Creation began on 04-09-24
Creation ended on 04-25-24
Neon Genesis Evangelion
To the Future!
Unlike Hanmyo's Meowstic pair, Olympia's were on a completely different level, able to give Shinji's Tyrunt and Phantump a real run for their efforts. Each time Shinji thought they had this match won, the two Psychic-Type Pokémon surprised the young trainer with show of persistence that revealed that they still had some fight left in them. While his strategy with his Pokémon consisted of a combination of raw strength and otherworldly versatility, Shinji didn't expect the two Meowstic to be this strong and persistent. He really had to credit Olympia for being the powerful Gym Leader that she was.
Don't overestimate your opponent, Shinji, he hears her voice in his head. I have seen you winning this match, but whether or not you actually can…is up to you.
On the field, Yūrei-Shiryō and Bitā, looking exhausted and ready to call it quits, looked to Shinji, expecting to see disappointment on his face. But instead, they were seeing gratitude.
"I still believe in you two!" He tells them.
"Phantump!" Yūrei-Shiryō says to Bitā.
"Tyrunt!" Bitā replies, and the two turned back to face the Meowstic.
"Incredible," went Maya. "Even when it seems difficult, he still puts his faith in them."
"That's Shinji for you," adds Kensuke. "He refuses to give in to despair until he has tried everything he possibly can."
"And sometimes, more than most, it ends up paying off," Toji adds in.
Shine! Yūrei-Shiryō and Bitā started glowing brightly, surprising everyone in the gym.
"Yeah," Antonio expresses, seeing their forms shift and becoming larger. "I gotta believe that this is one of those moments where his faith in his Pokémon definitely pays off."
When the glowing ceased, Bitā and Yūrei-Shiryō were larger and more fierce contenders than they had been earlier in the match, causing Olympia's Meowstic to feel some measure of woe.
"I…did not see this happening," Olympia reveals; she saw Shinji winning this match, but she didn't see how he would win, meaning that the two Pokémon he chose to face her Meowstic duo were unknown to her…until now.
"Rrrraaurgh!" Bitā growls, causing the entire building to shake.
"Whoa!" Misato, Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki gasp.
"That is one mother of a tyrannosaur," went Shigeru.
"No," said Asuka in response, "that's a Tyrantrum."
Shinji took out his Pokédex and analyzed his new Pokémon.
"Tyrantrum, the Despot Pokémon," Dexter reveals, "and the evolved form of Tyrunt. A Rock and Dragon-Type. Using its large jaws, Tyrantrum can tear through thick metal, reducing it to shreds. In prehistoric times, it was believed to be almost impossible to overpower."
A double evolution in the same match. A Tyrantrum and a Trevenant. Despite not expecting this, Shinji did feel that today was a lucky day, and he saw luck right in front of him.
"Today is really shaping up into a lucky day," he utters.
"Eevo!" Misato agrees with him.
-x-
Smash! A hot air balloon in the shape of a Meowth's head had crashed into the ground in a forest…and out crawled two people and a Meowth, looking bruised and like they had gone through an explosion or two.
"Could this day…get any worse?" Jessie asks as she stands up.
"Agh…better the twerps…than him," James expresses as he sits up.
Beep! His tablet gets an alert, causing him to take it out to check its contents.
"Just out with it," went Meowth. "We already know who it's about."
"He's facing the Anistar City Gym Leader."
All three sigh, knowing that if Shinji was facing a Gym Leader for another badge, he was on another level they could only dream of being on.
"Wobbufet!" Jessie's Wobbufet expresses.
"Huh?" She reacts.
"He says that humans stated somewhere about the success of a foe," Meowth translates.
"Wobb!"
"And do we really want to avoid him in the future?"
"Wobb!"
"If it means not getting double-slapped?" James questions.
"Yes!" He and Jessie both state.
"Plus, didn't he almost bite the dust because one of his Pokémon did and came back to get revenge?" Jessie reminds them. "The mere fact that he managed to pull through after suffering such a brutal move by a violent ghost shows that he's more powerful than any other trainer we've encountered! I'd sooner steal a Rare Candy from a baby than face him!"
