CHAPTER 210

Sinnoh's history was actually quite interesting, even if it didn't captivate me like it did Buddy. We had only read for two hours and were still at the 'squabbling city states' era, and from what I remembered from school, it would be another few centuries until the Lily of the Valley island was settled, and from there, trainers would take over the entire region and unite it under one banner. Supposedly, Jubilife City had been the first permanent settlement on the region, but other cities soon followed and clashed over resources and territory often. Back then, Snowpoint hadn't been founded yet, but there were even cities I didn't recognize that had been lost to times or wiped out by war, disease, or Pokemon attacks. For example, there used to be a settlement nestled south of Eterna Forest where the outpost was, but historians theorized that it had gotten destroyed by two things: a war with Floaroma and a series of attacks coming from the deadly forest. Pokeballs hadn't been mass-produced back then, although there were Apricorn-based Pokeballs, so most trainers just let their Pokemon go wherever they wanted.

There was also the fact that the first pages of the book spent paragraph after paragraph 'debunking' Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie's existence. How ironic. The author agreed with the calamity bit of the story, but did not go into it at all aside from that. Maybe that was why it had still been present in the bookstore.

Anyway, I was done with history until tonight. Jellicent was picking up words very quickly, but the others were a lot slower. They'd definitely take at least a few months to grasp the language, but that was fine.

There wasn't a single dull moment while we traveled. In fact, we talked so much that Chase got tired of it and began to fly on Sigilyph's back again. We had a lot more of our Pokemon out today as well, although not our entire teams. Buddy was high up in the sky and occasionally spoke to Vikavolt and Talonflame when the two slowed down enough to talk. They had struck a friendship yesterday and loved to race, even if the flying type won nine times out of ten. Mira had her psychic types out and Porygon was playing some mobile game inside her phone. Route 214's mountain had three slopes that extended far beyond the mountain, and right now we were on the second one, which was the largest and highest in altitude. Walking on tilted ground was kind of annoying, but we'd grown used to it by now. We'd even met a few trainers a few hours back, but we didn't stay long.

"How about we take a break," Mira huffed. "I'm exhausted."

"Already?" Cece said. "My, my, how weak."

"I'm the brains, not the brawn like you Willpower lot. I just need to sit for twenty minutes or so," she exhaled. "I can't move another inch."

"That makes no sense and you know it," Cecilia said. "Grace has no trouble keeping up. Why don't you have Chase help you with fitness?"

"That'd be a way to get closer to him," I acknowledged. "Even with you, he wouldn't be able to refuse taking someone under his wing."

She needs to get further away, not closer, Gardevoir spoke into my mind. Just like Bellatrix, and Lucario, her voice showcased her emotions very well.

Not like I couldn't feel it anyway. She was jealous. Gardevoir got extremely attached to their trainers, and she was no exception.

"Don't say 'even with me' like I'm a chore," she sighed. "On a serious note, I like it though, speak your mind. Anyway, I'm fucking done."

She plopped herself on the dirty floor and cursed when a sharp rock poked her in the leg. Alakazam and Gardevoir were immediately beside themselves and swarmed her like two parents watching their kid fall over for the first time. Cecilia cupped her mouth with her hands and yelled for Chase to come back down. The teenager stared at Mira with a mixture of disappointment and disdain.

"Don't be a pussy and walk."

"No, I don't think I will. Twenty minutes."

"We might as well take the hour off," Cecilia said. "Gives us enough time to recuperate."

"Don't tell me you're tired too, Obel—"

"Cecilia," Cece interrupted.

He frowned. "What?"

"Cecilia will do. Or Cece. Your pick."

Chase suddenly took a step back and scratched the back of his head. "I'll give it a try."

"Thank you. And no, I'm not tired. In fact, I feel reinvigorated. I haven't had this much fun traveling ever."

"That's because you never traveled with me," Mira smiled. "I keep the morale up, just ask Louis and Maeve when we get to Sunyshore."

"I'm gonna use the break we have to train, alright?" I said. "I have a few things to test out."

