Creation began on 04-13-18

Creation ended on 10-19-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Shinji, Master of the Cards: Small Wonders

A/N: First chapter of this New Year.

"…We're to understand that you're wasting your time trying to re-recruit your son to pilot the Eva after the first battle with the return of the Angels, Ikari?" One of the members of SEELE questioned Gendo after four more days of wasting time going after his son.

"That's right," he answered, angry at his inability to get Shinji to bend to his will.

"If the Third Child has refused you, you should've given up and focus on finding a suitable replacement," another SEELE member informed him. "All of these children you recruit are expendable. To focus on just one, especially one that is related to you and says 'no' to you is just an embarrassment upon the NERV agency."

Gendo quietly fumed over this order he was given by his superiors.

"Any and all activities involving the Third Child are to cease, immediately," Kiel Lorenz told Gendo. "He might've piloted the Eva once, but if he doesn't want to do it again, no matter what you tell him, then that is his choice."

"And if he were a crucial means to an end against the Angels?" Gendo suggested.

"Leave it alone, Ikari. Just do your job and focus on the Angels and Human Instrumentality Project, not your petty family issues."

The meeting then ended, but Gendo refused to follow the order he was given. Now, he had to make a cruel blow to his son, meaning that he needed to make his life as miserable as possible to bring him back into the fold.

-x-

"…I really want to blame you for this detour, Shinji!" Miyuki shouted out as she, Shinji, Akane, Haruka and Taka found themselves currently inside a…something they didn't exactly know what, only that they were inside it.

"Guys, I don't think this place is bound by time," said Taka to them, checking his watch. "It's gotta be a pocket realm outside of time."

"Outside of our own reality, too," added Haruka, unable to get reception on his phone.

Shinji, with his right hand pressed onto the ground, felt immense energy of the magical nature radiating all around them.

"It's a magical entity at work," he realized.

"Like one of Mr. Clow's cards?" Akane asked him.

"Yeah, it feels similar to one of his Clow Cards."

"Can you tell which one, though?" Miyuki questioned.

"It could be one similar to The Maze, but why would we need to encounter two other magical beings prior to getting stuck inside another magical being that isn't human in appearance, but is as sentient as any of us are?"

"Maybe this is a test, perhaps?" Haruka suggested.

"Well, if it is a test, then we should try our best to pass whatever it is we need to do," Taka stated.

All around them was a large, maze-like environment filled with vines of wildflowers covering the walls, a spring-like fountain in the middle of where they stood and a feeling of tranquility wherever they looked.

"It feels like something out of The Secret Garden or something," Akane expressed as they walked around.

"Yeah, it does," Shinji agreed with her.

-x-

Clow Reed sighed as he felt the minute trace of Shinji and his friends' magical auras in Tomoeda as a much larger aura of magical energy that was the amalgamation of several different measures of magic that were out to test the wits and will of whoever proved competent enough to master the spirits behind them. He had foreseen this, but what was also foreseen…was how challenging it would be for Shinji to overcome the challenges if he and his friends were to make it out of there unscathed.

How will you fare to save your friends from what you will face, Shinji? Clow wondered, since what he saw in his future and what Shinji had yet to do…were two very different things. There is a strength in you that cannot be measured by your parents because they are ruled by their perceptions of what they believe should happen, as opposed to what those like us want to prevent in favor of healing the world over abandoning it to the abyss of loss. You know what you want…and you're unafraid to admit it.

-x-

So far, Shinji had been able feel the aura of at least six magical beings around he and his friends as they sat in the garden-like environment and meditated. They differed in levels of strength and versatility, but they were quite strong as a whole, working together to compensate for whatever their individual limitations were.

"Shinji," Akane uttered, "the flowers are shifting."

"The walls are either growing or shrinking," added Haruka.

Shinji opened his eyes to see that they had opened their eyes, as well, having sensed the energy at work before they could see anything. All around them, the garden was shifting, meaning something was up.

"There are at least six types of magic happening here," he told them.

"Are we strong enough to overcome them?" Miyuki asked him.

"Not on our own," Taka stated the reality of their situation, "but there's five of us, and we're each capable of magic the others aren't. Whoever or whatever these six beings are, they're the same as us, only capable of one particular kind of magic, so what are they doing to make up for what they can't do?"

"Working together," Akane answered him. "They're working as a team to do whatever against us. So, we need to do the same."

Whoosh! They felt one of the magical beings nearby, and turned to their shared right, seeing someone from before.

"Hey," Miyuki pointed out, "it's the big guy from the park!"

The blue-skinned man dressed as a sumo wrestler with a yellow, upside-down triangle on his head was in front of them, a creepy smile on his face.

"Hello again," Shinji greeted him.

Then, the sumo wrestler grabbed a piece of a nearby gazebo…and ripped it off.

"You…you wanna fight?" Taka asked him. "Is that what you want right now? To fight?"

He didn't answer, but the broken piece of gazebo structure in his hands started to grow bigger, looking like it belonged to a much larger structure than a small one.

"To win your freedom, you must best each of us that come for you," he suddenly spoke. "To increase your success, you must decrease our numbers…until the last is left to persist."

Then…he threw the broken structure at them before running away.

"Whoa!" Akane gasped, pulling Shinji away from the spot the enlarged piece fell, breaking splinters off upon impact.

"Okay, maybe this one doesn't want to fight," Shinji expressed, "but it just crossed a line by throwing something big at us."

To be continued…

A/N: Responding to the most recent updates in the poll I set to decide which story would be progressed further, and this one got the most at seven, at least. I was surprised that most readers wanted that story updated after such a long time. I had almost forgotten how I was going to take the plot with Shinji's refusal to pilot the Eva after the first time and his attempt to capture the spirits that become the cards under his possession. And like any other situation where a deviation occurs, Gendo refuses to leave it alone because he desires to exploit his son no matter what his odds are.