We need to talk.Words that have heralded great changes or drastic issues, usually with relationships.Flags went up in my mind faster than the time I'd discovered what amounted to red shirts in the battlegroup I'd assisted against Team Rocket.My mind raced. Had I done something wrong? Had I not done something? What was today? Shit! Was today or yesterday an anniversary of some sort?My mind brought up the relevant days. We'd met in the later half of the circuit due to my desire to have Titan strong enough to face her.it wasn't when we'd met. We hadn't officially started dating until… Well I didn't count it until earlier this year.I… wasn't so naive that I couldn't recognise that the dates I attributed us as starting dating, and the days that Sabrina assigned might be wildly different.Possibly it might be an issue with us not having time to go on dates, but that was not a one-way street of blame. We were both busy people and we hung out when we could with her coming over quite often to snuggle.…"You've done something you need to inform me of," I said slowly, having come to one of the only rational conclusions.Sabrina didn't become agitated or pretend to be annoyed like some other girls might have. Instead, she merely nodded."Yes," she said, her eyes flickering over me. "You are agitated, but you were so before I stated that I need to talk about something that has happened. What is wrong?"I exhaled. "You…" I pinched the bridge of my nose. For all that Sabrina was better, there were sometimes glaring gaps in her social knowledge. "The girls or Erika haven't mentioned how ominous saying something like 'we need to talk' can be?" I stated.Sabrina frowned. "I have not encountered that no. Is this something Erika wouldn't know about though? She hasn't dated anyone before so I try not to mention our relationship too much around her. She gets flashes of irritation and self-loathing when I…" Sabrina blushed a little.I raised an eyebrow. "What do you do?"Sabrina coughed delicately. "I might have given you compliments and mentioned how enjoyable some moments are with you," she said."Wow," I said. "I am really feeling damned with faint praise." I leaned in cheekily. "Is that really all you say to Erika to get her so envious?" I asked."It is mostly that you are very considerate and a highly skilled lover!" she said quickly.Sabrina coughed, her face was bright red which was adorable for the usually so controlled woman. "This is not what I wanted to talk to you about!" She said pushing the conversation in a new trajectory.I leaned in, feeling a lot more certain of my relationship and calmer. I pecked Sabrina on the forehead with my lips. "Alright, lay it on me, what happened?" I said.Sabrina inhaled and straightened up. "Mewtwo made contact with me."I took a moment to consider that.That… was not… "Huh," I said intelligently.Sabrina nodded. "I know. I wasn't expecting it so early!" she said, a small smile on her lips. "He is growing with how he is reaching out!" she said."I'm amazed he did so at all," I said with a frown. Sabrina frowned at me so I continued. "I mean most of his interactions with humanity has been… rather lacklustre," I said.Sabrina nodded, agreeing with the point. "Yes, but not all of them have been negative. He has some of my impressions and while they were shared in a stressful time, it was still an attempt. Something that I have continued to try to extend his way."I nodded slowly at this. "Right, okay. So what happened?" I asked.Sabrina chewed her lip. "Well, I suppose I should start from the beginning," she said. She reached out and I realised that she was not just going to tell me what happened. Sabrina planned to show me."Lay down Brock, this might make you a little dizzy," she said as she placed a hand on my temple delicately.I lay back and drew in my dark energy as much as I could.And then I felt a memory come to mind, and just like that, it felt like I was living a memory of Sabrina's from only this afternoon…Sabrina raised a Marsh badge to her challenger. The boy grinned with confidence and Sabrina allowed herself a smile.The boy had all the hallmarks of a skilled trainer. She'd read the notes from earlier in the season where he had struggled against Brock, but it seemed that changing his style had unlocked a lot of potential in the boy.More than she suspected the boy even knew. His ability to handle two pokemon at once was almost prescient which was one of the signs of a young psychic manifesting their abilities.Sabrina hadn't felt anything overt, but with some more testing, she suspected that she would be proven correct."Congratulations on earning yourself the Marsh badge Harrold! You have demonstrated the skill and ability required. For that I confer onto you the symbol of my gym," she said, making sure to announce it verbally and not just with her mind."I believe this is your sixth badge now and thus you are only two more away from earning your right to attend the Circuit at the end of the year."If today's showing was any indication this Harold would breeze through the rest of the gyms. "Where do you plan to go from here?" she asked.Harold grinned at her. "Thanks! I think I might look into challenging Manny before challenging Koga," he said. "I think both will be tricky with their styles and I want to spend some time to really learn what they have, because they both offer similar but different ways of tripping up or altering battles to suit them and their teams," Harrold said.Sabrina nodded. Yes, since Brock had first faced this young man he had certainly grown in interesting ways. It was good that he was willing to slow down and learn the lessons offered by the Gyms these days."What did you learn here from me?" she asked, enjoying the honest glee in his eyes as he began to speak about having adaptable plans while being away from the chain of events that can lead to certain situations in battle.Sabrina nodded. That was one of the more nuanced points of fighting that she tried to convey. As a powerful psychic, she could read into the future and see what was going to happen. Or rather what potentially could happen to a very high degree.It therefore became important that you knew about what was most likely. That required a bit more study and experience. Something that her younger self hadn't understood, resulting in a series of events that led to Brock entering her Gym.Most of the time it came down to trainers reading ahead on her pokemon and knowing how their own would react or impact a match.As Brock had once said to her.You needed to know yourself and your enemy to achieve victory.This was merely part of the lesson. Usually by the second or third pokemon people began to feel the pressure.With the ability to glimpse the future she was able to highlight how important micromovements and control of your pokemon was in a fight. How speed became essential. How the smallest factors could pile up and lead to victory or defeat.All without uttering a word to them.Words were for the victors or for those with actual potential.So often people swaggered into her Gym thinking themselves ready. There was a world of difference between her Gym and others.Mostly it was how ruthless she was.Her standards for earning her badge through any measure but victory was higher.If people wanted to earn her badge they had to present a polished set of skills, not rely on mere strength or tricks.The young man accepted his badge and charged away, his badge clutched in his hand while his mind sung of joy and gratitude to his pokemon. His mind was weary but his spirit was soaring. From what Sabrina could feel of the boy's pokemon, she knew that they too shared in his feelings only their fatigue was greater having been beaten down with the battles.She could see the boy's plan to treat them all lavishly over the next few days.As the boy departed his cloud of thoughts drifted far enough away from her that Sabrina would have to actually pay attention to glimpse at his thoughts.The boy's earnest emotions sadly weren't the prominent emotion in the arena now though. Now with people witnessing her 'defeat' there were more and more people leaning forward in their seats. They might not realise it, but there were enough of them that their thoughts weighed down on her as they salivated like packs of Houndoom and Mightyena.A picture of a form standing triumphant formed as people imagined themselves in Harold's place.A younger Sabrina wouldn't have been able to handle the arena she'd created these days. She wouldn't be able to handle the press of minds that suddenly fractured and melded in a chaotic sea of thoughts.But she'd grown stronger and more resilient. Now she could endure large crowds for days at a time. Matches could be dragged out instead of being forceful displays where she overpowered her foes.She could tease out potential where it existed and lead young trainers onto paths that might see them go far.She blamed Brock for that.Previously she wouldn't have cared. She would have been a cold and unbreakable wall for them to scrabble against with only the most canny, or strongest getting through.Now she saw how they attempted to overcome her, and sometimes she nudged them towards weak points.But only slightly.Other times she crushed them and made them realise how good they'd had it with other Gyms.The Cerulean Gym, as the easiest gym to earn a badge at, couldn't give these harsh lessons. Erika didn't have the disposition to crush her foes. Koga's fights always involved some form of misdirection, traps or trickery, much like Manny. Sophia had a brashness to her that had potential but she was rough in her delivery.Now that Surge, Blaine, and Giovani were gone, Sabrina was alone in delivering wake up calls to young trainers.Brock was only harsh when he wanted to be or he was in a foul mood. He formed barriers but they weren't that hard to get over.Not by her estimations anyway.Sabrina flicked her hair and spoke so that her voice filled the arena. "We will now break for lunch," she said simply. She gave the trainer acting as referee a simple nod before vanishing in a teleport that saw her standing in home.Her mother flinched at the sudden arrival but didn't spill her tea. Her father merely nodded and indicated that the television was already on. Sabrina claimed her seat as her eyes took in the battle on display.On it, Bertha unleashed a powerful Ice Beam that ended any resistance that her foe might have presented.A tomato berry levitated into Sabrina's mouth and she crunched it down absently.Mother coughed. "Dear, please don't use your telekinesis to eat like that. A meal with friends and family is meant to be enjoyed using the right utensils," she said, indicating the fork and