(DECONSECRATED) FRANXX vs. EVA01

Chapter 1.

     Hiro trudged along the dirt path, the birds chirping their sweet song on the branches of the trees surrounding him. The sound of running water flowed to his right, an artificial river flowing into an artificial lake. He had left the house to go get some air. Although he had explored almost every inch of quarantine it was still less cramped than the house was. There hadn't been any Klaxosaur attacks for a while now, and Nana and Hachi were silent. Hiro couldn't decide if this was good or bad, it had been some time since they enjoyed a "break." 

     He approached the greenhouse, where Kokoro was tending to the flowers. She had just finished watering them and had begun to inspect them for any damage or excess stems that needed pruning. He shuddered, thinking about how the seemingly innocent word had another darker meaning. He recalled that one memorable day, the day when he had met her. When he was about to go back with Naomi. The first time he had met her. Without any prior training with her, he had piloted successfully. They had defeated the Klaxosaur and ever since then, everything had been one wild ride. He wondered where she was, probably roaming around in search of something to entertain her.

      Deep in his thoughts, he barely noticed the tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Goro standing behind him. He had a smile on his face, but it was clear that something was going on. 

     "We're being summoned by Nana, she wants us at the briefing room ASAP." Goro spoke. 

     "Ah, ok. I'll go tell Kokoro then meet you at the briefing room." Hiro replied. He then walked towards the Greenhouse as Goro ran back. 

"I guess our break didn't last long." Hiro thought as he tapped on the glass, alerting Kokoro.

...

     The Pistols and Stamens, dressed in their respective battle suits, faced Nana. Hiro stood alongside Zero Two, and notices something unusual. Nana doesn't seem as serious as she usually did before she recites the plan of action. Instead, it seemed that she was more of a look of intrigue. 

     "Before we begin, I would like to clarify that this mission does not involve Klaxosaurs." Nana spoke, then paused to gauge their reactions. Naturally, many had looks of surprise.

     "What? Then what's the mission about?" Zorome asked. Nana hesitated, then gestured with her hand, the screen showing what appeared to be satellite feed. In the picture, which was magnified many times, the parasites could see that a massive crater was embedded into the wasteland ground. What was in the center was too small to see, leading to some of the pilots straining their eyes to see what it was. Before they could ask, Nana continued.

     "At 0434 hours, an unidentified object fell from the sky. Interestingly enough, it did not appear to enter our atmosphere via space. It simply appeared in, what we are theorizing, to be the Stratosphere. The satellite only caught it due to it scanning around the region where the object landed. As for the object in question..." The picture on screen magnified, and the all parasites stiffened. 

     "A FRANXX?" Ichigo furrowed her brow. With the image expanded, they could see what appeared to be an arm sticking out of the crater. Unfortunately, that was the only thing that they could see. Everything else surrounding the arm was covered in rubble. Hiro turned his head to look at Zero Two. He wanted to see what she thought about all of this. However, she didn't seem to be at all surprised like the rest of them. Instead she seemed to be unconcerned, shifting weight between her left and right legs.

     "We're not sure yet. But your mission is to secure the area around the crash site. We were assigned this mission because our plantation was the closest to the crash site. Argentea and Genista, you will responsible for excavating what is underneath the rubble. We will bring the unidentified object as a whole, or in pieces back to the plantation. Delphinium, Chlorophytum, you will act as security. You will defend against any threats should any occur during the excavation. As for Strelizia, we will keep you in reserve this time. Should an extremely dangerous situation befall us, you will be deployed as seen fit. That is all. Dismissed."

...

     Soaring across desert, the four FRANXX's rapidly approached their designated objective. Hiro watched from mission control, the perspectives from all FRANXX on screen. After watching for about ten minutes, his eyes started burning from looking at the screen so long. He turned over to Zero Two. She twirled in her swirly chair, clearly very bored. 

     "Hey, what do you think is in the center of that crater?" Hiro asked. She hadn't said anything when they had showed up before getting briefed. Not a single word. She continued to stay quiet throughout the entire operation until now. I guess she wanted him to take the initiative?

     "Something that doesn't belong here," Zero Two responded. "Or someone." 

     "Someone?" He said, "If it's a FRANXX then don't you mean more than one?"

     She paused her spinning for a moment, before shaking her head and continuing. 

     "No. It's someone. One person. I'm sure of it, darling." Hiro watched her, thinking about what she meant before hearing Goro's voice. 

     "We've arrived."

...

     The FRANXX's stood at the edge of the crater, staring down towards the center. There it was. The arm stuck out of the rocks, like a wooden cross stuck in dirt. The hand was open with the fingers seemingly grasping for something that wasn't there. Much murmuring began among the various Stamens and Pistils, and even Nana and Hachi looked at each other for a second before looking back.

     "Ok, snap out of it, let's get this done" Ichigo's voice sent them out of their stupor and into action. Argentea and Genista slid down the side, arriving at the rubble. The pile seemed bigger than it had been in the satellite image. This was going to take some time. The two FRANXX's began methodically destroying the rocks, careful not to damage the object underneath. The process was slow and tedious, and after thirty minutes they had only uncovered about a quarter of the rocks.

     "Of course when we finally get some action it just turns out to be some physical labor! Man I wish we could get some Klaxosaurs to fight." Zorome groaned, after slicing what he felt was his five hundredth rock. 

     "Just remember, we'll get to see what's underneath once we're done. Aren't you interested in seeing what it is?" Futoshi responded, crushing rocks with Genista's hands.

     "Yeah sure. It's just going to be another FRANXX. What's the big deal?" 

     "We don't know for sure if it is." Goro hopped in.

     "What, so it's a Klaxosaur? Don't make me laugh, I haven't seen a humanoid Klaxosaur before," Zorome rolled his eyes. "Besides, the arm is purple. Ever seen a purple Klaxosaur before?"

     "There's a first time for everything." Goro shrugged, before noticing something in the distance. "Heads up. We got incoming."

     The two defending FRANXX's assumed their fighting positions as Ichigo stated,

     "Seems to be a pack of Moho-Class Klaxosaurs. Maybe 4-6 of them? Hard to tell as the dust they're kicking up is blocking what's behind them."

     "Hmmph. Fend them off for as long as you can. Futoshi, Zorome, hurry up." Hachi responded.

     "Easy for you to say. Man! Too bad we don't get to fight." Zorome grumbled, slashing at the rocks. He lacked the careful precision that he had previously employed. 

     "Zorome, don't do that! You're going to-" 

     "SLASH!"

     "Uh oh." Zorome whispered. In his haste, he had accidentally uncovered another portion of the object. Moreover, it looked like he had scratched it...

     "Zorome! We need the object back in its best condition! What do we do now?" Futoshi started panicking. 

     "Relax! It's all good. At least now we got another portion of this weird FRANXX uncovered."

     Zorome examined just what exactly he had scratched. It appeared to be the leg of this supposed FRANXX. Suddenly, as he was staring at it, the leg moved slightly...  

     "Ahhh!" Zorome backed away from the leg. He wasn't the only one who had just seen that... right?