Chapter 8: %$^&

The volume of the observing masses continued to rise. Seems people couldn’t handle the aberration that was Ash Ketchum.

“Am I seeing this right?” Gilbert, my classmate, nearly screamed beside me.

“If by ‘right’ you mean Ketchum having every aura affinity, then yes,” Rackel, the other remaining aspirant, replied. She was much more calm.

“Oh thank Mew. I was worried I was developing a malignant affinity,” the pale ginger sighed in relief.

“Yeah you’re fine… Oooor, you are crazy. So crazy that your mind is creating delusions that justify itself. It’s a typical coping mechanism of an insane person.” The girl smiled deviously. Her perfectly white teeth almost seemed to glow when compared to her dark skin.

“Don’t joke about that!” Gilbert paled.

“About what?”

“Th-That! You know, How i’m a malignant prime justifying my madness!”

“What are you talking about Gilbert? I didn’t say that,” she squinted at him.

“Yes you did!”

“Are you feeling ok, buddy? I haven’t said anything. We were just standing here when you started to ramble about Ash’s aura affinity. He hasn’t even gone yet,” she feigned concern, “Maybe you should sit down. You haven’t been keeping your knees locked while we’ve been standing here, have you? You could faint, you know?”

“Stop gaslighting him, Rackel,” I interrupted. The poor boy looked like he was going to be sick, “You’re not going crazy Gilbert.”

“Spoil sport,” she hissed, quiet enough that only I could hear.

“Why would you do that?” poor, innocent Gilbert asked hysterically.

“You’re too gullible big guy,” she gave a reassuring pat on his arm, “I’m just trying to get you to be a more critical thinker. We’re aspirant trainers now,” her gentle smile was incredibly reassuring.

“Oh… Good thinking. I appreciate the help!” He actually thanked her!

Wow. That was next level manipulation, or next level gullibility. I wasn’t sure which.

“SILENCE!” Oak’s voice reverberated through the ritual site, “You are disrespecting this most sacred occasion. Be quiet or leave if you can not treat this event with the reverence it deserves,” The warning was unnecessary. Everyone had shut up immediately.

“Ash, if you’d please,” Oak prompted. The boy had been frozen, just as shocked as the rest of us. With the professor's reminder, he hesitantly turned towards the assembled pokemon.

For a while, nothing happened. They were confused too. Plus, there was an intimidating Charizard lurking in the back.

Sadly, as much as both Ash and the fire dragon wished they could bond now, it simply wasn’t possible. The spiritual difference between a fresh trainer and a master level pokemon was too great. It would probably kill the boy if he tried. They’d have to wait many years still, but now Charizard knew he had the potential.

Finally, a single Pichu separated from its pack and scampered up to the nervous aspirant. Looks like the dynamic duo were destined for each other in every reality. I wonder if this one would want to remain as a Pikachu forever, like the one in the show.

If so, he’d be a complete anomaly. Evolution represented a huge increase in ability and power. Every pokemon craved it. Although, the method for evolving Pikachu to Raichu was a secret in this world, only known by the strongest electric clans like the Surges... and me.

The iconic pair finished their introduction. Pichu scowled when he was presented with the pokeball, there was some of the show personality, but reluctantly allowed himself to be captured. Ash wore a dopey smile and shuffled his way off the platform.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Well, it looked like my time had finally come. I stepped out before the nerves could act up or something else distracted me. Besides, Rackel and Gilbert still seemed to be recovering from the reveal of Ash’s protagonist powers. Best to hurry this along.

The granite floor was surprisingly smooth beneath my feet. The cracks the aura flowed through were so fine that they were imperceptible through my shoes. I wanted to bend down and rub my hand across it, see if I'd feel them then, but now wasn’t the time.

I finally reached the central platform and thought about how to position myself. It was weird, trying to evaluate your own personality. In my opinion, everyone had a bit of everything in them. With the right mindset, any of the personality traits could describe everyone. Like astrology signs in my past life.