"Ditto," James adds.
"Meowth, that's right," Meowth accepts.
"Oh, and two of his Pokémon currently in play against the Gym Leader, his Phantump and Tyrunt, evolved into a Trevenant and Tyrantrum."
"Ohh!" Jessie and Meowth react with disgust and dread.
There was no way that they were going to get any luck with Shinji, no matter how dirty they tried to plan their tactics. Plus, they had to show respect for someone that managed to survive nearly getting killed by a violent Pokémon that had despised him above all; not many trainers managed to get these three to admit that they were likely to face someone that was beyond themselves and, most likely, beyond the strength of their boss.
"Go, Ikari," Jessie utters…and then spits onto the ground.
"Yeah," James agrees…and spits out a tooth.
-x-
Even with her female Meowstic's Thunder Wave to paralyze them, Olympia could not see Shinji's Trevenant or Tyrantrum backing down now. As a strong psychic, she could see many things in detail most of the time, but this match was in a constant state of flux between what she did see occurring…and what she saw yet to occur. The next thing she knew, a strong aura of telekinetic energy had enveloped the interior of the gym, emanating from her Meowstic pair, causing herself, Shinji and his Pokémon to rise off the ground.
"Whoa!" Shinji gasps as his Eevee moves over to his back to keep from flying off.
"Eee!" She adds in; this was new.
"Kensuke," went Asuka as everyone else from the sidelines could feel the energy being emanated from Olympia's Meowstic, "please, tell me that you're recording this."
"I'm getting it," Kensuke states, his camcorder filming all that the memory card could hold. "I'm getting it all."
"That's good," went Ritsuko.
"Trevenant!" Yūrei-Shiryō utters, protruding purple vines from its back, which then spread into the air. "Trevenant!"
"Forest's Curse?" Shinji questions. That move won't do anything unless the Meowstic are touched by the vines…but I see where this is going. Because they're Psychic-Type, Bitā won't be able to harm them as much, which is why this move will be a boon.
Bitā, even with her increased size and mass, was anything but graceful in her moves as the telekinetic energy around them, causing her to use her legs to kick at the air, making her look like she was trying to fly or swim.
"Rrraaugh!" She grunted, seeing the vines Yūrei-Shiryō released around them.
"Trevenant," it tells her, making sure she understood what the goal was. "Trev."
"Rrraurgh!"
"Get ready, Bitā," Shinji informs her, seeing the vines nearing the Meowstic, making their escape routes limited.
"Counter! Psyshock! Future Sight!" Olympia commands her Meowstic.
"Meowstic!" They obey and the female Meowstic's ears pointed outward, generating electrified psychic energy around herself as the male Meowstic formed a purple sphere in his arms.
"It's all or nothing," Shinji says as the male Meowstic fired his Psyshock at Bitā.
Blast! Bitā took the brunt of the Psyshock, leaving her slightly bruised…but otherwise unharmed by the attack.
"Rrraugh!" She roars; her increased durability had enabled her to shrug off the attack.
"Trevenant!" Yūrei-Shiryō yells, making the vines close in on the Meowstic.
Just inches away from their target.
Shinji could feel something coming soon, suspecting that it was the Future Sight attack (usually because, being versed in how Future Sight works, the attack came out of nowhere, like any unseen force), and looked around the battlefield.
"Eee," went Misato as she held onto Shinji's head; she, too, could feel the presence of an unseen force approaching, and it worried her. "Eee…"
"It could strike at any time," Shinji says, "but watch the vines."
She looks over at Yūrei-Shiryō's purple vines as they were closing in on the floating Meowstic.
"Eevo!" She cheers when they blocked every escape route the Meowstic could've taken to get away from them.
"Meowstic!" They reacted the second the vines made contact with them.
Wrap! In an instant, they were tied in the vines and enveloped in the purple glow which lasted only three seconds.
"Now, Bitā, use your Dragon Tail!" Shinji calls out.
