Creation began on 05-30-16

Creation ended on 06-17-16

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Heart over Mind

"…Really?" Asuka asked Misato as they walked down the hall to Central Dogma.

"Yeah," the purple-haired woman responded. "It was the only way NERV could have some access to the Giovanni Corporation's project because they have a creature that is unlike anything else that has ever existed. We'd be updated on any footage taken of the creature that contains footage of Shinji and we'd be permitted to observe the research, but not to interfere with the project."

"We sure this creature isn't some sort of Angel?"

"We saw footage of Shinji with strange creatures that seem similar to the creature the Giovanni Corporation has in their possession, and they gave no indication that they were anything like the Angels. Plus, there's been no blue patterns detected. That thing's not an Angel."

Asuka found the idea of interdimensional travel to be nothing more than a daydream. If NERV could've done it, then they would have probably been able to get back Shinji without any outside aid. But then again, they were more directed at dealing with Angels, not rescue operations.

"Was there any explanation for why some of the fragmented footage showed Shinji as being older?" She asked Misato.

"They believe it's definitely because of the different boundaries between dimensions," Misato explained. "They're sometimes separated by time and space. If we manage to open a doorway to the dimension he's in, I hope it's before he ends up so old, he's on his deathbed."

Asuka found that hard to imagine. Maybe a little older, but not near death.

"Maybe they should keep you in the loop more than the rest of us," she suggested.

-x-

Unlike the outside of the gym, the inside of the gym wasn't as intimidating. But it looked like some sort of dungeon or business building in terms of the architectural appearance, and Shinji looked inside one of the rooms, seeing some people performing acts that seemed like something out of a mental hospital. There was a pair of women that looked like they were guessing cards, a young man looking a bent spoon and fork, and a little boy reaching out for a wooden block that was floating in front of him.

"What is this place?" He wondered.

"This is Sabrina's psychic institution," said a man in front of the young trainer and his Eevee, wearing a medical mask over his mouth. "I wouldn't expect you to understand everything here."

The man then held up a large spoon and made it bend without the use of his other hand.

"Telekinesis," he revealed. "Not many trainers can control Psychic Pokemon without having a degree of psychic power themselves."

Shinji bowed his head and requested to see the Gym Leader to earn his fourth badge.

The man led him down the hall, down some stairs and to a large pair of doors.

"After you," he uttered to Shinji, who approached the doors, which then opened on their accord.

Behind the doors was a large battlefield associated with a Pokemon Gym, lit up by pillars adorned with candles, and in front of them was a young woman sitting in a large chair.

"Welcome, Shinji Ikari," she said, looking like she was around his age or older, maybe close to her twenties. "I've been expecting you for some time."

How did she know my name? He wondered; he hadn't even introduced himself of his intentions to face her for a badge.

Telepathy, he heard her voice in his mind. You can't hide your thoughts from me. I know who you are, why you're here, and where you're from. You're a long way from this Tokyo-3.

He and Misato walked over to the challenger side of the field…while the woman levitated out of the chair and onto the ground opposite of the field.

I know that you intend to use Bug Pokemon against me, and your strategy, while common, is weighed down by your inexperience against Psychic Pokemon. Still, I look forward to facing you. You may even find a way to return to your own world. The rules are simple: We each use only three Pokemon, and only the challenger is permitted to substitute their Pokemon. You win, and the Marsh Badge is yours.

Shinji suspected that Sabrina was going to keep this up so that it would be meaningless to actually speak to her, and took out one of his Poke Balls to show that he wasn't backing down.

"Whenever you're ready," he told her.

A Poke Ball appeared in front of her and opened up, unleashing her first Pokemon for the match. It was unlike what Shinji had been expecting from her as her first choice. This Pokemon was black in color, but seemed two-dimensional and…almost like one of the letters of the alphabet. It reminded him of the letter "T", but with an eyeball.

"Unown," it went, levitating over the ground.

"What is that Pokemon?" He wondered, taking out his Pokedex and looking up the new creature.

"Unown, the Symbol Pokemon," the Pokedex went. "Because of their hieroglyphic forms, researchers have suggested that these Pokemon have some relation to ancient tablets found in ruins. Unown are believed to also have some relation to ancient languages."

