{Warhammer returns from the light.}

	WH: You cannot measure a man by his height. It's the size of one's 
heart is what counts. So what if Shinji's a tiny man in a huge world? 
Inside, he could be larger than we all could. Or not. It's all up to the 
person in charge how tall you are. And that's you.

TekkaKnight Warhammer presents

Seraphim's Judgment
Part 6:
Vanished Son

A crossover of Neon Genesis Evangelion
And Teknoman
Written by Christian Clark
Warning: This may contain some spoilers.

	From within the entry plug of Evangelion Unit 01, the only thing one 
could have seen was the LCL. But, if one could look beyond the mere 
substance, they would see infinitely much more. 

	In an endless void, Shinji curled his unclothed body into as much as a 
sphere as possible. The only thing he could hear was his own thoughts.

	<Where am I?>

	<The Entry Plug?>

	<EVA Unit 01?>

	<The Geofront of Tokyo-3? >

	<Japan?>

	<Earth?>

	<Nowhere?>

	Another mind, a warm and gentle voice, answered.

	<No. You are here. With me.>

	Shinji turned to see another figure there. In a glowing white haze, he 
saw a woman. The only area of detail he could see was the face. Her 
light brown hair was flowing throughout the void like under the water. 
Her face, although weary, held the same gentleness as the voice he had 
once heard. That was when he remembered. It was his mother! 

	<Okaasan? >

	She smiled and nodded. She floated to him and cupped his head with her 
hand. Her other wrapped around his body and she held him close. He could 
almost hear her sobbing when she replied.

	<Hai, Shinji. It's me. >

	In response, Shinji wrapped his own arms around his mother. He looked 
up to see her smiling face. She bowed her head down until both their 
foreheads touched.

	<My son� Now� witness the past through my eyes� and understand. >

	Shinji then saw everything. From the moment he was conceived. It was 
she and Gendou discussing the name of the baby. Shinji, if it was a boy. 
Rei, if it was a girl. Then, time sped forward. He saw a moment when a 
one-year old Shinji being held by his mother. Gendou felt sorry for the 
child that he had to grow up in a hell that the world had become. In 
response, his mother said that anywhere he goes and anything he does can 
become Heaven. 

	Seeing all this, gave Shinji a feeling of warmth. One that he had 
almost forgotten. Then, he saw something else.

	He saw his parents talking in front of a giant that looked a little bit 
similar to EVA Unit one. 

	"Yui� I still can't help but worry about what would happen if�" Gendou 
pleaded. Seeing him like that surprised Shinji quite a bit. The normally 
cool and calm Gendou Ikari, was concerned for his wife. 

	His mother smiled "Oh Gendou. Don't worry about me. Besides, someone 
needs to do it."

	Gendou sighed in resignation. And soon enough, Yui was placed into the 
Entry Plug of the primary Unit 01.

	A woman's voice came through the speaker in the Plug. "Now Yui, you 
remember everything that we went over?"

	"Of course Naoko-san. Let's get this started." Yui said cheerfully.

	"Alright. Starting synchronization process."

	The lights on the screen were lighting up slowly, but steadily. Yui was 
excited. If this was successful, just think of the other advancements 
they could make in other areas. That was when it happened. The screens 
overloaded and the alarms screamed their warnings. 

	Within, Yui screamed. She felt the emptiness of the EVA's mind invade 
her body. She only looked down for a minute to see her body was coming 
apart. 

Like in a computer image, small bits of her body tore off and started to 
swarm around her. More and more of the small pieces of her body sped up 
to the point where she could barely see them. She let out a final scream 
before the last of her body was lost. The swirling pieces dissipated 
within the EVA.

	The next time she opened her eyes, she was seeing Gendou striking the 
front of the EVA's face guard. 

	"GIVE BACK YUI!!" he screamed over and over again. When the giant 
wouldn't respond, he collapsed to his knees and cried with no control. 
That was when it hit her. She _was_ the EVA. She was seeing Gendou 
through the eyes of the EVA. She wanted to speak, to comfort Gendou, but 
could not.

	The images stopped and Shinji once more found himself with his mother 
in the void.

	<Okaa-san� I never knew� and all this time I� >

	<Don't worry Shinji. I'm here. >
      
	Three other minds soon came into the void.

	<As are we. >

	Shinji turned to see three other beings. They appeared to be less human 
than he and his mother were. The first was a woman made of glowing blue 
ice, her cool demeanor generating a frosty haze about her. The second 
was a woman made entirely of fire, wearing a scowl. The third was a man 
with a black aura surrounding him, darker than the surrounding void.
 
They were souls, like Shinji and his mother were.

*************************************************

	In one of the more populated areas of Tokyo-3, a woman knocked on the 
door of an apartment near one the entrances of NERV. The door was 
answered momentarily by an American woman of medium height with 
shoulder-length hair. 