knife to the side of her plate. She then shot her husband a scowl. "I thought we agreed on no television at the table."Father waved a hand in Sabrina's direction and she levitated the fork and knife to start cutting her food for her.Mother sighed explosively. "Why do I even try, sometimes I truly wonder," she murmured.Sabrina flicked her eyes in her mother's direction but the older woman's mental control was too firm to let any stray thoughts out. Still, by judging the small twitches of her lips that she was hiding from her father's point of view. Mother was actually amused by Sabrina's method as Sabrina had thought she might.Father was more openly approving but Mother… she could be more subtle. She often came across as fearful but that had been fading as she spent more time with Sabrina.While this did cut into her time with Brock it wasn't all bad to have family time."Ralts!" chimed the little pokemon who was sitting in a raised infant's chair.Mother turned her attention to the little pokemon and raised a spoon full of cut-up berries. "Yes! You should try and have good table manners and be a proper lady!" said Mother.Sabrina shared an amused look with her youngest pokemon. When Ralts wanted to, she could easily copy Sabrina's slight expression of telekinesis. She just wanted to keep receiving brush-downs and milking her mother's free affection.Not for the first time, Sabrina considered her little pokemon. Ralts… had been good for her, and her family. In many ways it was like having a little sister in the house. Something she'd noticed her parents agreed with. If the sudden increased vigilance of mental control her parents had whenever they entered the bedroom was any indicator.Another sister, or rather, sibling, might be on the cards despite her parents' advanced age."Oh! Here it comes, the big one!" cried the commentator as Berha wound up for a true Impact Driver.Sabrina didn't need to keep watching, or even expend any psychic skill in knowing that this match was over.Bertha's fist slammed home and just like that, the match was done.She nodded firmly, pleased that Brock was victorious."Ralts!" chimed her little pokemon as Bertha's grinning face was displayed.The giant pokemon began to shimmy and dance around much to the commentator's amusement.Ralts copied from her seated position."Ralts! Ralts! Raaaaaalts!" Small items like her feeding bottle and her tiny cutlery set, levitated back and forth in time with Ralt's chanting.Mother and father both laughed only for them to stare when Sabrina joined in by raising her hands up, palms facing out. Her own cutlery floated in time with her as she went back and forth with her own smile. She didn't say anything beyond humming to the rhythm Ralts was setting.Ralts began bouncing at this.Mother and father shared a look that quickly morphed into a smile before they telekinetically raised their own forks to join in.Sabrina secretly levitated a camera off to the side and took a photo of the moment. Some moments needed more than just memories. Sabrina then teleported the photo that was printed from the camera into her warehouse where one of her Mr Mime would happily store the image away.Her parents shot her an amused look and she allowed them to feel how content she was, showing them trust that never failed to make them beam at her.As a family of psychics there was no better way to show—A sudden intrusion of another psychic presence had Sabrina stiffening. Her Alakazam appeared a moment later in a battle-ready position with two other pokeballs in his grasp. Sabrina toggled the release function and Xatu and Claydol appeared, their own psychic presence melding as she prepared to defend herself and her family."I thought I was welcome to approach you?" intoned a familiar voice psychically.Sabrina's parents glanced about revealing that the message had been sent directly to her alone. Sabrina relaxed physically giving them an illusion that things were fine.They shot her furtive looks apparently not believing her and she couldn't fault their instincts. From his mere psychic presence, it was apparent that Mewtwo was powerful.And to a psychic, there was nothing worse than being taken by surprise, even if it was by another psychic."You are correct," she said, trying to broadcast a sense of openness and welcome.Mewtwo sent back a feeling of scrutiny and Sabrina felt his power sweep over her and her fellows.Instinctively Sabrina protected Ralts from being smothered first before extending more of her protection to her mother who stiffened at the feeling of Mewtwo's attention shifting onto her.Sabrina's pokemon bristled and Mewtwo withdrew his probe.Sabrina stood. "Thank you for lunch mother," she said, giving the woman a nod and a pleasant smile. "I must go now."The older woman gave her a blink in reply. "A-ah, be safe Sabrina," she replied.Sabrina merely nodded. She then gave her father a look and the man swallowed, knowing without being told that he couldn't follow where Sabrina had to go.Sabrina returned her pokemon. She made sure to keep the pokeballs on her belt, while detaching the pokemon that were too weak for what might come.She gave her family one quick look before nodding and teleporting to a meadow between Saffron and Celadon. Mewtwo was already there waiting for her.She paused. Had he been this far away the entire time? Had he preempted her? Had he been faster at teleporting than her?She suddenly felt like the way others reacted to her made a lot more sense.She decided to be more attentive in the future, she rather disliked having the shoe on the other foot. She inhaled deeply and let it go though. Anxiety and stress wasn't what she needed. She needed a clear mind and open heart.Mewtwo stared at her. His lilac eyes searching her.Sabrina for her part looked back. She'd gotten a good look at him back on New Island thanks to the building being rather well lit, but that didn't change how different it was to see him out in the light of day.This. This was the real Mewtwo. Not the armoured puppet that Giovanni tried to control. Nor the furious pokemon lashing out.She could feel his curiosity despite his greater power. Or perhaps she implied it off his act of actually reaching out to her."This is a surprise," she said to start things off. "I wasn't sure how likely it would be for you to reach out to me."Mewtwo's nostrils flared a few times and his tail lashed about. "I was… intrigued by your offer. You… are not like the others…" he said.Sabrina considered this. "Because I am psychic? Or that I am special in some way?" she said, her eyes looking to the horizon.Mewtwo's tail slowed and Sabrina felt more than she saw his frown. "I do not know, I… wanted to know why that might be so.""I think it is not a case that I am special, but that I have the most… connection or chance to connect with you." Sabrina indicated the field and all the various flowers that were within it.They were alike but Sabrina knew if she compared them they would be different in a myriad of small ways. Other flowers would be even more different, and yet they could be bundled together and linked.Sabrina flashed this metaphor to Mewtwo to let him know where her thoughts led her, as she did she made sure to gift him all the memories she had of flowers. Which, thanks to Erika now contained a good deal more than it had last year.Some of the memories of enjoying her time with Erika might have seeped in with the flowers, but that was alright."You think others might have similar reactions if I give them a chance?" he said.Sabrina had to applaud his ability to reason and make logical leaps. Mewtwo had taken what she'd said and combined it with what she hadn't to come to the point.She nodded. "Yes, there might be some bad people but we can't let the bad rule us. There is so much more good out there. If you want, you should try reaching out to others," she said, her mind flashing to other people that had good character. Brock, Erika, Janine, Sophia, her parents, her fellow pokemon.Mewtwo snorted and a mental image of Brock glaring up was held in Sabrina's mindseye."I doubt this one would welcome me," he said.Sabrina bobbed her head in a so-so manner. "Emotions can be tricky. Brock… is one of the people who has been impacted by your prior detainment numerous times and he knows it. Some of the pokemon like his second Tyranitar, Empress? She was directly impacted by the fight in the Silver Ranges you had with Moltres."Mewtwo flexed his digits. "That… had been a powerful pokemon.""It is considered one of the Legendary birds for a reason. You did well to hold your own hampered as you were."Mewtwo snorted. "I could have beaten it if I wasn't… If that man hadn't shackled me with orders to merely attempt to weaken it.""I see," Sabrina projected while also mentally marking down that Mewtwo did have a slight amount of pride. "I imagine you could have, but I think it might have been a fight I wouldn't have been able to stay close to witness," she said neutrally through their mental link.Overhead, a pidgey fluttered past, eying them, aware of their power but also feeling brave due to the lack of noise they were making. Sabrina's lips twitched upwards at the little pokemon's thoughts."Of course," Mewtwo said.Sabrina didn't comment on how well Empress had done against him but Mewtwo seemed to know what she was thinking. "The Tyranitar I faced also did well," he said with a begrudging tone of respect.Sabrina repressed a shudder as she realised that he might be one of the only people who could possibly do so. Instead, she smiled. "Empress has recovered well from the Silver incident but she is also another that has… a negative history with who, or what you were before you broke away from Giovanni.""I will not be held accountable for—""You shouldn't be," Sabrina said firmly, projecting over the top of him and cutting the much more powerful psychic off. Sabrina locked gazes with him to make sure he felt the earnestness of her words."You aren't or more importantly you weren't you, while locked in that armour. You had several restraints and conditions that made you less than you are," she said.Mewtwo clenched his digits in agitation. "It was a different time. Your partner is flawed for letting his emotions rule him.""He'd be less without them though," she said.Mewtwo frowned. "...How so?""Emotions are one of the foundations of how we build bonds and healthy relationships with others or even ourselves. Brock and Empress are still in the hurting phase. They can move through it though. They can internalise that it wasn't you, but something else that caused them harm in the past."Mewtwo considered her for a moment with an insatiable gaze. She merely smiled back before allowing her gaze to