"Whoa," he expressed, suspecting that this Unown wasn't the only one of its kind, and that there were others around, but not in the Kanto Region. "Okay, I'll start off with Shigeru!"

He threw his Poke Ball and unleashed his Parasect.

"Parasect!" Shigeru went, ready to face his first opponent.

Let the match commence, Sabrina announced.

-x-

"…This was some new footage they obtained when filming the creature two hours ago," went Ritsuko to Misato after the latter returned to NERV HQ, showing her new footage that involved Shinji in the other dimension. "This shows him having aged very little, but clearly close to Fifteen."

On the computer monitor, Misato saw the static clearing up to reveal Shinji as she saw him last, but he was surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands of people in some sort of stadium, facing off against someone else and a large, serpent-like creature that appeared to be made of rocks. He threw out a ball and unleashed a larger serpent that looked as though it belonged in water and had a terrible disposition.

"What is he doing over there?" She wondered. "Or…what has he done over there?"

"Whatever it is…or was…it's clearly in front of a lot of people." Ritsuko suspected. "It could be another aspect of that world he is in. He finds these strange animals, collects them…and entertains people with them?"

The footage ended with the serpent Shinji summoned spitting out water at the rock serpent.

-x-

"Parasect!" Shigeru groaned, recovering from the repeated attack by Sabrina's Unown "T".

"Hang in there, Shigeru!" Shinji encouraged him to continue after suspecting that the Symbol Pokemon knew nothing beyond this technique called Hidden Power. "Use Slash again!"

Shigeru obeyed and raised his primary pincers up to take down the enemy again. He swung his right pincer down and managed to hit the Unown "T", causing it to whine in pain as it floated backwards.

"Okay, now finish it with Stun Spore." Shinji ordered, and Shigeru shook his mushroom top to release a powdery wave of golden powder that reached the other side of the field, surrounding the Unown "T".

It was clearly affected by the way it moved…and fell to the ground, its eye looking dazed.

"Unown is unable to continue," went the mask-wearing man, acting as the referee. "Parasect is the winner of this round."

Sabrina recalled her Unown into its Poke Ball and replaced it with another ball.

Impressive skill, even though my Unown was recently acquired just a month ago, so it was my weakest, Shinji heard Sabrina in his head. Let's see how you fare against a stronger adversary.

The new Poke Ball opened and unleashed the new Pokemon onto the field. It looked like a smaller, fatter tapir, yellow on the top and brownish-black on the bottom, as if it had bathed in mud.

"Drowzee," it uttered.

Shinji took out Shigeru's ball and recalled him; by substituting his Pokemon, he would still have all three, and it reduced the risks of them fainting, allowing them to rest up until he called for them again. Then, he took out another ball and threw it to the field, unleashing Hyuga.

"Begin!" The man announced.

"Hypnosis!" Sabrina ordered her Drowzee.

"Drowzee," Drowzee uttered, waving its arms up and down. "Drowzee…"

"Wee, wee," Hyuga, flying around to evade the attack.

"Counter with Sleep Powder!" Shinji ordered, and his Butterfree began spreading a mist of sparkling powder, covering the Drowzee with it.

The Drowzee shook its head, but the effects of weariness were already starting to set in.

"Psychic," Sabrina commanded, and Drowzee's eyes glowed bright blue.

Hyuga was suddenly bathed in blue light; he was affected by the Psychic attack.

"Wee!" Hyuga grunted, and was immediately slammed onto the ground by a force beyond the physical.

Shinji recognized the attempt by Drowzee; if it was going down, it was taking Hyuga with it.

"Hang in there, Hyuga!" Shinji encouraged.

"Eevo!" Misato added in, supporting him.

"Wee!" Hyuga grunted as he was lifted up into the air by the Psychic attack, only to be slammed down. "Wee!"

As he was raised up again for the fourth time, Drowzee fell to its left knee, holding up Hyuga in is psychic grip with its left arm, its very Psychic assault now less than half of what it had been before.

"Drowzee… Drowzee…" It uttered, now looking drowsy.

Shinji took a gamble and told Hyuga, "Tackle it!"

