Pokémon Scry The Past

[Shizzza]

Prologue
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Warning:

This fic is rated M for a reason. It'll have rather graphic depictions of violence in the future and blatant horror elements. Continue at your own discretion.
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Eighteen months of zealous study, hundreds of pokédollars in textbooks, and dozens of tutors.

One could say Charlie had over-prepared for this moment, but his trembling hands would disagree.

The test for the breeders license was an international exam that weighted all of the symphonic traits that one possessed as a breeder. He had already passed the practical exam. Now, as he reached the second portion of the exam, he felt himself buckle from the pressure.

Charlie was always confident in his education and knowledge of Psychic types. He was a Tier III Psychic and had graduated from Rustboro's Pokemon Academy in advanced classes, a highly prestigious academy, top of his class.

However, as he flipped over the page, all of that confidence dissipated. It was overwhelming, to say the least. There were a ludicrous amount of questions, and he had only three hours to finish it all.

Charlie gritted his teeth and thought of the cramped apartment he lived in with his grandfather. The delight that would be on his grandfather's face when he finds out he finally got his license…

Charlie felt warmth in his chest, and took a deep breath. He fiddled with his pen, thinking about the way this could change his life. He could become a Pokemon Breeder with this license, and he could make a great living. It's not like these exams were a one-time thing…

"You may now initiate the exam."

He read out the first question.

He answered the first question instantly.

That was easy.

Charlie's eyes widened as he skipped to the end on a hunch.

If these questions are supposed to be the hardest… This is easy!

A wide grin spread across his face as he swiped his pen and circled in answer after answer.

Question after question, sentence after sentence, word after word…

All of it flowed from his pen like nothing could stop him. He was unstoppable.

The questions ranged from questions about breeding and egg groups to the biological features and traits of certain types.

His countless nights and afternoons of studying had all amounted to something after all. Charlie felt himself breeze through the pages. There were some trick questions that had him stumped for several minutes, but he was still completely blitzing through them.

He didn't know everything, there was a question about Ghost types and their spiritual breeding, specifically about how long their offsprings tend to spend in the incorporeal state, which Charlie had no damned clue of. He had to take an educated guess on that one.

All of the questions in relation to Psychic types were all stupidly easy for him. It made sense, he was a "psychic" after all. Charlie also spent the most time studying Psychic types, his knowledge of them wasn't perfect, but he was definitely advanced in the field.

He needed to ace this test, and get that damned breeders license so that he can take a new step in his dream of becoming a Psychic Behavioral Specialist.

Behavioral Specialists is a pretty high standard job, and one that could pay well. The average age for a behavioral specialist is around twenty four, but Charlie thinks that at the rate he is going he can land it at twenty-two.

This exam was getting rolled.

The more difficult sections mostly related to the information in relation to battling. Understanding the needs and mechanical requirements of battling is important if you want to become a behavioral specialist or breeder. Behavioral specialists need to understand the fundamental workings of battling so that they can teach and understand the Pokemon completely. Battling is a large part of Pokemon biology, after all. Whilst Breeders need to know about battling to breed and classify certain Pokemon as "Battle-Bred" Pokemon.

Charlie was lackluster in this department, certain questions talking about the key components of battling drove him insane. However, he still managed without many problems with a bit of struggle and contemplation.

The clock was ticking, and Charlie was confident he could finish and review the test before he hit the time limit. He felt his psychic senses perking in anticipation, and his palms were starting to sweat from how tightly he gripped the paper.

Finally, he let out a breath of relief.

He slicked his brown hair back in arrogance, his calm expression exclaimed in full glory. There may have been eyebags under those eyes, but he didn't care.

I overestimated this fucking test.

Charlie felt as if the world below him. I think some would call this an "ego trip".

He finished the test with forty minutes to spare.

Charlie calmed himself, his entire arm quivering as after only about a minute, he grabbed the paper and started revising.

He revised the test for thirty-five minutes, before turning it in.

He knew he had just got flying marks.
_

Two days later…

"Gramps, you're awake!" Charlie exclaimed, his grandfather seemed to be quite dazed and tired as he shut the door behind him. However, the old man grinned back at Charlie's enthusiasm.

Charlie gave his grandfather a cup of hot tea, and the both of them sat at each corner of the table.

"Ah. Evening naps are always the best." His grandfather exclaimed, and Charlie chuckled to himself.

Charlie then grabbed a stash of mail, before slapping it onto the table.

"Ah, Charlie. Have your examination results come in the mail yet?" His grandfather asked, and Charlie had a grin plastered on his face.

