Shinji

> My... they took it. I finally did it. The world is safe, now. Before... before I go. I want to see my old house. I have... so many memories there. I...
>
> Shinji's last words, before giving himself up. (SWII)

**Shinji Ikari** is the fourteen-year-old, demonic charge of Raiden. Thanks to a deal made by his father, Shinji was the unwitting catalyst of the The Shadow Wars, leading to his untimely death in 1981. Fifteen years later, he returned with little memory of the events before his death.

He is played by Greenethorn in the Gmod Roleplay.

## Biography

### Background

Shinji's father, Gendo Ikari, was kind of a dick. So much of a dick that he made a deal with Catholic Satan, who promised Gendo power and influence in return for his firstborn child's soul.

"That's easy," he thought. "I just won't have any kids."

One year later, Gendo had a kid. "Shit," he thought.

Gendo remained distant in Shinji's life, both because he was busy with the work and responsibility he was given as a powerful and influential engineer working for FOX and because he didn't want to become emotionally invested in his son, knowing sooner or later he'd have to give him up. Unfortunately, he failed to account for the fact that his wife, Yui, actually loved Shinji. She refused to surrender him to Catholic Satan, despite the five-year time limit being almost up. She rap battled with Satan for the chance to keep her son, but lost.

### Shadow War I

Shinji was four and a half years old when the first Shadow War began. Though tensions had been mounting between the mortal realm and the Hells for a long time, breaking the deal was the spark that finally started the War.

Shinji was the Shadows' first target. His parents were slaughtered for violating the contract and his house was burned down just 'cuz. However, Shinji himself was unable to be located by the Shadows, and they left to ravage the rest of the mortal plane, assured that the child had perished in the flames.

Shinji did not perish in the flames. He had been playing in the basement at the time of the Shadows' arrival, and as everyone knows, basements can't catch on fire. Upon emerging from the basement, he found his house in smolders and his parents dead,. The only life nearby was a large colony of rats which had been living in Shinji's attic prior to the blaze.

The rats took him in as one of their own, teaching him the skills he would need to survive. He lived with the rats during the entirety of the First Shadow War, growing up with no knowledge of the horrible events surrounding him.

### Pre-SWII

At fourteen Shinji was discovered by Big Boss, who adopted him both in honor of his deceased parents, and in order to hire him as an unpaid intern. Despite Big Boss being his legal guardian, Shinji held feelings of distaste toward him, mostly due to his stance on rats and his intimidating exterior. Instead, the boy favored Raiden, for no other reason than "he seemed nice."

Shinji lived a semi-normal life for the next month. He seemed to be the golden child in Big Boss's household, which upset his stepbrothers, Liquid and Solid Snake. Though the two seemed to have their own intense rivalry, they often put aside their differences to pick on Shinji. This added another layer of resentment, as Shinji felt he wouldn't be so ostracized if Big Boss would stop putting him on a pedestal.

During this time Shinji also went to the local high school as a ninth grader. He fared poorly, having had zero school experience before. This caught the attention of his teacher, Mr. Crocker, who seemed obsessed with finding and capturing fairies. Crocker seemed suspicious of the boy from the start, which didn't help much with his grades. Despite this, he was still praised at home.

When he wasn't getting bad grades or being teased by his stepbrothers, Shinji worked as an unpaid intern-slash-secretary for FOXHOUND. This mostly entailed sorting documents, answering phones, and going on frequent coffee runs.

### Shadow War II

Soon enough, the Shadows began creeping out of the Hells once more. After they attacked a FOXHOUND station, Shinji was cornered and told of his father's deal. He learned that his soul was what the Shadows were after, and that the only way to stop the attack was to give it up. Upon reuniting with Raiden and Big Boss, he desperately tried to convince them that he had to do what was right. While Raiden accepted Shinji's fate, Big Boss refused to let the boy die.

Big Boss took Shinji to the roof of a nearby building to try and stop him from sacrificing himself, but was interrupted by Mr. Crocker, who was ranting once again about finding fairies. Big Boss reluctantly left to help Crocker and put Shinji in Raiden's care. Unfortunately, immediately afterward the two were attacked by Shadows and separated once more.

Seizing his chance, Shinji gave up his soul- and consequently, his life- in a final effort to stop the Second Shadow War. His dying body was found by Raiden, who tried in vain to take the boy to a hospital. They never reached it. Overwhelmed by Shadows, they instead hid in a nearby alleyway. Shinji tried comforting Raiden by telling him that he needed to do this, that it was the only way the war could be stopped. He had just one last request: to go back to the house he grew up in one last time. This request was never fulfilled, as Shinji took his last breath only moments later.

### Hell Times

After sacrificing his soul, Shinji was dragged down to Hell, where he was tortured for the next sixteen years. It was there that he suffered the same fate as all Hell-goers and was transformed into a demon by Catholic Satan.

