On a windy mountaintop...
Shinji coughed. A few sparks came flying out of his mouth. He sighed as he tried peering at the flaming crown that was placed upon his head.
"I dunno, but I don't like this Fire Ability very much..." he complained. "It makes my throat burn like hell, and I also have the feeling as if my head would catch fire from that thing, every minute."
"You should stop complaining!" Meta Knight grumbled. "Kirby was known for using everything he found to get some powers which helped him in his fights. He never was scared of using the fire for his own needs... or for protecting those he sees as his friend."
"Still, if there are so many different abilities, can't I use another one?"
"Very well..." the masked knight sighed and looked around. He gestured over to a small shrub behind which a dark shape was roaming about.
"Try inhaling Sir Kibble over there, his Cutter is a formidable weapon."
"Okay then," Shinji nodded and threw away the flaming crown, which turned into a star that bounced away. By now, Shinji was used to that phenomenon and ignored it. Instead, he slowly tried sneaking up on the unsuspecting Nightmare creature in front of him...
"What are you, a coward?" Meta Knight shouted. "Face him directly, hand to hand! Be more bold! You can just suck him up!"
Shinji cringed when he noticed that the little, helmeted creature in front of him got alarmed by Meta Knight's loud shouts. In fact, its whole body wasn't much more than just a helmet with hands and feet. With a menacing glint of his metallic hide, the Sir Kibble came running at Shinji. In his hands, he was holding something sharp...
Shinji jumped over the spinning projectile and pumped air into his body, floating over the Sir Kibble. Flying was still something he was getting used to, though, and when he landed, he needed a moment to regain his balance.
Sir Kibble turned around, ready to throw another one of his cutting blades, but before he could do anything, Shinji opened his mouth and started inhaling... and the by now familiar feeling of having swallowed a vacuum cleaner spread through his body. Not being able to withstand the vacuum, Sir Kibble was being sucked inside Shinji's mouth, where he was being swallowed and converted into a new ability Shinji could use.
Shinji peered up and tapped against the metal cap he was now wearing. "Well, it certainly looks snazzy..."
"Those caps are no fashion goods," Meta Knight reminded him. "Try using the Cutter now, Shinji!"
Shinji tried, and out of nowhere, a sharp blade appeared in his hands. Along with the Sir Kibble's ability to create these weapons out of nothing, he also gained the knowledge how to use them. Shinji hefted his new weapon experimentically and then made a few cutting strokes through the air. He then hurled the Cutter like a boomerang, and it flew a wide circle, before coming back to him.
He grinned. "This is actually pretty sweet. I wish I could show this to Asuka, then she'd be jealous..."
He lowered his blade and sighed. Talking of Asuka had reminded him of Tokyo-2 and his friends. He wondered what the red-head and Misato were doing right now. And his friends from school, too. And Rei...
Meta Knight approached him. "You are missing your friends?" he asked in a sympathetic voice.
"Yeah..." the pink puffball nodded. "I'd really like to know how to go back... or how I got here in the first place."
"I can't help you with that, kid," Meta Knight shrugged. "But maybe you'll find your answer some day. What about your family?"
"Well, my father is..." Shinji started. Then he gasped, and threw his Cutter at something that had appeared behind Meta Knight.
It was a Birdon that had tried sneaking up on them. The hostile bird-creature was sliced in half by Shinji's twisting blade and vanished in a puff of sparks.
"Good job there, Shinji!" Meta Knight said approvingly. "I just noticed him right when you threw your weapon. I could have handled him, of course, but it's good to see how your skills are improving. You are a natural fighter... your father must be proud of you."
Shinji sat down. "My father... I doubt he'd be proud of me ever. All he does is using me as a pilot... he never gave me any praise for what I did. All I seem to be to him is just another tool for his own agenda..."
Meta Knight frowned behind his mask. "That's not how a father should treat his son. A pity you don't know how you got here in the first place, I'd love to have a talk with that parent of yours... and what about your mother?"
"Mom's dead..." Shinji murmured. "Several years ago..."
"I... see," the knight murmured. "My condolences."
"Thanks," Shinji sniffed. He always felt emotional when he was reminded of his mother Yui. "Sometimes, I think she would have been proud of me, if she had seen my battles against the Angels."
Meta Knight didn't ask what an Angel was. "So you were a warrior back in your world, too?"
Shinji smiled. "Something like that, I suppose. Asuka, Rei and I were the pilots of the Evangelion Units, the only things we could use to fight the Angels. And sometimes, when I was piloting my Unit 01, I had the feeling as if Mom was really watching me..."