Although he was still under the Psychic move, Hyuga flew towards Drowzee, his very efforts only slowed down by the Psychic Pokemon.

BASH! The Butterfree knocked the Drowzee to the ground…and it dozed right off.

"Drowzee is unable to continue," the masked man announced. "Butterfree is the victor."

Sabrina returned Drowzee to its Poke Ball and replaced it with another.

"Very good. You're actually doing better than the last trainer that challenged me. He was from Pallet Town, with a Pikachu." She told him, and Shinji realized that she was talking about Ash. "But just because you beat my Unown and Drowzee, it'll take more than luck and skill to beat my last Pokemon. You may have had the ones you caught for less than a quarter of a year, but this one has been my companion for half my life. Even your Bug Pokemon are likely to have difficulty with it."

She threw the Poke Ball and unleashed her final Pokemon.

Shinji prepared for the worst, expecting to face a large and almighty beast.

The Pokemon released was revealed to be some of fox-like animal, standing on its hind legs, wielding a spoon in one of its hands and with a red star on its forehead.

"Kadabra!" It went.

"Whoa," he shuddered.

"Eee," added Misato; she was just as surprised as he was.

"Hardly anyone has managed to defeat my Kadabra," Sabrina revealed. "Can you?"

-x-

"…Every time we get new footage that glimpses into this other dimension, the time isn't fixed," Ritsuko informed Gendo later that day. "Sometimes, the footage shows the Third Child as he was before he was displaced, but other times, he's shown being older."

"So, the dimension he could be in manipulates the time whenever the footage is acquired?" Fuyutsuki, who was also in the room with them, suggested.

"It's a possibility."

But Gendo, who was examining the newly-obtained footage, watched how it seemed that his son was facing other people with these strange animals to entertain people. It would've been simpler to have NERV take possession of the strange creature the Giovanni Corporation had, but he had orders from SEELE to not interfere with the organization and let them do as they pleased, since their work was proven not to be interfering with the paramilitary agency's.

"Any time we get new footage, he could be as he was when he was displaced or he could be older than a man in his twenties or thirties, even forties," went Fuyutsuki. "Or older."

-x-

"…Wee," Hyuga groaned as he fell to the groaned, incapacitated from the fury of Kadabra's Confusion and Psychic techniques.

"Butterfree is unable to continue," the masked man announced. "Kadabra is the winner of this round."

Shinji called his Butterfree back into his ball and decided to save Ibuki for last, and resent Shigeru back onto the field.

"Parasect!" Shigeru expressed, facing Kadabra.

-x-

"Major Katsuragi!" Maya Ibuki ran down to the purple-haired woman in the hallway. "A call from the Giovanni Corporation came for you! They initiated an experimental video feed, and are sending us a link that you should look at."

Misato followed her back to Central Dogma and took a look at the new video feed, seeing Shinji, exactly as he had been before he was displaced, facing a woman with a rather negative expression…and a creature that looked like a large fox with a spoon in its hand.

"Let the battle commence," said a man wearing a medical mask.

In front of Shinji was some sort of creature that looked like a large mushroom with crab or insect-like legs and pincers.

"What is this?" Misato asked.

"It's a new experiment the Giovanni Corporation attempted," went Ritsuko, who was there earlier to examine the feed. "They tried using some newly-obtained videotaping equipment in front of the creature…and they got this footage that…they're still recording and transmitting."

"Transmitting? This is current?"

"Okay, Shigeru," they heard Shinji say, "use Stun Spore."

"Huh?" Shigeru Aoba gasped, looking around to see if anyone was looking at him.

The mushroom creature then shook its top and unleashed a misty stream of golden dust.

"I guess that mushroom creature belongs to Shinji," Misato suspected.

-x-

"Disable, Kadabra," Sabrina commanded, and her Psychic Pokemon unleashed a wave of energy that caused the Parasect to cease using Stun Spore.

That wasn't a Psychic-Type attack, Shinji realized; it was one of the few moves he understood as being a Normal-Type technique that certain Pokemon could learn over time, and how it keeps a Pokemon from using the last move it used in a battle. Stun Spore's out of commission, but Kadabra's now paralyzed by the spores.

