Leo Simon
patreon
The All Mighty Earth - Pokemon SI Chapter 20
🕑 Added 2023-08-12 20:06:08 +0000 UTCAsher's Team:
Lago - Rhydon
Crust - Golem
Sebastian - Nidoking
Selena - Nidoqueen
Seraph - Clefable
Barret - Dugtrio
Sonic - Sandslash
Death - Marowak
Colossus - Steelix
----------------------
The only word which I could possibly come up with to describe the Hyper Beam which Clair's pokemon just conjured up would probably be humungous. I was genuinely shell shocked by the sheer power and size that was contained in that attack. It was even bigger than what Colossus can usually conjure up. Was it a fluke?
I made sure to keep an intent eye on the Dragonite who just unleashed that monster of an attack. Smoke appeared to be leaking out of their maw, they were unmoving from their position, but after a few sparks flew off their skin from the paralysis which they were still inflicted with, they fell backwards and presumably fainted. That colossal Hyper Beam wasn't without blowback it seemed, perhaps this was what happened when a pokemon broke past their physical limits.
But, what was that though? Clair seemed to lose her shit at the same moment her Dragonite did. I could have sworn that their images overlapped for an instant, or maybe my eyes were just playing tricks on me. Either way that sudden increase in power looked unnatural.
It almost reminded me of yet another time when a pokemon went through a sudden boost in power that enabled it to push past it's limits. In the Pokemon Journeys anime Ash's Lucario borrowed the aura of Ash and several of his pokemon to unleash a gigantic Aura Sphere that one shot a Gigantamax Duraludon. Maybe Dragonite did something similar with Clair, but still... that doesn't quite feel like it either.
I narrowed my eyes and noticed that Clair was... panting? She looked physically exhausted, I'd seen marathon runners in a better state than her, she seemed as though she could faint at any-
Without warning Clair suddenly toppled over, much like her pokemon, and collapsed to the ground with her cape draping over her unconscious form. It seemed as though she'd passed out from exhaustion.
-moment.
The crowd stirred and gasped at the sight of the blue haired girl fainting, but I wasn't one of them. She looked really exhausted for some unknown reason, like her energy had been sucked out of her.
"Aura."
The mention of the word 'aura' was enough to draw my attention away from the NPC's, and the knocked out girl, and give it to the psychic girl next to me, who had quietly mumbled the phrase, and I just stared at her for a moment and asked." What are you talking about?"
In the pokemon universe there aren't that many forms of supernatural powers in humans, at least not that I know of, but there are both aura users and psychics. But, why would Sabrina know about aura? Can she tell me anything about this weird lifeforce stuff?
Upon my question the red eyed girl stared back at me from her respective seat, she seemed to realise what she'd let slip and quickly just stated." It doesn't matter."
At those words I very nearly almost felt the need to press for answers, and visibly leaned in a bit closer to get them. But staring into her eyes I could see that they held an uncharacteristic trait of pleading from her. She was quietly asking me to drop it.
I couldn't resist Sabrina when she looked at me like that. If she really doesn't want to- no, if she can't explain aura to me then who am I to push for answers?
"Can you at least tell me... why you can't tell me?" The question was asked carefully as I leaned back and gave her some room, making sure not to pressure her into spilling the beans, making sure to gauge her reaction.
Sabrina seemed to ponder on it for a moment, as though she were wondering whether or not she should even give me that much, but just relented and said, in a serious manner." It's a regional secret."
Huh... didn't see that coming.
----------------------
Lance felt a huge mix of emotions when he witnessed the end of his cousin's battle in the league. Worry and pride being the most prominent amongst them. But, he soothed his own doubts for the health of Clair by reassuring himself with rationality. Clair is strong, perhaps not as strong as him, but strong nonetheless. She wouldn't have died, or even been seriously injured, from the backlash that came from subconsciously calling upon her aura. At most she'd be unconscious for a day or so. His worries were unfounded.
That still failed to placate his nerves. He did worry about her too much.
"Dragonite."