My girlfriend nodded. "Sure. I'll do the same, actually. I've been trying to teach Zweilous Dark Pulse and to work on Scyther's Night Slash, and I'd like to make some progress."

"You're leaving me with Compton?" Chase asked.

"You could always go off and train. Or… you could stick around," Mira said in a really weird… sultry tone.

"W—what the hell was that voice?" Chase stammered.

"I dunno, I'm in love with you and nothing is working, so I was trying something new."

"Never do that again."

I left them to their devices and scampered off a few hundred feet away after whistling for Buddy and found an area that was as flat as possible. The ghost type gently floated downward and rumbled at my touch.

"Having fun up there?" I smiled. "I only need you for a few things, so you'll be able to go back soon."

I released the rest of my team after that, but I'd only need Sunshine and Princess at first. It was time to put that Ancient Power theory to the test, but that wasn't the only thing I wanted to do.

"Sunshine! I need you to do something for me," I said, clapping my hands. "I need you to go… uh, a hundred feet away and burn as hot as you can, and as quickly as you can to see if you could turn the floor into molten rock."

Turtunator snorted and said it'd be an easy feat, but I wasn't so sure. Still, I'd let him be confident for now.

"After that, Princess, you're going to try to control the magma with Ancient Power, but first you're going to flatten the area a bit. Buddy, I'm gonna need you to float and the sky and ward off any trainer or wild Pokemon that wanders too close, and I'll also need you to cool the entire place down after we're done— or in case of an emergency. The last thing we want is for the magma to spill down the mountain and hurt people. Angel, I'm going to have to lug some magma around too—"

The grass type silently jumped up and down and moved his vines around excitedly.

"It's probably harder than you think! And you won't be doing it during the Gym Battle, it's just to have a frame of reference. Honey and Sweetheart, feel free to watch from afar. Sweetie, I know you're a rock type, but you're no Tyranitar yet. Magma will hurt you if you stick too close."

Pupitar grumbled, saying she'd totally be able to handle some stupid magma, but Honey told her she wouldn't right to her face. Needless to say, she called him a bunch of names until I stopped her. After Princess raised the earth and flattened the area, I pulled out my laptop, opened my notes app and told Sunshine he could get started.

Turtonator yawned as he lazily strode away from us until he was a safe distance, and Buddy floated into the sky once more, on the lookout for any passersby. The fire type began to heat up, slowly but surely until the air around him became sweltering and he looked like a mirage. I could barely see his form, and he was only a mishmash of red, beige and yellow. Soon enough, the ground under his feet began to glow red and then turn into a viscous state. I typed away on my keyboard as I observed the dragon in his natural habitat.

Two assessments. One, he was too slow. It had taken three minutes for him to turn stone into magma, and three minutes were everything in a battle. I didn't know if a Pokemon fighting back would slow him down or not, but that was also a possibility. I wanted to bring that time down to at least a minute and a half— or one minute if possible, and Sunny Day would no doubt help with that. Two, Gym arenas were big. I hadn't expected him to turn the entire field into a fiery mess, but we needed more than this to make things work. Actually, a more accurate statement was…

"The further away the rocks are, the slower they burn," I declared, biting the inside of my mouth. "Okay. I can work with this. Princess, you're up. Don't get too close, or you'll burn."

The fairy type nodded as she let out a firm chirp. She slowly approached the field of magma— or was a more accurate term lava? It wasn't underground, after all. I slowly replaced all the mentions of 'magma' with 'lava' as Princess reached as far as she could go. The air was so hot that I could feel it from here, a hundred feet away, and it created a massive updraft that carried ash and fiery particles. Forget the heat, just being near that would suffocate me.

That was another assessment, then. Princess would fight above the lava, but she'd struggle to breathe the hot and toxic gasses. There was the option that she'd outlast her opponents, but I sure as hell didn't want to risk this entire battle on a maybe. Honey's evolution rode on this, and he deserved perfection. I would rather crawl over a field of molten glass than ask Cynthia for more help. She'd hold that favor over me like a damn guillotine.