Most of his time in Hell was spent either in the Pool Room or in the winding hallways of Hell. He was repeatedly killed and tortured, which caused him to grow fairly tolerant of death and pain. During this time, he befriended Grey Fox who would often try to keep him out of harm's way, and on multiple occasions covered for Shinji when he got into trouble. Eventually, thanks to Catholic Satan's sheer incompetence and Grey Fox's help, Sixteen years after his arrival, Shinji found his way out of Catholic Hell and back into the mortal world. Unfortunately, after spending so long in Hell, he'd forgotten much of his former life.

### Return to the Mortal Realm

Shinji returned to empty cities and destroyed homes. While he was dead, the Shadows had ravaged the Earth, for they were no longer hunting for Shinji and were free to do as they pleased. The survivors he did come across were terrified of him, some going as far as attempting to kill him. To better blend in, he adopted a more humanoid form. This was when he learned of his shapeshifting ability.

Shinji's goal, now that he was free, was to locate the person who he'd grown so close to before his death. After weeks of searching, he finally came across Raiden. Unfortunately, he also came across Big Boss. While Shinji had previously only held mild distaste for him, he now showed clear aggression. That may have had to do with the fact that being in Big Boss's presence actively caused Shinji harm, seeing as he was a pastor and Shinji was now an unholy being.

Both Raiden and Big Boss seemed happy that the boy was back. That elation was short-lived, however, as Big Boss was still mourning the loss of his love, Sniper Wolf. He spent most of his time with Raiden as, for the next few days, Big Boss killed himself over and over. Eventually, Shinji was told to go to another room. He heard talking, then hushed arguing, and finally a gunshot. He reentered the room to find a red splatter on the wall and a body on the floor. Big Boss was gone, and this time for good. That was okay. Shinji hadn't cared much for him anyway.

Now fully under Raiden's care, Shinji proved to be much more difficult than he had been before his death. He was impulsive, reckless, and dangerous. Maybe he lost his sense of self-preservation. Maybe he didn't have a 'self' to preserve. This led to Shinji doing many things which led to conflict: eating a 7-12 cashier solely because he "looked tasty", running away several times, and whipping out his shotgun (where did he get that, anyway?) and blasting anyone he viewed as dangerous in the chest.

Currently, Shinji is being watched by Liquid Snake (or rather, Liquid's numerous henchmen) while Raiden, Solid Snake, Meryl, and Otacon search for the lost city of Atlantis. Shinji feels pity for the henchmen, who are constantly put into danger for no good reason. He believes that it is "kinda fucked that [they're], like, *expected* to die in [their] line of work."

## Appearance

Before and during Shadow War II, Shinji seemed to resemble the fictional character Shinji from *Neon Genesis Evangelion* almost exactly. He had medium-length dark brown hair, dark grey-blue eyes, and fair skin. He was skinny, and short for a fourteen-year-old, standing at 4'10". This is likely due to the malnutrition he faced being raised by rats. He wore a white button-up shirt over a blue tee shirt, both of which were tucked into straight black jeans.

After his time spent in Hell, Shinji's "true form" is near-unrecognizable due to the fact he'd been turned into a demon. He has a thin, quadrupedal build, each limb ending in four knife-sharp talons. Like most demons, he has slitted eyes, horns, and a winding, spade-tipped tail. He also has a wide, slavering, fang-filled mouth which stretches down the length of a snakelike neck. His form is covered in indigo scales, as well as dark brown hair which starts at the skull and follows his spine until reaching the base of his tail. He also has long, pointed ears which jut out the sides of his head.

However, this is not the form he usually takes. To avoid unwanted attention, he keeps a more humanoid appearance. He looks almost exactly the same as he did before his death, though some demonic traits still come through- namely his horns, tail, sharklike teeth and pointed ears. He also wears a blue T-shirt alongside a pair of stupid little dark blue-and-red shorts and sandals.

## Personality

Shinji's personality also changed drastically between SWII and his return. Prior to his death, Shinji was naïve and had little understanding of how the world worked. Despite this, he seemed flighty and paranoid, haunted by the things that had happened in his youth. He suffered constant nightmares about the fire, his parents' deaths, and the Shadows. He also appeared to be very selfless, evidenced by the fact he gave himself up to Catholic Satan to end the War.

When Shinji returned, he had forgotten much of his life before his death. He is carefree, impulsive, and often acts on whatever whims he has, seeming to lack any sense of self-restraint. He will usually only listen to Raiden, as he looks up to him. Shinji also has a penchant for using vulgar language (taught to him by Solid Snake). He is completely unaware of his status as a demon. He knows he is different, but doesn't much mind, as long as he can live the life he wants.

Shinji can be rather dismissive of human life, seeing most people as disposable unless he decides he likes them. He takes no issue in such morally reprehensible acts such as theft, murder, and even cannibalism, claiming they are as natural to him as breathing (despite the fact he does not breathe). He chooses not to act upon his incredibly violent urges, not out of goodwill, but so that he can impress Raiden. He often drastically changes parts of himself just to make himself more palatable to the cyborg, such as taking a human form despite its energy toll, and suppressing his basic demonic instincts. He is clingy and desperately attached to Raiden, terrified of being left alone once again.