shift to a trio of brave Pidgeys that were braving the meadow in search of seed.Slowly, other pokemon began to trickle back into the glade quietly.They kept an eye on Sabrina and Mewtwo though. For their part, Sabrina and Mewtwo didn't react at all.For the next few minutes, neither said anything or shared any thoughts or feelings.They simply stood in silence.Sabrina rather enjoyed it after the day of dealing with challengers.She half considered sending a message to inform the Gym she'd need to cancel the day. She didn't do that though as any attempt to use her transceiver might result in Mewtwo becoming agitated. She didn't doubt for a second he could pick up on a message being sent.She didn't need or want to rush things right now. She merely needed to let things progress. If that was at a slow pace, that was fine.Slow was smooth, and smooth was fast, not in this case with fewer points of friction to an already delicate situation."How are you feeling?" Sabrina said after a few more minutes, deciding to prompt some conversation while also contemplating how things should be between even acquaintances."How… am I feeling?" Mewtwo asked carefully, sounding out each word with the embedded feelings of carefulness that one would find in a person probing at a potentially booby trapped floor rather than a conversation."Yes, how are you? It is a common method of checking in with another. Most of the time other humans will lie when they reply I have noticed.They won't wish to make things awkward or they won't want to slow down with their day to actually break down what might be causing them any issues. It is a funny phrase but the intent is there to show compassion." Sabrina extended a hand gently towards Mewtwo."So, I ask, how are you? You reached out, there must be something troubling you," she said.Mewtwo's tail lashed once back and forth before he collected himself and the tail hung behind him in a s like bend. "I wanted…" he paused and reconsidered what he wanted to say."You gifted me many memories that tumble around in my mind. They are jumbled and haphazard with how they aren't mine. I need to… process them and understand them if I am to have any peace within my own mind," he said firmly.Sabrina nodded. "Peace within one's on mind can be important." Sabrina smiled as she realised that she'd never shared how to meditate to Mewtwo."Would you like to work through a guided session to… process the memories you have?" she asked.Mewtwo stared at her before jerking his head tightly, his eyes looking away.Sabrina allowed herself a small smile as she adopted a cross-legged pose like her Alakazam."Take the first thought or memory that you want. It can be anything, an old one or new. If it juts out to you, all the better as it be like a jagged edge in your mind. It will cause other thoughts to snag and drag you back to that moment.""That is why you gave me so many… bright memories," Mewtwo said, his gaze turned to the east where Viridian was."You needed something to counterbalance the darker memories. You wouldn't have much chance of that happening with how Giovanni was treating you so I forced the issue."Sabrina coughed. "Do you have a thought or memory?" she asked. Mewtwo nodded.Sabrina smiled and began working through the process of mentally unhooking thoughts by manipulating them in a myriad of little ways."It is important that you don't just force some thoughts or memories," Sabrina said casually. "You can't force them or push them through. The best way to handle loud or heavy thoughts that linger is to work them over.""Why?""It changes the way we react to them," Sabrina replied easily having led this class with some of her psychically gifted pokemon trainers a few times now.Mewtwo gave her a scrutinising look. "By simply processing or handling them they are not being ignored to fester within our minds. They instead lose some of the baggage or edges on some memories."Mewtwo nodded slope. "It… feels like you are correct," he said. He stood and nodded "I must consider this. Goodbye for now.""Will you come—" Sabrina started to say only for a quick flash of light to blind her and send the various pokemon that had returned to the meadow breaking for cover.Sabrina blinked. Huh, so that's how that felt, she thought to herself. She gave the patch of land that Mewtwo had been standing on a long considering look before teleporting back to her Gym.There she found her Gym trainers frantically shifting back and forth while lots of loud voices and louder thoughts echoed. Sabrina sighed.Just as the memory started to dim… I felt her clap her hands and take a moment to breathe.I blinked as I returned to myself. I stared up into Sabrina's eyes, somewhat glad they weren't glowing as she stared into mine."So?" she said, swallowing.I blinked as I realised she was looking for my approval, and support. I swallowed and smiled, the feelings of fear had long since vanished. "I think you handled that as well as you could, if not better than that. I think you hit it out of the park," I said.Sabrina exhaled in relief. "Good," she then lay her head on my chest. "I was worried you might be mad.""No, not mad, scared. Which can lead to just as many dumb reactions, but right now I'm just relieved. You did great. I think you got through to him." I smiled and ran my hand through her hair. "I still don't think I'm ready to be objective with him but you were right. I am letting how Giovanni used him blind me to one point of view."I sighed. "It's just not easy letting go of them," I said.Sabrina squeezed my hand. "Please try. I think you could be a good person to have Mewtwo talk with." She squeezed again. "You helped me after all."I chuckled having recognised the method of 'decoupling' that she'd used with Mewtwo as a basic trick I'd learnt in my past life and shared. If anything, I think she'd explained and handled that much better than I ever could."We'll see," I said.Sabrina sighed in a happy way. "I think I'm getting through to him and building a real connection."I chuckled. "Should I be worried about all these meetings you're hoping to have with him?" I asked playfully.Sabrina rolled her eyes and leaned down to kiss me to soothe my worries, not that I actually had any, cause that would be silly.The kiss still helped me relax and let go of my worries though.Sabrina gave me a sly smirk when she broke the kiss and for a moment I thought I might get more than a kiss, only for Sabrina's transceiver to beep in a pattern I knew meant urgent.Sabrina deflated and checked the message only to perk up. "Ralts is showing signs that she might evolve soon? Would you care to come?"I perked up at that and nodded. That also sounded like a nice way to end the day.We vanished in a flash of light towards something I'd been looking forward to for a while now.I couldn't wait to see how Ralts would act as a more mature Kirlia.221Sabrina and I appeared back at her home's lounge room. Sandra and Saul were both there along with Ralts whom Sabrina approached.I gave the little pokemon a quick once over.I wasn't clued in on all the cues that a psychic pokemon had for evolution and honestly, that would be something I probably would never possess with how I contained the anthesis.Still, there were some universally known markers such as growth physically. Ralts had grown at least double since she hatched from her egg. I'd say she stood at roughly half a meter tall which was a good size for a young pokemon, especially a Ralts.Her horns appeared to have a deep hue to them that made the light glint softly when the little pokemon turned her head.The only other physical indicator that I could notice was that her hair had gotten longer. In some parts, it was no longer a bowl cut but rather more like she had bangs.Sabrina knelt in front of her… I wasn't sure. It had started with Sabrina hatching Ralts so it would have been a parental bond, but then there was also the tidbit from what I'd felt from Sabrina's memories, which made it almost seem like Ralts was more like a sister.Which was good. She had the foundations of a very strong bond. They obviously had a lot of fun together if the small toys that sat behind the couch were any indicator."Ralts? Mother informed me that you wish to evolve? Is this true?" Sabrina asked softly.Ralts nodded her head causing her hair to rock back and forth with the gesture.Sabrina nodded slowly. "I'm rather surprised. You were rather happy with how things were progressing this morning when we finished our training." Sabrina brushed a hand gently through Ralts hair carefully skirting around the horn."Is this because of Mewtwo's appearance?"Ralts stared up at Sabrina for a long moment before pushing her horn into Sabrina's hand. Sabrina stiffened. For a few minutes nothing seemed to happen with either Ralts or Sabrina speaking. I shifted from foot to foot. I'd seen Sabrina do this.Whenever she 'spoke' with her pokemon she never actually had to use her voice.I frowned as I considered the memory. Sabrina hadn't needed it then with Mewtwo either.Ah, that might have been why some of the pokemon came back as quickly as they did. Sabrina and Mewtwo, while powerful, had both been almost perfectly still and silent. Like two people merely watching and not a part of the ecosystem they'd teleported into.As the minutes dragged on I shifted my gaze from Sabrina to that of Saul and Sandra. "You two doing okay after Mewtwo showed up?"Saul's mouth tightened. "I… had never considered what it would feel like for there to be a Legendary Psychic pokemon here." Saul gazed at his daughter, still locked in silent conversation with Ralts. "For so long Sabrina and her Alakazam has been the bar that we measure strength by, to feel something stronger…"Sandra swallowed loudly. "It was startling but we're fine. We had to assure the weaker pokemon that had been meditating in the Gym along with one or two of the more sensitive psychics, but otherwise things were fine.""I'm glad to hear that," I said, my eyes flicking down to Sandra's hands where she continued to nervously wring them back and forth. "If it means anything, Mewtwo doesn't want to hurt anyone."Which as I said it, I realised it was probably true. This Mewtwo was completely unlike the one that had been presented in the movies. He wasn't as jaded. He'd been broken free not through his own efforts after growing fed up with Giovanni, but rather through others helping him.That had to count for something.He hadn't tried to destroy us despite our invasion of his home.The more I considered it the more upbeat I was. I just hadn't been able to really stop and consider it. Sabrina was right, Mewtwo wasn't a villain or some raging beast that would lash out like others. He was an