Creation began on 05-18-16
Creation ended on 05-30-16
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Miraculous lights shine in the city
In the still darkness, a lone woman sat in a chair, a Poke Ball in her lap. Her eyes glowing a soft blue as she saw beyond the boundaries of the room she was inside of. Her gaze never letting go of the present night activity occurring not far from where she resided. And it was a nice evening for the young man she saw.
"Well, now, Shinji Ikari," she uttered in the darkness, "time for us to play."
-x-
As Shinji and Misato continued on their way to Saffron City, the growing trainer and Eevee have seemed to found themselves lost in the darkness of the forest.
"…I know we're close, Misato," he assured his Pokemon, "we're going the right way to the city. And to the Pokemon Center for the night."
"Eee," Misato expressed.
It had been almost two months since they left Cerulean City, and their journey had been adventurous as it had been disastrous for the two. Their brief stay in Vermilion City was longer than in Pewter and Cerulean City. The Gym Leader, Lt. Surge, crushed him and his Pokemon at least three times in three different days. But what Shinji learned from any of the matches where his Pokemon didn't come out on top, what didn't keep them down for good only made them learn from their mistakes. His own mistakes, as well.
He picked up Misato and placed her on his head.
"Where there's a will, there's a way, Misato," he told her. "We can't stop until he find the way to Saffron City."
"Eee," she agreed with him, and he resumed walking down the path.
Whoosh! A strong breeze swept around Shinji's legs and up his back, and was strong enough to pull his Eevee off his head!
"Eee!" Misato gasped, suddenly blown down the path in front of Shinji. "Eevo!"
"Ah, Misato!" Shinji gasped, chasing after her. "I'm coming!"
He jumped towards her and managed to grab her in the air. But what he didn't take into account of his action was that there was no ground for him to hit safely.
"Aaaahh!" He yelled, assuming a fetal position to try and reduce as much of the potential harm to himself and Misato as possible as they fell over a cliff.
It felt like they were falling forever, because there was a silence. He took a chance and opened his eyes, seeing that he was floating an inch from the ground beneath him…just before hitting it without harm to himself or Misato.
"Are you alright, Misato?" He asked her.
"Eee," she responded that she was fine.
He got up and looked at the new sight in front of them. Lights. Lights that were so bright, they could've made the night sky look like daylight. And massive buildings that reached into the air. It was such a marvelous sight to behold. And a large entryway with a sign that read, "Welcome to Saffron City".
"Saffron City, Misato," he told her. "This is supposed to be the city before Celadon City where the package Prof. Oak asked us to retrieve for him is. Shall we find a Pokemon Center now?"
"Eee!" She nodded in agreement.
-x-
"…Hey, Katsuragi!" Kaji greeted the purple-haired woman the next day, noticing that she looked hardwired on coffee. "Are you alright?"
"Last night, I dreamt about Shinji," she explained, walking with him onto Central Dogma. "He had this creature with him and had fallen off a cliff. Somehow, he survived and I saw him walking towards a city made of light before I woke up."
"It sounds like he's managing, wherever he is."
"Yeah, except that it seems like wherever he is, he's…gathering strange animals. It must be a hobby he's picked up or something. If only there was some way to talk to him."
-x-
"…Your Pokemon are in top shape, sir," Nurse Joy informed Shinji, handing him back the tray holding his Eevee and Poke Balls.
"Thank you, ma'am," he praised her.
"Going to face the Saffron Gym?"
"That's the plan."
"Be careful, then. They use Psychic Pokemon, and they're quite powerful."
"I had to face Electric Pokemon, and that was no walk in the park."
"Unless you have Bug, Ghost or Dark-Types, your chances will be slim.
Shinji thought about it, and remembered his education on the type advantages certain Pokemon have against one another, despite that often being disproved with experience and luck. And he did have some Bug Pokemon. He had a Paras, a Caterpie and Weedle…and he needed to exchange three of his on-hand Pokemon to get them here.
He went to contact Prof. Oak.
"Hello, Shinji," the elder greeted him on the video phone.
"Hello, Prof. Oak," he greeted back. "I'm at the Saffron City Pokemon Center. I want to prepare to face the Gym Leader, but I need my three Bug Pokemon."