"Yep. I just saw my results." Charlie said, grinning softly. "I passed!"

His grandfather's smile was faint, withered by his experiences.

"Charlie, you've…grown." He spoke softly, Charlie noticed his fists starting to clench.

His grandfather looked Charlie up and down, he had a childish grin on his face. But, he also had an air of maturity shrouding him. Befitting of his age.

Mark, oh sweet Mark…you're his grandfather. You should be glad he's growing. He's nineteen, still young…still young. He still has a life to live. Mark, you're his grandfather, he deserves to…

"Congratulations, Charlie." His grandfather finally mustered, and Charlie only nodded heartily.

His grandfather saw a glimmer of joy and cheerfulness in his grandson's brown eyes, which matched his brown, aged hair. He felt a pang of sadness.

"Now that I have this license, I-I can do so much." Charlie stated, "The possibilities…"

"What will you do now?" His grandfather asked, and Charlie flashed a grin.

"Well, I plan on getting a part-time job as a Pokemon caretaker and then I'll continue to pursue my studies." Charlie explained, "It shouldn't be too hard landing a job as a Pokemon caretaker with my resume."

His grandfather stared with compassion and swallowed his spit.

"Charlie, how long do you think you will be staying here with me, in this crappy apartment?"

"Hm. I think I'll be here until I amass enough money to rent an apartment and well, feed myself," Charlie mused."Oiya, Gramps, I promise you, when I make it as a Psychic Behavioral specialist, you'll be living in a much better apartment than this craphole…maybe even a house." He declared, smiling sheepishly.

Charlie smiled as His grandfather chuckled to himself.

"Don't get cocky, Charlie. I reckon you first get yourself a girlfriend." His grandfather replied, and Charlie scoffed.

" Bah- not a single ounce of romantic experience at nineteen? Blasphemy! Tell ya what, when old me was in my prime, all the girls fawned over me. Go get yourself a girl, I like that you're studying diligently, but getting your head out of those books might be good for you."

Charlie chuckled sheepishly, "How do you know I'm not Asexual or Aromantic?"

"Charlie, I've seen your search history."

The old man laughed heartily as he saw Charlie flush and repulse in shock, "Hah, this old man isn't tech savvy, but I know a thing or two, believe it or not."

"That's impossible! I used Incognito mode!"

"Oh?"

Charlie whispered several curses to himself, and his grandfather threw his head back, howling in laughter.

"Just messing with ya. But what I said about getting your head out of the books still stands. So far, the only person in your life is me. Charlie, I won't always be here. Go out there. Socialize. Party a bit, have some fun. An old fart like me shouldn't be the biggest part of your life."

Charlie's expression darkened.

"You say it like you will drop dead any second."

His grandfather scoffed, "Who knows. I may just drop dead right now."

Charlie was visibly distressed, as His grandfather sipped the tea. Peering out the window.

"Charlie, I've taken care of you since you were born. Your parents…they…"

"Gramps, you don't need to tell me." Charlie interrupted, "Please. Don't force yourself."

His grandfather took another sip of the tea.

"Charlie, in repayment for the courtesy I've shown you all these years…"

His grandfather's eyes never left the sunny outside painted through the windows.

"Please…"

Charlie's breath hitch, as his very own grandfather seemed to be reaching his limit.

"Forget about me. When I leave, forget about me. Live your life without any regard for me."

His grandfather turned around to face him, Charlie's eyes widened in shock.

"You've grown a lot as a person, Charlie. You've grown more intelligent. Taller. Handsome." His grandfather praised, and Charlie sat in silence.

"That license of yours was a wake up call. I can't keep sheltering you, being your only hope. You have to go out there, and make your own life. Without me."

Charlie opened his mouth to speak, but was shut down.

"Throughout these years, we've bonded. Made experiences. I've been your parental figure, and you are practically my child. You are everything I wanted in life, Charlie. You realized my self worth."

His grandfather turned away from Charlie once again, "I…I'm proud of you."

Another lie.

His grandfather's arm began to shake, as his wrinkles only worsened. He gripped the table.

"Gramps? Are you okay…?" Charlie rushed over next to him, slinging around an arm next to him.

"N-nothing…I'm fine, you can let go."

Charlie nodded and quickly sunk back into his chair.

"Please. Charlie, I beg of you. Forget-"

"You aren't making any sense." Charlie interrupted his grandfather, who gaped in shock, before nodding solemnly.