He was brought out of his thoughts as his partner merely placed a hand on his shoulder, them both sitting down in front of the screen to watch his cousin- who was like a sister to him- demolish her opponent. His starter wouldn't fit inside, being much too large to fit through a regular door, so Lance had taken the liberty of bringing the television outside. It was cold, with the winter being thoroughly unpleasant for a dragon, but he didn't mind it if they could watch Clair battle together. Too much anyway.
Lance has always been protective of Clair, he'll admit that much, he would never coddle her- that isn't the way of the Blackthorn's- but when it came to his cousin getting the same basic privileges as the rest of the Blackthorn, he would never deny her that common courtesy. He made sure she had a Dratini, as all Blackthorn's get at one point in their life, and sent her off to face the world.
She never disappointed him. Not once. But, that girl can be much too hard on herself, even though she does her best to appear confident and prideful on the outside, and maybe she is to some extent, she does tend to feel insecure when it comes to her position as a Blackthorn. Lance is also sad to note that he probably played a part in that. He'd never put her down for such trivial things as her parents, but as an Elite Four member- and future Champion- he casts a large shadow of expectation over her as such an accomplished trainer. She can't stop herself from measuring her strength to his own.
Does he feel guilty about that? Not per say. He takes pride in his strength and will never apologise for being strong. But, he can't deny that it is unfortunate that Clair cannot simply find worth in just being her. As someone who used to work tirelessly day in and say out, working his pokemon within an inch of his life to become strong, he's learned that a person can always become stronger. That spending your entire life trying to make your pokemon stronger is a waste, this is because pokemon don't have a limit to how far they can grow. Instead of finding value in spending all of your time training, you should try and reign in your own need to infinitely grow more powerful. At one point training was all him and his pokemon did, and only when he realised how powerful he was, did he realise how much more to life there is than strength. Simply growing stronger endlessly is a waste. He still trains regularly, but he isn't spending weeks at a time doing nothing but running his team into the ground.
Clair feels like she isn't good enough. But, simply by being herself and working hard already makes her great. And by believing in herself and her own worth she would be even greater. He hopes that she learns that, like he once did himself.
He ran a hand through his red hair and commented to his partner." It seems that Clair is a natural at using aura, that was a powerful Hyper Beam." It was nearly as powerful as one from his weakest Dragonite, which might not sound like much, but it definitely is. He is the strongest of the Elite Four, even his weakest pokemon could take on legions of regular pokemon on their own. The very fact a Dragonite which evolved just recently could come so close to matching one of his own pokemon was truly beyond impressive.
The ability to tap into aura without prior training, even subconsciously, is extremely impressive. He himself took an embarrassing amount of time to even be able to tap into that power at all. His aura reserves just weren't naturally abundant enough to be of any use from the get-go, as a result he had to slowly build them up over time. But, it appears that his cousin is more talented than him in channelling that energy, given the power boost which her starter was given by her aura.
Aura is only a power which will work if trainer and pokemon completely trust each other. The stronger the bond the more power you can call upon. Your aura reserves are also something that you can only improve through constant and disciplined training, and even then if your reserves are low enough you will hit a limit which you cannot break through. In a sense your potential for aura is determined at birth.
But, playing with aura is like playing with fire. Aura is the lifeforce of all things, everything has at least a small amount of aura, even grass and trees, so what would happen if you were to expend your reserves too greatly? Well the obvious answer is that you'd die. For that reason the full extent of aura and how to use it is kept a tightly guarded secret.
Of course, there are the group known as Aura Guardians in the kingdom of Rota, but those have long since faded into mere myths that most scoff off as children stories. Plus, any Aura Guardians in Indigo had long since died out, in the clan records he's read that they once originated from Sinnoh. Other regions were never well-known to Indigo around thirty years ago, when the war began, but once the war was ongoing several other regions decided to withdraw and leave Indigo to her troubles alone. Only now, years after the war has ended, has their region finally started to recover. They managed to regain connections with Hoenn, but they still haven't reconnected with Sinnoh; or any other region for that matter.