He is also rather naïve and ignorant. Shinji spent very little time in proper human society, and so has little idea of how that society works. He will often accept the first explanation given to him as true and then refuse to change his standpoint from then on, unless he decides another explanation makes more sense. He is caught up in his own world and, unless it has to do with him or Raiden, has no interest in anything else.

Despite his immaturity, ignorance, and lack of a moral compass, Shinji can be rather insightful at times, such as understanding his death would end the war, or questioning the ethics of hiring henchmen. He can be quite compassionate when it comes to people he cares about- it's only a shame he doesn't care about many people.

## Powers and Skills

Shinji has several abilities he has gained over time, both natural and supernatural. These powers include:

### Hiding

Having lived with rats, Shinji learned the best ways to keep yourself from being seen. This skill comes in useful as many people Shinji has encountered post-return see him as scary or dangerous (as he is a demon), and many a person has attempted to kill him to no avail. He also utilizes this whenever he gets particularly upset, in which he runs away and hides until he has calmed down enough to return.

### Rat Communication

Shinji has the ability to speak to small rodents. Or, more accurately, he understands the way rats communicate to humans. Having lived with them for years, he learned how to read their body language and noises perfectly, as well as repeat it back with varied success (after all, rat body language is not very easy to show when you don't have a rat's body).

### Shotgun Proficiency

Shinji's weapon of choice is a SPAS-12 pump-action shotgun. He is incredibly skilled with it, able to pull it out and fire at someone before they can even react. Raiden often attempts to discourage Shinji from shooting people, with little result.

### Floating and Shadow Movement

As a demon, Shinji is able to completely ignore the laws of physics. This allows him to render himself practically weightless, allowing him to float in the air. He can also sink into and move across dark shadows if he so chooses, which has helped him escape imprisonment multiple times.

### Shapeshifting

To hide his monstrous appearance, Shinji can shapeshift into a more humanoid form. This does slowly sap energy from him, however, and though he doesn't *need* to sleep for survival's sake, it still refreshes him and allows him to hold a different form for longer.

### Mental Link

Shinji is able to telepathically communicate to others, allowing him to speak to others over long distances. He can also read surface-level thoughts. This means he can hear what someone is actively thinking, but cannot read into someone's subconscious thoughts or memories. This ability works better the closer he is emotionally to someone. For example, he would not be able to communicate with a stranger, but can speak clearly to someone he cares deeply about. He has only used this ability on Raiden and the occasional rodent so far.

### Materialization

Shinji holds the ability to create, or "spawn", items at will. This ability seems to be limited to food items, though. He has a specific propensity for spawning several cans of Coca-Cola, which he will promptly devour whole. The one exception to his food item limitation is shotgun shells, specifically #000 buckshot.

### Literal Omnivorous Tendencies

While Shinji has no need to eat, he still finds himself facing the impulse to eat anything he comes across. He can consume just about anything regardless of what negative effects it would normally hold. This ability even extends to inorganic objects and living creatures, including cashiers at gas stations. While an omnivore can eat anything in the sense of "both plant and animal matter", Shinji is an omnivore in the sense he can literally eat *anything*.

### Immortality

Shinji cannot die. Permanently, at least. When he is killed, his body will rapidly dissipate and reform nearby, perfectly healthy as if nothing ever happened. While he does not remain dead for long, he still suffers injury and feels himself die. Shinji has two views on this ability. On one hand, he is often more reckless than he would be if he couldn't respawn. However, he also finds it tiring, wanting to stop dying even though it is usually his fault for dying in the first place.

## Trivia

* Due to his upbringing, Shinji is one of the few people affiliated with FOXHOUND who hold no resentment towards rats, in fact feeling a bond with them.
* While Shinji is a Catholicism-based demon, he himself is agnostic.
* Shinji, like all Catholic demons, is ascribed to one of the Seven Sins. He is based on Gluttony, which explains his penchant for materializing food and eating anything he deems tasty. It also explains why he is so impulsive post-return- he needs to experience everything in excess.
	+ It is likely that this is because of how he was incredibly malnourished in his first life, since he was raised by rats.
* He keeps count of how many times he has died. So far, he is at 126 times. This is not counting his self-sacrifice in SWII.
* He reverts to his normal form in his sleep, as he has lost the energy needed to look human by the end of the day.
	+ Thankfully, he sleeps with his door closed, so nobody has walked in on him like this just yet.
* Shinji's voice changes constantly. That's just what demons are like.
	+ The real-world reason is that Greene keeps forgetting how he voiced him last.
* While Shinji's deaths are usually remembered, the exception is when he is killed in a Molotov cocktail explosion. For some reason, this causes anyone who witnessed him die to forget the event.
* Shinji's immortality is loosely based on that of Kenny McCormick.