Creation began on 05-10-20
Creation ended on 05-31-20
Neon Genesis Evangelion
A glitch in the system
"…So, the Poké Mart didn't have any new scarves you were looking for?" Maya asked Shinji as they all sat in the cafeteria in the Pokémon Center.
"Yeah," he explained. "Apparently…it's a highly-sought after item ever since our time in Sinnoh. So, I gotta sew Misato here a new scarf."
"The current scarf doesn't look that bad," Asuka told him as she examined the Eevee's scarf. "And you've had it on her for, what, four years now?"
"Close to five years," he revealed, which caused their guardian to nearly spit out her tea. "What?"
"Your Eevee's had the same scarf for nearly five years?" She questioned. "How'd you manage to keep it clean all the time?"
"You do realize you're talking to someone that has a habit of cleaning up after you, right?"
All eyes were on Misato Katsuragi, who cringed at being reminded of her lack of tidiness.
"Eee," went the Eevee nicknamed after her, as if quietly chastising the woman for being a slob.
"Right," she responded.
"But to answer your question," Shinji continued, "I wash the scarf after a few days."
"So," went Hyuga, hoping to change the subject a little, "where's the next gym you're heading towards, Shinji?"
"Nacrene City," he answered, showing them a map of Unova and where the next location of a Pokémon Gym was. "It's supposed to be a popular place because it's mainly comprised of century-old storehouses that have been repurposed as other types of buildings."
"Such as?" Rei asked him.
"Houses, supermarkets, and I believe a museum."
"Okay."
-x-
"I don't believe this," a young man said as he looked on a monitor displaying the outside of the building they were in. "Gendo Ikari's back again."
One of the women came over and saw Gendo on the screen, seeing that he had a lead pipe with him. This was getting tiresome; the fact that just one person from a paramilitary agency was trying to put a stopgap in their project because he possessed some measure of resentment towards his own son, they were all feeling stressed due to his arrogance in interfering.
"Call security," she ordered.
"Yes, ma'am."
With that, she left to go find where Gendo thought he was going. The last time he showed up, he tried to take out the power, and he was trying to do that again, it was going to be a problem due to the fact that if he managed to cause a power outage, he could actually risk harming the people currently incapacitated due to being comatose and on a sojourn in another dimension they were trying to open a door to.
"Prepare the emergency generators just in case," she told the research crew.
"He will never learn," they all heard Palkia say to them. "He who can't learn to surrender his rage and accept change will be forever consumed by it and experience repercussions from which there may be no escape."
-x-
Honestly, Shinji wanted to give Kensuke a break from having to carry most of the tech they had with them during the time they spent traveling around the different regions, but it seemed that some old habits die hard ever since Kensuke ended up stuck in the Pokémon world. It practically didn't make sense for him to buy two maps from the Poké Mart after he came to Striaton City, but since he was the only one that was physically displaced in this dimension, Shinji was the one that would need to know where they were most of the time. Either way, since they would be traveling around every now and then, it helped to be insightful of where they were when asked.
"Hey, what do you have in that bag of yours?" Ritsuko asked as they were walking on the path that would take them to Nacrene City.
"You'd be surprised at what I do keep in my bag," he told her. "At first, I didn't question it, but as time went on, I found myself wanting to question what Kensuke had once referred to as the magic satchel scenario."
"Magic satchel scenario?" Antonio spoke. "You mean hammerspace, right?"
Everyone looked at him like he meant the same thing.
"I don't read comic books," he explained.
Shinji then took off his bag and set it on the ground. Opening it, he extracted everything he brought with him from Pallet Town or acquired from Poké Marts over time. To their surprise, Shinji had packed spare clothes, sleeping bags, collapsible tents, extra Poké Balls, a Super Rod, medicine, human snacks and Pokémon food, some TMs (Technical Machines) and HMs (Hidden Machines), soap and hand sanitizer, facial masks, a collapsible baton, a makeup kit, batteries…
"You practically have an arsenal in that bag, Shinji," Maya expressed, stopping him before he pulled out anything else.
"I know, right?" He responded. "You should see Kensuke's."
"Uh, we kinda did," Antonio revealed.
Asuka and Rei helped Shinji repack everything he took out and they all resumed the journey on Route 3 towards Nacrene City.
Fuyutsuki, despite keeping his calm about the impossibility of it all, couldn't help but wonder how living in this world did not affect Shinji when there seemed to be certain laws of physics that were not followed. If people could pack more than their bags allowed without being compromised by their size or weight, this world seemed to function more like a video game than an alternate universe they were able to traverse subconsciously. Before he could take a step and follow the others, he suddenly felt like his heart missed a few beats.
"Whoa," he went, grabbing onto his chest and breathing in.
"Hey, are you guys alright?" Shinji wanted to know when he stopped and saw that they had stopped walking and either leaned onto some trees or fell to their knees.
Kensuke, leaning against a tree with the Bridge Bunnies, expressed, "I've felt this way before, but not like this. It felt like someone shoved me too hard, but it was subtle."
"I feel like my insides are on fire," added Shigeru.