Obviously there's a bit more to the story than that, but Lance honestly doesn't think on the matter all that much. They should be focusing their efforts on solving the number of problems which plague their region, the war did end less than a decade ago afterall. There are criminal groups and damage still lingers, such as the bad blood between Kanto and Johto. They can hardly be called united with the hatred so many people still have for each other, until they can resolve their own internal conflicts bringing other problems into the fold is a horrible idea!
Lance rubbed his head a little. He hated thinking about politics.
Guiding his mind away from the issues his region was facing he decided to think back to his cousin. He should call about Clair. He might be too busy to travel to Indigo Plateau, but he isn't too busy to give his sister a call. He'll do so later, when she'll be out of her sleep.
He really wants to make his home a better place, hopefully once Team Rocket is uprooted he'll be able to take that goal one step further.
----------------------
"Alright, everything's looking good. Try and eat good tonight, you'll need the energy for tomorrow." I spoke to Selena, who gave me a very enthusiastic pat on the back as I finished giving her a routine check up. Her ultra hard armoured scales were not good for being gentle, which is a negative considering how she's got a very cheerful personality. She nearly snapped my spine in half with a hug once.
She happily stomped away, probably off to mingle with Sebastian, and left me with nothing but a clip-board that I bought to keep track of basic medical details on my team so that I can measure them on a weekly basis to mark their progress. What you need to learn about pokemon training is, there's far more to it than meets the eye. You can't just throw your pokemon into training and expect them to get miles stronger at a time. There's a certain way that you need to do this if you want your pokemon to consistently improve.
Pokemon, to put it simply, whilst very different on a biological level from humans, can be trained with the same principals. Diet, whether your training is centred around certain stats, whether they stay consistent in their training. These are all factor which any good trainer would take into account.
I'm, admittedly, not an expert when it comes to stuff like taking care of animals, I wasn't a damn vet or anything, but I can still figure out something as basic as dieting. For one, I needed to figure out all their preferences when it came to food, they won't eat as well if they don't enjoy the food I put in front of them. So, I had to learn all their likes and dislikes by heart.
Then, of course, I had to learn to cook for them myself because most of the time pokechow has like zero fucking protein in it! Never bank on canned and commercialised foods to help your pokemon bulk up. You can feed pokemon regular food if you want, but pokechow just fills them up very easily because you can mix energy fuelled berries into them so that they remain fully energised.
Plus, these little check-ups are just the basics. I take their height, their weight, body fat- things such as skin hardness in the cases of some of my other pokemon- along with a few other details such as if they're ever hungry or not so that I know how much I should feed them. All of them are different, and I need to customise their meal plans and training routines based on their own individual strengths. It's a bit of work, but I'm fine with that. I've gotten this far in less than a year, so I must be doing something right.
"You truly are a strange boy Asher." I heard a voice come behind me, and I didn't even flinch at this point. Only one person can sneak upon me that quietly.
"Like I haven't heard that one before." I commented as I began to clear away the equipment I'd brought out back into my bottomless backpack, this included a weight scale, a stadiometer, skinfold calipers- though those are admittedly not that great in general when some of my pokemon have skin too hard to fold- and a few other things.
Sabrina's expression remained neutral as she merely pointed out." You act so brashly and crudely most of the time, it's so opposite when compared to how carefully you train your pokemon. I just find it interesting is all."
I snorted at her words." I'm not even a proper... pokemon doctor or whatever you call them. I just make sure my team are healthy and train them the best I can, that's literally it." Meanwhile I was also shoving the equipment I'd folded up, in an almost comical manner, into my backpack so that I didn't leave anything behind.
"So, we won't be travelling together anymore after tomorrow." Sabrina spoke in a voice that was only a slightly different frequency than normal, but I paid it no mind as I answered.
"I guess so, but hey life moves on. It was really fun whilst it lasted, but we'll need to find out what to do next. Besides, you've gotta return to the Gym." I would be lying if I said that I wasn't sad about our journey ending, but it's not like we aren't going to see each other a bunch. She can teleport, and I can... run, really really fast? Sure lets go with that. She has her life, I have mine. I'm not going to hold her back.