"Your Paras, Caterpie and Weedle? Well, that means you'll have to transport three of your Pokemon with you there to here. So, which three will you be exchanging?"
He had decided on Rei, Toji and Sakura; his Magikarp was still at an insufficient level, despite her getting stronger with every day (she was already capable of swimming him across a good distance in the water), and he knew a Larvitar and Chikorita weren't going to fare well against Psychic-Type moves. He had their Poke Balls out and ready for the exchange.
"I can tell they're looking forward to meeting you," Oak informed, and the exchange was commenced right away.
In the transporter, the three marked Poke Balls he had were sent to Prof. Oak's lab and in place of them were three Poke Balls that were unmarked.
"Thank you, Prof. Oak," Shinji praised the elder. "Until we meet again. Take care."
He unleashed his Bug Pokemon and introduced them to Misato, Kensuke and Kenji.
"Weedle?"
"Paras?"
"Urh?"
"Hey, you three," Shinji greeted them. "Nice to meet you after so long."
Shinji offered them his hands…and his Caterpie was the first to climb onto his left him, followed by Weedle and Paras on his right hand.
"Ah-ha!" He laughed.
-x-
The lone woman in the darkness smiled as she saw Shinji begin training his three Pokemon she knew he intended to use to face the Saffron Gym Leader.
"Heh-heh," she chuckled at his determination to strengthen his Pokemon. "A stranger in a strange world…and look how far he has adapted. Exquisite."
-x-
He focused primarily on their evasion with Misato and Kensuke, and built up their endurance with Kenji. While he didn't take the training too serious over the next few days of the week they were in Saffron City, Shinji expected only their best; he never wanted perfection, as that was impossible. He knew that if he put in the effort and had faith in his Bug Pokemon, the rewards for such patience and determination would be worth it.
"Urh," went his Caterpie, whom he nicknamed Hyuga, after one of the Bridge Bunnies.
"Are you okay, Hyuga?" He asked him.
The next thing he knew, Hyuga performed a String Shot attack, but not at him or the other Pokemon. He was doing it on himself, covering his body in multiple strands of silk as his body slowly glowed bluish-white.
He's evolving, Shinji realized, and when the glowing ceased, they were all looking at a slightly-larger, green-colored, shiny creature with bluish eyes that seemed similar to those of a human's.
"Metapod," the new Pokemon uttered.
"Nice to meet the new you, Hyuga," Shinji greeted the Cocoon Pokemon.
"Eee," went Misato, also greeting Hyuga's evolved state.
"Pidgeo," Kensuke greeted, as well.
-x-
"…Well, it wasn't easy, but we're scheduled to meet with the CEO of the Giovanni Corporation," Ritsuko informed Misato, who had only the slightest understanding of the company that owned the naval carrier housing whatever it was that affected the recordings of whoever decided to film the ship and wind up picking up static footage of Shinji in a different world with strange creatures.
"Oh, great," she expressed. "When will that be?"
"Tomorrow afternoon. Commander Ikari hopes that they'll indulge us with whatever they're hiding on the carrier because it was confirmed they're looking for skilled scientists unaffiliated with NERV."
"Well, everyone has their own need for secrecy. Whatever it is, I just want to know how it allows for video footage to show Shinji in another dimension."
-x-
It was a grand sight to behold for Shinji and his Pokemon. The sight of the city at night, from atop one of the skyscrapers marveling at the beauty.
"Isn't it wonderful?" He asked them.
"Eevo," Misato agreed with him.
"Pidgeo!" Kensuke added, hovering over Shinji's right shoulder.
"Pika," cheered Kenji, standing on the ledge of the roof.
"What about you three?" Shinji asked, looking at his Bug Pokemon. "Hyuga? Ibuki? Shigeru?"
Hyuga, now fully evolved into a Butterfree, responded by flying around group happily.
Ibuki, the former Weedle nicknamed after the female Bridge Bunny, now a fully-evolved Beedrill, followed suit with Hyuga.
Shigeru, now evolved into Parasect, merely shook his mushroom top and released a sweet-smelling aroma.