intelligent being in his own right who was trying to understand the world and his place in it."I'm not sure I ever expected to feel a Legendary pokemon's power," Sandra said. "I hadn't really considered what the old legends spoke of as being true. Legendary pokemon truly are on a different level. During the war we were so far off the front lines that… well there was never any chance to feel them."She shook her head. "Not that the Legendary birds or dogs that roamed Kanto and Johto would have triggered the same response.""Not Kanto, no," I said thinking of the other variants of the Legendary birds that existed in Galar. For Psychic pokemon there was also Lugia. I suppose I could consider the Eon duo as strong psychic types as well, but they weren't held up on the same level as others.Mostly because they were seen as benign spirits.For that matter I doubted many people properly associated Mew, Uxie, Mesprit, or Azelf as being 'Legendary' pokemon that would ravage the lands. Most people saw destruction as the thing that defined a pokemon.I wonder what people thought about Cresselia? It would be fun to do a deep dive into the Guardians' notes and see what knowledge they possessed about other regions' legendary pokemon.It would be an interesting way to spend an afternoon. It wasn't something I'd done in a while with how busy I was, but I rather missed getting the chance to sit and read up about mythical and dangerous pokemon. It was fun seeing how they were perceived in this life compared to what I knew of them from my past life.I wonder what people thought of Solgaleo or Lunala? When we eventually found the other regions I so wanted to go for a holiday to a few places. Alola sounded the nicest even if there was a risk of tripping into issues with the evil Aether Corporation with Lumanise.Then again there was the Ultra Sun/Moon storyline where she had to defend the Alola region from Necrozma."Very well, I understand your reasoning, and I'm happy but please don't feel you need to rush to the next stage," said Sabrina to Ralts.I blinked. Oh, right! I'd forgotten about that. Sometimes you could accidentally end up secluded when Psychics spoke with each other.I shifted and Sabrina glanced in my direction. Without any verbal prompts she said, "Ralts feels like I need more protection and she feels too weak as a Ralts so she is going to evolve. We had been holding back to allow her the most growth mentally and… also I'd been enjoying our times together," she said.Sabrina gave Ralts a fond smile. "I suppose I will have to get used to carrying you around when you are bigger," she said."Raaaalts!" whined Ralts in such a way that my parenting ear twinged to the tone alone. I knew what was being said straight away. Some version of 'Sabrina/Mum!' that only the young will actually use.Sabrina merely smiled and gave the little pokemon a hug.When they broke the hug Sabrina stepped back next to me, giving Ralts some room.Ralts glanced about at the people around her for a moment before nodding, pleased. Then she tilted her head forward and took a deep breath.Without any prompting, she began to glow with the light of evolution. Controlled evolution was an interesting spectacle. It was one of the more interesting forms of evolution that I rarely got to see.The most common method was typically a mid-battle evolution that was attributed to the stresses and desires mixing within a pokemon. A mid-match evolution was typically in response to a powerful challenge and resulted in the pokemon 'powering up' with the increase in adrenaline.I'd been on the receiving end of such evolutions a lot. If you wanted to win you typically had to ride out the empowered pokemon while accounting for the fact that they were going to hit harder and typically be faster.Well, except in a few cases such as Ivysaur to Venusaur. On paper, they had better bursts of acceleration with their being able to leap short distances faster but their overall speed was terrible.The next most common evolution was post-match evolutions where victory usually led to a feeling of exultation sweeping through a pokemon, promoting more power and pushing them that little bit more.Next were the controlled evolutions.This technically included when a pokemon was introduced to an item that triggered it or an activity that induced it in the transformation with pokemon such as Graveler.There must have been a trick to it for Alakazam and Gengar as well. No doubt Sabrina and Agatha knew. I might ask them one day and see what they said. Then again Agatha would no doubt have a harrowing tale for how Haunter's evolved.If I was a gambling man it had something to do with the mass of Haunter that typically lingered around her.Why did she need three of them when she already had Gengy and another Gengar in her back pocket?Regardless, they were uncommon, and it took a highly skilled trainer to get those sorts of pokemon to that level and experiment with what was required.Ralts' body began to grow and rise upwards. From half a metre in height she began to shift until she was roughly a metre tall. Then again a quick eyeball wasn't great as a measuring tool. As the light died away Kirlia appeared in all her glory.She looked as I'd expected but the markers of good physical health were still there with the shine on her horns which had shifted to the sides of her head instead of being front and back.Her long dress had split to form a sort of ballet tutu that notably curled down more than the other few Kirlia I'd seen before. She also had slightly longer hair than others with her cut not being anywhere near as straight-edged and instead, some small edges stuck out."Kirlia! Kir!" she said with a twirl.She spun into a leap that saw her soaring up into Sabrina's arms and the older girl giggled and allowed herself to float back as though Kirlia had knocked her over. Instead, they merely hovered off the ground.Sabrina righted them after a little bit and put Kirlia down, presenting her quickly to Saul and Sandra who gushed at the little pokemon as she posed in what I recognised from the few times I'd taken Cindy to some dance lessons as poses.The little pokemon turned and smiled at me. "Looking good Kirlia, feeling stronger as well?" I asked.The little psychic bobbed her head up and down and a glow took over her body. Pillows about the room rose as one and I quickly counted at least ten, which included the much larger couch cushions. When the couches started to rise up I whistled, impressed.When Kirlia tried to raise me up I flexed some dark energy and disrupted her. She pouted at me and I just shot her an amused look.It was a nice try, but only Sabrina got to sweep me off my feet like that.I also didn't trust that she wouldn't try something and then try to get away with it using some 'little sister energy'.Kirlia didn't stay disappointed for long though as she quickly lowered the items and began to twirl around us. "Kir! Kirlia! Kir!"Saul and Sandra laughed at how exuberant she was being. "Looks like someone's full of beans!" said Sandra.She clapped her hands together. "I will have to make a cake!" the older woman ducked out of the room and I realised that she didn't mean, tomorrow like someone else would, but rather right now. I glanced at the clock. It was closer to dinner but I guess a late dessert wouldn't go down too poorly.This had Kirlia twirling faster if anything. Sabrina merely shook her head. "Cake is only going to keep her up more, I think we'll need to find a way to burn off some energy Kirlia," she said.Kirlia beamed. "Kirlia?" she said hopefully then her eyes widened as though an idea had come to her. She pointed first at Sabrina, then at me, and then at herself.Sabrina's smile became rather plastic. "You… want to go and fight crime?" she said.I blinked. That… wasn't what I'd been expecting at all.Kirlia's head bobbed rapidly up and down. "Kir! Kir! Kir!" she said firmly. She pointed at a nearby clock and excitedly chattered something at Sabrina. Sabrina for her part nodded along.I raised an eyebrow, once again on the outs with what was being actually said. I gave Saul a look but he was nodding along.Sabrina huffed. "It seems Kirlia wants to spend her first night as a Kirlia fighting crime. Specifically with Hero Yellow and Hero Black," she said.I looked at Sabrina. "Really?"Sabrina merely nodded. "Really."I stared. I'd been wondering how Kirlia would mature, but it turned out she was still a kid. Worse she was a kid with ideas and enough power to get herself into some trouble.Saul chuckled as he rose up. "Well you kids have fun!" he said. "Don't stay up too late! You've got work in the morning!" he said cheerfully.Sabrina shot him a glare that had him scurrying quicker.She huffed as the door closed. "There are times when I wonder if it would not be better to simply dump my duties on him once again and take you and Kirlia on a trip."I sighed whimsically. "We could complete our Hoenn trip," I said dreamily.A glint appeared in Sabrina's eyes and I realised she might not take it as a joke like I had been doing. "Not that I want that right now, I just you know?" I said, waving my hands back and forth.Sabrina nodded, still eying me."Lia!" said Kirlia plaintively as she was accidentally ignored. Kirlia tugged on her shirt only to pause as she realised she could now reach that high. She tugged again happily. "Kir!"Sabrina and I shared a smile and then with a flash of light a pair of wrapped-up packages appeared in the room. I eyed the black clothes. "You keep these in your storage facility?" I said, knowing it to be a redundant question."With a few other of your clothes," she said casually.I paused in putting on the pants only to decide not to ask which clothes of mine she had. The answer could range and give me a bit of a glimpse into her mindset that I wasn't sure I wanted to know about. Better to just ignore it and assume she had some spare clothes for me if I ever needed them.It was so handy having a psychic girlfriend.Kirlia got a green helmet with a visor which she donned while posing on the couch as Sabrina and I suited up."Green ranger?" I asked Kirlia and she beamed, adopting another series of poses. I held in a chuckle. Such a kid.Sabrina drew the hair back from her neck. "Zip me up?" she said.I eyed her. She didn't actually need my help. Not as a psychic, so she must have wanted it. I put my hands on the zipper and slowly drew it upwards. In close like this Sabrina turned when it was done and gave me a pleased peck on the lips. "Thank you, now? Shall we find some crime?"I grinned and donned my helmet.It was time to make Kanto a safer place."Kirlia!" chimed the little psychic.And also fulfil a little girl's dream apparently.We vanished