"I guess so. Charlie, I still hope you follow through with my request." His grandfather concluded, his body beginning to shake.

"Gramps, is there…something wrong? You look disturbed."

He felt his heart pound against his chest as Charlie stared at him with oblivious concern in their eyes.

"Nothing, I'm fine. Just tired. Don't worry about it too much."

How long can you keep doing this?

Withholding information from your own grandson?

You really are pathetic, Mark.

He felt a stab of pain in his chest, his boy needed to know. The memories they shared together flooded through him. To Charlie, he was his only hope.

The only person Charlie ever talked with was him.

His own grandfather.

He felt tears tug at the edges of his wrinkled face, he knew what he had to do.

He should be happy for his grandson. His grandson had just taken a massive step in his dream job.

The laughter shared.

The joyous moments connected.

"Charlie, uhm, I think I'll sleep early tonight…" He finished, before standing up, with some difficulty.

"Wait-" Before Charlie could even process the information, he was engulfed in a hug.

"Goodnight, Charlie."

Charlie stood dazed, as his grandfather slammed the door shut, the two's eyes met, and Charlie's own grandfather looked away, with pain in his eyes.

I'm a horrible grandfather.

"Charlie…" He whispered to himself.

"I've failed you."

"You've grown so much, both physically and mentally, and yet you still know nothing."

"You've grown…too much…"

"You've grown…so damned quickly…"

He wiped his tears, before making sure his door was locked, and edged over to his desk.

He grabbed a pen and some paper, before writing small letters at the top left corner.

"Dear Charlie Samson, my grandson…"

---

Tomorrow morning…

Charlie knocked on his grandfather's room…silence.

He knocked again.

And again.

And again.

Nothing happened, Charlie tried turning the doorknob, and the door swung open.

That's weird. I could've sworn it was locked last night.

He entered the room, and saw nobody. The room was nice and tidy, and there seemed to be no signs of disruption.

"The fuck…" Charlie muttered, before dashing around the apartment.

Nothing.

His grandfather was gone.

He dashed into his room, and saw a small white envelope.

Charlie opened it, and saw a small wall of text.

"Dear Charlie Samson, my grandson.

If you're reading this, it likely means that I am missing. Don't come after me. I apologize for how I left you in the dark, but it's for the greater good. I couldn't bring myself to tell you the full story, and you will likely never know. You will likely never see me again. Don't be sad, Charlie. This old man has reached the peak of his age. Don't try to search for me, you will only regret it. Charlie, please. My final request is for you to stay out of this. We've shared so many fun moments together, but everything must come to an end. I hope you live your life without me.
Sincerely, your grandfather, Mark Samson."

Charlie covered his mouth, as he tried to process the information.

"Gramps…no fucking way…" He muttered, eyes swelling with tears.

He searched the entire house, every closet, nook and cranny was thoroughly seen throughout.

Hours after hours.

Nothing.

Not a trace of his grandfather. Not even his belongings.

"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me…" Charlie muttered in disbelief.

Just when everything was going well for me.

Just when life seemed to look up for him.

He fantasized about living a peaceful life with that old fart.

And yet he just left him hanging?

He didn't understand.

Charlie violently slammed his arm against a wall, flinching in pain.

"Bullshit."

He slapped the envelope onto the desk, arms quivering with anger.

"Fucking bullshit."

His cheeks grew a deep shade of red, as he violently slammed the table in frustration.

He repeatedly did this, until his arm couldn't take it anymore.

"That…mother…fucker…"

Charlie's eyes welled with tears, "He acted so weirdly last night. I should've fucking known. Damn it…"

"I don't understand, I don't understand."

Charlie fell against his knees, as his eyes hovered to a portrait. It was during his trip to the Slateport Aquarium with his grandfather, back when he was thirteen.

He grabbed the portrait, eyes looming over the picture.

Charlie's tears continued to spill, as he reared the portrait back and slammed it against the wall.

He didn't understand.

Why had he left?

Why?

Charlie didn't get it at all.

"We could've lived together when I became a full-fledged behavioral specialist." Charlie cursed, "We could've lived our lives in harmony."

"You just had to go and ruin it, old fart."

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Chapter End

 

[Shizzza]

Ruins
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C/W:
Crude language and excessive swearing.

Charlie leaned against the armchair, sighing to himself as he opened up his computer.

Being a caretaker definitely wasn't as easy as one might assume; the pay was decent, but Pokemon could be rowdy and craved attention. It was a tiring profession.

He just recently filed a request for his Psychic Behavioral License, and with that, he could finally become a full-fledged Psychic Behavioral Specialist.