"That didn't feel like a normal reaction," said Maya to him. "My skin feels tense, but I'm freezing inside."
"Yeah, I know," Asuka got the same feeling. "Like I was microwaved or something."
"Kensuke, you said you felt this way before?" Hikari asked the otaku.
"Yeah," he answered. "I thought it was nothing at first, but then I realized it might've been a warning sign."
"A warning for what?" Toji questioned.
"We might be here longer than we anticipated."
"A power outage," Antonio realized; somehow, the building they were using had experienced another blackout, affecting the project and likely compromising their safety.
"Giovanni," went Ritsuko to him, "what is the safety protocol your crew takes to ensure minimum casualties?"
"In the event of an outage, we use emergency generators to ensure the continuation of life support while we're in induced comas. In the event the crew can't monitor or record us while we're here, we're to be revived from the induced comas within two days to avoid causing risks to our physical health."
"But Kensuke was revived two days after he went under, right?" Shinji reminded. "And before he left, he was with me for nearly four years, so it's possible that…that you might be here for a similar length of time."
"You mean to say, that while a day or two can go by back home, we could be here in the Pokémon world for much longer than three or five days?" Hyuga questioned.
"It's a possibility."
Still, it was a possibility that none of them really anticipated happening. Even though they were physically back in the other dimension, the fact that they were here meant that it would be a while before they would return to consciousness. None of them really expected to be here longer than expected, even though it was to see Shinji.
"Don't worry about it, though," Shinji told them. "If that's the case on the way to Nacrene City, I'll help y'all get what you need for your extended period here."
"Thank you, Shinji," Misato praised him.
"Eevo," his Eevee chirped. "Eee?"
Something flew over their heads and Rei pointed at it by a tree. It looked like a blue puffball with bat wings.
"Woobat!" It cried, looking at them. "Woo!"
"Who's that Pokémon?" Shinji wondered as he took out his Pokédex.
"Woobat, the Bat Pokémon," it identified. "By using its nostrils to stick to cave walls during its slumber, Woobat can leave heart-shaped impressions wherever situated."
Woobat then took off again, and Shinji chased after it.
"I gotta catch at least one of them!" He yelled as his Eevee chased after him.
"Shinji, wait for us!" Asuka yelled at him, following them.
"I take it that he doesn't have a Woobat?!" Maya asked as she followed them.
"If he doesn't have one, it must be a rare Pokémon!" Shigeru suggested.
"Oh, it ain't rare," Kensuke told them. "It's just one of those Pokémon that can be found in this region and likely the Kalos Region."
"Oh, man, there's a cave over here!" Misato heard Shinji gasp, and her curiosity got the better of her; if they were going to be here for an extended time period, she might as well try to see the bright side of being in another dimension where there were no Angels or Evangelions.
-x-
Gendo never got into the facility, even with a lead pipe. But he still tried to damage the project these people were so focused on. He used the program Dr. Akagi made to instigate a blackout, shutting off Tokyo-3's power grid; without power, they couldn't continue, and they'd have to awaken everyone currently comatose to see the Third Child.
We don't have time for this, he thought as he fled the scene and retreated back to the Geo-Front. Just put an end to their project and return to what's really important.
Unlike the last time the blackout program was implemented, Gendo was willing to let the blackout last for a week if it meant shutting down Giovanni's interdimensional research. He was even willing to let the power stay off for all except the MAGI if it meant getting things back on track because it was only a matter of time before the Angel escaped from that portal prison and picked up where it left off with NERV, which was why they needed the pilots to redirect their focus to the dealing of the Angels. Even if there was a chance that another handful of years went by due to the blackout, he doubt anyone visiting the Pokémon world subconsciously would suffer repercussions from the time skip; just because Fuyutsuki was nearing sixty years old didn't mean he'd get any older in this dimension.
The Fourth Child only survived that long in another world because he stuck with the Third Child, he believed in the adaptability of the otaku that made it possible for the social media world to know about the Third Child that hardly anyone in the world was supposed to know about due to the secrecy of NERV's affairs. If they're all with the Third Child, that's the only way they'll likely survive a few years until they get revived here within the next day or so.
-x-
"…Herdi!" Lenora's Herdier groaned as it fell at the strength of Shinji's recently-evolved Boldore in a Double Battle after her Watchdog fell at the might of his Eevee's Iron Tail.
"Four days," went Ritsuko as she and the others watched from the sidelines, "and Shinji actually bested another Gym Leader."
"I wanna say it's because Shinji relies more on the Pokémon he's trained the longest," said Asuka, "but it's truly a balance of keeping his original Pokémon while training the newest ones he captures."
"He put his faith in the newest members of his roster," added Rei, "while at the same time keeping his strongest partner to show them the way."
Lenora was quite impressed to see this Shinji Ikari after watching his matches in Sinnoh. It was a show of talent to display strength and adaptation, and young Ikari was definitely one capable of both to quite a large degree. Even if it would be months before the next Unova League Vertress Conference, and it was likely that this trainer would have all the badges necessary for him to compete in the conference, but he'd likely have the chance to win this region's league, too. But he had to get eight badges first.
