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There is an old joke that says if you are lost in the desert then you should start playing solitair, because someone will always come along to tell you to put the red eight on the black nine.   This is actually a very astute observation of human nature.   The phenomena also applies to strategy computer games.

The case in point:   Shinji played the tutorial level where he found the sick boy, rescued the fishermen, saved the lost sheep, performed miracles to convert another village, taught his creature to play with a ball, located all the musical stones, got annoyed with the ship builder’s constant demands, and, along the way, gained an audiance that told him he was doing it all wrong.

“Stupid Shinji, don’t teach your beast eat people.  Just throw them into the sea!”

“That is illogical and inefficient.  Supplying the materials they need is an expedient way of eliminating them from the island while also gaining reputation for benevolence.”

Asuka’s quarrelsome heckling, and Rei’s quiet solutions, sucked all the fun out of the game.  They were almost as annoying as the game’s sprites.  Anmd what, he wondered, was Rei doing in the appartment anyway.  But Shinji perservered with terminal dogmatism until, finally, he felt he was ready to face the vortex and move to the next level.

The swirling darkness spiralled out to overflow the screen.  Shinji suffered vertigo just looking at the graphics and had to look away to shake off the feeling of being sucked into the screen.  It didn't help.  The darkness sqwirled on right passed him, until the room was only a pin prick of light fading into the distance.

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“Gah!  I feel as though I’ve been turned inside out!”

“You’re not the only one.  Stupid Shinji!  What have you gotten us into now?”

“It was a most unpleasant experiance.  Our current situation is likewise disturbing.’

“What’s our current situation?” demanded Shinji and looked about.  This was followed immediately by armwaving panic action.  “Arggh!  We’re gonna fall to our deaths!”

“That does not seem to be the case,” Rei observed calmly as she glanced at the ground, which was so very far below them.  “We appear to be floating inside a sphere of light.  Perhaps it is a form of an Absolute Terror field?  The light appears to be coming from Shinji.”

“Of course it does,” Asuka observed snidely.  “Shinji always generates the strongest AT field.  But, what’s with our gettup?”

“Form-fitting, red-leather catsuit for you, diaphenous, white robes for me, and a blue toga for Shinji,” Rei noted.  “The color scheme matches our plug suits, yet the theme appears to coincide more with roles in the game Shinji was playing.”

“Wait, you’re not suggesting…”

“Yes.  Shinji appears to have assumed the possition of ‘god’, while we’ve been cast into the role of his conciences.  Perhaps that’s how Rei and Asuka appear inside Shinji’s mind?”

“What?  Why would Shinji see me as the evil one?”

“Please don’t start that again,” Shinji moaned.  “I get enough wierd psychobable from ‘the Shinji inside my mind’.”

“You what?”

“Er… nevermind.  How are we going to get down from here – preferablly without going splut when we hit the ground.”

“You could try pulling us down,” Rei suggested.  “Reach out to the ground with your hand and focus your AT field, as though you were trying to move your eva’s arm.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Asuka insisted, ”It’ll never wor… notsofastyaghha!”

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A little experimentation latter revealed that Shinji could move them all about by reaching out with both his hand and his mind, then dragging on the landscape.  He could also use this form of telekinesis to lift things up and move, or toss, them about.

Asuka and Rei were far more limited.  They could only move themselves about inside their orbit around Shinji and could not interact with the landscape at all.  This discovery was not made with pleasure.  Which lead to the discovery that their was something within reach which they could lay their hands upon.

“No!  Don't kill him Asuka!  We may need him latter.  Just main him a little.”

‘I mustn’t runnaway!  I mustn’t runnaway!  Dammit!  I can’t run away!’