Leo Simon
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The All Mighty Earth - Pokemon SI Chapter 23
🕑 Added 2023-08-23 15:24:07 +0000 UTCAsher's Team:
Lago - Rhydon
Crust - Golem
Sebastian - Nidoking
Selena - Nidoqueen
Seraph - Clefable
Barret - Dugtrio
Sonic - Sandslash
Death - Marowak
Colossus - Steelix
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It's their first day as boyfriend and girlfriend, Sabrina has to admit this to herself, when she said yes to dating Asher she thought that her entire relationship with him would suddenly change. But, it hadn't really, in fact everything was more or less the same. She wasn't disappointed per say, in fact she'd go as far as to say that this was comfortable, but their new dynamic... well wasn't really any different than their old one.
She was currently training with her pokemon, and this involved silent meditation, void of distractions and clear of sound. A calm mind is essential for refining her own psychic abilities as well as her pokemon's. So, they all required an atmosphere away from others, and that is what led her to the depths of a nearby forest.
She sat on the grass with her entire team, though from the outside it may appear that everything was silent in the area, their perception as psychic-types allowed them to see the world through a different lens to a regular person. The world was almost still to them, yet everything was going fast, the slightest rustle of a leaf in the icy winter was enough to gain their attention, every minor detail in their surroundings was ingrained in their memory, and each of their minds were perfectly synchronised. They were all one, yet also many, their thoughts and powers were bouncing off each other perfectly, it was as though they were all in a mental tango that could go on for hours.
But, as a human, Sabrina had infinitely more finite limits than her partners. Even in that moment she could feel a migraine creeping onto her brain, as her mind did it's best to keep up with the immense raw power of her pokemon and not be swept away by the vast flood of overwhelming energy her pokemon gave off, but she was slowly being pushed back.
Sabrina is a prodigy, that isn't arrogance on her part just fact, however no human can match a pokemon in terms of natural talent and control. As a little girl who just awakened her powers, she was but a budding seed when compared to her own team. This was her before she started to train at a younger age. She could compete well with most psychic-types, however her team wasn't just comprised of regular pokemon. She is limited as a human, who lacks the natural talent and control pokemon are gifted with, and she must work twice as hard to improve a fraction as much as them.
This was why she was pushing her limits when it came to synchronising the minds of her pokemon, if she wished to improve her abilities as a psychic, then she needed to push past her capabilities and train constantly to become a powerful psychic in her own right.
She couldn't stop improving if she wanted to become the most powerful psychic in the world.
The mental chain she'd formed with her pokemon began to ware thin, her being the weakest link, however her brain was working overtime in an attempt to hold it together. But, the flood of power became too much.
She scrunched her eyes shut, her head throbbing and begging for release as the mental link snapped and-
Sabrina let out a deep and shaky breath, as her crimson eyes opened, sweat gathering on her brow as her entire team was dragged back into the real world. Their senses losing their sensitivity as every single pokemon she owned also opened their eyes, them all not even being phased by the large amount of time they had spent linked together, whereas her own skull felt as though it had been cracked open.
'Mistress, are you alright? You shouldn't be pushing yourself like that.' Espeon showed genuine concern at the sight of Sabrina seething in pain from the backlash of overusing her psychic powers.
Sabrina didn't respond for a moment, allowing her migraine to fade and the dots in her vision to disappear, but once she was done she placated her pokemon's worries. When you're so linked to someone mentally you can often tell their emotions better than your own, this made identifying her own pokemon's problems easy, a fact she is grateful for.
"I am fine Espeon, I just pushed myself a step too far. I'll be fine." Her words didn't do much to reassure the pink feline, however her loyal partner backed down, probably not wanting to argue with her.
Espeon was one of her newer members. Asher had bought her an Eevee, how exactly she isn't sure considering how rare and expensive they are, with the hopes that they would evolve into a useful member of Sabrina's team. And she did, in just a few months Espeon had grown exponentially, and Sabrina had no doubts that she would soon be up to par with the rest of her team. She worried for Sabrina too much though ever since she evolved, it was as though her entire personality had shifted upon evolution, she constantly called her mistress and spoke in an awfully refined manner with an extensive vocabulary.
Asher calls her a 'chuuni', whatever that might mean, she has a feeling it's accurate.