True to his thoughts, Sabrina's Kadabra was under the effects of paralyzes due to being coated in the spores, reducing its ability to attack or defend.

"Okay, Shigeru, try Tackle!" He ordered.

"Parasect!" Shigeru obeyed, charging towards Kadabra as fast as his feet would take him.

"Confusion, Kadabra!" Sabrina ordered, but Kadabra was unable to do as commanded due to its paralyzes, and was tackled by the Mushroom Pokemon, knocked backwards onto the ground.

"Kadabra!" Kadabra groaned, getting back up, its body glowing a pinkish outline. "Abra!"

Shigeru's body was now glowing the same color; it was under the power of Kadabra's Confusion.

"Para!" He groaned, and was immediately thrown by the psychic force backwards.

"Shigeru!" Shinji gasped.

"Eevo!" Misato went, encouraging Shigeru to get back up. "Eee!"

The Parasect struggled to get back up…and glared at the Kadabra.

I'm impressed by your determination, Shinji heard Sabrina in his mind. But paralyzes doesn't stop my Kadabra by any margin of luck.

Kadabra glared at Shigeru and then unleashed a beam of psychic energy from its eyes.

Shigeru was hit and left staggering on his legs.

"Parasect!" He groaned, almost at his limits.

"What was that?" Shinji demanded from Sabrina.

"That was Kadabra's Psybeam," she explained. "Your Parasect is now confused."

And true to her claim, Shigeru was now hitting himself with his pincers, thinking himself to be an enemy; a confused Pokemon would sometimes attack itself until the confusion wore off.

"Oh, this is not good," Shinji told himself, holding Shigeru's ball.

"It's time to end this," Sabrina declared. "Psychic, Kadabra."

Kadabra's body glowed and forced the confused Parasect to levitate, hitting the ceiling, and then falling back onto the ground.

"Para… Para…" Shigeru groaned, trying to stand up again, but fell, completely drained of energy.

"Parasect is unable to continue," the masked man announced. "Kadabra wins the round."

Shinji was now down to his last Pokemon of the gym match as he recalled Shigeru.

"Good work out there, Shigeru," he expressed, and then held out Ibuki's ball.

"Eee! Eevo!" He looked down at Misato, who smiled at him.

"We can still win this?" He asked her, receiving a nod in the positive. "We can still win this."

He then threw Ibuki's ball out onto the field, releasing the female Beedrill.

-x-

"Man, that's one Hell of a bug," Maya expressed at the sight of the large, bee-like creature that Shinji had unleashed.

"If they were any bigger, I'd wanna get far away from wherever he is," Shigeru expressed.

"So, your last Pokemon's a Beedrill?" The woman on the screens spoke, addressing Shinji.

"You already knew that," Shinji responded. "Let the final round begin."

-x-

Ibuki took flight and charged towards Kadabra.

"Psybeam, Kadabra," Sabrina ordered.

"Fury Attack, Ibuki!" Shinji commanded.

The Beedrill raised her two stingers up and began thrusting them in piercing gestures, trying to fight through the Psybeam attack.

Kadabra dodged several of the jabs, but was hit by Ibuki's left stinger, knocking it backwards.

"Great, Ibuki, now use Twineedle (Twin Needle)!" Shinji told her.

The Beedrill continued to jab her stingers at the Kadabra, who tried to evade each thrust, only managing at every last second. Some of the jabs weren't dodged, however, and Kadabra sustained minor cuts from the stingers.

-x-

"…Even bugs can't do that," Ritsuko expressed, finding it impossible for any insect to be capable of actions like jabbing, even at a traditional size, and the one she was seeing was as big as a small animal.

"Try telling Shinji that, and he's using a bug to fight something that looks like a fox with a spoon," Misato responded.

The bee-like creature Shinji was using had suddenly knocked the spoon-wielding fox away onto the ground, causing it to lose its spoon.

"Ouch," said one of the technicians.

The fox-like creature got back up again and picked up its spoon, looking exhausted.

"Your Kadabra is tough," said Shinji, being mindful of his opponent. "Probably the toughest we've faced so far."

"Thank you," the woman responded. "Your honesty is a rarity among strangers from a place far beyond the reach of common hands."