in a teleport and reappeared in a much brighter area. Or rather, a city. I took a moment to gather my bearings. A quick look around at all the flashing signage, the lights shooting up into the air and the busy streets below told me enough to know where I'd come."Neon City, that actually makes a lot of sense," I said.Sabrina nodded. "With Grey being a plant they had to shut down his Gym. Several issues have since then come up, with crime increasing being one. I've had to divert more and more trainers from the Gym doing patrols to assist the police.""Seems it's time this place could use this sort of treatment then," I said. I looked at Sabrina. "What have you got for us?" I said. Kirlia perked up and looked at Sabrina, her large helmet cutely tilting at the action.Sabrina inclined her head. "I have some people peddling X drugs for pokemon matches against me which aren't licensed. They are likely dangerously synthesised."I hissed. X drugs were a bit of a touchy topic. Some people liked to try and use them for matches but the temporary boost had been shown to only be short term and when they weren't regulated carefully, could lead to harm to the pokemon or even berserker states depending on the mix of drugs."There's also a deal taking place on the river docks that seems to be about some pokemon smuggling, seems that got missed by the League and police as it has or had affiliations with Team Rocket from what I can pick up," said Sabrina."Let's get them first and then get the X drug peddlers," I said. In the scope of things, the peddlers were small change compared to the trafficking ring. "Anything we need to watch out for?""A pack of Primeape have been captured along with some Tauros. A stampede or break out from either inside a city is going to cause damage," Sabrina said firmly."Roger, need something to keep them calm," I said, palming Zephyr's pokeball along with that of Zubat.Sabrina inclined her head and took another moment to 'look around' with her psychic sense. Kirlia bounced around a little and I chuckled at her antics. She shot me an affronted look."Sorry, it's just that the part before a fight can sometimes be the worst. You'll get used to it, but seeing you so jittery is kind of funny," I explained."There doesn't appear to be much else going on, apart from a rather glaring oversight in the city's light pollution," Sabrina said with a sniff.I merely hummed, giving the flashing lights and billboards a glance. They had modelled this after Las Vegas in the cartoon and I could see the stylistic choices. Large strips of land with walkways and wonders.People frolicked up and down with a much laxer style than anything I'd seen in a while. More than a few looked tired."The city that never sleeps," I muttered, recalling how in the anime it literally was a city full of irritated and messed up people who really just needed a nap courtesy of Jigglypuff.I watched the people a little more and didn't see anyone acting too rudely. If anything it looked like I imagined Las Vegas at night looked like.There were entertainers, cosplayers, and pokemon of all sorts that had been styled and primped.There was a large raised pool of water where people could swim with Milotic, Staryu, Horsea and even Goldeen while a handler stood off to the side. Other people rode Tauros along the roads, while limousines had people practically spilling out of them.Interestingly enough, I spotted no less than three women and one possible man dressed up like Sabrina. I was about to point them out to her for her thoughts on them before I spotted a giant hulking man wearing a familiar orange jumper with brown pants. His hair was spiked up.Ah… I had Brock cosplayers… huh, neat."Brock?" said Sabrina.I coughed. "Best we refer to each other by our Hero code names," I said. "And sorry, I got distracted by… myself," I said, indicating the much taller, broader man.Sabrina glanced in his direction and giggled. "He is much louder than you are," she said.I shot her a glance, wondering what she was picking up.Sabrina caught that and waved in the man's direction on the street below. "Dressing up like you gives him more confidence it seems. For such a large man, he is rather timid.""Riiiiight," I said, eying the mountain of a man. Hard to think a guy that big could be timid. "Let's go break up that smuggling group, yeah?" I said.The longer I looked about the street, the more weird things I was finding and the harder it all was forcing myself to look away, the show people were putting on or merely existing in this place.I pointedly glanced at Kirlia whose head was whipping back and forth like an excited child. No doubt the smorgasbord of emotions she could pick up would be a heady mix for such a young pokemon.Sabrina got us out of there before Kirlia could get too far along.We reappeared at the docks with a small flash and found ourselves now looking down from a warehouse, that was off the main strip enough to make the floodlights bathing the walkways feel dark in comparison.I pulled up some dark energy and felt myself settle. A quick tap on Zephyr and Zubat's pokeballs had them released. Both pokemon took flight only to arc around. Zubat shot right into my face for a hug, but I caught her before she could splatter herself on my helmet."Easy there girl," I said. "We're going to be fighting some bad guys so I think it's a good chance for you to use your Supersonic. I eyed the docks for a moment before another idea came to mind."Let's start things off with Haze. Think you can coat the entire docks?" I asked.Zubat nodded ecstatic to be part of a fight. I nodded and sent her out."How do you want to do this?" I asked.Sabrina considered the docks as they slowly became less and less visible. "I think we can focus on saving the pokemon while you take out the people above deck," she said."Gotcha!" I said."Kirlia!" said the little pokemon, putting her hand out. I blinked and Sabrina coughed. "She wants to do a 'hands together'," she said, putting words to action.I put my hand on top of hers only for Kirlia to put her other hand on top. "Uhm that not—" I started to say only for Sabrina to match her. I sighed and put my second hand on top. Kirlia bounced her hands down and then up before cheering.I chuckled and waved as the girls vanished to secure the loading bays which were still wide open.I whistled sharply and Zubat returned to me. The noise didn't go unnoticed."Hey! Who's whistling?" said a gruff-sounding voice.I hopped off the roof and landed on the gravel before rising tall right in front of one of the gang's toughs."Me," I said with a deeper voice than usual as I tried to mimic another franchise's dark knight."What the!?" screamed the man only for Zubat to swoop down and blast him with Supersonic. He groggily wobbled about before collapsing. "No, gotta tell the guys," he murmured, reaching for a radio on his belt. I took it from him and pointed.Zephyr landed in front of the man, his eyes already glowing causing the man to slump as Hypnosis took hold."One down," I said, cracking my neck and making a 'move out' gesture to the two pokemon with me. On silent wings they circled me and we began clearing out the various street toughs.When we finally stumbled on a group of four gangsters they all blanched as we emerged from the mists like wrathes.Two of them released pokemon to reveal a pair of Mightyena, a Weezing, and a Skarmory."Confusion," I said, directing Zephyr to take out the Weezing. No way I was letting that pokemon get off something like a Self Destruct.Zubat I moved against the Skarmory despite the terrible match-up. "Harass it!" I said and Zubat flapped in close while waves of Supersonic shot forward to disrupt the metal bird.The Mightyena turned to me with slavering jaws only to be taken by surprise as Zephyr, having torn through Weezing, hurled the downed pokemon at them. Barks and snarls shot out but Zephyr merely raised his wings and began to harry them back."Take out the freak!" called one guy who I noticed was at the back of the group.Then two of the men charged forward while another held back to snap open a nightstick that crackled with electricity.I couldn't keep my attention on him though as I had to deal with the first guy to reach me. He stepped in hoping his greater size would mean he'd be able to grapple me easily. I launched out a hard punch just like Surge had taught me and I'd continued to practise under Trixie's focus.The blow rocked him and he collapsed to the ground bonelessly.The second man, seeing how deadly my fists were, stayed back and tried to swipe at me with his own larger reach."Careful! He's a boxer! Watch his fists!" the man said as he tried to fake me out with a lunge only for me to shift positions.I held my nerve and waited for him to properly try and knock me back with a set of his own punches.I batted one punch aside and snapped a low kick into his knee before snapping it up into his head, knocking him out."I don't skip leg day," I said. In truth, I had Trixie to thank for that.The third man lunged, having seen this as his chance. I twirled bracing to take the hit of electricity with my body filling with Rock energy only for the baton to slam into my shoulder and snap.The man stared at his broken tool while I merely reached out to put my hand on his shoulder like I was about to console him.The man looked up and had a bare moment to spot my forehead racing into his. My helmeted head slammed into his and he joined his friends on the ground.I turned my attention to the last man who was already backing away. "Damn cheap shit! Louis is gonna hear about this! " he said as he turned and began to run."Take him!" I said and Zephyr, having beaten his foes, took wing after the fleeing man. I turned my own attention to Zubat who was holding out if barely against the enraged Skarmory."Hit and run with Supersonic! Its metal body makes it more receptive to the noise!" I commanded and Zubat did just that. When Skarmory growled and tried to turn its attention to me it flicked its eyes down to one of the downed men and it screeched."Astonish," I said, making Zubat get between us while making the larger pokemon baulk in shock. Skarmory were still affected normally by Ghost type moves, interestingly enough.I made use of this to keep shocking and surprising the larger pokemon and while it took a few minutes, Zubat eventually whittled down the enraged bird. When it collapsed Zubat spun towards me happily and I caught the exhausted little pokemon."You did great," I said, more than happy to praise it. "That had been a tough match up and you emerged the winner," I said.I glanced down at the beaten men as Zephyr deposited the runaway. They'd have done better if they used their actual pokemon