It had been a exhilarating two weeks of training, but the results were worth it. And now, Shinji was ready to face the Saffron Gym Leader for his fourth badge.
"Let tomorrow be as joyful as the last few days," he told them, and they agreed with him.
-x-
"Heh-heh-heh," the woman in the darkness chuckled, seeing Shinji with his Bug Pokemon now stronger than ever. "Tomorrow, we play."
-x-
The Giovanni Corporation had rented a boardroom from one of the regular buildings for their meeting with NERV, and Misato found that it lacked much security in the form of cameras, just several armed guards; she deduced that they didn't want to risk anything with NERV.
"Welcome," said a man in his late-fifties as he entered the room to greet Misato, Ritsuko, Fuyutsuki and Gendo. "I am Otto Giovanni."
Beside the elder was one of his sons, Antonio Giovanni, who seemed to distrust the NERV people with heavy suspicion.
"We'll cut right to the point of this meeting," went Gendo, just wanting to get down to business. "We believe that you have something on your naval carrier that affects video recording and picks up footage that doesn't exist anywhere else."
"Suppose that, for a moment, we actually believed you," went Antonio, "what would be your interest in the company's find?"
"A while back, one of our pilots went missing," said Fuyutsuki, showing them a photograph of Shinji. "Every time we film the carrier, we get bits of footage that shows him in a place that simply doesn't exist anywhere on the planet."
Antonio and Otto looked at each other before returning their gaze to the NERV people.
"Like another dimension?" Otto questioned.
"That's right," answered Ritsuko.
"You're not the only ones that have collected unusual footage," said Antonio to them, "but we never found any footage showing anyone."
He picked up a remote and showed them a slideshow of their company's archive of footage.
"What we discovered, we can't say for sure, is unlike anything that has ever been discovered before," he explained, "for it causes recordings to show pieces of footage detailing places and creatures that look similar to certain animals, but they possess abilities far greater than what we've seen in those that exist today or over fifteen years ago."
One of the slides showed a small, fox-like creature that was identical to the one Misato and Ritsuko had seen with Shinji.
"If one of your pilots has indeed ended up in another dimension, then he may have no idea of how invaluable anything they may have discovered would be." Otto suggested, and Antonio showed them the slide of the creature they had discovered. "We're looking for scientists that specialize in the theory of interdimensional research…or…the potential to open doorways to other worlds."
"What would be the goal to achieve this sort of feat?" Ritsuko asked.
"If such was possible, then it would be possible to open doorways to uninhabited worlds with resources that could replenish the ones we're losing here in this one," Antonio stated. "Or drain the flooded environments by relocating the ocean waters to an empty world, revitalizing the animal kingdom and so on. We wouldn't be living in a slowly-dying world, anymore."
"Incredible," Fuyutsuki expressed; he had never seen such a creature that didn't seem to associate with the Angels.
"Yes, it is incredible," Otto agreed.
"There is some doubt that you would find any scientists unaffiliated with NERV that are skilled enough to help with your research," Gendo told them.
"It's a risk, but one we're willing to take," the elder told him; he had a reason not to trust this man. "So far, we've recruited at least seven individuals that have agreed to help us in understanding this creature."
"But suppose that you would do better with assistance from NERV?" Ritsuko suggested.
"I'd rather not believe that," Antonio responded. "We left the service of the military powers to be able to achieve different objectives without the deception or micromanagement."
-x-
Frightening. That was the only word Shinji could describe the Saffron City Gym. It was frightening, like something out of a nightmare from long ago.
"Maybe we should've come here at night," he suggested to Misato.
"Eevo," she nodded in the negative, and pushed against the back of his right leg to go forward.
"Oh…" He gave up and walked closer to the gym's front door.
Creak. The doorknob turned and opened the door on its own.
"What in the name of…" Shinji said, but was unsure of how this was possible.
As he wanted to turn away and come back at night when it was probably not as intimidating, he feared Misato's Take Down more.
"Eevo," he heard her encourage him to continue entering the building.
To be continued…
A/N: During the daylight hours, the Saffron Gym probably does seem intimidating and frightening to people, which would make going to it at night more appropriate because it probably doesn't seem as scary.