Every Angel Has A Shadow

By SWZ

Summary: Shadow The Hedgehog leaves his world behind crosses through time and space all the way to the EVA verse merging his soul with Shinji Ikari as an infant. Now Shinji battles the angels and struggles to control his powers piece together his dreams and try to discover who and what he really is

I own nothing

A thousand thanks to the incredible mr Popkov

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Chapter eight

Shadow stood tall after defeating the guard robot wih such ease, after fifty years frozen in stasis it felt to stretch his legs and let off some anger; but he had alot more built up anger bulit up over the years. The fat bald man moved behind him utterly amazed at what transpired.

' Destroying that guard robot was spectacular!" - the man exclaimed, thoroughly amazed by the hedgehog's capabilities. He turned his eager gaze towards Shadow once more - "So, Shadow YOU'RE the military's top secret weapon!" - a shadow of confusion swept across his face - "But what did you mean when you said you would grant me a wish?"

"Exactly what I meant..." - '... you bald, moustached buffoon..." .Shadow thought but instead replied Bring more Chaos Emeralds" - he felt the rare urge to grin - which was promptly quelled - when the man's eyebrows shot up and his lips mouthed 'Chaos Emeralds' - "I will be waiting for you in the central control room on the Space Colony Ark!"

"Ark?!"

But Shadow was already gone.

Shinji started to come to, albeit slowly. The events preceding his current state were coming to him in a somewhat disjointed and misarranged way: first, he remembered crashing down. Why? Well, he was obviously up; literally. He could practically feel the proverbial, and the literal high as he floated up near the ceiling. OK. So, why did he crash? The answer materialized in a face observing him closely from above: a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, a smile on her lips and lingering concern in her eyes.

*blink*

Marika looked at him, with relief and curiosity both evident in her face. What also became evident was the fact that his head was occupying her lap. To his alarm, as he tried to get up he found himself unable to move. In hindsight, he was enjoying the feeling his current position was giving off: he felt more than comfortable - he felt safe. With utmost effort he mentally shook himself out of his reverie and began to shakily get up. But he was immediately forced back down again.

"Shh... It's alright. Just take it easy for a bit"

"Umm..." - Shinji was not sure how to approach this strange situation.

"There's more to you than meets the eye, it seems" - Marika sounded like she was on the brink of bursting into giggles. Her tone was not mocking however. It was... joyous, like she was waiting her entire life for something like this to happen. Shinji glanced down.

"I think I'll let you keep them" - Marika said, grinning in a strange manner at his surprise - "Oh don't get me wrong, it's not going to be free" - seeing him frown, she added - "Ohh no, I know what you're thinking. But no. This is not a question of money. I would not make it that easy for you. Ohohohohohoho" - she laughed evilly, making Shinji unconsciously wince - "... Too much?

Anyway,
Believe it or not, neither my grandpa nor my father managed to get that box open. Ever. One attempt nearly brought down the house - literally! - and luckily only ended in a whole lot of burnt hair... facial and bruised limbs .

But then you appear, and it's like couldn't it couldn't wait to pop open. Just for you.

Tell me. Do you believe in fate?"

Shinji was rendered speechless. Because whatever he was going to say sounded like weak excuses at best and outright lies at worst. Fate? Ridiculous... or is it? Did it matter? After all, the most important question was...

"Why me?" - Shinji's voice was trembling. He hated to be controlled by anyone or anything, fate or otherwise.

Marika simply shrugged. The somewhat strained silence reigned for a little while before Shinji finally felt well enough to get up. She led him to the nearest chair.

"Here, have some of this" - Marika said as she handed him a cup - "It's already cold, but this is my grandma's recipe, so it should still do wonders"

"Ugh! Bleh! What the hell is in this?!" - Shinji spluttered as the bitter liquid reached his tongue. It was probably the most bitter thing he ever drank in recent memory.

"Yeah, it tastes horrible" - Marika agreed, giggling - "My grandma would force me to drink that whenever I was sick"

"Well, you know what they say about medicine..." - Shinji muttered and gulped the rest down in a few large mouthfuls. ''Here lies Shinji Ikari, another herbal victim'. Wouldn't that be fitting' he thought as he grimaced uncontrollably. He had to admit though, he was gradually feeling more rejuvenated by the second - "What does she put in this stuff?"

The rhetorical question elicited nothing more than an amused smile and a shrug from Marika.

"So" - Shinji set down the cup and leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms and putting up his foot on his knee - "What do you want?"

"Ooh, straight to business? So serious" - Marika smiled coyly. She pulled up another chair, setting it opposite Shinji's. Once she sat down, she leaned forward, putting her elbows on top of her knees, lowering her chin down onto the back of her hands.

Shinji was thankful for the conservativeness of her dress. Still, he made sure not to let his gaze wander any lower than her chin.

"Tell me, how rare do you think those shoes are?" - Marika asked.

"One of a kind" - Shinji answered without even thinking.

"Exactly" - Marika's face lit up in satisfaction, as she lifted her head and pointed both of her index fingers at him - "So" - she leaned back and folded her arms - "What do I want then?"

'What is it with me and crazy women' Shinji's eyebrow twitched as he lamented his poor fortune. 'Wait. Fortune?... Treasure!'

Judging by Marika's ever-satisfied smile, he knew she knew what he was thinking. She was just waiting for him to say it.

"You want something of equal value. Something just as rare. Something... one of a kind"

"Bravo!" - Marika exclaimed, clapping.

"But how do I... What the?!" - he realized that somehow, before he knew it, he was outside of the shop, facing the now-closing door.