"Rrrraugh!" Bitā replies, her tail glowing brightly as she twists her body around when Yūrei-Shiryō's vines released the Meowstic from their ensnarement, just as these five portals opened up around her. "Rrraurgh!"
Blast! She was struck with five spheres of psychic energy, but they failed to impede her movements as her tail lost no momentum.
Swipe! Although not able to make physical contact with the duo, Bitā's Dragon Tail attack had generated enough energy to release a crescent-shaped wave of light that reached towards them.
Slash! It hit them and sent them falling to the ground, and suddenly, everyone else was falling to the ground to join them.
"Oh!" Shinji reacts as he righted himself before hitting the ground, landing on his feet.
Slam! Yūrei-Shiryō landed on the ground on Shinji's left.
"Trevenant!" It went.
STOMP! Bitā landed with enough force to crack the floor beneath her feet.
"Rrrrraaurgh!" She roars, making the room shake.
Olympia looks at her Meowstic…and sees they're out cold as a result of Bitā's Dragon Tail.
"Meowstic are unable to continue," went the referee, who was among those that wasn't raised into the air by the telekinetic energy. "The winners are Trevenant and Tyrantrum, making the winner of this match the challenger, Shinji Ikari!"
From the sidelines, his friends and admirers cheered for them, something Olympia can't help but smile at; it was embarrassing a little, but Shinji took comfort in their praise.
"I have seen many things across my years as the Gym Leader here," she tells Shinji as she approaches him, "but I have never seen a combo of that sort before. Forest's Curse followed by a Dragon Tail, resulting in a super-effective finishing move. And yet…not even you anticipated such a combo until you realized what your Trevenant was up to."
"It took me by surprise," Shinji claims. "Honestly, despite learning about their move sets, the way they get implemented from time to time…it still manages to surprise me."
"Just as their evolution surprised you."
"Yes, extremely. Though…I think Bitā and Yūrei-Shiryō are a little larger than the Pokédex informed me of their average sizes."
Olympia looks over at the two Pokémon…and chuckled at the fact that, simply because Shinji believed so, he was spot-on about their evolutionary growth spurt.
"Your trust and love for your Pokémon make them much stronger than even you can imagine," she tells him. "Your continued faith in their ability to persevere and tear down obstacles that impede your advances make them formidable in their own way. Congratulations on your victory. You've won the Psychic Badge."
She presents him with the coveted seventh badge to gain entry into the Kalos League, and he accepts it.
"Thank you," he tells her.
"Oh, my gosh," they hear Hikari say as she stands in front of Bitā, hesitantly touching her left leg. "She's humongous."
"We're in front of a walking ghost tree," went Antonio, examining Yūrei-Shiryō's evolved form. "Uh…how do you feel?"
"Trevenant," Yūrei-Shiryō replies.
Shinji smiles as he feels joy at the victory, but more joy at Yūrei-Shiryō and Bitā never giving up, even when it seemed like a struggle.
"Hey, Shinji," went Maya to him, "what was up with that move with the vines coming out the back and then that tail attack that seemed to be more powerful than a regular tail-based move?"
"Yeah, what was it with those vines?" Hyuga adds in, curious.
Putting his seventh badge away in his case, he walks over to the others and explains what they saw that won his Pokémon the match.
-x-
Floating through the forest of where he was, Master had felt the emotional energy of a recent victory belonging to Shinji…and gives a small smile at how his trainer must've gone through barriers to win.
It would appear that Shinji did not fall to the power of the psychic Gym Leader, he thought as he takes notice of a particular tree in the middle of an open space.
The tree seemed devoid of life, bare of any leaves or any kind of fruit or berries growing on the branches. And worse, the tree gave off a hint of bad energy that even Master couldn't stand to be near, causing the Mewtwo to float away from it.
This must be where it currently rests, he thought as he located where he assumed to be the resting place of Yveltal. Now, it's only a matter of time before it awakens…and it all begins again.
