Shinji Ikari Raising Project

[Dartz]

Work is kiking my butt.... but more

"Megazone 23 Garland Replica?" Benjamin asked him, giving an appreciative whistle. Shinji had no idea what a Megazone 23 Garland was, of course.

"It's the right colour," Gina chimed in with her own opinion, giving it a critical eye.

"It's called a Judy," Shinji said. "Turbine fusion with tanalloy battery hybrid."

That's what the first page on the manual called it. He didn't know what else it did.

"Judy?" Benjamin raised an eyebrow

"Garland?" Gina narrowed her eyes at Jet.

The puppet raised her arms in self-defence. "Hey don't call the Narn bat squad just yet, that's just a project code."

"I tell you what Shinji," continued Ben, slapping him on the back. " I've got a jetbike called the Lunatic Fringe too. It has two jet engines. Why don't we have a little bit of a race some day, hmm?"

He looked to Jet. no objection.

"Ah.... sure."

"I'll bring the Highway Star along and make it three," Jet added.

Shinji was visibly appalled. He accepted out of politeness, fully expecting his supposed guardian to intervene on his behalf while instead she'd just right on joined in.

"I'll send ya a date when I can convince Brownwyn that it's not going to get broken."

"But.... But but." His shoulders slumped in defeat. "Alright."

"Males," Gina snorted.

"Excuse me," Jet folded her arms across her chest.

"Sometimes it can be hard to tell,"

"What I want to know is, does it transform?" Ben interrupted the building

"Transform? It's a motorcycle." Shinji found it hard not to scoff at the idea. Where did he leave the instruction manual? "Does it?"

"Red button behind the molly guard," Jet told him.

Shinji pushed the red button marked 'Switch'. The hazard lights flashed on as the turbine engine whistled to life. Latches snapped as they came unlocked. He gripped the throttles hard, eyes darting around tracking the noises that circled him. Servos whined.

The top of the fairing popped open on a polished linkage, exposing the hardware underneath. Beneath him, the frame began to move, his seat shifting position. He tried to push back but it forced him upright. He yelped in shock as he felt himself slide forward. The windscreen rose up over his head, entombing him in darkness. Latches locked like gunshots around him.

His breath came quick, fast and hot as he tried to keep control. Something picked him up from beneath, and he was vaguely aware of being picked up from behind. Power thrummed up his spine as the turbines roared to full power.

He glanced around the cockpit. It was dark, illumination coming only from the gauges and viewscreen around him. The scent of engine oil and hot plastic wafted through the overhead vents. The handle bars still came easily to his hands, extending to just above his lap. His feet remained on the pedals.

He was in a cockpit, barely large enough to accept a person. Flat panel monitors showed him a view of the world outside, framed by a heads up display that reported on the conditions of the machine in green wireframe text. His gazed raced around the cockpit as it closed in tighter around him, compressing down.

A few final servos locked down with a hard thunk.

MOTOROID ALL GREN SYSTEM flashed up on the HUD - bad spelling and all - in front of him for a second, before the view settled down on something that looked like it was stolen from the late 80's. Engines were running. Flight systems were online. Hydraulics were in the green zone. Nothing was flashing red.

Benjamin Rhodes, Gina Langley and Jet had been replaced with animated version of themselves... each drawn in the anime style. Shadows were deep and black while colours were lustrous and vivid, especially on the metal of Bens arm.

It was, he thought, like watching Bubblegum Crisis from the inside. Jet looked perfectly in place. Gina's head seemed bigger than her waist. Benjamin's arm seemed to grow to match his big, white-teeth grin.

"Gina," said Ben, looking at his wife with that every present grin "I know what I want for Christmas."

"Along with the VF-19?"

"We'll sell them through Hephaestus once we've figured out how to make the batteries," Jet chimed in.

"How do I get out?" Shinji asked.

"Can't just wave them?"

Benjamin clearly didn't hear him. The machine shifted as he moved about in the seat. It didn't take much for Shinji to figure out that he was now sitting in some form of bipedal mecha. A traditional one, without the existential horror. All he had to do was worry about breaking it.

"They need some fancy elements to work right," explained Jet, sounding just a little dissapointed "It takes weeks to get enough for one bike, and that's flat out."

Where was the speaker? The Intercom. Shinji didn't dare touch anything else in case he caused it to tip over.

"Yeesh... " he winced. "So not cheap?"

Intercom? He scanned the buttons. Some had pictograms. Others were unlabelled.

"Not yet," Jet grinned at him. Gina had started to tap her foot in irritation. She really was so much like Asuka.

Radio?

"You two can talk business on the way back. Is there something for us to ride, or do we have to go pillion?"

He caught a glimpse of the wristband he was still wearing. Just thinking about it told him he was sill connected.

"How do I turn it back?"

"There're some quads and enduro bikes kicking around, Petrol powered," said Jet, outside.

The response burst into his thoughts simultaneously.

"Same button again."

Shinji frobbed it with his finger. Again, the hazards flashed. Bolts and locks popped and rattled around him before the cockpit split open, allowing the harsh light of reality to rush in, chased by a draught of that dry industrial air.

He was aware of something swinging over his head as a whine of servos pushed him backwards and down, the whole forward assemble falling away. The throttles pulled his hands forward - he didn't let go in case his arms got caught in something - before the front fairing finally locked in it's forward position.

MOTORCYCLE ALL GREEN flashed on the instrument binnacle as the turbines spooled down, leaving only an electric silence as the motorcycle idled.

Shinji exhaled a hot breath he didn't even know he'd been holding.

"How much?" Ben enquired.

Jet shrugged. "Ask Shinji, it's his."

Shinji quailed back down into his seat. Please... anything but that. Benjamin loomed with a salesman's glint in his eyes.

"There'll be plenty of time for horsetrading later," Gina interrupted the pitch before it could begin. "Can we get moving before we all get bored?"

"But of course, my Lady," Benjamin deferred with a bow.

Shinji exhaled a relieved sigh, already resolving to refuse - as politely as he could manage - any offer to sell the Judy. It was a gift. Selling it would be rude.

That red button stared at Shinji the whole way back up, begging to be pushed. Just one little touch....

He didn't even dare try it at speed.

----------

Tanalloy, being a crude reverse engineer of gate-metal. Rather than going through the years of research needed to understand it properly, they just copied it as close as they could, got it sort-of working, then locked the actually pretty small battery down in a solid armoured container and cooling system to make sure it would be safe even if it wasn't. I'm assuming it's being worked on elsewhere - those doing so just have more sense/restraint than to use alien technologies they don't fully understand yet.

(Because honestly.... I find it kind of funny. Shinji Ikari in a robot powered by reverse engineered, barely-understood alien technology. )
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