"That is for you to find out! Have fun!"

*slam*

The next morning Shinji awoke to the sound of someone banging on his door in a manner that would certainly leave a dent on the poor thing.

'There's only one person in the universe this annoyingly persistent' - Shinji thought begrudgingly, as he got up and lumbered over to the door, still half-asleep.

His suspicions were all but proven true as soon as he unlocked his door.

*wham*

Misato stood in the door way, fist raised, a surprised look on her face.

"Opps!"

'I'm starting to see a pattern here' - Shinji slowly got up, rubbing his sore forehead with one hand and holding onto the door with another - "Misato. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Originally, Misato came with all the intention of giving him a piece of her mind for the little stunt he pulled on her the previous day. But all that was now wiped from her mind as she gazed upon her accidental victim. Deciding to play it cool, she went straight to-

"Nerv business. I came to tell you that you have a sync test today. Mind if I come in?"

Needless to say she did not wait for Shinji's answer. She looked around and Shinji didn't have much in the way of furniture. Not even a TV

"You know, Shinji, your apartment seems pretty dull" - observed Misato.

"True. I do believe in having only bare necessities in a temporary residence" - Shinji replied

"'Temporary residence'? What kind of talk is that for a teenage boy?"

"The responsible kind" - Shinji barely contained the urge to smile at Misato's reaction to the subliminal message. He glanced at the clock - "So when is this sync test anyway?"

"It's in two hours"

"Ah, plenty of time for breakfast then" - ever the gracious host, Shinji asked - "How do you like your eggs?"

After seven long boring hours of sync testing, Shinji walked towards the exit hoping to break in his new footwear. Opting not to take the train, he instead walked through and out one of the Nerv's parking lots. Making sure the coast was clear, Shinji put on the shoes.

'Now... How did I get these things to work last time?' he wondered.

He tried holding his hands to their respective shoes. Nothing.
He tapped the sides. Nothing.
He clicked the heels together. Nope.
He tapped the toes against each other. Nada.
Exasperated, he resorted to jumping up and down on the spot. But besides making him look and feel silly, the motion accomplished a total of zero results.

'... motion?'

Figuring he had nothing to lose by trying, he started walking, slowly at first, but quickly gained speed, until he eventually broke into a run.

'Holy. Crap'

He was no longer running.

He was skating.

And he was picking up some serious speed.

'Trick question. How do I stop?'

No sooner than he thought this, he discovered that he has already stopped. Just like that. No inertia, no momentum propelling him uncontrollably forward. A complete dead stop.

'Whoa. Cool'

He experimented a few times, just to make sure.

'OK, then' Shinji thought, satisfied. He grinned to himself 'Time to go full throttle!'

Shinji has never felt so fast in his life; the areas he passed were nothing but blurry shapes as he went. By the time he stopped, he found himself on a hill, overlooking a forest outside the city of Toyko-3. He walked towards the edge and peered down at the trees below. Feeling ever more daring, Shinji leapt off only to find himself once again floating in mid-air.

'Well, alright' Shinji thought as he slowly descended.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Shinji got the unmistakable feeling of being watched. His curiosity aroused, he headed in the direction from which the feeling emanated.

He kept going until he reached a part that was cut off from the forest. He couldn't believe his eyes.

'... A temple? Out here?' throwing caution to the wind, Shinji headed up the steps towards the entrance 'This doesn't even look Japanese'

Upon entering, Shinji looked around for anything of interest. Were he an archaeologist, or a historian of some sort, he would have been enthralled by the myriad of the strange hieroglyphics covering the walls. But to him they were nothing more than weird scribbles covering dusty old walls. So, without giving them a second glance, he eagerly headed further inside.

Walking down the corridor Shinji half expected to set off hidden traps. But all that met him were the echoes of his steps. He almost decided to go back, but then he turned a corner and found himself in a large rectangular chamber.

'Whoa...'

The walls were lined with what appeared to be statues of heavily armoured soldiers, while at the centre was a podium. In the middle of the podium there was a stone pedestal, bearing a stone pedestal, with a slanted top. A crack in the ceiling was letting copious amounts of light onto it, and from underneath all the cobwebs there shined the distinct glint of gold. Shinji practically dashed up to the thing and eagerly yanked out his prize, which - after a spot of cleaning - turned out to have been a large golden medallion with a very peculiar insignia: a bird, silhouetted by the sun. He had only moments to admire it, however, as he heard the ominous rumble.

(Later that night)

It was a dirty, bruised and scratched Shinji that fell down onto his bed that evening, still clutching the medallion in his hands. He had hardly done so, however, before his door was once again the hapless victim of an overenthusiastic knocker.
'I swear to God, if I had the strength...' Shinji's anger faded into sheer exhaustion as he got up and lumbered over to the door.

His suspicions seemed to be proven true as soon as he unlocked his door.

*wham*

Shinji did not even bother to get up this time, opting to simply glare at-

"Who the hell are you?"

end chapter

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End notes: Anyone catch the reference? and I think it's about time I give the readers an new OC. But the question is who should I base this OC from? Could or should it be it be the wild echdina Knuckles? or the big red robot wrecking machine Omega? possibly the expert jewel theif Rouge the bat? possibly Amy? Tails ? Ella from Sonic X? . Or maybe The Blue hedgehog himself Sonic? who knows and the next chapter Shinji/Shadow's may get the wrist rings I'll probably make him steal them. That's of course if anyone wants to see that. And that medallion Shinji/Shadow found is the but first small piece of a big puzzle more is coming. Once again a big thank you to the incredible mr popkov. Please R&R and provide any input