-x-
Whilst waiting for Yūrei-Shiryō and Bitā to be thoroughly examined and revitalized at the Pokémon Center, Shinji and the others ate outside where he let his other Pokémon out of their Poké Balls to run around.
"You almost seem like there's nothing wrong with you," Shinji hears Asuka say to him as she came over and sat beside him on the bench to watch his Pyroar and Gogoat run up and down the practice field.
"Thank you," he replies to her. "I'm glad that y'all were there for my gym match for the seventh badge. Although…the telekinetic phenomenon was not something I expect to repeat anytime in the future."
"That was unexpected, but you handled it quite well. It looked like you were having a little fun floating around."
He looks at her like she had said something crazy…but chuckles as he replies, "Okay, it was a little fun, but still not something I seek to do again in the future. It's not easy being lifted off the ground and having no control over where you're floating. Floating is almost like falling; you don't know what could happen in what could be your final moments."
"Rough bummer. Oh!"
Shinji looks away and sees Leo standing in front of them; he considered himself fortunate that he was under level ninety until he obtained his eighth and final gym badge, otherwise Leo might demonstrate unnecessary roughness towards any of them.
"So, tell me," Asuka says to him, "where's the final badge you need to obtain?"
"Snowbelle City," he answers. I hope y'all have no problem with snow."
"Why would any of us have a problem with snow? Ever since we were able to come here and hang with you on your travels through the regions, we got to see the things and places we couldn't see back home. Being here with you is like a vacation…as long as we're prepared for whatever comes our way."
"You make me wanna say something that is a bit ridiculous to hear, but I will say it, anyway: Life is a highway…and I want to drive it…all night long."
"Eh-heh-heh! Shinji, those are song lyrics from an old song. I'm surprised that you knew those lyrics there."
"Oh?"
"Rrrargh!" Leo growls at Shinji.
"Gogoat!" Otona went as he came over and Shinji petted him on his head.
"My life has become one of the best highways, day and night," he expresses.
"Just one other question, Shinji," Asuka responds. "Judging from the name Snowbelle, does the gym there specialize in Ice-Type Pokémon like Icirrius City Gym?"
"That's right."
"Please, tell me that your strategy for facing the Gym Leader there involves Leo here."
Shinji looks at his Pyroar and chuckles.
"Are you up to facing Ice-Types, Leo?" He asks.
"Rrrraaugh!" Leo roars.
"No argument from me, then."
-x-
"…What's the latest update on recent gym matches, Serena?" Ash asks Serena as they were at the Pokémon Center in a small town.
On the PC, Serena checked for recent gym battles and saw only one recent update.
"It looks like Shinji Ikari won his seventh badge against the Anistar City Gym Leader," she informs Ash.
"So, Shinji beat Olympia, too?"
"He fought her Meowstic with a Phantump and Tyrunt, which evolved into a Trevenant and Tyrantrum, respectively, and won him the match. There was a brief, telekinetic phenomenon that lifted them up into the air, but beyond that, the match ended in his favor. Now, he's one badge away from the Kalos League. You should get ready for when you meet him."
"Shinji Ikari, the transient Pokémon Trainer from Pallet Town. What do you suppose are the chances of us facing off in the Kalos League?"
"The chances of you two facing off? I believe they're high. He's not going to let anyone stand between him and his goals, the same as you."
-x-
"Oh, jeez," went Nurse Joy as she finished evaluating Shinji's Tyrantrum. "She's almost thirteen feet here."
"Phhbt!" Ritsuko, who was drinking her canned coffee when she heard her say that, spat as she looks up at Bitā. "Thirteen feet tall?! For real?!"
"Twelve-and-a-half feet, six-hundred-eighty pounds. She's among the giant Pokémon that have a growth spurt during evolution."
"Some of Shinji's Pokémon that evolve seem to get bigger than they should," Fuyutsuki states to the Pokémon doctor. "One of the last Pokémon he has that evolved was his Talonflame, and it's larger than the average Talonflame."
"There are many Pokémon that grow much larger prior to their evolution. Nobody is sure yet why this is so, but beyond the size increase, she's in top shape. Whatever Shinji is doing is working well for her."