"I shall take that as a complement, then."

The spoon-wielding fox, just as it bent the spoon in its possession, fell back down, succumbing to its injuries and exhaustion.

"Kadabra is unable to continue," the masked man announced. "The victor of this match is Shinji Ikari."

The woman, accepting defeat, recalled the fox into a ball similar to the ones Shinji had used.

-x-

As Shinji checked his Beedrill, Sabrina approached him and presented him with his fourth badge as proof of his victory over the Saffron Gym.

"Not many were able to defeat my Kadabra," she expressed. "Congratulations on your success."

"Thank you," Shinji responded, accepting the badge from her. "We did it, Misato. We got our fourth badge now."

"Eevo," Misato cheered.

"Do you still aim to return to your home on this journey you're on?" Sabrina asked him.

"I do," he answered her.

"Your goal is a far one. One of the steps required in such a feat is what other trainers have done for much of their lives."

"Which is?"

"Capture Pokemon, of course. The Pokemon you catch in the wild will help you towards your path to return to your world."

Shinji looked down at Misato, who seemed just as confused as he was right now.

"How many would I need to catch?" He questioned. "I know that there's more than one-hundred-fifty known Pokemon out there, but…is there a limit?"

"My best answer to your question," Sabrina responded, "is as many as you can capture, Shinji Ikari. The more Pokemon you capture out there in this world…the closer you'll get to finding your way home. Your goal will likely take you more than the time you have already spent here on your journey as a trainer…but in the end, ask yourself this question: Was it all worth it in the end?"

Shinji repeated that question in his mind, but he wasn't sure how to answer it, since he knew only one thing was for certain: He needed to capture more Pokemon now that he knew a part of how he was to find his way home. He then bowed his head to Sabrina and turned to leave the Gym, followed by Misato and Ibuki.

-x-

"What were you able to discover from this transmission the Giovanni Corporation sent us?" Gendo asked Ritsuko, who reported to him in his office what she had discovered from the transmission as soon as the Giovanni Corporation could no longer get any more of the live footage from the creature they were studying in their possession.

"Only as much as this woman the Third Child was facing in some sort of battle had revealed," she explained. "If he wanted to return to this dimension, he would need to capture as many of these strange animals she called…Pokemon…in order to get closer to his goal."

"They call these creatures…Pokemon?" Fuyutsuki, who was also present, asked her.

"So it would seem," she responded. "From what the Third Child stated, there seemed to be over one-hundred-fifty known species that he would have to find and collect."

Gendo didn't seem too impressed by this discovery, however.

"Also," Ritsuko added, "it may just be something he picked up, but the Third Child seems to give the Pokemon he's obtained names that relate to his time here. So far, all we've determined is that he addressed a mushroom-like creature after one of the technicians, a large bee after my protege, and this small fox that accompanies him after Major Katsuragi."

"Some people name their pets after people they know or knew," Fuyutsuki suggested.

-x-

Once he had his three Bug Pokemon mended and thanked them for helping him get closer to the Kanto League, Shinji had them sent back to Prof. Oak's lab for Sakura, Toji and Rei. As much as he wanted to ask him how many Pokemon existed in this world, he decided against until he had to ask later. It wasn't something he wanted to trouble anyone with. And, as much as he didn't want to think about it, he was thinking about what Sabrina had told him. Even if he achieved his goal to return home, would it even be worth it in the end?

As he walked down the streets of Saffron City with Misato, said Eevee brushed against his left leg.

"Hey!" He uttered, looking down at her.

"Eee?" She responded innocently, and then ran up ahead of him. "Eevo!"

"Eh-heh!" Shinji laughed and ran after her. "Wait for me!"

He would eventually catch more Pokemon on his journey to the Kanto League, but he wouldn't let his desire to find his way home depress him. Instead of thinking about the past or future, he would focus on the present. Right now, that was what he needed to concern himself with. And part of that present included the fact that he had four badges in his possession…and needed to go get his remaining four badges and Prof. Oak's package in Celadon City.

"Onto the next adventure!" He expressed.

To be continued…

A/N: What do you think so far? Shinji discovers part of the way he can get home, but it will take him a while to achieve this feat.