Meta Knight was no sentimental fool. He just knew that emotions could do wonders to the heart of an intelligent creature. If this boy's love to his mother had helped him in his fights against his former enemies, it probably would not distract him against his fight against Dark Matter's minions either.
In Shinji's homeworld, the headquarters of NERV were in an uproar. Everyone was busy preparing for a possible attack. An Angel had been sighted and Gendo didn't want to be unprepared.
But what should they do if Shinji and his two fellow pilots did not return in time? And now even Major Katsuragi, Dr. Akagi and Lt. Ibuki were missing...
In its huge hangar, Unit 01 was resting while the technicians were preparing it for battle. It didn't move an inch, but deep within it's core, a trapped soul was feeling very uneasy.
'Where is my Shin-chan?' Yui Ikari thought to herself from the inside of the metal behemoth that was Unit 01. 'He and the girls are the only ones that can stop Zeruel. Where did he go? I hope he's all right...'
Not being able to contact her son at any time, even when he was as close to her as he is when he's piloting the Eva, Yui still was feeling confident when she could see him saving humanity again and again. Yui really didn't know herself how her soul got trapped in Unit 01, and she couldn't control it herself... but when the Eva was hit by an Angel's attack, she always felt it as if she was the one that got attacked.
And when Shinji was sitting in his cockpit... she felt as close to her son as a loving mother could. If only she had been able to sometimes tell him how much she missed being with him as a mother...
And Yui continued to ponder while all around her, the technicians were continuing to getting the Envagelion Unit ready. They were so busy that they never noticed the small flash of light on top of the Eva's head.
A small, green creature floated down and landed on Unit 01's head. Crouching down, so the humans wouldn't stop him, Celebi tried not to make any unnecessary sound.
After making sure that nobody had noticed him, the time-travelling Pokémon activated his psychic powers and projected his thoughts into the core of the metal titan he was perched upon.
'Yui Ikari?" he asked.
A surprised gasp was the only answer. 'Who... who was that? Nobody knows that I'm in here... and nobody could recognize me either.'
'I am on the top of your Eva Unit's head, Mrs. Ikari,' Celebi explained. 'I am a visitor from another time and space. My name is Celebi.'
'What... what do you want from me?'
'Don't be afraid! I'm here to help you. I know where your son Shinji is.'
For a while, Yui stayed silent. 'You know my Shin-chan?' she finally asked.
'Well, I know what happened to him,' Celebi explained. 'He is on a very special mission to save a far away planet from a threatening danger.'
He used his psychic abilities to make sure Yui would believe him, hoping Arceus and Dialga would forgive him for controlling her mind like that, even if it was a tiny bit.
Yui smiled mentally. 'My Shinji... always ready to help others! That makes me so proud... but wait! What about his responsibilities here? An Angel is approaching! We need him. Please, whoever you are, if you know where he is, can you bring him back?'
Celebi winced. He thought she would ask something like that. 'I'm... afraid that's not possible right now. But... I can take you to him!'
'Really? But... but I'm trapped in here. Besides, Shinji would never recognize me like this... he never noticed me when we fought the Angels together...'
'That is no problem at all, I can free your spirit from this prison and take you to a... friend. He can provide you with a new host boy, since your old one died. You would gain all the powers and abilities of the body's previous owner. It will help you on your search for your son.'
'I don't know...' Yui had a real bad feeling about this. 'It wouldn't be right, taking over another person's body like an evil spirit...'
'No worries, the person in question has already vanished from its place in the world. You will be her new replacement. And as soon as I got you out of here, I will help you find Shinji!'
'Why are you doing all of this?" Yui asked.
'Let's just say that Shinji is feeling very lonely... and since you are the one he had missed the most over the past few years, I figured it would be the best for both of you to help you rejoin.'
Had Yui still her body, her eyes would have teared up. 'If you could do that... I would be forever grateful! I agree. Please, help me find my son.'
'Okay then, here we go...'
Celebi took a firm mental grasp on Yui's spirit and 'pulled' her out of the Eva's core. He could sense her confusion, so he hurried and shoved her into the right direction... where she would be in the right 'hands'.
"Well, that's all I can do...' Celebi mumbled. "I really hope Pit and Navi appreciate this... it isn't my style at all to enter a foreign realm in person. But it was the only way to free the poor woman from this... thing!" Disgusted, he stared down at the metal colossus beneath him. 'I really hope Master Hand will take her to her new body safely... since Kirby was the only missing Champion from Pop Star, he had to use a missing person from another world, close by...'
But then, a pleasant warmth spread through his body and he couldn't help but smile. 'Oh well...' he sighed. 'At least, we will help to reunite a loving mother with her son...'
And that was worth every risk, the little green Pokémon decided.
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(Posted Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:36)
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