Princess grunted, and I let out a jubilant scream when she raised a piece of Lava off the ground. It was small, and she looked to be barely able to control it. The red substance flowed in front of her like jelly until she brought it too close and she hurriedly threw it away. Even when I had warned her, she'd underestimated how hot lava was. I shot up and nearly ran over there, but Honey stopped me with a clasp of my shoulder and Pupitar called out to her sister.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

When Princess turned around, her entire facade was covered in ash and slightly burned. I quickly scrambled for a potion and a burn heal while she floated over, and Electabuzz screamed, telling Jellicent he could finally stop the lava. None of it had flowed down the mountain thanks to Princess' help, and it was still self-contained here. Sunshine stopped heating up the air and walked away from the hell he'd created and Buddy started spraying the lava with the biggest Brines and Hydro Pumps he could muster. Needless to say, it would take a while to turn back to normal rock. It was so hot he was evaporating a little, and so did the majority of his moves before they could even reach the ground. Thankfully, it was having an effect. Before too much of the molten rock cooled down, I had Angel try to control the lava as well and was surprised to see he could only do it barely. It seemed like moving lava was a lot harder than rock. I also had Sweetheart try a move like Rock Slide on the lava, but it had no effect. Only Ancient Power worked enough to move the viscous rock.

Water vapor rose high into the air until the warped air returned to normal.

I was honestly starting to think that putting the lava on Pokemon could be lethal, which was a big problem.

I sprayed Princess with a burn heal and then with a potion, and I told Sunshine to stay away until Buddy could cool him down as well. With every breath, hot smoke came out of his snout. He wasn't winded at all as I'd feared, but that might have been because he'd been too slow. Once Buddy came back and sprayed Sunshine with water (much to his audible displeasure, I had to stop him from swearing multiple times because I didn't want the kids learning that vocabulary), I clapped my hands once and grinned.

"Good job everyone! That was a great first attempt, but there were a few issues. One, Sunshine, do you think you could heat things up faster than this?"

The dragon mused to himself for a few seconds, and then nodded, but he explained it would take a lot of work. Long story short, he could easily raise his body heat enough to melt rock, but it was like an engine. It took time to get going at that level of power, and he'd even tried to speed up the process by using multiple Flamethrowers, which I hadn't seen due to the distorted air and massive amounts of smoke and dust.

"We'll have to work on speeding up that engine, then."

Doubt began to creep and infest the back of my mind. Did I need to scale things down? Was this too powerful?

I was beginning to think so.

"Okay," I exhaled. I erased everything about the area being too small or not spreading enough and began to type a new plan.

We'd only turn a part of the arena— preferably the middle of it— into lava instead of aiming for its entirety. That way, maybe Angel could use it as well, my other Pokemon would have a place to stand and I wouldn't accidentally get one of Volkner's Pokemon killed or have him straight up cancel the match because they wouldn't be able to stand or walk without choking or burning to death. I'd still need to find a way to alter the field further, possibly in a way that'd bring out all of Honey's strengths. Instead of lugging the lava at the opponents, I'd have Princess get it close to them. Molten rock had been hot enough to burn her from afar, so keeping it close to one of Volkner's Pokemon ought to be enough to put them down if Princess managed to move the lava as quickly as she did her spears and drills. I'd keep the burying someone in lava idea for Team Galactic.

I supposed the strategy was out for my battle against Denzel as well, then. It was strange, to reach a point where my Pokemon were getting so powerful I actively had to hold myself back. Granted, a huge part of this was thanks to Sunshine, but there was also Pupitar with her flying and Iron Defense, Jellicent with Drown… being a top-level trainer was probably awesome, but it'd probably have its drawbacks too. Awesome strategies you came up with that took full advantage of your Pokemon's powers weren't always usable in their original forms or usable at all because they'd be too dangerous.

"Okay," I repeated. "You guys did well. Thank you for preventing an environmental disaster, Bud."

Cheers ran through the family, although Sweetheart did want in on the action somehow.

"Let's give it another try. We have a while longer," I said. "Princess, watch the burns. Keep it away from you and for now, don't go above it. We'll figure out a way to shield you from the smoke and the heat."