and didn't just unleash them on me expecting results. Ah well, I shouldn't complain about the lacking quality of my foes, merely be happy."You can't do this! I'm just an innocent bystander!" the man whined."You're anything but," I said. "For now, go to sleep," I said and Zephyr leaned forward with glowing eyes.I glanced around, noting that the Haze I'd used to obscure my approach on most of the thugs was breaking up now that a few minutes had passed. I couldn't see anyone else and there wasn't any sounds of fighting occurring on the ship—A moment later a trio of men were launched from the ship and into the waters below. Kirlia, in her little helmet, trotted up to the side of the boat where she put her hands on her hips and scowled down at the men."All secured?" I called up to her.Kirlia shot me a thumbs up and I nodded, reaching for my communicator to call it in.The police were there much slower than usual and I glanced at Sabrina. She shook her head and I relaxed glad that they weren't crooked. "Busy night for you?" Sabrina prompted.The officer just sighed and nodded glumly. "Neon City is a place that never sleeps. I had to break up a few acts of hanky panky taking place around some alleys and bust an X dealer," he said with a shake of his head.He nodded to the gang. "These ones have been given us a bit of a run around so I'll be glad to see them behind bars for a while," he said. He gave us a lazy salute. "Thanks for the assist Heroes Black and Yellow," he said, only for a small cough to make him look down towards Kirlia who had adopted a proud pose with her hands on her hips."And you too… Hero… Green?" he said hesitantly.Kirlia bobbed her head happily and waved for us to follow her out. I chuckled and did so. Amused when a few of the Police took some less than subtle pictures of us.With the job done my stomach decided to announce itself. Sabrina scooped up Kirlia and led me to a deserted alleyway. "I think mother's cake will be ready by now," she said as we vanished.It turned out Sabrina was right. Kirlia happily plowed into the cake as her dual victory celebration, only to collapse like a kid that had run out of steam. I chuckled as Sabrina lifted her up and moved her to her own room in the house where she was tucked in.I gave the decor a look over. 'You'll have to get ready to change it," I said. "She's a big crime-fighting girl now," I said with a chuckle. Sabrina just nodded.The next morning I had breakfast with my family who'd insisted we have it outside. I kept one of the windows open to hear about last night's escapades."—and the police in Neon City had an interesting encounter with body cam footage revealing that Heroe black, Heroine Yellow are once more active only this time with a sidekick in Heroine Green!" footage played revealing us all with Kirlia in her green helmet talking with police while Kirlia posed behind us in vaguely heroic poses."The police praised the official Heroes of the Indigo league and hope to see more of them!" said the reporter.I chuckled only to feel a shadow fall over me as Bertha loomed. 'Rhy," she said flatly, pointing at Kirlia on screen and then at herself.I huffed. "Are you envious?" I said only for my Xtranscier to start pinning as messages flooded in.I gave it a glance only to see Brawly, Flannery, and Professor Oak were all demanding that I inform them of the next Hero raid.I sighed, mentally throwing up my hands in amusement. It seemed like envy was a common factor with both my pokemon and my friends.I sent back a message stating I wasn't going to commit to anything all while I ignored Bertha's stare."What?" I said. "You had your time in the sun yesterday!" I said to her.I shook my head and turned my attention to the day's jobs. I had another Elite Challenge, and some more Pewter Academy kids to handle.Should be simple enough.222Salvadore peered at his art book. Brock had gotten it for him during his recent trip to Celadon and it was a great gift!It had everything Salvadore needed to take his scientific journals to the next level by improving the quality of his sketches. He wouldn't have thought of using circles, squares, and triangles to get the shapes connecting like this, but thanks to his nifty little book, he'd started drawing the various pokemon in standard poses.The easiest to draw were, of course, Geodude and Golem.He had a lot of great models with Sanchez, Izumi, Moxy, and the various Onix. They were super easy to draw. Just roughed up circles over and over.It got harder when he tried his hand at Jormungandr who had a lot more spikes. That one… was a work in progress. The biggest trick he'd found was keeping his drawings away from Bertha.If she'd found out, she'd have insisted on him drawing nothing but her!That meant he usually had to draw when she was distracted, and when she got close he focussed on the written parts of his investigations. Usually, all he had to do was recite a few facts such as a pokemon's preferred diet being Cherri berries, or Oran. If that didn't work he started analysing the dirt quality and that usually got her wandering off to find something more important to do.He hoped he'd be good enough to draw her one day, but for now he didn't want to offend her by doing a terrible job.Just like he didn't want Shin or Gawain to have terrible drawings. He was getting better! It just took time.Today he was wandering the reserve with Hephaestus the Growlithe looking for inspiration. There were always Geodude rolling around and the Onix or two, but Salvadore needed to challenge himself. So he moved over to where the sound of metal clanging and clinking echoed out. Salvadore and his trusty companion Growlithe moved through the boulders and found themselves standing next to Titan."Heya Titan!" he said cheerfully, only to blanch when the Tyranitar he'd assumed was Titan turned her head and Salvadore got a better look. Empress, unlike Titan, had several larger scars on her front along with being slightly leaner in mass.She also was right there next to him.Hephy pressed himself up next to Salvadore, forming a small fluffy barrier. Salvadore was very thankful for the little growlithe's bravery, even if he was quivering just as much as Salvadore as Empress considered them."Uhhhh," he said, unsure what to do. Yolanda always said that Empress was a sweetheart but… she was huge, and scary. She didn't smile like Titan did and goof around, she just sort of loomed when she was present.Empress stared him down and Salvadore had to wonder if she was thinking about eating him.He was half tempted to point out how scrawny he was and that he barely had any good bits to him. Boys weren't meant to be tasty like girls who were sugar and spice as they liked to tell everyone.Salvadore thought that was why in the stories the dragons always stole them instead of young boys.Empress grunted, her head bobbing up and down before she turned her head back to what she'd been watching. Salvadore followed her gaze.Cranidos squawked in frustration as Terra grinned at him. She bobbed this way and that, making Cranidos work for his attacks. It was obvious he wanted to drop his head and charge straight at Terra but she wasn't letting him, by being deft with her footwork and dancing to the side any time he even started to drop his head.She was reading him which was an impressive feat.Salvadore drew out his notepads and began jotting down his observations like Oak had told him to keep doing. He sat down with Hephy claiming a seat at his side between him and Empress. He curled into Salvadore and the warm pokemon acted like a very nice cushion.With his targets of observation firmly in sight, Salvadore got to it."Pokemon, even young pokemon can learn tells for each other if they are pronounced enough," he said aloud as he slowly wrote out the observation. "This can form a crucial point of early development as pokemon will learn to look for these signs when they observe other battles. There will always be certain… ano… anatomy... Ana…" Salvadore paused and pulled out a pocket dictionary, where was that word?Right!"Anatomical comparisons. Flying-type pokemon will have certain matching traits, such as tucking their wings or beating in certain patterns. The example that is used for this case is Cranidos versus a young Larvitar. Cranidos is—" Salvadore continued to write down his observations. Happily jotting them down before deciding he needed to try his hand at doing some art.It shouldn't be too hard for Cranidos. Circle for the head. A triangle for the beak and then a rectangle for the neck. Then he just needed to blend them together and add eyes. Beady little rage-filled eyes.Salvadore gave it a go and held up his drawing. It wasn't great, but it showed how Cranidos was trying to drop his head to charge. Salvadore added some arrows to indicate movement.Then he stared at Terra.Hmmmm. Where to start? Maybe an Oval for a head with a taller oval for the body with a sort of soft rectangle for the horn?Yeah that would work.Sadly the match ended before he could finish drawing Terra, and she waddled over to chirp at her mum. Salvadore paused, watching the interaction as mother and daughter talked with each other. Empress, for the first time he'd seen, seemed to go soft.She almost smiled!Empress, apparently detecting his gaze, glanced up sharply and snorted.Salvadore inched back and made a show of busying himself. "Lar!?" chirped Terra, having noticed him. She waddled over and tugged on his notepad to see what he was doing. He hastily flipped to a page of notes, not wanting her to see his drawings. Terra was nice, but she spent a lot of time with Bertha when Yolanda wasn't around, so there was no way she wouldn't tell Bertha.Empress wasn't having any of that though and leaned in to nose the notepad back to the pages on which he'd been working.Hephy gave a whimpering growl at the giant head in their space. Empress paused and glanced down before slowly retracting her head.Hephy relaxed but that didn't stop Terra from seeing his drawings. "Tar!? Larvi tar!" she chirped happily, pointing at the rough drawing of her that he'd just started to do."Yeah, that's you. I was trying to sketch you," he said.Terra wiggled and handed the notepad back before adopting a pose. Salvadore chuckled. "Alright, but I want you to promise you won't tell Bertha, alright?"Terra blinked at him cluelessly before nodding slowly. "Tar?" she said."I just don't want her hogging my time… and I want to get better first," he said.Terra accepted this and held her pose so Salvadore could draw her. It took a few minutes and a few muttered erasures to get things just right, but in the end, he thought he had a decent drawing. He turned it around to show Terra and the little