular reason you are looking into him?"
"He had been escorted into base unauthorized by Katsuragi."
"He's here?" he said, astonished.
"Yes. In one of the detainment cells while a background check is performed. This is what has been gained so far."
He looked at the files to see that, yes, it was indeed, Watanabe-kun. And the file matched what little he had known of him last they met. He was one of the survivors of Miyagi Prefecture, having lost his family from the floods and such cause by the raised ocean levels from Second Impact. He wandered from place to place, staying for varying times, some as short as a week to as long as a few months. And while he was there, he would offer clothes that he had made himself, for nothing more than some food to eat, whatever the place could share, and books to read, whatever that had been salvaged during the chaos. He wouldn't have remembered the man were it not for his strange demeanor. Not quite offensive, if anything he was always exceedingly polite, but Kozo always noted some of the oblivious things he would say, as if he had been a wealthy and sheltered man ("Where am I geting the money for all this? Why woud I worry about the money for this?") instead of a survivor of those horrific and chaotic days ("Trading for food and books are sufficient enough. After all, a vast majority do not have it."). From skimming the file, it seemed that his wanderings hadn't changed for years after, only that he would stay for longer durations as the years went by, with his newest destination being...
"Ah, so that was how he met Shinji-kun," he couldn't help but say aloud.
"Indeed," was all Ikari-kun said, but Kozo had a good guess by this point what he was thinking.
"You believe he is a spy." Despite the low chances.
"Why else would he follow the Third Child here when he had no prior interaction with him?"
Do you even know what your son has done in the past decade? he wanted to say, bitterness tempting him to spit them out. But he did not know either, so he held his tongue. Instead, he said, "It seems a rather poor attempt if that is the case."
"So are some of our own 'agents'."
Like Kaji-kun. In other words, if he was a spy, he believed that he could become a piece of the plan, since Watanabe-kun could have a motive they could take advantage of. If that was the case... "Will you let him go and keep him under surveillance?"
"Yes. He won't be an issue."
"Very well." Though he would admit, if Watanabe-kun's demeanor was a façade to have others underestimate him, it was working on him. He could hardly imagine the young man to be a spy. Unlike Kaji-kun, who was searching for the truth as he himself had done, the impression Kozo always got of Watanabe-kun, in the short time he stayed in Toyohashi, was that he seemed to go about his days idly, as if he was simply passing the time.
(W)
As Woz expected, not long after he slipped back into when and where he was supposed to be trapped, light filled the room as the door opened and someone let him out, telling him he was free to go but to not breath a word of what he saw, and to never return, or there would be "consequences". And so, he was escorted out of the geofront and back onto the streets of Tokyo-3. As much as he wished he could simply be by Shinji's side now, as he suspected the boy might consider his missing presence another abandonment, he didn't want to risk Ikari from being more interested than he already was from underestimating him, especially not after taking the risk of going inside the robot alongside Shinji. So this was good enough. It meant spending those few years building up a profile that would have them find his actions in following Shinji believable was working as intended. He had made sure he gave himself a background that would have him give him motivation in following Shinji without being tied to the various conspiracies going on, as well as letting him behave with as little acting as possible. As neccessary as he knew acting was, it was always bothersome when he had to. Hence why he became a wanderer who traded for essentials and learned what he could that would gradually stay longer and longer in the places he settled on, and set Tokyo-3 as his newest destination. And so, though it was likely Gendo's attention has been piqued, he had no foolproof evidence that "Keisuke Watanabe" was someone who could impede his plans, as he had simply met Shinji by "chance". But now with this change of plans, that meant he couldn't stay in the same building Shinji lived in with Katsuragi. He contemplated on simply continuing to skip forward for meetings with Shinji, but not only was having a residence helpful in maintaining morale (he missed home), if he also wanted to do his utmost for Shinji, he needed a kitchen. He remembered how he seemed to enjoy making meals. Ergo, he enjoyed good food. And even if the profile he created didn't make buying high quality dishes entirely suspicious, he wouldn't trust others to make exactly what would match Shinji's pallete. He would have to make it himself. And thus, the need of a residence. Thankfully, he had an idea of who to go for that would be beneficial in a few ways. And so, after making a few jumps back and forth in time to easily acquire the address from Shinji's school, he did one final jump at the location.
"Ah, good, I landed in the correct room."
"Wha—?! Who are you?!" said Kensuke Aida, the bespectacled would-be friend of Shinji Ikari, staring at him in shock.