She brushed off her pokemon's concerns and returned all of them except Alakazam to their respective pokeballs. They had done a satisfactory amount of training for the day afterall, and she had a feeling that Asher would have finished training with his own pokemon at that point, so heading back would have acceptable.
Using telepathy she began to converse with her partner.' We should go Alakazam.'
'Do you wish to return to Asher, I could simply teleport us back.'
'No, that would be more convenient, however I wish to... talk with you. Asher makes sure to spend time together with his pokemon, and I would like to do the same.'
'Very well.'
The world around them resumed to normal speed, and the psychic girl frowned slightly as her head began to ache. It seemed that she pushed herself much too far earlier, she couldn't even use simple telepathy with a single pokemon without feeling some fatigue. Perhaps she should just return her starter to their pokeball?
She shook her head. No. She needs to do this, she can't limit herself purely to communication with Asher, that isn't healthy for a human being, and a good trainer should know their pokemon better than themselves.
She began to converse with her pokemon as they started to make their way back toward her boyfriends location.
'So, Alakazam... how are you feeling today?'
If cringing mentally was possible, then Sabrina would have done so in that moment. What a pointless thing to ask. She had just spent what felt like days with her mind synchronised to his own and that is her question.
'I am doing quite well, however a new opponent would be much appreciated, I can only battle against the same opponents so many times afterall.'
Their mental conversation was going at a much lower speed than before, a simple walk through the woods may very well take hours mentally if they took their time, so their mental link was nowhere near as strong as before.
Alakazam may be right though, they haven't had the opportunity to fight many powerful opponents lately, and battling against Asher can only be done so many times before fighting the same opponent gets boring. They needed somebody new.
However, being a Gym Leader level trainer can come with the downsides of worthwhile trainers being few and far between. So, she may not be able to fulfil his request for a good battle.
Being a powerful trainer is something she does take pride in, if she didn't like being strong then she wouldn't bother to train like she did. But, her pride as a trainer wasn't always well placed.
As a psychic she always had an edge over other trainers, she could read their mind as though it were an open book, and because of that even if a trainer was stronger than her, she could overcome them due to her abilities. She wasn't the strongest Gym Leader, however the fact she was practically cheating made up for that. Looking back, it was embarrassing for her to remember that she used to think herself to be invincible.
But, even invincibility can have a loophole. Her loophole was Asher. He was only challenging his fourth Gym, however she acted in a manner unbecoming of a Gym Leader and... used her main team. At that point she was stronger than him, or at least her pokemon were, however she had grown overly reliant on her abilities, and as a result she was completely distracted and frustrated throughout the battle, and he won as a result.
She acted like a brat back then, but she'd like to think that she had grown since then.
Psychic abilities are rare, however enough accounts of people who hold these extraordinary powers have been made to divide their abilities into categories, of which some psychics hold greater potential than others. She was an anomaly, even amongst the psychics which she has read about.
When it came to psychics, there were numerous different abilities a person can use. External abilities such as telekinesis and teleportation were the most common, and for internal abilities those would be telepathy and the power to see another person's emotions. Then there's precognition, but those are by far the rarest psychics in the world.
She can do all of these, to a certain extent, and that on it's own is an extremely rare ability, however she was also fortunate enough to be born with extreme skill in all of her abilities. She could be considered one in a million, however her arrogance had lead to her neglecting her abilities at one point, she believed that she was powerful enough as she was and grew complacent.
Most psychics will become psychic-type trainers because developing a pokemon's psychic powers can help empower your own abilities to new levels. So, as her pokemon grew so did she, albeit not at the same rate.
She isn't exactly certain how she even came to possess these powers in the first place, but she had an idea. Her father was the previous Gym Leader of the Saffron City Gym, it would explain where she got her powers from if he also possessed psychic abilities.
But, that just didn't make sense. He abandoned her because of her abilities, so why would he be afraid of such powers if he also-
"Again Dragonite!"
Sabrina's inner musing were cut off as her ears picked up on a familiar female voice. She whipped her head to the left, and was immediately greeted by the sight of a caped girl about her age with blue hair commanding a Dragonite.
It was Clair. Her boyfriend's opponent in the next round.
'Is something wrong Sabrina?' Her partner questioned as he also set his sights on the orange dragon and it's master.