	"Nodoka-san! I've been expecting you! I got your message," the smaller 
woman said. Nodoka smiled and bowed.

	"Thank you Sera-chan. And I got your reply. I thank you for letting me 
stay for a while." The taller of the two said as she stepped inside. 

	"Oh, it's no trouble at all. Besides, I do not get that many visitors 
around here." The smaller of the two said as she gestured to her 
somewhat messy apartment. Well, somewhat messy to her. Seeing the mess, 
Nodoka would have fainted were it not for the strength she had acquired 
over the years. 

	"I can see why." She said with a nervous expression.

*************************************************

	In Central Dogma, several days had passed since the battle with Zeurel. 
Still, there was no sign of Shinji inside or out of the entry plug. 

	Ristuko held Maya's shoulder and gave her the same look and the same 
question. Maya shook her head. No success. The news made the chief 
scientist sigh in resignation. She rubbed her tired eyes with her hands. 
Ever since the loss of Shinji, Ristuko had barely gotten a few hours of 
sleep each night. To be quite frank, she was reaching the end of her 
rope.

	Sliding into her chair, Ristuko found the weight on her eyes to be too 
much. Even with all the caffeine and nicotine, her body could only go on 
for so long. A hand rested her shoulder, and she weakly craned her neck 
to seen an equally exhausted Misato. 

	"Get some rest. I'll take it from here." Most times, they both found 
themselves at odds. However, with Misato more and determined to get 
Shinji back...

	"No. I can do it." She replied and tried to get up. But found she 
landing on her rear rather unceremoniously. Her eyes more close to being 
closed than ever.

	"Oh, is that so Ritsuko?" her friend countered and bent down to pick up 
her from the ground. "I'm taking you home, where you can get more rest 
than you've been getting."

	Looking forward, Ritsuko sighed, "I hate to admit it� but you're 
right." Then, she passed out from exhaustion. 

*************************************************

	  At school, Touji found Kensuke's usual jabber to be almost 
transparent. He couldn't figure out why, but he couldn't get seeing that 
empty entry plug out of his mind. Shinji, one of his newest friends and 
fellow pilots, was gone. Just like that. He turned to see Rei staring at 
a paper on her desk. That was something definitely worth looking into. 

	He peered over her shoulder to see what the picture was of. It was 
hand-drawn picture of Shinji, smiling and on a bike. Somehow, that 
seemed something rather out of place for the Shinji he knew. Though, it 
did look like something that would be nice to see. Shinji, smiling and 
playing like a regular teenager, instead of being the usual 'Mr. Gloom 
and doom'.

	"You miss him?" he asked taking the desk in front of her.  

	She looked surprised momentarily, but then sighed in resignation and 
nodded. 

	"So do I," he admitted, "who did that? Doesn't look like anyone that 
Kensuke or I would know about would it?" 

	She blinked and replied, "I drew this."

	The response made his eyes almost bug out. The picture was good. It was 
very good in fact. He would never imagine Rei 'the sterile' could be so 
good at free-hand drawing. 

	"Suzuhara-kun." He looked up as she continued. "Why do you miss him?" 

	"Well," he said while turning the desk to her, "he's my friend. When 
you got friends you want to keep 'cause you like 'em and all, you can't 
help but worry. You feel the same?" 

	A long pause answered his question. Until, "Hai. He is the first 
person, other than Ikari-san, to show that he cares for me. I think� I 
think he is my first friend. So, I can not help but worry for him."

	Touji couldn't help but smile after seeing this. "Well then," he said 
while standing up and bowing formally, "if it would please you 
Ayanami-san. Since you are a friend of Shinji, any friend of his is a 
friend of mine." He ended with a smile, making himself look not too 
serious. 

	Rei blinked several times in utter and complete confusion. Then, a 
smile slowly grew from her face. "Though I do not know why, I would like 
that very much Suzuhara-kun."

	Returning to his seat, Touji smirked and whispered, "Ok. Once Shinji 
gets back, I am going to make sure you two stay together for as long as 
I can."

	The comment made Rei's eyes expand to a size she never thought possible 
as she lost balance on her chair and fell over. The only sound after 
that was Touji's mirth-filled laughter.

*************************************************

	  In the darkness, five figures conversed in secret. The figure at the 
head spoke up.

	"What we must do now is take action against what Ikari is doing. If we 
simply stay here and do nothing, then all we have worked for will be for 
nothing."

	A slim figure in green spoke up. "Yes, but it wouldn't be recommended 
that we attack directly. Also, considering we still have a few more 
angels to take care of, it would be wise if we simply did what should 
have been done in the first place."

	A larger man in blue growled, "And what is that, if I may ask?" 

