Creation began on 07-01-20
Creation ended on 07-03-20
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Even the greatest of us need a break
Sakura Suzuhara was in awe at her brother's involvement with Shinji's adventures in the Pokémon world whenever he spent three days in a medical coma to travel using just his mind, and she was impressed by the sight of Shinji catching this Pokémon referred to as a Regigigas, a Legendary Pokémon from the Sinnoh Region associated with three Legendary Pokémon associated with the Hoenn Region. Then she noticed something about Shinji that had been questioned by one of the girls.
"Toji, doesn't Shinji look a little…tired?" She asked her brother, who was with her at the hospital after returning from his three-day stay at the facility housing Palkia.
"Yeah, sis, he was tired," Toji explained. "He was suffering from a combination of jet lag and dromomania. To make a long story short, he was getting tired from the constant traveling and needed a break, a lot longer than the one he took when he got back to Pallet Town in Kanto."
"And he didn't know?"
"Physically, he was doing fine. It was just that his mind, his thought processing, it was overtaxing for him. So, for the time being, he's just relaxing in Icirrius City for at least two weeks. The Bridge Bunnies and Misato will stick around for a few days to keep him company until he's mentally rested enough to travel again."
"Is this jet lag and 'dumbo-mania'…serious?" Sakura wanted to know.
"No, it's not major. It's only bad if the person experiencing it doesn't take the time to kick back and relax. Personally, I'd rather see Shinji relaxing in Opelucid City because it's a bigger place to just take in the scenery while relaxing."
"Not everyone can relax in a big city, big brother."
They continued to look at the footage, watching as Shinji and everyone else stood before the Icirrius City Gym.
"Shinji is going to face the Gym Leader now?" Sakura asked Toji.
"Yeah," he told her. "The Gym Leader uses Ice-Type Pokémon. It was quite a match for Shinji."
-x-
Shinji missed fishing. Fishing was a relaxing method to cope with several issues by forgetting about them sometimes. And it was impressing and depressing to find that Misato or the Bridge Bunnies had never fished a day in their lives, either. That deserved a trip to the Poké Mart for more fishing rods for them.
"How are you feeling, Shinji?" Misato asked him as they sat in front of a large puddle that could've been mistaken for an actual lake.
"I'm calm and collected," he responded, just taking his time waiting for his Super Rod to react to whatever Pokémon were inhabiting the water. "How are you doing?"
"Other than wishing for a can of beer, I'm feeling good. Can I see your badges again, please?"
"Sure."
Shinji reached into his backpack and pulled out his badge case. Opening the case, he showed Misato the current seven badges he had obtained for the Unova League: The Trio Badge from the Striaton City Gym, the Basic Badge from the Nacrene City Gym, the Insect Badge of the Castelia City Gym, the Bolt Badge from the Nimbasa City Gym, the Quake Badge of the Driftveil City Gym, the Jet Badge of the Mistralton City Gym, and the Freeze Badge from the Icirrius City Gym. This impressed Misato like it did when she saw his other badge cases from the other regions. These were proof of his experience as a Pokémon Trainer and his personal growth and development in a world that wasn't his own. All he needed now was the Legend Badge from Opelucid City and he'd be heading towards the Kalos Region.
"Eee," they heard his Eevee as she slept beside him on his right side.
"It's hard to imagine your Eevee being so powerful after watching her face large Pokémon," said Shigeru to Shinji.
"Level determines ability," he told him, and his Super Rod acted up. "Hey, hey! I got a bite!"
His Eevee awoke and looked excitedly as he pulled his rod back.
"What Pokémon is it?" Hyuga wondered.
"Aaurgh! We're about to find out!"
Splash! From out of the water, a strange Pokémon that appeared to be some type of fish with brownish coloring.
"Is that a…" Maya asked, but was cut off by Misato.
"Stunfisk!" Misato gasped; they had seen a trainer with one of these Pokémon and Shinji had his Audino defeat it like it was barely a challenge.
"Fisk!" The Stunfisk went, looking at them with a frown. "Stunfisk!"
Shinji reached into his bag and pulled out the nearest Poké Ball his fingers felt. He threw the ball at the Stunfisk and watched as it got absorbed into the ball.
Ping! The ball went as the Stunfisk was successfully caught by Shinji.
"You caught a Stunfisk without facing it with one of your Pokémon," said Shigeru.
"Some Pokémon are weakened by other factors, such as being fished out of the water," he explained, holding the ball.
"What Poké Ball is that called?" Maya asked.
"A Friend Ball. It makes Pokémon caught by it friendlier."
The Friend Ball then disappeared from his grip; his current party consisted of his Eevee, Charizard, Gyarados, Audino, Boldore and Regigigas.
"Don't think about anything, Shinji," Misato told him as he sat back down. "You're still on wanderlust lockdown."
"Look up at the sky," he told her. "Ducklett and Swanna."
They all looked up and saw the mentioned Pokémon flying over them.
"I don't think I could move from here right now, even if I wanted to."
-x-
"…I can't believe Shinji actually caught another Legendary Pokémon," Ritsuko admitted to Fuyutsuki as she reviewed the recorded footage of Shinji catching Regigigas. "But to experience mental fatigue caused by traveling?"
"He has been traveling a lot in the last four years," Fuyutsuki defended Shinji's mental fatigue. "People that do a lot over time can get tired if they overdo it. Alcoholism, drug addiction, working overtime, it can get intense if not done in moderation. You could say that the life of a Pokémon Trainer varies from one person to the next, and Shinji would be viewed as an example of one that could live as though they have a deadline or a short lifespan, wanting to do everything before the end of their life."