They appeared to be training for their next match, her Dragonite seemed to be gathering dragon-type energy into an orb above their mouth, quite a few trees in that area were also cut down with nothing but stumps remaining in a wide radius. They had definitely cleared out an area to train in.
"Use Draco Meteor!"
Hmm? She'd never heard of that move before-
The orb above the dragon-type's head suddenly widened as it was let loose, dragonic energy pulsing like a beating heart within the attack... only for it to sputter out and die, fading into the air like scattered sand.
Sabrina could see the emotions which the trainer and pokemon both felt in that moment, they felt frustration, hints of anger, along with disappointment... but no dejection. In fact, the two of them only seemed to grow more determined than ever at the failed attempt.
"Keep going, I know that you can do it if you try your best."
Sabrina was surprised at the tone Clair used when addressing her pokemon. She didn't sound enraged at their failure, or disappointed in them specifically. She just encouraged them to continue trying, not holding their lack of success against them.
Then again, she supposed that the strongest trainers did tend to be quite abnormal. Sabrina herself couldn't really talk considering how socially inept she could be at times.
Clair has always come off as overly prideful and arrogant in her previous matches, however she is undoubtedly a good trainer. No bad trainer would care for their pokemon like her, and no pokemon would love a bad trainer.
'Sabrina, can we challenge the dragon to a battle?'
'No, Alakazam, they are fighting against Asher in mere hours. Accepting such a request would be foolish when they need to be at full power for the highest chance of victory. They are unlikely to accept.'
'But, there's a chance that they will, and I request that you ask them to do battle.'
Sabrina was about to deny him, however after a second of thought she realised that perhaps she shouldn't dismiss his request so suddenly. She is trying to be more considerate lately, and maybe she would grow closer with her pokemon if she said yes. Besides she could merely have Slowking heal whatever injuries they might gain after the match-
Oh why not.
'Fine.' Sabrina then decided to step into their training area, with the intention of challenging the Blackthorn girl to a battle, her starter hovering right behind her.
"Excuse me, would you be willing to have a battle with me?" Sabrina spoke out loud, gaining the attention of the dragon trainer, as her starter floated right behind her. She was certain that her introduction was polite enough, and it isn't as though she was being too terribly sudden or getting close up into a person's ear. She had no idea why Asher would constantly jump whenever she did that, though that likely is not a way to make a good first impression.
The Dragonite was the first of which to notice them, and, likely as a response to her pokemon's reaction, Clair followed, with her sky blue eyes meeting Sabrina's own as they locked eyes.
Sabrina was confused though. The instant Clair realised she and her pokemon weren't alone, her emotions seemed to shift, and suddenly the tenderness she showed her pokemon from before evaporated and was replaced by defensiveness and stoicism.
Clair regarded Sabrina with an unimpressed gaze, her emotions indicating her disinterest, and dismissing the psychic girl." I have an important battle soon, beat it, I'm not interested."
Sabrina frowned slightly. She had enough social awareness to see that Clair was just rude to her. But, she ignored that in favour of correcting the girl on her words." If you're worried about your pokemon incurring injuries, then don't be, my Slowking is very adept at the move Heal Pul-"
She was cut off as Clair narrowed her eyes dangerously, a hint of indignation suddenly appearing in her pool of defensive emotions as she retorted Sabrina's previous words." I'd hardly say that I'm worried of you injuring my dragons, it's more because I have better things to do with my time than battle someone who I could crush like a bug. Now stop wasting my time and leave little Caterpie." Clair waved her hand for emphasise, shooing her away in the process.
Sabrina felt annoyance build up in her chest, her starter responding to that as he floated behind her, sending a glare in the direction of the dragon trainer.
The blue haired girl's Dragonite stepped forward and met the gaze of her starter, growling lightly as a warning to the psychic-type showing aggression to it's master.
Sabrina decided to just talk back to the other girl." Perhaps you just doubt your own ability to defeat me and want to avoid a battle you cannot win." She took actual pleasure when the prideful girl responded with a glare.
"What did you say?"
Sabrina remained unaffected by the threatening words sent her way as she repeated herself, actively seeking a reaction from the girl." I said that you're scared of defeat and want to avoid a battle."