	The smaller man grinned, "Activate the 'fifth' child. Who else? No one 
else would suspect him at all."

	The other members of the meeting deliberated about the action, and 
found it to be very worthwhile. A spy that would see Ikari's treachery 
firsthand and who was loyal to them. In fact, the agent they were 
referring to was already in Tokyo-3. Simply waiting to be activated. All 
they needed was the correct occasion to replace one of the pilots. And 
they all knew that one time or another, it would happen.

*************************************************

	Meanwhile, within the void, the pilot of Unit 01 found more about the 
EVAs than the people who created the man-made demons. He was told the 
true origins of the Second Impact, SEELE's plans and most 
importantly, the truth behind the Evangelion.

	"You were all people at one time?" Shinji asked the other souls of the 
EVAs. 

	Sanshi nodded slowly. "I was the person who designed the Artificial 
Intelligence matrix in the EVAs back ups. I will not be missed. I was 
the black sheep of my family, and was never really loved that much. 
Oddly enough, it was my friends who helped me be what I was instead of� 
well something bad." 

	Koorichi added in, "We all had pasts that we would prefer to change had 
we the chance. I was the first pilot of the prototype. My past has 
nothing much to speak of, because I only lived for less than nine years. 
The woman, Ristuko, her mother killed me. She placed me into the plug of 
this and increased the pressure to the point where I died. The only 
consolation is that cruel woman killed herself. Yet, I cannot help but 
feel sorry for her."

	"Oh spare me!" growled Ninohi. "At least you all _had_ a life!"

	Shinji blinked in confusion. Yui placed her hand on his shoulder and 
looked to Ninohi.

	"May I tell him?" Ninohi looked as if she couldn't care less.

	"Shinji� Ninohi� never really had a past. The first pilot of Asuka's 
EVA was Kyoko Sohryu Langley. During the trial stages, she suffered a 
mental breakdown. What they didn't know was that while she was in the 
plug, her mind began to break and the shards created Ninohi. She always 
felt incomplete, which is the reason for her behavior. Also, it has a 
certain influence on Asuka as well."

	Shinji couldn't help but feel sorry for the fiery woman and Asuka. 
Then, another question came to mind.

	"Okaa-san� why am I here? And why are you telling me all this?"

	He saw her face sadden. "It was a mistake. I only wanted to save you, 
but I never knew it would resort to this happening. The second is� I� I 
believe that you deserve to know the truth. Even though once you return, 
you may forget all that has happened. "	 

	Shinji was at a loss for words. He wanted to stay here with Yui longer� 
but knew that he would return one way or another. 

	"Not only do you have to defend mankind, but you have to be there for 
Rei. She likes you, you know." Koorichi spoke smiling. Shinji was 
shocked, Sanshi's addition to Koorichi's words didn't help any. 

	"Whether you know it or not, Touji misses you as well. You are, after 
all, his friend."

	Shinji, once more, was at a loss for words. Then, a light within the 
void of darkness shone through. 

	"It is time Shinji." Yui said. "Remember, I'll always be here for you."

	Before he went to the light, he took a long and loving embrace from his 
mother. He could tell she was starting to cry. He too was letting the 
cold reality of leaving his mother reach his mind. Then, he began his 
journey back. Just as he was about to enter the shining nexus, he turned 
and said to the souls of the EVAs. 

	"Thank you�" With that, the light became blinding to him and he emerged 
from the heart of the Unit 01 EVA, naked, warm, and alive.

End of Chapter 6

[Warhammer returns from the light.]

	WH: My goodness. Shinji is just having one good experience after 
another. Maybe he'll develop more of a backbone than ever! Maybe, he'll 
even develop a vertebrae or two! Anyway, Shinji deserves to see his mom 
again. Also, I thought that adding in the others as well was a nice 
touch, don't you?

Oh, before I forget, the title for this chapter is based on a short 
lived, but very good TV series called "Vanishing Son". You get the idea.

At first, I as going to have Rei look at a photo of Shinji. But since we 
basically know his track record for being happy, it wouldn't work. Also, 
it would also say that Rei can just be more than just a pilot for the 
EVA. She can draw too. The Eternal Lost Lurker even said it was a nice 
touch! Man, being complimented by one of the big boys really can inflate 
your ego.

Now, the Tekno portion of the fic was VERY minimal. As it has been with 
most of the fic. But rest assured that there will be more of it in the 
future. [looks over the outline for the fic and looks worried.] I hope�

Next chapter: Who is SEELE's agent? Will the 'fifth' child be the 
greatest threat to NERV and mankind? Can Nodoka stand living with a pig 
as a host for a short while before she cracks? Will more angels take 
their chances at returning to Adam? Will they succeed where Zuruel 
failed? Find out in the next chapter.

[Warhammer returns to the light.]


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