pokemon grinned. "Larvitar!" said Terra happily.Terra turned and waddled back to Cranidos. "Tar?" she said, indicating the other drawing. Cranidos grunted from his spot on the ground, having collapsed there.Oh dear, Cranidos was sulking.Salvadore considered consoling him but his pose was rather funny… so instead he took a picture. He'd try and draw it later. It'd probably give Brock a laugh if he did it right.Cranidos didn't seem to realise that he was under a lot of scrutiny as Salvadore began to sketch him out. He whined and growled and whined before throwing his short little arms up and down.Salvadore was reminded of his younger siblings being told they couldn't have ice cream before dinner. Cranidos' tiny little arms and legs smashed on the ground as he had a little tantrum.Salvadore felt a little bad so he stopped drawing and coughed.Cranidos stopped having a tantrum and looked around only to spot that Terra, Empress, Hephy and himself were there. Empress snorted loudly and rumbled something that had the little pokemon shooting to his feet and ducking his head.Salvadore suspected that Empress had just chastised the little ancient pokemon.He flicked his gaze between them and wondered what he was supposed to do. Cranidos looked ashamed now and that hadn't been his intent. His eyes dipped to the drawing of Cranidos having a tantrum.Now he just felt bad for drawing this."Hey Cranidos? I uhmmm…" he cast his mind about what he could do before realising he did have a method of calming Cranidos down. "I was wondering if you'd let me take some video of you smashing up some rocks?" he said.Cranidos stared at him. "Crani?" said the hard-headed pokemon."You don't want to?" Salvadore said only for Cranidos to tilt his head in the common 'confused pose'. "Oh! Uhmm I want to take a video with my Xtransciever!" It had a great camera function! Brock had mentioned not telling people he had one a few weeks ago, but Salvadore had told loads of people and they didn't seem to care.Cranidos still seemed confused so Salvadore demonstrated the camera. He then projected images of himself and Cranidos looking confused."Dos!" shouted the little pokemon. "Cranidos?!" said the pokemon before pointing back behind Salvadore. Salvadore turned his head and noticed that Cranidos was pointing at the big screen which was showing battle casts in the lead up to Brock's match today against an Elite Challenger."Uhmmm no it won't project it up there, but it is like what's gonna happen with Brock only those matches have bigger cameras."Cranidos appeared to lose interest."Please?" Salvador asked. "I'd love to get some video of you at your best!" he said and that seemed like it was enough as the hard-headed pokemon lined itself up against a rock and charged so quickly Salvadore didn't have a chance to actually record it.When Cranidos emerged from the dust and debris he had his chest puffed out."Uhmmmm that was great?" Salvadore said. He decided it was best not to tell the little pokemon he hadn't gotten it and instead started recording. "Maybe another one?" he said.Cranidos threw himself into another charge and Salvadore knew he'd hit on a great method of cheering up the little pokemon. After a few boulders Salvadore noticed something."Hey Cranidos, you have really strong legs yeah?"Cranidos paused and tilted his head and considered said limbs. "Cran," he said, nodding after a moment. "Think you could stomp on a rock to hold it down and then headbutt it?" Salvadore asked, curious if the little pokemon had the flexibility to do it.Cranidos took a moment to consider this before kicking a boulder over and standing atop it. Then he dropped his head into the rock proving that yes, he did in fact have the flexibility for such a manoeuvre.Cranidos rose up, foot still holding down his target. For a long moment, he didn't move.Then a smile broke out over his scaly face and he began hammering the rock over and over. "Dos! Dos ! Crani!" he said happily.Cranidos twirled around and stared at Salvadore happily. "Dos?" asked the little pokemon, his head bobbing back and forth."Uhmmmm?" Salvadore was once again at a loss. It obviously wanted something. He stared at the pokemon for a few moments then considered the area. Maybe Cranidos was asking if there were other ways to headbutt something?He did seem rather fixated on headbutting things so maybe?"Can you kick something in the air and then… smack it when it comes down?" Salvadore offered.Cranidos did just that and Salvadore caught it all on camera. "Oh! I know try headbutting it up and down repeatedly!" said Salvadore.Cranidos seemed delighted at this and tried but the rocks kept breaking."Huh, that's pretty cool, but it doesn't really show what would happen with a pokemon," he said rubbing his chin.Empress gave him a look but Salvadore ignored her. Instead, he nodded. "We need something that bounces like a pokemon would! Wait here Cranidos I'm going to get a sack of jelly for you to practise with!" he said as he turned and dashed into the Gym."Rocko! Rocko!" Salvadore called as he approached a cluster of trainers."Rocko's over there," one of the trainers said as they worked a pair of Aron through some training exercises. When one Aron growled at the trainer the trainer ignored them and rewarded the second Aron for completing the exercise.Salvadore felt his hand itch as the urge to stop and document this method of training came over him only for him to stay the course."Hey Rocko! Can I have some jelly to put in a sack?"Rocko glanced up. "Jelly in a sack? Is this for Munchlax? Cause that little guy doesn't need that much sugar," said the relaxed man peering at Salvadore curiously."No! It's for science!" Salvadore proclaimed with a grin."Science eh?" said Rocko with a raised eyebrow.Salvadore coughed. "I wanted to see if Cranidos could juggle rocks with headbutts but he keeps breaking them. His head is too hard but then I realised that if the thing he was hitting was softer, more like what a pokemon would be then he'd be able to do it!"Rocko stared at Salvadore. "That is kinda dark but… I think I'm a little curious, come on let's get some made up I think we have some in the storehouse for when we make up some snacks. We'll need to make it fairly thick," he said.Salvadore began to bounce as Rocko helped him make up a sack of Jelly that was roughly equal to Cranidos in size. Rocko gave it a slap which set the sack to jiggling. "Heh, this should be fine, just remember that some pokemon that are this soft have methods of handling blunt impacts," he said."I will! This is just for training!" Salvadore explained. He then trudged away with the sack over his shoulder. Rocko followed him.Salvadore shot him a few looks. "You're coming too?""Yeah," said Rocko easily, a small bag of feed in one hand.Salvadore eyed the much smaller, lighter bag. "Any chance you would swap?" he said, hoisting up the sack to indicate what he meant."Naaaaaaah," said Rocko with a smirk. "You keep going, it's good for your character arc or something like that," Rocko said."That's not… You're mocking me aren't you?""A little but seriously, this is your show so bear the burden a little," said Rocko as he continued to walk next to Salvdore.Salvadore grunted and decided that wasn't worth commenting on. He made sure to make a mental note to make sure he forced Rocko to play a character he didn't like during their next game session. Maybe Bowser?Then he'd play Luigi and crush him!Thoughts of digital violence helped Salvadore lug the sack of jelly back to the training field Cranidos had been on. When they arrived not much had changed apart from there being a bit more debris than when he'd left, but that made sense seeing as Cranidos was still practising tossing up a rock and headbutting it.Cranidos eyed a small rock and with a deft flick of its head sent it soaring up where it began watching it fall intently."Hey! You're getting really good at that!" said Salvadore as he approached.Cranidos didn't stop tracking the rock it had just thrown. When it got close enough Cranidos leapt only to mistime the throw and smack it aside instead of destroying it. Cranidos brayed in annoyance and landed next to the rock where a quick one-two smash pulverised the rock into dust.With a pleased huff, Cranidos looked up and spotted Salvadore and the bag of jelly. "Dos?" it said in greeting.Salvadore hefted the jelly sack. "I got it!" he said and Cranidos perked up his head jerking in a manner that screamed 'Throw it'!Salvadore considered the bag for a moment before grabbing it by one side and spinning. "Ooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaa!" he began to cry as he spun faster and faster before lifting his hands and hurling the bag up into the air.The sack sailed through the air, wobbling as it did so in an undulating pattern with the light catching it causing it to sparkle.Cranidos' eyes widened, and he tucked low before launching up into the sack of jelly.Hardhead met soft sack and the bag flubbered, for lack of a better word, only to encapsulate Cranidos and make him squawk.The bag of jelly fell to the side and Crandios tumbled to the side with a bark only to shoot up to his feet instantly and growl at the offending bag of jelly. He leapt at it and began to hammer his head down into it.The bag quaked as blow after blow shot into it only for nothing to really occur as the jelly merely dissipated the hits."DOOOOOOOOOOOS!" raged Cranidos as he reared back a huge headbutt."Cranidos wait!" Salvadore said as he spotted part of the jelly sack wobbling underneath Crandios where it wasn't secured anymore. Salvadore might not have been taught it in class but Brock had mentioned something about reactionary forces enough times to suspect he knew what was about to happen.Cranidos didn't listen and threw his head into the jelly sack only for it to shoot up into his gut, the force of the blow transferring through it and launching Cranidos.Cranidos went airborne and had long enough to stare in shock before coming down on his back with a heavy thump.Everyone stared at the crater containing Cranidos before glancing back to the hapless jelly sack that had bested him.Rocko snorted. "Damn that was not what I'd been expecting to happen but that was hilarious!""Cranidos!" Salvadore said as he rushed over to check on the little pokemon.Crandios lay in the crater blinking slowly."Rocko? I think he might be hurt!" Salvadore said worriedly.Rocko stopped chuckling straight away and approached eying Cranidos. When the little pokemon didn't become angry he crouched down and tilted Cranidos' head from side to side."He's not concussed but then again that makes sense with his predilection to headbutting things. His neck