In response, Clair's glare intensified and her fists clenched and she spoke through gritted teeth." Is that really what you think? Then fine, I'll battle you. But, you're going to eat those words."
Her Dragonite seemed to share the sentiment, seeing as they sneered at her like she was the most annoying thing on earth.
Sabrina, her expression not changing one bit, didn't even respond. She just mentally called for her Alakazam as she stepped back and her partner stood in front of her, ready to battle as psychic-type energy surrounded his body.
Well, looks like her starter was going to get that battle afterall.
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"Show me Earth Flow." I ordered my starter seriously, trying to check on whether or not he could pull the move off or not.
Lago nodded, sweat visible on his forehead as he got on all fours, his hands sinking into the ground as he glowed with rock and ground-type energy.
For a second nothing happened, but after that second, the very earth in front of him seemed to flow like dirt and sand, before suddenly it shot up into the air as a massive wave of ground so high that it overshadowed even Lago!
This was a custom move which we've been working on. It's a combination of three moves: Earth Power, Sand Tomb, and Stone Edge. I came up with the Earth Flow technique because I wanted a way to bend the earth to Lago's will, to bury his opponents in rock and dirt.
This technique is amazing for attacking a bunch of opponents at once, and Lago has near perfect control over the wave he creates. He can do this because of his mastery over ground and rock-type energy. Perhaps with time Crust could do something similar, but for now Lago is the only member of my team capable of executing this move.
The surge of ground suddenly cut off, with the wall of dirt toppling over and crashing down, leaving a ruined floor behind. I am not fixing that shit.
Lago gave a strained groan as he fell on his ass, panting heavily from the fatigue of using Earth Flow, and he then fell backwards with his back planting itself on the floor.
I ran over to his side, seeing that he was exhausted from the backlash of using such a powerful attack. So, my attack works, but the amount of stamina that a pokemon needs to pull it off ultimately makes the attack unusable. It doesn't matter how strong a move is if the pokemon needs to use so much energy that they're useless afterwards.
Still, this was good stuff. Practice makes perfect, and maybe in the future we'd be able to refine it into something more usable.
I opened my bag as I kneeled down to his face, searched through everything that I own, and pulled out a box of oran berries. These things are very useful, because they essentially hold an energy boost for an pokemon that eats them. I have four hours until my match, so by then he'll be in tip top shape and ready to kick ass.
"Open wide, you've gotta eat these." My Rhydon was exhausted, but not enough tired enough that he couldn't open his mouth, so I instantly popped a few of them in his mouth and he started to chew.
He'll be up and at em in a few minutes.
"That was quite an impressive display." The familiar voice of my psychic girlfriend spoke directly into my ear, and my focus was immediately brought away from Lago, and I looked up to see her expressionless face staring down at me.
"Impressive, but we'll need more work if we want Earth Flow to ever become viable in a match." I commented as I rose to my feet, Lago already beginning to stir as the berries took effect.
"'Earth Flow'?" She questions as she gazed at the very out of place ground which looked as though it had been pulled off the earth's surface like a rug, rather than splintered as an Earthquake usually does.
"You know, that move we just used. I wanted Lago to be able to bend the earth, and we got really close to pulling it off before the conference started. So, I figured I'd finish it off before our match with Clair, doubt we'll actually use it in the match though." I comment, thinking about how my Rhydon was practically crawling on the ground after just one use of the technique.
Lago finally stirred, seeming a bit tired but overall good as new, and so I returned him to his pokeball to rest until later.
"Anyway, you took your time getting here, did something happen along the way?"
Sabrina was silent for a moment, as though contemplating telling me what happened, but ultimately she just said." Nothing, I just managed to synchronise with my pokemon for a longer time than I thought, and decided to take my time and walk back with Alakazam."
I nodded, not feeling the need to question that. I smiled at her and said." Cool, I was just about finished with my training anyway, wanna walk and talk a little until my match starts?" After my question I gave her a little peck on the cheek.
Her lips perked up slightly at my actions and her cheeks coloured themselves a pretty shade of pink." I'd like that."
Before I was nobody, my life was meaningless and full of pain, yet here I am. I have companions who would last a lifetime, plenty of amazing memories to be made, and my options are limitless.
I will win today, because I am me. And, that's enough.