So before the boy could continue to panic, he said, "My name is 'Woz', but as far as this world is concerned, I am Keisuke Watanabe."
He stopped and stared. "Huh?" he said, dumbfounded.
Seems he would have to be a little more straightforward. "There will be a new student in your class on Monday. He is a pilot for the robot—"
"Pilot?!"
"—that fought the monster yesterday. I'm here to help him, and for that, I require a residence, and I believe yours is the best fit for my goal."
"Wait, that's why you're here?!"
"Yes, and I would like it if you would keep your voice down."
The boy looked gasped and covered his mouth, looking affronted over his own outburst. But thankfully, this time, he composed himself soon enough, and began asking. "Who's the pilot? Are you training him? What's he like? Are you the pilot picker? Does that mean I can be a pilot too?!" he said, excitedly but (mostly) quietly.
Instead of answering, he said, "Do we have a deal? I can stay in your residence and in return you can be a part of my plans?"
The boy gasped again and said, "Yes yes yes! Definitely yes!" But then something occured to him, and he asked, expression furrowed, "But wait, if you're gonna train the pilot, how come you're asking to stay here? Wouldn't NERV give you your own residence?"
As tempting as it was to deny everything on the small chance of Aida getting kidnapped and the intellgnece extracted, if he was to ensure his cooperation at this point, there were a few details he could let slip and give the boy. Specifically, this: "There was only so much I could do to blend in as a human." Not without drastically altering the timeline to the point of being unrecognizable and thus render the timeline he recorded in a chronicle for reference as moot.
"Blended in as a...? Wait." Kensuke gasped. "Are you an alien?!"
Technically, he wasn't, since he was made from human hands on an Earth. But in a sense, he was, since he was not from this Earth and was not human. So he said, "Yes."
As he expected, the boy shouted in excitement, but realized how he had just repeated his mistake, again, and quieted down after a moment to simply say, "I can't believe it! An actual alien! Needing my help!" He saluted. "All right, Watanabe-san! What do you need me to do?"
Good. Now he had his cooperation. "Just simply allow me to stay here, and use the residence, particularly the kitchen, when I need it. I will return for further instructions once I deal Shinji," he said, walking out of the room and he slipped back into the past.
Though not before he heard, "Wait, who's Shinji?!"
{S}
"The bath is life's washing machine!" Misato-san had said before he went in to use the bathroom, and yet...his mind couldn't help but wander onto the bad things, even when he didn't want to. How the much the pain from the fight hurt, his shoulders still having the phantom sensations of being stabbed; how his emotions boiled and mixed like soup when he and Misato-san encountered his father on the way out, still unsure what he wanted to say to him; and...how disappointed he felt waking up alone in that hospital bed, despite knowing that no would be there. Of course there wouldn't be. And yet...he knew a part of him thought Woz-san would be there when he woke up, the part of him that believed in his words and went into the robot despite being terrified (the part of him that still hoped that maybe his father could still want him someday), instead of being told by Misato-san he had practically been kicked out of the base. He had been there in the robot, the Evangelion, even though he wasn't supposed to be. Why hadn't he been there when he woke? But he wouldn't get an answer, and he wasn't sure he ever will. It was with these thoughts that he did his best to hurry up his bath, even as they weighed down his movements. Before he knew it, he was in his room, readying to go to bed. But just as he pulled out his SDAT and earplugs from his bag, a note fell out. Shinji blinked. I don't remember this, he thought as he picked it up. His breath hitched.
Apologies for being unable to be there when you wake up. But I will see you soon.
- Woz
Shinji stared. This... This was from Woz-san. How...? (Why?) When did he put it there? Did he miss him while they were shopping outside? If he was there, why... Why hadn't he said anything? Instead, he...left this note, saying sorry about not being there, and that he would see him again. A part of him wanted to be mad at him for leaving just a note (just like Father...), and yet also...he couldn't. He wasn't even sure why (he knew why, it's better than Father just demanding "come here"), but he just knew it didn't feel fair to be completely mad at him. And...he had said something about "fate". Maybe... Maybe he knew why he was here (he already knew), because he...he wasn't even sure why he bothered to come all this to a far-off city, in a brand new room, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Author's Notes: And with that, I have exhausted all my pre-written chapters. I told you it wouldn't take long. XP From here on out, I'm gonna be doing progress updates like with Refraction. Not sure on the posting frequency yet...but I will. Now with that out of the way...
