Creation began on 01-24-25

Creation ended on 01-24-25

Neon Genesis Evangelion

We Finally Meet!

A/N: No more obstacles! No more distractions! Just a moment too long in the making!

Once the buzzing of activity died down some, Shinji's Eevee looks away from where the group was standing towards an open space…and jumps off his left shoulder and runs toward it.

"Huh?!" Shinji reacts and follows after her.

-x-

"Pika?" Ash's Pikachu utters as he runs off towards an open space. "Pika!"

"Huh?" Ash reacts as he chases after him.

He follows the yellow mouse to an open space in the new building…and spots him greeting an Eevee with a purple and green scarf. A memory of something from the past came to mind, but he had forgotten where.

"Oh, such a pretty Eevee!" He hears Bonnie express as she, Clemont and Serena come over. "Oh…my…gosh!"

"Well, well," Ash looks up and sees the young man that he'd been hearing of for such a long time…but had only met in this moment. "It looks like we finally meet…Ash Ketchum."

"Yes," he responds, "we finally do…Shinji Ikari."

The Eevee climbs up onto the right shoulder of its trainer and greets the small group.

"Eevo!"

"Oh, my," they hear the voice of a girl with long, red hair and see her and a bunch of other people that were with the trainer with the Eevee.

-x-

Watching from a relative distance, Master, in Lumiose City to see Shinji fare against other trainers, had seen him meet for the first time this other trainer that lived in the same town he came to over five years ago.

They finally meet, thinks Master as Shinji clasps wrists with Ash. It was inevitable from the very beginning that they would.

"…You're quite the talented trainer," Ash addresses Shinji.

"I hear you have your grandiose moments, too," Shinji responds. "I think for the longest time, I've been playing catch-up just to meet with you, and what an experience it's been."

"You've gotten all eight badges to compete in the conference. I also heard that you were…in an incident a while back in Laverre City shortly after the incident involving my herd of Tauros in Pallet Town and your…Ursaring. Are you alright?"

"It's water under the bridge…or wherever you choose to displace it. It's behind me. I look forward to the present. Heh. I do have one question for you, though."

"Which is?"

"Do you ever let anything or anyone, no matter how big or small the situation they get you in, stop you from getting closer to your goal?"

"Never."

"And Team Rocket?"

"You've met them before?"

"Every once in a while. I think they're afraid of me each time they see me, which is often after they've been clearly defeated by someone else that they stand no chance against."

"Which is often me."

"So, you're the one they refer to as a twerp? They need to give up. Seriously, they do. Stealing other people's Pokémon? That's just going to end badly for them."

Master couldn't agree more with Shinji regarding Team Rocket's trio comprised of the young man and woman and Meowth. Each time they went up against someone like Shinji, they were not facing an amateur. They were up against someone that had been misled enough times to know that enough was enough, and each defeat given was with a warning of much worse to come if they persisted. And Shinji was someone that could give worse than what he gave these three had experienced before in the past…but often refrains from doing worse because, despite the difficulties he has faced, he wouldn't cross that line unless he absolutely had to.

"Do you see more of how he handles himself during his time here around others?" Master asks the man that was Gendo Ikari, wearing casual clothing instead of his usual wear from when he was in charge of NERV. "He doesn't let what befell him keep him down. He moves forward and takes from what happened to improve upon himself. His near-death experience, while still a traumatic blow, is lessened by those around him and the fact that he stood up to the memory of the Ursaring that despised him."

"Yeah," Gendo answers the Genetic Pokémon. "But he seems so happy here."

"He is. However, he does miss the other world he is from, but only because of the people he knows from there. It doesn't change the likely possibility that, if by some miracle, he can bring Pokémon he has caught to his own dimension and use their abilities to mend the damaged state it has been in for fifteen years, he will and could be viewed as a hero by those that seek the power to heal instead of harm."

Despite being here in astral form, Gendo was starting to feel like he understood how the pilots and NERV personnel that were able to come here enjoyed their time here. Although this was just one city among many that could be found in regions across the land, it was an architectural beauty you couldn't find in their world, even on a regular day without any danger. And the videos of the Unova Region and Johto Region were also places where seasons could be experienced in their greatness. Unlike their world, there was still joy to be had here, and that was often when around Shinji.