And that would be with psychic barriers. For the smoke, that was a given, but the heat? Sunshine had told me about how Oranguru had been able to create psychic barriers to protect his old team from the elements, and I knew it to be possible, but what was the difference between Princess' barriers and his? Years of experience, no doubt, but there was something we weren't seeing.

Who better to ask than psychic types themselves?

—

In the end, we ran the experiment another two times before Sunshine tired out. He'd asked for— demanded another go, even, but I didn't want to exhaust him and Mira was done with her break anyway, so we were back on the road again. While Cece spoke to Chase about how to better teach Zweilous Dark Pulse and of ways he'd found to alter the field to his advantage, I waved to Alakazam and Gardevoir who flanked Mira as always, with Princess in tow.

"Hi guys. I've got something to ask you regarding psychic barriers and how the hell they even work."

"You could have asked me, you know," Mira said with a half-hearted pout.

Forgive her, sister. She loves explaining things to people in extremely condescending ways. She gets that from Alakazam, Gardevoir gently spoke into my mind.

Alakazam grunted and then spoke. Do not spread lies!

"She isn't lying, she can't," I smiled. "That's what you get for not savoring my soup."

The psychic type sighed. I would rather have the company of Haunter than the two of you. Ask away, Grace Pastel.

"Hey! Haunty's nice these days!" Mira yelled.

"I was wondering about how to progress Princess' psychic barriers to their next stage. Right now, they only protect against attacks, but things like heat and cold can still slip through. That's an issue for… undisclosed reasons."

"Ah, let me explain— hmm!"

Gardevoir placed a hand on Mira's mouth and spoke. Silence, dear. Mastering the art of shielding is no easy feat for a psychic, let alone a non-psychic type.

But it isn't impossible, Alakazam mused as he twirled his mustache. What is psychic type energy to you, Grace Pastel?

I frowned. "Dark was absence or neutrality… uh, I don't know what fairy is, funnily enough. Psychic? If I had to guess, it'd be…"

"Control!" Mira yelled, finally freed from Gardevoir's hold. "Not knowledge or intelligence, but control. Sorry, I couldn't help myself."

Alakazam shot her a disappointed look. He enjoyed these little lessons, and she'd just essentially robbed him.

"I wouldn't have gotten it, so you're good," I said.

It is indeed control, he said, raising a pebble from the floor. Psychic energy, at its core, is made to reshape and command the world around itself. At the highest levels, there is nothing a psychic type cannot do.

"Hold off on the bias here, buddy," Mira said.

The psychic type rolled his eyes. Every kind of Type Energy has a concept it answers to. I know of many, but unfortunately for you that knowledge is sealed.

Gardevoir smirked. That is quite fairy-like of you, Alakazam.

Togetic snickered, and Gardevoir caressed her on the head.

Alakazam groaned. Never say that to me again.

I nodded, absorbing every word coming out of his mouth, and so did Princess. Well, not his mouth, but his… psychic waves.

A psychic barrier is essentially a wave of force applied all around the Pokemon. If the force pushing against the barrier is more powerful than the barrier itself, well…

Alakazam pushed the pebble forward like a bullet and it shattered against an invisible wall that he'd just created.

Your barrier is no more, he continued. That is what a classic barrier is, but if you wish to improve your craft, a barrier needs to be continuously replenished and added onto. You are essentially continuously pushing outward against your shield.

"Continuously pushing… wouldn't that make the barrier swell or explode? These things are unstable as hell," I muttered.

Yes. Which is why it takes training and focus, Alakazam said as he glanced toward Princess. Apply too much force, and like you said, it could break. Not enough, and it could damage the barrier's structural integrity until it collapses. You need to strike the right balance, and you need to continuously apply that force when you have the barrier raised.

"Basically, Princess over here will have to do some insane multitasking, which psychic types have the advantage on," Mira said. "That's why non-psychic types often can't raise proper barriers and there will be a cap that she'll hit at some point regarding her psychic abilities while psychic types can just keep going."

"And it'll protect against temperature?"

Against hot temperatures, Alakazam nodded. Temperature is just a word for the movement of molecules, so cold is another undertaking altogether.