If only gramps were here…

It had been four years since he vanished.

Four years, and not a single trace of his grandfather was found.

He scrolled idly through the forums, skimming over dozens of posts and inane opinions about the now months old Magma and Aqua debacle. There was one particularly ridiculous conspiracy post detailing how Team Magma and Team Aqua were totally linked to the ancient clans of Hoenn, but Charlie didn't read any further as he closed the tab.

He was snapped from his own thoughts by a ringing from his phone.

Lazily picking it up, he answered the call.

"Yooooo! How's it going? Ya did anything interesting today? Had some fun? Oh, come on, stop being such a degenerate!"

Massaging his temple, he felt himself sigh at the obnoxious voice, "The term degenerate doesn't apply to me here, and I didn't even get a chance to respond to your questions before you instantly labeled me as a degenerate…"

The caller simply chuckled to himself, "Well then, how did your day go?"

Charlie smiled softly, "Nothing much. I had to look over a particularly foul Chatot, it was amusing, but also annoying. How about you?"

The voice laughed sheepishly, "Well, uhm, I sorta laid around and did nothing all day."

He felt himself rolling his eyes, "Carmello, learn to be more productive."

"Sorry, man! It's my break day, let me have a moment of peace." He replied, to which Charlie grinned.

"Okayyy, I'll let it slide this time." Charlie said, smiling sheepishly. "Stay safe out there, being a ranger must be some hard work."

He heard Carmello scoff through the phone, "Oh please, my Pokemon make quick work of any wild threats. You should've seen my Exploud the other day, she took down an entire flock of Tailow and their leading Swellow with one attack."

"Oh? I'm not an expert in flying types, but an Exploud taking an entire flock down is pretty impressive. In fact, I wouldn't even think it to be possible, considering Exploud is a terrestrial Pokemon." Charlie commented, and Carmello howled in laughter.

"Oh, Charlie, your expertise in wild battles needs some improvement, it seems." Carmello boomed, Charlie simply scoffed and listened intently. "All it took was one solid boomburst to knock all of those suckers out of the air. No matter how adept Swellow and Tailow may be in aerial combat, you can't fight sound."

Charlie attempted to process the information, it was quite easy to understand in retrospect, but this only showed his lack of knowledge in actual Pokemon battling.

"Shifting topics, I've been thinking of growing my hair out, what do you think about that?" Charlie asked, and he heard random ruffling from the phone.

"What's with this sudden change? Did something happen?"

"W-well, uhm, I'm moving out of my current apartment and stuff, so I thought a new hairstyle would fit the occasion. You know, starting again and shit." Charlie stated, he heard Carmello hum thoughtfully to himself through the phone.

"Send a picture of the hairstyle you want, I'll take a look at it."

Charlie complied, and after a bit of searching, sent the image to his friend.

"Ain't no way," Carmello muttered, and Charlie frowned. "Are you serious?" He asked, the bewilderment clear in his tone.

"...Yes?"

Charlie flinched when he heard Carmello burst into a massive fit of laughter.

"Charlie, I'm gonna be frank with you, if you went through with this hairstyle…I guarantee you, every single person you meet will assume you're a girl." Carmello said amidst his pained laughter.

He felt himself twitch in annoyance at his friend's comments, "How so-"

"Charlie, go take a fucking look in the mirror and come back."

"I-I would…that's preposterous-" Charlie stammered, "Fuck, I don't have any retorts."

"Okay, hold on- I have to do something real quick," Carmello called out from the phone.

He heard some shuffling from the other side of the phone and bedsheets moving around.

"Ah- Sorry about the noise here, but uhm, isn't today your grandfather's birthday?"

Charlie's breath hitched as his grasp over the phone stiffened.

"Oh…I-I probably shouldn't have said-"

Charlie felt himself panicking, "Wait, no! I-It's fine. Its been four years, I've…gotten over it."

An awkward silence fell upon the both of them, Charlie felt his breath heaving and his heart pounding against his chest.

"Shit. Uhm, see you later I guess!" Charlie sputtered, and before the other voice could even respond, the phone call was disconnected.

Heh. Me getting over that old fart?

Impossible.

Charlie knew he never got over his grandfather's disappearance. He knew that.

But it's been four years. He should have already gotten over it.

No, he knows why.

His grandfather vanishing isn't the same as if he were dead. He could be out there somewhere, doing god knows what. This unrelenting curiosity mixed with desperate delusions, it was no wonder why Charlie hasn't gotten over it.