I finish packing away and finally stood up to Sabrina's eye level- well not quite, she was still a lot shorter than me- and grinned at her, changing the subject." I've been making sure my team is ready for the finals, everyone is basically in tip-top shape. Make sure to be my number one cheerleader tomorrow." I spoke in a jokey tone, not really being serious about the suggestion, though I wouldn't exactly be totally opposed to the idea either.
Sabrina blinked in a rather innocent manner before she merely said." I have never cheered anybody on before, however if you want me too then I will dress in a suitable attire. Though I have never dressed in a cheer leading outfit before-"
I suddenly laughed a little, cutting her off, but her confused look only made me cackle harder. God, her social awkwardness can be pretty funny sometimes!
When I was laughing she asked." What's so funny?" She didn't seem to understand what I was laughing about. From her point of view I just started randomly laughing for no reason.
I gathered myself, but I couldn't wipe the smile off my face, and just ended up explaining myself." I was kidding. You don't actually have to go to my match in a cheerleading outfit, it was a joke."
Sabrina might not mean it, but she is funny, at least to me. Her social awkwardness never actually made the situation itself awkward, because I was always there to rope her into a conversation. Besides, she's getting better, hopefully at some point she can make some other friends and expand her social circle. She'll be fine, eventually.
The purple haired girl, however, seemed to stare to the side. Suddenly appearing quite sad for some reason. Well to a normal person she might look normal, but not to me. The way she averted her eyes, that subtle shift in her body language, the way she held her right arm with her left. She couldn't hide her emotions from me.
My smile died down and I suddenly asked, with a slightly worried tone." Is something wrong, Sabrina. Look, if it's about the cheer leading joke then you shouldn't worry, people don't wear those things-"
I cut myself off upon noticing something. Inside Sabrina's crimson eyes liquid was building up as her pupils became glossy, and a moment later her watery eyes gave rise to tears that ran down her cheeks. She swiftly raised her arm to rub the signs of her sadness away, but by that point it was too late; I had already witnessed what she was doing.
She was crying. Sabrina, the girl who always wore a mask of stoicism, was crying. The sight was so foreign to me that for a second I couldn't believe my eyes; though that was short lived. The psychic girl, whilst not emotionless, was as emotionally stunted as they come. She had trouble showing what she felt. So, bearing witness to her start sobbing for some inexplicable reason, was a sight that I didn't know how to respond to.
At first.
I slowly approached her, turning my back from my team in favour of making sure that my friend was alright, and only began to speak when I was an arms length away." What's wrong, Sabrina? Why are you crying?"
I wanted to cringe at how bland and cliché that sounded, it just didn't sound like the right words to describe a situation as bizarre as this, regardless it worked as she spoke to me through sobs.
She sniffed and tried to stop herself from crying as she spoke; but that didn't exactly work out very well, new tears just displaced the old ones." It- it isn't anything important. I jus- I just- I'm just going to miss this very much. My travels with you- they've been the best- It's been the best time of my life. And tomorrow that will be over. As will our times together." She seemed to whisper that last part, as though she lacked the courage to actually say them to me out loud. But, I heard them nonetheless.
I sighed and gave her a small smile, and a hug to go with it. I ignored her hum of surprise and proceeded to whisper words of reassurance into her ears, not caring about how we looked right now." Our friendship isn't over Sabrina, sure we might not see each other every day. Maybe we will be far apart physically. But, you are the most important person in my life. I'd have to be a fool to let go of what we have together. Just being near you is enough to make me happy. Even if we won't be travelling together, we won't be out of each others lives, and I don't want to be out of your life. I'm not going to abandon you, I never will." I promised to her, doing my best to show her how much she means to me. Both with my words and my actions.
Sabrina seemed to tense up for a moment... before continuing to cry at an even greater intensity than before. A flood of tears erupted through her eyes and onto the chest of my shirt, and for a moment I felt like I did something wrong, but then Sabrina stared up at me. Her eyes were puffy from crying, her face had some faint tear marks on her cheeks, and her face was flushed slightly. I think a small amount of snot was even leaking out of her nose, but a sniff made the fluid disappear so fast that it might not have even been there at all.