Ordinarily, these will just slip by an inactive barrier, Gardevoir explained. But by pushing outward, you slow their kinetic energy until the temperature becomes bearable. For this, you will need a thicker shield, sister.

"Or multiple layers," Mira added. "They do it for mental barriers, why not in battle?"

You and your layer theory, Alakazam said, waving one of his spoons in annoyance. You thicken your shield, you do not do layers. Layers are an advanced concept even we haven't started, and this little fledgling psychic is a beginner.

Togetic let out a haughty huff and told him to still his tongue.

I will do no such thing, Alakazam said. Either way, psychic Type Energy yearns for control to such an extent that it can be wielded to alter the movement of molecules through intent! Hah! Isn't that a wonderful thing?

I nodded absent-mindedly. If top-level psychics— and I was thinking of Elite Four and above like Lucian— could move molecules directly, then… yeah.

That was fucking insane.

"Don't dream too big," Mira said. "Even at the Elite Four, that kind of stuff isn't used much. That sleeping woman in Unova specialized in other things, so Lucian's the best at it in the entire world, and he's a psychic type specialist, so he can do a lot of batshit insane things— most of which would be lethal. Ever wondered what would happen if his Alakazam set his eyes on you? He could shake up the molecules inside of your body until you boiled to death or freeze them in place until, well, you froze. Have you seen his Mr. Mime? That fucker can put your Pokemon in an invisible box and disappear all of the oxygen in there."

"That's terrifying, and I want to do the same," I hungrily said.

"Easy there. Don't forget that you can sprinkle a bit of dark TE and be completely immune or close to it. Same for the barriers. One Dark Pulse just breaks through. There are ways around it, but they're really out there. For all of the psychic type's strengths, they're hard countered by pretty much any dark type of a similar level."

"Right, right," I nodded. "Speaking of oxygen. If I thicken the barrier like you said and do the pushing thing—"

By the Legendaries, do not call it the pushing thing! Alakazam said. His voice was smooth, but I could tell he'd been internally yelling. You apply the right amount of psychic force outward!

"Okay, if I do that, then say Princess was standing on top of a raging forest fire. She wouldn't choke on the smoke, then?"

Correct, Gardevoir nodded.

I grinned. "Can you start showing Princess the ropes tonight? We've been working on something that'll require taking her barriers to the next level. Plus, it'll be good until I get my hands on a psychic type."

Sure. I am always willing to help fellow sisters, Gardevoir nodded, patting me on the shoulder.

"Oh? Missus Grace Pastel wants to get her own psychic, huh?" Mira probed. "Which one? You could have caught that Girafarig yesterday."

"I'm picky," I shrugged. "Plus, couldn't you tell? The reason she was all the way up here is because the easier part of the route is swarmed with trainers and she doesn't want to get caught."

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense."

"Anyway, Claydol's the goal. I have an inkling of where there might be one, and I fell in love with the idea after watching Steven's fights."

"Ohhhh, Claydol?! I don't know much about them, but I hear they can mess with gravity."

"Yes, yes, that's part of why I'd want one," I smiled. "Anyway, that's in the long term. I'm sure Princess will succeed with her shield lessons."

The flying type heartily nodded and asked to begin at once, but unfortunately for her, that'd have to wait until tonight. We spent the rest of the day walking, and even I was wiped by the end of it. Like yesterday, I cooked for everyone and we shared stories by a fire until I retired to read my history books.

Just like that, two days passed, and we had made it past the first part of route 214. Pupitar had finally managed to get a proto-Dragon Pulse going thanks to Sunshine's guidance, Princess was struggling with her lessons, and Angel was having a grand time learning Solar Beam and teaching Sunshine Sunny Day.

The Grand Hotel Lake was a day out. A luxurious complex of hotels run by Luca Antonovich's family. I nearly froze when I thought of his name. I hadn't known him well, but even now, I hadn't properly processed his death. If there was one thing he would have wished for, it would be not to be forgotten.

And according to what Cynthia had told Mira, Lake Valor was only a few hours away.