"Congratulations, Shinji," she praised him, and presented him with the coveted Basic Badge.
"Thank you, Lenora," he responded. "We did it, Misato. We got the Basic Badge."
"Eevo!" Misato cheered.
"I swear, he makes it look easy," said Fuyutsuki to them.
"You wish it were easy," Toji told him. "He's a natural at training Pokémon. Remember the ones he saw in Wellspring Cave? Was there ever a time you saw anyone feel such elation at the sight of Pokémon he hadn't seen before and wanted to catch at least the ones he hadn't gotten yet?"
Truth be told, Fuyutsuki couldn't recall a time where Shinji had ever felt such happiness about something that sent a wave of positiveness ever since he was a little boy. But he wasn't a little boy, anymore. He was almost out of his teens in this world and still looked the same before he ended up here, albeit a little taller and full of hope.
"Bold!" Shinji's Boldore grunted, getting his attention.
"You were great out there, Jiōdo (meaning "Geode")," he congratulated the Ore Pokémon.
"Bold!" Jiōdo grunted again.
-x-
People weren't happy with the power outage in Tokyo-3. For them, no power meant no phones, tablets, or even access to the Internet, and at night, the lack of lights meant very little the criminal activity that resulted from the outage. But, of course, Gendo didn't care about any of this, as he waited for the return of everyone that left the NERV base just to see his brat.
"It's been almost a day now," he said as he sat in his office. "They should wake them up at any time now."
-x-
"…Are we ready?" The doctor asked the nurse as she prepared to administer the adrenaline solution to revive everyone from their comas.
"Yes, doctor," she answered.
"Proceed."
They administered the solution and waited for them to react. It was hoped that since they had to wait twenty-four hours for their bodies to adjust to being asleep, they were waking everyone up a full day ahead of what occurred last time with Kensuke Aida.
-x-
Shinji awoke to the new day inside his tent as he got the feeling that something was wrong. Getting out of his sleeping bag, he noticed that he was the only human person within the tent, with Kensuke and Toji gone!
"Misato, did you see where Kensuke and Toji went?" He asked his Eevee as she got up.
"Eevo," she nodded in the negative.
They got out of the tent and onto the camp grounds they setup last night, seeing that they were alone. There was no sign of the tent shared by Ritsuko, Misato and Maya, the tent shared by Hyuga and Shigeru, the tent used by Fuyutsuki and Antonio and the one used by Asuka, Rei and Hikari was also gone. Nothing present around Shinji's tent seemed to give any indication that anyone except he and Misato were the only ones that were ever here.
"Where did they go?" Shinji wondered; it was possible that they were just recalled back to their bodies in the other dimension, but to do so while they were asleep was a surprise.
"Eee," went Misato as she searched the spaces where the other tents used to be. "Eee."
Shinji sat on the ground and sighed, unsure of what to do, except to get started on breakfast and move onto his next destination: Mistralton City, where the next gym awaited him with his sixth Unova League badge.
"Can't progress on an empty stomach, Misato," he told his Eevee.
"Eevo," she agreed with him.
-x-
"…How long were we out?" Antonio asked the medical staff as he came to.
"One day," the nurse explained. "We have a serious problem."
"Let me guess," went Fuyutsuki as he got up. "It was Gendo Ikari, wasn't it?"
"That's what we think," the doctor responded, "but he never got into the building and caused an outage. The outage occurred later, after he left, and the entire city's taken a hit."
"I don't believe this," Ritsuko groaned; if it was Gendo's doing using her blackout program, then he has crossed the line.
"If we may," one of the research members spoke up, "how long were you there? With Shinji Ikari, I mean? How long were you with him?"
"Three months," Rei answered, something they were all having some trouble adjusting to due to being back here.
"Just three months?"
"Yeah," Asuka and Hikari.
"It was…still a good time," Toji admitted. "Shinji caught fifty Pokémon in Unova and has five badges for their league."
"What's the last thing you remember?"
"We all went to bed after dinner," Maya explained, "and the next thing I know, I'm waking up here and finding out that only a day had gone by."
"I never thought I'd say this," Shigeru expressed, "but I want to beat the crap out of whoever screwed us out of a good time in the Pokémon world. I wanted to get a Fighting-Type, eventually. I was gonna be badass."
"You wish," Hyuga told him. "Ace Trainer, perhaps, but not badass."
Antonio chuckled at their childish behavior regarding such an ambition, but then fumed over how challenging it was going to be to continue the project if Gendo was going to continue butting into it out of spite.
"If I see Gendo," he uttered to them, "I'd probably lose my cool and break his neck."
"I believe you," Misato told him.
To be continued…
A/N: We have a major glitch in the system. Which kind of Unova Region Pokémon do you think Shinji caught during the revelation that three months past before the others were forced to wake up from their sojourn? So far, we know that he caught an Audino, was chasing after a Woobat, and has a Boldore, but until the next chapter, you have to guess what other kind he has. The magic satchel scene with Shinji's bag, that was something that had to be brought up because it's been done in the games and the cartoon, and everyone was surprised that Shinji had all of that stuff in his bag! Weren't you?