Creation began on 04-06-16
Creation ended on 04-12-16
Neon Genesis Evangelion
A new friend and reminders
"Third time's the charm," went Shinji as he threw his Poke Ball at the exhausted Pokemon in front of him.
It made contact with the creature and it disappeared in a red flash, leaving the ball on the ground, shaking as the Pokemon tried to break from it. A moment later, it stopped shaking and the button on its front that was red turned white, with a small, ringing sound. He went over and picked the ball up, looking back at his Eevee in appreciation.
"We caught a Pidgey, Misato," he told her; since he discovered that most trainers and people often nicknamed their Pokemon, Shinji decided to follow that tradition in order to stay sane and remind himself of the positive side of his past, so his first Pokemon got the nickname of the first person that mattered to him way back then.
In the two weeks that followed after leaving Pallet Town and going through Viridian City and the Viridian Forest, Shinji had managed to capture at least five different Pokemon, including the Pidgey that was attacking most trainers due to being deserted by a previous trainer. In his list of Pokemon, he had an Eevee, a Magikarp that he nicknamed Rei, a Pikachu that he nicknamed Kenji, and a strange Pokemon that he couldn't find in the Kanto Pokedex, only that it was a Rock/Ground-Type. To him, it looked like a small dinosaur with a rock-like hide and a horn on its head that could've been a reminder of Unit-01, but the tail was like an open fan or a broken bowl. It also said something that, to him, sounded like 'Larvitar'.
As he and Misato were closing in on Pewter City, Shinji decided to introduce the building team to their newest member.
"Come on out, everyone!" He said as he threw out his Poke Balls containing the Pokemon he had captured with Misato.
In a nearby pond, Rei popped out of the water, Kenji appeared next to the pond, the Rock/Ground-Type Pokemon appeared on Kenji's left, and the Pidgey hovered over their heads.
"Okay, everyone, meet our newest member," Shinji introduced them to the Pidgey. "I think I'll call you…Kensuke."
The Pidgey flew over and perched onto his left wrist.
"I was told you were abandoned by a previous trainer a while back, but I want you to know that I won't do that to you. You can trust me."
As he learned during his time in Pallet Town, Pokemon were incredibly intelligent, able to understand human speech almost as good as people understood each other. He hoped that this Pidgey would understand him and know that he meant everything he said.
It nodded in understanding and accepted Shinji as its new trainer.
"Karp, karp!" Rei splashed happily.
"Let's eat now," Shinji suggested.
-x-
"Huh?" Misato went, just as pulled out her TV meal out of the microwave.
"What it is, Misato?" Asuka asked her, sitting at the table, putting up with her guardian's lack of cooking skills.
"I could've sworn for a minute that I heard Shinji's voice just now."
"I wish he were still here."
It was a sad and trying time for both ladies because nearly everything they either saw, heard or said reminded them of the missing boy.
-x-
They finally made it to Pewter City after another day of wandering around Viridian Forest. The sign above their heads read, "Welcome to Pewter City, Our Stone Land". That's when Shinji recalled how the Gym Leader of each location a Pokemon Gym could be found used a specific type of Pokemon to do battle with, and the leader of the Pewter Gym was said to specialize in Rock-Type Pokemon.
Unfortunately, my only Water-Type Pokemon is Rei, and she's not strong enough to face any Rock Pokemon, Shinji thought, being logical and clear-minded about his Pokemon, knowing that none of them were in any way capable of dealing with a Gym Leader's Pokemon. Yet, as a trainer, I need to face the Gym Leaders of wherever I go and earn badges to enter the Pokemon League, which is supposed to be in about another year. A whole year to find, capture, and train as many Pokemon as possible to build up their experience. And to become a Pokemon Master, someone that knows everything there is to know about Pokemon. Almost a feat impossible to reach, but many spend their lives striving for it.
"Eee," he looked down at Misato and was broken out of his lingering doubts.
"Let's get to the Pokemon Center and decide on what to do next," he told her.
"Eee!"
-x-
"…What's that, Rei?" Toji asked the albino girl, noticing that she was drawing something on a piece of paper during recess; it looked like a ball with a red top and white bottom.
"It's just a ball," she responded, not giving it any thought.
"It looks like it's made of metal or plastic."
"It is made of metal and plastic."