Why doesn't Woz just buy a residence or house? Well, besides the Doylist reason that is me not wanting to think about his "cover" more than I have to when I'm dealing with several scheming characters (Woz included) that are giving me a headache, the Watsonian reason (which hopefully you guys notice I'm hinting at but I don't know if I made it clear...) is he simply misses the warm atmosphere his Overlord's house had. So he is subconsciously seeking something close to it.
No, it is not canon that Woz can modify his age/appearance, or that he is not human. However, since his backstory on how exactly he met the original Ohma Zi-O (both TV timeline and iirc Quartzer movie timeline) is kept in the dark, the way he talks about his emotions—or rather "lack of it"—in the prologue of the Woz novel (while someone has summarized it, only its prologue is translated, so I'm not gonna really use it for material for this fic...), and that he "bleeds" paper, I headcanon Woz is a "living chronicle" that was created by Ohma Zi-O. And so I thought it wouldn't be too much for him to be able to modify his appearance, especially since we don't know exactly how long he stayed with the rebels from the original Zi-O timeline, since surely they would've questioned why he wasn't aging if he did stay for a long while. (Nope. It's totally not because of how convenient the age changing would be for me 'cause I don't want to complicate the plot more than I already am with Woz interferring and Gendo and several others having mastermind plans. Noooooo... Not at all. )
Yes, Woz's cover name (which I forgot to mention in chapter 1 and really should've...but I'll just mention it in here instead), Keisuke Watanabe, is the name of Woz's irl actor. Yes, Woz knows. And he used it to his advantage. Afaik, he's from Sendai, Miyagi, which is on the coast, and hadn't moved out until after college, so if the "real life" Keisuke did exist in the NGE timeline, he would likely be dead due to Second Impact floods. So Woz essentially stole his identity and no one can question him on it. Again, fourth wall breaker by virtue of simply knowing alternate universes/timelines and infinite possibilities.
Chapter title is a reference to episode 2, "An Unfamiliar Ceiling", except now applied to both Woz and Shinji by changing it to "Place".
Little did Woz know that he would need for more than just the kitchen.
Woz: Well now I do.
Oy! No using your fourth wall awareness! Spoilers!
Woz: Whoops. Such a bad habit of mine.
Anyways, I digress. Here it is! The first progress update! Starting off with explaining the little, uh...stats, I guess. So, since this isn't like Persona 5 Royal which is divided neatly into arcs and really, really long. My "progress bars" are gonna be different, but basically covering the same things as my Refraction updates. The chapters I've planned, the chapters I've done, the chapters I've edited, and how much of canon I've covering so far. As you can see, it's not too much right now. But I'd say it's pretty decent progress considering how this is my side project. Current plan is to try and outline chapters until up to episode 15 while continuing to watch the rest of the series (and EoE depending on my watch progress speed) before I go back to writing chapters again. So it's gonna be a while until iu guys get a chapter update. As for updates on the chapters...since I don't want to put that many update posts in this thread and this is my side fic, for now I'll do...bi-weekly updates. I'll switch to monthly updates if my writing progress on this fic slows down.
...can i just say though it feels weird outlining this fic because of how short nge is compared to persona 5 royal. it's like expecting a long drawn out fight only to painlessly beat it and go "wait that's it?"
Chapters Outlined: 11 of ?? Chapters Written: 3 of ?? Chapters Edited: 3 of ?? Material Covered Thus Far: Anime Episodes 1-9
i hate my brain
Here I thought that, hey, since it's just outlining, it wouldn't be so hard to do some on the side the past two weeks.
Nope. Nope. I got super distracted, not in the mood to write either this or my P5 fic, until today, just so that I could at least say I've made some progress despite things. So I'll pat myself on the back for that even if most of me is just "done" with my brain right now...
And no, I've yet to actually see anything episode 15...i really should to ease the outlining the process...
Chapters Outlined: 16 of ?? Chapters Written: 3 of ?? Chapters Edited: 3 of ?? Material Covered Thus Far: Anime Episodes 1-12
I am now tempted to just switch to monthly updates already because of course I just happened to get sick last week so I was barely up to do any writing the whole week. And you'd think I'd take the time to actually watch the show, but noooo...of course not. I'd have to make notes while watching and I certainly wasn't up for that! ugh
But I won't. Not yet. It was just bad timing. I'll keep to the bi-weekly update schedule for a little more. Will I actually have progress to report next time? -stares at the mess that is my brain- ...I doubt it, but I'll try.