After a few seconds of silence Sabrina pulled away from me. She wiped the last of her tears away with her jackets sleeve, the leather being dampened by the salty liquid, and when she was done her face was almost back to it's usual expressionlessness. But, there was one key difference that separated her face in that moment from the one she had most of the time.
She had a smile on her face. Her smile wasn't even subtle, like the ones she usually formed, it was much more prominent on her face. She looked like she was shining under the winter night, at least in my eyes.
"I'm glad that you feel that way. I thought that you would, but I had to make sure." She seemed to falter slightly as her emotions became unusually expressive, as though she'd learned how to show how she really felt for a moment. She looked slightly sad as she noted." I'm sorry crying over something so idiotic, it's just that you're-... you're the only friend that I've ever had. The idea of losing such a valuable bond is terrifying to me. But, my worries were unfounded it seems. I'm really glad"
I was taken aback when she stared at me with smouldering intensity, her usually intense pools of red suddenly seeming mild in comparison. She maintained eye-contact with me as, once again, she began to speak.
"But, your friendship wasn't the only reason I wished to remain with you. There was something else. Something which has been plaguing my mind for a while now." At her own words she seemed blush hard with embarrassment, yet she didn't break eye contact, she refused to give into her own shyness.
After hearing her words I already had an educated guess on what exactly this 'something' was. Yet, I still intended to listen to her, if she wanted to confess to me, then she should get to.
I made sure to listen intently as I asked." And, what might that be?"
Sabrina's face seemed to burn red at my question, but she took a deep breath and managed to reduce it to the point where she didn't look as though she were about to combust. If only slightly. Her words came out clearly and surprisingly firmly, though she did look to the floor.
"I often find myself thinking about you. The way you talk with me, the way you compliment me, the way you've helped me become a better trainer, and how you never hold me accountable for my flaws and quirks. Whenever that happens my heart will act up, I will feel light-headed and want to be near you again, and I won't be able to think about anything else other than you. My face will feel hot... and other parts of me too, and for some reason, even though all of that should bother me, I never get tired of thinking about you! But... I don't know why any of that is. Do you have any idea what could be happening to me?!"
When she finished her confession she stared up, her face scarlet and her eyes full of expectation. She was looking at me to answer her, to tell me what she's feeling.
Her speech left me without words, I was utterly stumped that such an awkward girl could even put together such heartfelt words, and I remained standing still like an idiot for a few moments.
Sabrina... confessed to me?! What am I meant to say to her now? I'm not going to lie to her, she was confused enough as it is, and I wasn't going to make things worst for her. Well... that's only part of it. The truth is, I can't honestly say that Sabrina is someone I couldn't end up loving at some point. She was smart, strong, king of weird in a really good way. And even kind in her own way. She was this really incredible girl that any guy would be lucky to have.
But... then there's her age. Despite how mature she is for her age, she is still only thirteen. Hardly even a teenager. That was likely part of the reason why she was so confused about her feelings in the first place, she was still at an age where people were only just shaping themselves into adults.
Could I really enter a relationship with someone so young? At first the idea was a bit creepy to me... but the more I think about it, is it really as morally ambiguous as I thought? I have full control over my actions, I wouldn't cross any boundaries if she didn't want to. I have respect and care for the girl in front of me.
The more I thought about it, the more I was beginning to convince myself that a relationship with Sabrina didn't even need to be anything too serious. She was thirteen afterall, we'd essentially just be deepening our friendship. Plus, I felt the same way.
Plus, Sabrina was looking at me right now for an answer.
Oh, what the hell.
"Well... I think, that based on the way you've described your... predicament. You probably-" For once I even felt my own cheeks slightly heat up. That's weird, I thought I had better self-control than that."-I think that you likely have a crush on me."
Well, I've said it now. Here's to hoping that she deals with her feelings okay.
Comments
Xylneir
Asher be randomly trying meditation techniques from different animes for aura one after another lol?
Doglore63
This is a good chapter.