"Hey, Toji!" Kensuke shouted as he ran into the classroom with his camcorder. "You're not gonna believe what I have on here!"
He showed him the screen and replayed what he had managed to isolate and enhance on his camera, and Toji found himself unable to take his eyes off.
"When did you get this?" He asked him.
"I was filming a naval carrier last night, but when I was editing the film, this just showed up on it," Kensuke explained the foreign film that ended up on his camcorder. "It's insane, but it means something else entirely."
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"You're the only person I've shown this to."
Unfortunately, Rei had seen the footage, too, and was, beyond a doubt, surprised by what she saw. For days, she was uncertain about what the rest of NERV had felt was an undeniable truth, but now she knew it was nothing more than a false belief.
-x-
"…I'm sorry, but didn't I see you back in Viridian City?" Shinji asked the pink-haired nurse that he was certain he saw back in the previous city.
"Oh, you met one of my sisters back in Viridian City," the nurse told him. "I'm the older sister. Nice to meet you."
He suspected that he was likely bound to meet many similar faces in whichever Pokemon Center he visited, but Shinji decided to dwell on that later. He put Misato and his four Poke Balls onto the tray in front of them.
"I need my Pokemon checked to make sure they're doing okay, please," he told her.
"It should take about half an hour. We shall call you when we're done."
"Thank you."
Shinji went over to a vending machine and found a selection of water, soda and lemonade available, and helped himself to a bottle of soda.
"Going to face the Gym Leader?" He heard a female voice, different from the nurse's, ask him.
"Huh?" He responded, turning to face a girl younger than himself, dressed in shorts and a small shirt.
"The Pewter City Gym Leader. Are you going to face him?" She asked again.
"Oh, uh…no," he answered her. "I just started a few weeks ago as a Pokemon Trainer, and none of my Pokemon are capable of facing Rock-Types at the moment. My only Water-Type is a Magikarp."
"Heh. I'm surprised any person would train a Magikarp, considering how they're among the weakest of all known Pokemon."
"That would explain how I was able to catch mine so easily."
"In the past, way back in the past, Magikarp weren't as they are today. They were among the toughest of Pokemon able to traverse in water. Anyone that commits to raising one are said to be rewarded for their efforts and patience when they evolve."
"Evolve? Into what, exactly?"
"Into Gyarados."
Shinji then took out his Pokedex and looked up Gyarados, finding its appearance to be rather intimidating and unlike what a Magikarp looks like.
"Gyarados," his Pokedex uttered, "the Atrocious Pokemon and the evolved form of Magikarp. This Pokemon has a fierce temperament, so approach and handle with extreme caution. Its fangs are strong enough to crush stone and its scales are harder than steel."
"Whoa," he reacted. "Magikarp actually evolves into this? It's…it's incredible. I mean, a small fish…and it becomes a giant serpent."
"You stay true to a Magikarp, and it'll surprise you with what it's capable of. You train it, and it's one of the most dependable Pokemon you'll know."
Ding-dong! A bell-like sound in the halls went off.
"Oh, that sound means someone's Pokemon are healed up," the girl told him.
Of course, that meant Shinji's were healed up. When he returned to get them, the nurse spoke to him about his Magikarp.
"You had best be careful with your Magikarp while in cities like this one, Cerulean City and Vermillion City, sir," she warned him.
"Why?"
"You have a Shiny Magikarp," she explained, showing him a picture of a what a Magikarp actually looked like…and how his looked nothing of the sort that was common. "Shiny Pokemon are more rare than their regular counterparts. So it's likely that when it evolves, it'll become a Shiny Gyarados."
Holding the ball he marked 'Rei', Shinji wondered if this was true…or if his Magikarp was just still maturing before he caught it.
"I just thought she was shedding old scales," he told her.
"Oh, no, the scales would've been a dull color. Gold scales indicate she's a Shiny Magikarp. It's best not to have her out in places she can be seen in these cities I've stated. There are people desperate enough to have Shiny Pokemon that they're willing to steal them."
That's when Shinji realized something else about his current predicament with facing the Gym Leader: He had neglected to remind himself that Water-Type Pokemon weren't the only ones able to best Rock-Type Pokemon, but Grass-Types were equally effective against them. So he needed to find a Grass-Type and train it to best Rock-Types.