"Except he doesn't really have an expiration date. Honestly, being nineteen going on twenty there, he's lived longer than I thought he would here. His fatigue was probably due to a subconscious fear of his father's attitude and pressures of staying objective."
"Yeah, that's a possibility. But now that his father is no longer in control, he should be able to relax a bit and enjoy his time as he continues to catch Pokémon and acquire badges to compete in Pokémon regional leagues."
"Were you able to get in touch with Giovanni about the additional security measures to ensure the Angel couldn't escape from the spatial prison it's in?"
"I did, and Palkia said it will install additional spatial rifts. At this point, we're on perpetual standby until another Angel shows up."
"I've retested the pilots, and their scores are still elevated enough to not be an issue. The only issue would be the need for additional Evas. We only have four and we can't use Unit-01."
But Fuyutsuki hoped that another Angel wouldn't show up. As far as they could understand, the Angels didn't have any awareness of each other and the next Angel didn't show up until the previous one was defeated. So long as Zeruel was still alive and in captivity, they were, more or less, in a rut, a standstill, unable to progress until it was resolved.
"I will take no further part in what my parents have done," Shinji had told him. "I will not play a part in their game to decide people's fate. That's a shameful thing to force on anyone that wants nothing to do with deciding such things."
Even if he didn't know everything, he was right about it being shameful, he thought.
-x-
"…Beartic," groaned Brycen's Beartic as it collapsed on the video of Shinji's match for his seventh badge, ending in his favor.
"Beartic is unable to continue," declared the referee as Shinji's Charizard continued to display fierce determination after his Heatmor had been defeated. "The winner is Shinji Ikari!"
"Wow, Shinji really has a strong Charizard," Sakura told Toji.
"Yeah, she's his strongest of Fire-Type Pokémon," he agreed with her, though he was impressed by his Regigigas' ability to defeat Brycen's Cryogonal after his Heatmor was defeated so easily.
"Congratulations, Shinji," Brycen praised the trainer, awarding him the badge he'd been coveting. "You've won the Freeze Badge."
"Thank you, Brycen," Shinji responded, accepting the badge. "We did it, Misato. We got the Freeze Badge."
"Eevo!" His Eevee cheered as she sat on his left shoulder.
"I swear, his Eevee is the cutest of Pokémon he has," Sakura expressed.
"Yeah, Eevee are among the cutest of Pokémon," Toji agreed with her. I can't believe I just said 'cute'. It's such a…girly word.
"Hey, Toji, can I ask you this about Shinji?" He heard Sakura ask him. "Does he snore?"
"What? Does Shinji… Only sometimes, Sakura. Only sometimes. Shinji's…laidback sometimes, but that's only because he's not in school and has carte blanche to travel around, catch Pokémon and compete in the Pokémon League."
"What does that mean, 'carte blanche'?"
"That's just a way of saying one has the freedom to do as they please."
"Your friend is living the great dream, being able to go anywhere and face people that are older than he is and catch animals that can do amazing things."
"Yeah… Pokémon are amazing. If he could, Shinji could have the ones he caught to actually restore this world. There are two Pokémon he doesn't have yet called Groudon and Kyogre, and they can expand continents or oceans, respectively. If he could catch a Groudon, he could raise and expand landmasses. Maybe even raise the coastal areas we used to have around back to the surface. Or with a Kyogre, maybe lower the ocean levels so that we can reclaim lost landmasses. Of course, that's if he caught them and was able to bring them here."
"When he finds a way to return…and when he does return, one can hope that he brings back Pokémon like that."
-x-
For the umpteenth time, Misato was bothered by the one problem Shinji demonstrated while simply taking time off from traveling to let his mind recover: The snoring. And if it wasn't that, the fact that his Eevee picked up this habit.
"He snores sometimes, Major Katsuragi," went Hyuga to her as they were holed up in a hotel; Shinji decided not to spend the majority of his two-week resting period in the Pokémon Center, so he booked their rooms for the duration of their stay in the city.
"He's exhausted," stated Shigeru, "and why are we still in his suite?"
"I can't stop looking at how cute his Eevee is," Maya expressed.
"What do you think are the chances he'll catch another Legendary Pokémon before reaching Opelucid City?" Hyuga asked them.
"I'd say they're split evenly," Misato confessed; if Shinji had been able to catch the Swords of Justice and then Kyodaina, he was bound to catch another one without much effort. "Certain Pokémon just gravitate towards him, see a strength in him that enables him to bring out their best in themselves. Maybe he'll catch another one, but they'll test his worthiness to see if he can best their abilities. They're the judges…and he's the defendant."
In his dreams, Shinji stood in the center of another Pokémon League stadium, facing the Pokémon Trainer that he had yet to face who was currently in the Kalos Region: Ash Ketchum.
"A little break never stopped the greatest of us from continuing to be the best we can," Ash told him, holding up a Poké Ball in front of him. "I've been looking forward to this match."
Shinji held up a Poké Ball of his own and responded, "We'll see who's the strongest out of the two of us. Show your best."
He looked at the materializing audience and saw his friends cheering him on. In his mind, he felt rested, rejuvenated, and ready to take on the world once more.
"Begin!" The materialized referee announced, and the people roared with excitement as both trainers threw their Poké Balls out onto the field, releasing their chosen Pokémon.
Yeah, even in a dream, Shinji felt rested and ready to take on the world once again.
To be continued…
A/N: Well, now I've had Shinji experience two conditions that, while not directly interfering with his Pokémon journey, did slow him down for a short period. The first was a mild case of the flu and now traveling fatigue. Maybe subconsciously, Shinji did feel like he was being rushed to do everything at a fast pace, but now he's able to slow down a bit and still enjoy his time in the Pokémon world. How about Toji's sister expressing how Shinji was living the dream most people have at an early age?