and dome are perfect for negating shocks to the brain." He continued to observe Cranidos before relaxing. "He's winded himself from the landing which can sometimes be enough to shock a pokemon. He's fine, just stunned. I think I might get him a football to play with instead as a jelly sack… seems a mite dangerous."Salvadore wilted. "I didn't think it would end like this… Think Brock will be mad?"Rocko was quick to shake his head. "Nah! If anything I think he'll praise you. He's been working to make Cranidos less reliant on his Headbutts and be more patient, but you went the other way and leaned into what Cranidos liked while showing him new ways to headbutt things. I think he'll remember this session for a while."Salvadore nodded slowly, still unsure of himself only for the older man to clap him on the shoulder. "No more training with him for now. How about you take him over to watch the coming Elite match. He'd like that I reckon.""Yeah that sounds like a good idea, how about it Cranidos? Want to watch Brock fight?"Cranidos stared at Salvadore before nodding slowly and yawning. Rocko chuckled. "Tired too it seems, good work wearing him out." With that said and done Rocko sauntered off leaving Salvadore to usher the slightly out-of-it ancient pokemon towards where the big screen was set up.Empress and Terra walked along next to him with Terra waddling along next to Cranidos and babbling something. From the way her arms were waving back and forth it seemed like whatever she was saying, she was doing in a most enthusiastic manner.When they reached the big screen Salvadore realised that they were in fact late to the show with most of the seating being claimed by other trainers or various pokemon. Empress gave an odd hooting barking that made all the pokemon sit up and look her way.Most of them quailed and stepped back from their positions fearfully as Empress surveyed them.One of the pokemon sitting in a seat turned out to be Hypnotoad who instead of reacting fearfully stood and waved for Empress to join her. "Poli Wrath!" cried the powerful pokemon. She gestured to a seat next to her and Empress snorted in response.She still moved to claim the chair as the pokemon that had been seated there stayed back. Salvadore followed bowing politely. "Thanks, and sorry for her! She's… not good with manners," he said.Empress gave Salvadore a look, one of her scaly eyebrows raised into the air. "Tar?" she said.Salvadore coughed. "Uhmmmm it's not nice to bully others, you could have asked instead of growling like that. I'm pretty sure that hoot you did was a threat display, right?"Empress stared at him for a long moment before scoffing and claiming the seat next to Hypnotoad who warbled something at the other pokemon only to earn a bark from Empress. Salvadore moved to claim the edge of another chair with Cranidos next to him."Hi Moxy and Izumi, can we sit with you," he said clearly. The Graveler and the Geodude nodded their heads indicating that it was fine.Salvadore sat with Cranidos claiming a spot on the ground quietly.With that sorted Salvadore looked up to find that the Elite match was already underway with the challenger using a Vileplume while Brock was fighting with Shin, his Kabutops."Aquajet away!" called Brock on the screen making his pokemon evade the Vine Whips that were threatening Shin.Shin shot away and began peppering the other pokemon with attack after attack all while evading. It was a lot more hit-and-run than Salvadore was used to seeing from his brother but it was working. Shin was merely too fast to be hit and the greater evasion led to better exchanges.Salvadore flipped open his notepad and turned to a marked-out section that he'd titled battle strategies.Under the subheading 'hit and run style' he began to list off his observations for this match.Rocko, who'd stayed with him, peered over Salvadore's shoulder. "You're missing that he's using Rock Polish while speeding around the battlefield. Shin is getting faster and shinier as this fight continues," he said.Salvadore paused and watched the match, only for the battle between Shin and the Vileplume to end as Shin stopped dodging Vine Whips and Razor Leafs.Shin went from dodging to suddenly being on top of Vileplume with both bladed hands raised to streak in and slam into it with two Metal Claws."Vileplume is unable to battle!" barked Dennis, the referee for the day's match.Salvadore did a little fist pump as, around him, various pokemon roared their approval. Shin did a quick twist and flash of his blades.The camera shot to Brock and showed that he was staring intently at the battlefield. "Hold position," Brock said and a hush went over the crowd both on the screen and outside in the reserve as everyone waited for what would come next."Is that a good call or a bad one?" Salvadore whispered to Rocko, hoping to not break the tension.Rocko rubbed his chin for a moment. "I happen to know that Brock has been doing a bit of a read up on some of the coming challengers and he has a decent idea of what this guy has. He is probably baiting the guy into a close-range matchup.""Let's go Hariyama!" shouted Brock's opponent.The pokemon didn't even wait for a command, it's palm shot forward in a signature Arm Thrust.Shin ghosted around the blow, his scythes flashing out even as he evaded the attack.Hariyama grunted in pain but spun with a single leg, arms firing out only for Shin to twist away and unleash a close-range Hydro Pump into Hariyama's feet. Hariyama was forced to growl at Shin, as he swished his blades in front of him.Rocko nodded, "Just like that," he said with a grin."What else can you notice?" Salvadore said feeling much more confident.Rocko opened his mouth before giving Salvadore a look that he knew all too well. "Hmmm I think I'll keep it a secret. You can build up your observation skills if I don't give you everything.""That makes sense," Salvadore said easily.Rocko eyed him before smiling. "Heh, you're different from your brother.""Brock, really?"Rocko waved his hand. "Nah, Forrest. When I first told him that he got annoyed and mentioned character-building tricks," he said. Rocko shook his head and chuckled. "Ah, I miss that kid."Salvadore glanced away from the screen. "Forrest didn't like things like that?" he said, feeling a small pang.It had honestly been weeks since he'd last thought about his older brother, and now he kind of felt like the space his brother filled was a little larger.Rocko nodded. "Didn't like giving out food in the early mornings either, but that was because Brock had him do it with Backpack on.""Aren't backpacks good ways to carry things?" Salvadore queried.Rocko chuckled. "No, Backpack is a specific Geodude." He glanced around and pointed at a lighter-coloured Geodude than usual. "That one there. She weighs in at around forty kilograms instead of the normal twenty these days. She's perfect for training as she has set modes where she will work with you while you run and other times become a nuisance. She's great for training purposes, but urgh she can be tough to deal with."Salvadore drew some squiggles in his notepad. "Got any other stories about Forrest?" he asked, his eyes turning back to the screen.There was a moment of silence before Rocko sat down. "Sure. he got me really good one time with this whoopee cushion after I'd asked him to redo some work. Got me right in the middle of a work meeting. Damn near made Dennis laugh!"Salvadore giggled. "He tried that on me as well but I caught him at it. Then he slipped it under Brock and I think Brock saw it but he did it anyway!"Salvadore frowned. "He stopped doing as many practical jokes last year…""Might have just grown out of it," Rocko offered.Salvadore considered that. Then he considered what Forrest was doing. "... How much does a Journey change someone?" asked Salvadore.Rocko sighed. "It can be one of the most or least impactful events. I remember a guy that stayed exactly the same. Heck he even still dresses the same these days! That doesn't mean that he didn't change though. He got wiser and his changes were more subtle."Rocko wrapped an arm around Salvadore. "Don't worry, people change all the time and that can be a great thing. Don't be worried that he's not going to be your brother anymore though. He might be a better big brother now, just like you are going to be a different Salvadore. When you get the time, try and spend some time with him. It's sort of like an adventure meeting someone that's gone off on one themselves," Rocko said with a wistful look. "You have to work out how they changed and that can be a lot of fun.""Thanks, that sounds like a good idea."Rocko ruffled his hair. "Don't be afraid to call him either. Technology these days mean you're not really as far from each other as you might have been."Salvadore blushed, realising that in all the time he'd had his Xtransciever, he hadn't actually done that. "Right," he said, his head ducked.Rocko merely chuckled and stood. "I still got some work to do. Enjoy what's left of the match," he said indicating Shin battling against a FeraligatrFangs snapped loudly and Salvadore readied his pen to catch what he could. In his mind he already knew he'd have to get a replay of it later to do it right.Eventually, despite weathering a few heavy blows as the grinding match dragged on, Shin emerged victorious and Salvadore joined in with the people and pokemon around him celebrating.Cranidos hooted loudly having regathered his breath during the match. As highlights played out, the ancient pokemon vibrated with energy for a moment before turning and dashing off only to pause as a loud gurgle roared out. Cranidos stiffened and changed directions to one of the feed bins to get some food. Salvadore chuckled only for his own stomach to rumble causing him to cough sheepishly.Salvadore waved to Terra and Empress and trotted on into the trainer lounge where he found Brock talking with Missy, "—working on getting Shin to be able to parry certain attacks for a while. It takes a bit of martial arts training but it is doable for other pokemon as well.""Huh, neat, I'll have to look into that," said the future Ace trainer.Salvadore collected a small plate and stacked it up with small sandwiches before getting close to listen in. Having free time as a perk of his higher grades certainly resulted in some neat benefits like getting to spend his time talking and listening in when talks like this happened.When Brock was done he waved for Salvadore to approach."Hey little bro, how's your day been so far?" he said and Salvadore grinned, more than happy to tell his oldest brother just how it had been going.
Chapter 106 - 220-222
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