"Excuse me, Nurse Joy, but do you happen to know where I can find wild, Grass-Type Pokemon nearby?" He asked her.
"If you take the past west of the city, you'll find some around Mt. Moon."
"Mount Moon?"
"That's right. It's a mountainous range where you can find Moon Stones."
"Thank you."
-x-
Kensuke couldn't believe it when he received a call from a representative from NERV to bring in his camcorder with him.
I hope it's to be a Eva pilot, he thought; ever since Shinji was declared MIA, he hoped that he could get involved with NERV and face the Angels that were hell-bent on eliminating all of mankind.
As he waited in the room he was left in by the same men in black suits that were supposed to be watching Shinji when he was outside the Eva, the door opened…and Misato stepped in with a faux-blond woman in a white lab coat.
"Hello, Kensuke," Misato greeted.
"Hello," he greeted back.
"It recently came to our attention that you…discovered something of interest on your camcorder."
"Yes?"
"We need to see the footage," explained the faux-blond woman to him.
Kensuke showed them the footage, and Misato was surprised by what had been isolated.
On the camcorder, a young man that looked just like Shinji, holding a strange ball in his right hand, and was accompanied by a strange, fox-like cub on his left shoulder as he stood on a hill overlooking a large city that didn't seem like any that it belonged to any place they knew of.
"Shinji?" Misato questioned.
"It's going to be another good day," Shinji said on the recording.
"Eee," the fox-like creature uttered, as if responding to what Shinji said.
The footage only lasted two minutes, but it was enough to convince Misato that Shinji was indeed still alive and well.
Ritsuko, on the other hand, realized that this discovery meant that, while the boy was alive, he was beyond their reach. The fact that the Twelfth Angel had been linked to another dimension was beyond their technological limits.
"Kensuke, where did you get this footage?" Misato asked him.
"I was filming that naval carrier that was docking the night I edited the footage," he explained. "I was unsure of how this footage got in my camcorder."
"What was the carrier called?" Ritsuko asked him.
"It was called the S.S. Rocket. It was supposed to be a new carrier that had been repurposed from a previous carrier."
"That ship docked in last night? Did anything seem unusual about it?"
"No, nothing."
-x-
The base of Mt. Moon was lush with vegetation, and Shinji found himself and Misato facing an example of vegetation that you couldn't eat because it fought back.
"Eee!" Misato yelled, doing a backflip in order to evade a series of leaves sharp enough to cut through flesh. "Eee!"
The Grass-Type Pokemon they encountered was tough, too. But when Shinji checked his Pokedex, he couldn't find it in the Kanto files, which meant it was likely not native to the region at all. It looked a small dinosaur with a large leaf on its head and red eyes.
It must be our lucky day to meet a Pokemon that shouldn't even be here, thought Shinji as he decided that his team needed this Pokemon to face the Pewter City Gym Leader. "Kensuke, help out Misato with your Peck attack!"
He threw the Poke Ball containing his Pidgey and he soared towards the Grass-Pokemon.
Slam! Kensuke pecked the enemy hard on its head, sending it falling to the ground.
"Okay, Misato, use your Take Down attack!" He told Misato, who charged towards the Pokemon, and the impact slammed it against a tree. "Way to go!"
With the Grass-Pokemon weakened, Shinji threw an unused Poke Ball at it, hoping to catch it without failure so that he could progress further in his new profession. It made contact with the creature and it turned into red light, absorbed into the ball. It shook for a few seconds…and then ceased as the Pokemon became his.
"We did it," he praised Misato and Kensuke.
With a Grass-Pokemon in his crew, his chances of facing the Pewter City Gym Leader seemed to go up a few levels. But what bothered him about it was that the new Pokemon was similar to the other one that wasn't in his Pokedex. He would need to contact Prof. Oak and inform him of the lack of information in the Pokedex. But first things first, he needed to get back to Pewter City and get his Pokemon healed.
"Back to Pewter City, you two," he told them.
To be continued…
A/N: I have rarely checked the poll I setup, but my patience is low right now, so Shinji now has a Grass-Pokemon in his possession. Certain Pokemon of his will have nicknames associated to people from his past. So far, only Misato, Rei and Kensuke have been used to address his Kanto Pokemon.