Chapters Outlined: 16 of ?? Chapters Written: 3 of ?? Chapters Edited: 3 of ?? Material Covered Thus Far: Anime Episodes 1-12
Holy forking son of a lady. I swear...
So. As you can see, I am late. Again. This time, nothing really bad debilitated me. Unless you count me obssessing over Honkai Star Rail, a gacha game, as bad, but considering I'm loving the gameplay, story and characters, I see it as being a good.
Well minus the fact that the obsession meant I could barely get my head in the mood to writing for my main fic, let alone for this side fic. At best in terms of progress for this fic, I simply watched another episode to put in a timeline for the outline of the fic. Once again, I am tempted to make the updates monthly but...I'll give it one more go. One of my many reasons for doing these updates is to make sure I do commit to writing my fic. If I have to constantly write "no progress sorry" in my updates, it will, eventually, make my mind want to work on this. I know. It works for my main fic, which is why this fic's progress is sufferring because I run out of the little writing fuel I have when I'm not in the mood, using it all for the main fic. ...inb4 it backfires on me somehow. Because the universe do be that kind of funny. Either way, the next chapter progress update is planned to be released as scheduled.
Chapters Outlined: 16 of ?? Chapters Written: 3 of ?? Chapters Edited: 3 of ?? Material Covered Thus Far: Anime Episodes 1-12
Ugh. At this point I am seriously consider putting this even lower on my priorities (as if I hadn't been already...), cause motivation for my main fic is low, things have been hectic in life the past few days (the details of which i dont feel like repeating from my main fic but just know i am tired from it all), and I am still very distracted by Honkai Star Rail, on top of all the stuff happening because of the things that led to the hectic stuff still being present, for good and ill. The biggest reason I don't wanna officially declare it is because...well, one, it's my fic with Woz. I don't wanna just not write it... Two, I don't wanna leave this hanging like the many, many, many WIP fics out there with little progress at all. But three...I guess it feels like admitting defeat, when this was exactly why I withheld posting/writing it for so long. I wanted more prepared so I didn't feel bothered by life and other interrsts slowing the progress down. And yet here we are. At most I had the urge to write a little of chapter 4 but then stalled cuz thr POV wasn't flowing well, and watched Episode 16. It's some progress, but it's miniscule, especially when my main fic is also sufferring little progress. Ugh. Idk. I think I'm still out of it from everything.
For now, I think I'll switch to montly updates. Or rather "every three weeks".
As for what I'm gonna do about my writing progress...atm either let my obsession runs its course, or try to write something else to get back into the fun of writing so then I can transition back into writing for this fic and my main fic.
I am expecting that plan to fail spectacularly, but hey at least I gave it a go.
Chapters Outlined: 16 of ?? Chapters Written: 3 of ?? Chapters Edited: 3 of ?? Material Covered Thus Far: Anime Episodes 1-12
welp. Unsurprisingly, the plan failed spectacularly.
Simply put, the low motivation to write lasted way longer than I expected, Star Rail is still is incredibly distracting, and life got in the way. In the form of family visits...and gettig sick. Twice. I am still currently sick right now, though I am getting better.
Basically, motivation was an all time low overall, which meant, once again, this fic didn't have ANY progress at all, as I prioritized what little motivation I have had to other things, particularly my main fic project. And also why this update is much later than intended.
So what does that mean for my plans for this fic? Mentally, it is "on hold" while I still get back into the grove of writing things. Thankfully, I just got my writing motivation back, and it's been good, but again, prioritizing my main fic. So that means you can consider it dead if you want to, but...for me me I won't count it as an "official hiatus" or "officially dead". I have a suspicion on what might help me get to at least write the rest of chapter. Maybe. Again, still getting back into writing after getting, what I suspect, some burn out.
As for updates, I think I'll still do it. Same monthly schedule. We'll see how I feel about things next time.
Ugh...but still. I'm pretty annoyed with myself over all this. This fic feels like the ever classic state of most fics I've seen and I really don't like that but I know I have limits and...ugh. yeah. just annoyed all i've done so far with these updates is report how i keep prioritizing other things. ugh.
Chapters Outlined: 16 of ?? Chapters Written: 3 of ?? Chapters Edited: 3 of ?? Material Covered Thus Far: Anime Episodes 1-12