-x-

"You," went Bonnie, addressing the women in Shinji's group, "you, you, you, you and you (she points to Misato, Ritsuko, Maya, Rei, Asuka, and Hikari). You're all keepers!"

"Huh?" Fuyutsuki and Kaji react to this.

"Could one of you please look after my brother?" Bonnie asks the women, to which Clemont reacts with embarrassment. "I can't keep watch over him forever."

"I take it that she does this a lot?" Shinji asks Ash and Serena.

"Kind of," Serena responds. "It's a little embarrassing."

"I'll be honest, I'd take that kind of a problem any other day over dealing with Team Rocket…or Team Magma or any other group of people that use Pokemon for criminal purposes."

"Thanks."

"Uh, you two should be heading to the opening ceremony right about now," Clemont tells Ash and Shinji, and the two trainers take their leave to join the other trainers that had fought their way to get here. "Hard to believe that these two have only met today."

"Yeah," Kensuke says in response. "Shinji heard about him ever since he showed up in Pallet in Kanto, but fate seemed to play a hand in their eventual meeting for a long time."

"You believe in fate?"

"Fate, karma, taking back control of a chaotic situation."

"This is just me saying this, but out of the two, Shinji seems more…I don't know, enlightened?"

"He's encountered and experienced things that can be a bit more extreme. If this were a game, the setting for him would be difficult instead of easy or mild. But Shinji's actually looking forward to facing Ash later in the conference. They both get to see which of them is at a level higher than the other."

-x-

"…It's incredible here, people!" A reporter announces over the airwaves across Kalos' radio stations and apps as the current Kalos League Champion greets the competitors. "Here in Lumiose City at the Lumiose Conference, we have a total of sixty-four Pokémon Trainers, and every single one of them wants to be the new champion! We have locals from all across the region with several visitors from other regions across the world! We have Benny Gomez from the Hoenn Region. We have Sarah Stiles from Johto. We even have Ash Ketchum and Shinji Ikari from Kanto. It's a who's who of some very spectacular competitors here."

"Shinji Ikari?" Pokémon Trainer Tierno utters, looking at the guy next to Ash. "He's the one that won the last Sinnoh League Championship? He must be pretty powerful."

Ash could hear the gossip like it was all there was to hear directed towards Shinji.

"It doesn't bother you in the slightest, this gossip?" He asks Shinji.

"No," Shinji answers him. "I have no control over anything beyond how I choose to respond. Plus, people gossip every time, wondering about who anyone is or how they got where they are. The only thing I am grateful for not hearing so far today is any question about what I experienced before my Laverre City Gym rematch. I survived, but my heart goes out to the Pokémon that didn't fare as luckily as I did."

"I would only ask you about your time at the Lake of Rage in Johto."

"Oh. Well, go right ahead, then."

"How did you not let a day like that break you? If it had been me, I'd probably have a hard time believing that not everyone would do what those people did to the Magikarp and Gyarados there. How'd you…get through it?"

Shinji sighs and tells Ash, "No one is a failure if they have friends to help get you through a tough period."

Shinji then picks up Misato and pets her head, earning a purr from her.

"That is true," Ash agrees with him. "So, your Eevee is your first Pokémon?"

"Yeah. Misato here is actually the first Pokémon I've ever seen when I woke up here. Since then, we've never been apart."

"You never part with your first."

"There's no foundation without your first."

Ash could really admire this Pokémon Trainer. He was humble and didn't let past victories make him feel unstoppable. He respected Pokémon and had gone through hardships that practically made him stronger than he ever expected him to become. And he wanted to face him in the conference in front of everyone to witness.

"To the victor goes the glory and to their Pokémon the greatness," Shinji tells him, raising his right fist at him. "I look forward to seeing your best, Ash Ketchum."

Ash smiles and raises his right fist at him in turn.

"I look forward to seeing your best, as well," he replies.

"Pika!" Pikachu cheers.

"Eevo!" Misato chirps."

-x-

Burst! A dark red and black head emerges from the ground within a forest!

"Grrr!" It growls as the rest of its body crawls out of the ground. This land has replenished itself with new life! I shall feast like a god! But first…I must deal with those that dare to stand in my way! Let those that stand in my path to power suffer the wrath of a thousand claws searing with endless despair!

Spreading its wings, it drew in energy from its surroundings as Pokémon from a distance sensed its animosity and fled for safety.

To be continued…

A/N: Anyone excited yet?