Frustration was too mild of a word for my opinion on this matter. Being defined by a single facet of my being was annoying. It was reductionist, stereotyping, and—most importantly—made it so I'd only be able to bond with specific pokemon. If I wanted them to be strong at least.

Affinity levels weren’t meaningless. Studies had shown that each level represented an entire magnitude of difference in difficulty cultivating. So if something took a prime an hour to achieve, it’d take an individual with high affinity ten hours, medium a hundred, and low a thousand.

An individual could get more cultivation done in a month with a matching prime pokemon, then they would in an entire lifetime slaving away on a low. Practically nobody did this, unless they were masochistic or fanatic. Some tried to go both ways, having their main pokemon built for optimal cultivation with a few passion projects on the side, but it was rare. Ultimately, the soul could only support so many bonds.

Gone were my dreams of having all three starters, unless I got stupid lucky with finding shinies. I wish I could pick Dragon at least. I’d always loved dragon pokemon as a kid, like most other boys. Flygon was my favorite. Sadly, personal opinion didn’t matter.

Johnny had been obsessed with steel types all through his childhood. He’d been heartbroken when he didn’t even have a medium affinity for them; reality was cruel.

With all that said, I was fairly confident I knew which of the trifectas I fell into. I’d like to say I was passionate, but realistically I usually let logic dictate me more than emotion. Adaptability was important, and something I strived for, but I liked routine and could be fairly stubborn at times. Finally, I stood up for what I believed in, but wasn’t stoic enough to refuse a fair compromise or die for a lost cause.

I was a nurturer deep down. My past life had been spent working in the medical field, and I always felt at my best when helping others get through their worst. Plus, I’d found nothing that brought me more contentment than watching Dot grow up.

I decided, and placed my hand upon the normal type pillar while looking at the nurturing trifecta of grass, bug, and ground. The crystal was surprisingly warm to the touch, not uncomfortable, but noticeable.

There was a strange draining sensation, as my internal aura reserve was drawn out of me. I felt like I could fight the pull if I really wanted to, but decided to just go with the flow. The lines in the granite began to glow and from my position in the center of the platform, they didn’t seem to be random cracks anymore. There was a pattern; a fractal that radiated out from me.

As I stared, they seemed to wiggle and spin, which definitely hadn’t happened with the other participants. The lines twisted in such a way that it hurt my brain to watch, but I couldn’t look away. The spinning increased, faster and faster, until the granite seemed to warp and fade to black. My heart stopped as the floor split down the middle, and pulled apart in two halves. The crack gradually grew wider and wider until a massive blue orb was revealed.

They were eyelids, I realized, covering a giant blue iris.

The great eye shifted until its pupil was directly beneath my feet. For a moment I felt the weight of existence. In that brief instant, my very being was crushed and my spirit ground to dust. I thought I'd die from the mere gaze of this entity.

My vision was beginning to fade and my breath rattled. The familiar song of death whispered to my soul. Finally, I managed to blink, and it was gone. The floor was just a normal sheet of cracked stone, and I was left unharmed. Though, somehow—deep in my core—I knew it had been real. Just like I knew nobody else had seen it.

A shocked gasp brought me back to the moment and I looked upon the results of my ritual. I had guessed wrong, it seemed. Apparently, I wasn’t a good judge of my own character. The grass and ground crystals were fairly bright, on the high level, but not my prime.

I glanced at the other trifectas, but was confused. There were a few other columns glowing, but none at the level of a prime!

Before I could freak out, I noticed Johnny. He was behind the water column, staring with a dumbfounded expression on his face, but his gaze wasn’t on me. He was looking over my shoulder. For a moment, I dared to hope. Maybe I had gotten the Dragon typing I had dreamed about, but that was crushed as I rotated around.

The Dragon column was lifeless. Instead, I actually had two primes. One was like a black hole, absorbing everything in a massive radius around it; the hungering void. The other was a cloud of gossamer fog that seemed to pull on my very essence; the chilling end.

My primary affinities were dark and ghost. The two malignants…

“Fuck,” everyone heard me cuss this time.