"Rrraugh!" Bitā growls.
"Wiggly!" Wigglytuff responds as it opens a capsule of pills and tosses them into Bitā's mouth.
Ritsuko was wondering if Shinji was feeding his Pokémon anything he wouldn't normally feed them, but then had to mentally kick herself for thinking Shinji would do something as unlikely as risk harming his own Pokémon. There was no way he would cross that line, preferring to make sure that they were healthy and happy. Still, it was a mystery as to how certain Pokémon grew much larger than other Pokémon, as she was reminded of how his Shiny Gyarados, prior to evolving, had grown into a large Magikarp under his care…and all he did was feed her and make sure she was active.
"Caring for Pokémon isn't easy," Shinji once said in a recording, "but if you love Pokémon, they're worth the effort you throw into caring for them. And if you think caring for six Pokémon is a challenge, you should meet with Prof. Oak in Pallet Town; his job includes caring for the Pokémon caught by every trainer that comes from the town. Last I heard, his grandson, Gary Oak, had over two-hundred Pokémon. Now, that's a challenge. I'm grateful to people like him caring for the Pokémon I catch that I can't always have with me."
This world gets more and more interesting each and every day, Ritsuko thinks as she looks over at Shinji's Trevenant. "So…you helped Shinji to recover from his post-Ursaring trauma, right?"
"Trev," Yūrei-Shiryō replies.
"Was it…difficult for him to get through?"
"Trev! Trevenant!"
"Do you…by any chance…know what lies beyond the veil of life?"
"Trevenant."
"And I guess that would be telling to know what lies beyond?"
"Trev."
"Thank you, anyway."
Unfortunately, even if Yūrei-Shiryō knew about what to expect once a life reached its end on the mortal realm, they couldn't know until after they crossed the threshold and into the in between. But until that time came about, those still alive to do many things should enjoy the grand gifts that life still had to offer.
-x-
The more Gendo watched the videos of Shinji's time in the Pokémon world, the more he resented his so-called success at being a trainer to these creatures he caught and brought up to face other trainers in matches. Even as he observed the video of him losing his last match in the Kanto League at the Indigo Plateau, he felt contempt over the fact that, despite losing, Shinji still made it in third place because he lasted so long, and that made him part of the top three to win the league, something Gendo felt anger over.
Even when he gets the bronze, it still feels like he got the gold, Gendo thought as he watched Shinji recall his defeated Pokémon and accepted his loss with dignity.
"Congratulations on your victory," he praised his opponent.
Even when he loses, it still feels like he won!
But Gendo couldn't complain about his son through social media now that his primary account had been frozen; even if he tried to make another account, it'd be recognized as his and frozen, as well, prohibiting him from trolling about his son. And the people that reviewed his escapades viewed him like a folk hero when he was nothing more than a false hero; Gendo refused to believe that anything Shinji did in that other world would ever manifest in this one to change it. No, for Gendo, there was no hope in any change unless he was the one to make it so, but with no authority, no agency, no support, he was just a regular man whose only success was being related to a young man that gave the people around the world something else to believe in.
Enjoy your success while you still can, he thought, unable to do anything except hope for his son to fall in defeat in the future. Sooner or later, that curtain is going to fall upon you, and when it does…I hope it buries you in shame.
But even as he hoped for Shinji's future to end in a crush to his elevated soul, he fumed at the sight of Shinji standing alongside two other Pokémon Trainers that surpassed him in first and second place in the Kanto League.
"How does third place feel, Ikari?" The trainer in first place asks him.
"Not bad," Shinji answers. "Not bad at all."
Ever so humble.
To be continued…
A/N: It was stated that Shinji got third place in the Kanto League, but probably never explained how he managed to get third place after his defeat, so we have Gendo fuming over how his son had achieved such a feat that is still a victory to be embraced. And now, with Shinji one badge away from entering the Kalos League, the battle between him and Ash Ketchum approaches as their meet is now inevitable. Can you feel the excitement? I certainly can.