Carmello Jones, on the other hand, was currently his only friend. Charlie, well…wasn't exactly very social. He knew how to talk to strangers well enough, a skill of his trade, but actually making friends was a massive problem for him.

Charlie allowed himself to drown in his own cycle of thoughts as he cleared out some of the furniture and the house, with the aid of Pokemon Movers of course. Most Pokemon Movers were naturally strong Pokemon like Machoke or Gurdurr, who helped move furniture.

After around four years of consistent working, Charlie could finally move out of this crappy apartment. It felt..surreal.

In the four years since his grandfather's disappearance, a lot has changed for him.

He never really got to fulfill his grandfather's final request for him, to well…make friends. He only has one currently, after all.

He personally thinks it can be chopped up to his nature as a psychic. Which is a very complicated and hush-shush topic in society as a whole right now. Charlie himself is a more "internal" psychic, which meant most of his psychic powers are dealing with his own mental state.

Being an "internal" psychic, something like telekinesis was stretching his limits.. He could do it, just not very well. "Internal" psychic abilities would be something like creating a "mental shield" to protect from forced entry into his own conscious by another psychic, or a technique which he calls "psychic reasoning".

Now, psychic reasoning sounds way cooler than it actually is. It's really just Charlie thinking of something "positive", and manifesting that positivity to calm himself down. Usually he will feel a warmth in his chest, or his previous anxiety fading out a bit.

Charlie considered himself to be an adept psychic. He was a Tier III Psychic, which was above average for his age.

As a scale of comparison, Will of the Indigo Elite Four is a Tier V Psychic and Sabrina is a Tier VI Psychic.

Charlie snapped himself from his own thoughts as he saw the door to his grandfather's old room.

His throat ran dry, as he twisted the doorknob.

The door swung open, revealing a dark, empty room.

Charlie walked through the room, clearing out some scrap paper, emptying the notebooks into a bag. He motioned for a Machoke to enter the room, and the fighting type quickly carried out the furniture.

He found himself just staring at the empty room. The windows were the only source of light, and he felt the bright Hoenn sun's reflection against the window shiningagainst him.

Charlie finally breathed a heavy sigh, before walking to the closet.

He emptied out all of the clothes, random objects, etc, throwing them all into a bag, and had one of the Mover Pokemon pick it up.

He crawled through stacks of clothes, notebooks, coloring books…

And when he emptied it all out, there was nothing left.

Well, until there was one thing left.

It was…a box. A safe, actually.

The fuck?

Charlie had never seen this safe before, nor did he think his grandfather even mentioned it.

The box was pitch black, but there was a note drilled into it, the initial "M.S" on the note.

M.S…Mark Samson.

Charlie analyzed the box, it was completely secure. There was a small, slidable keypad with the letters of your average keyboard on it.

Above the keypad was a small screen monitor, he clicked on the letter "A" on the keypad, and sure enough, the letter A appeared on the left of the monitor.

It's a passcode.

Charlie's curiosity was unrelenting, he needed to know the mysteries behind this box.

It seemed the passcode was a seven-letter code. What seven-letter code could his grandfather use as the passcode for a safe-

His eyes widened.

No fucking way.

Charlie's breath hitched, as he felt his fingers hover over the letters.

"C"

"H"

"A"

"R"

"L"

"I"

"E"

The monitor screen flashed green.

Fucking hell…old man, this is why I never allowed you to set your own passwords.

He questioned whether or not he should open the box, It was hidden for a reason after all. But his curiosity won out in the end. What would have been the point in unlocking if not to examine the contents? …Besides.. It wasn't like Gramps was here to stop him..

Charlie slammed the safe open.

He felt a wave of disappointment wash through him.

It's just… a black folder?

Charlie calmed himself, this folder could contain pivotal information to figuring out his grandfather's whereabouts.

He grabbed the pitch black folder, before unfolding it.

There were dozens of collages and images, captured moments of all of the times he'd spent with his grandfather. He flipped through all of them, trying his damndest to ignore the sudden dosage of nostalgia that flushed within his chest,from all of the photographs of his childhood.

After flipping through rows after rows of photos, he finally found it, buried under piles and piles of images.

Charlie, it's you who's reading this, isn't it?
Well met. By the time you are reading this, I've already disappeared.

My dear grandson, I'll be honest with you, I've been…withholding information from you all this time. There is so much you don't know. But I don't have the heart to tell you all of it. You have talent, Charlie. Talent that is being wasted. But, I…I want that talent to be wasted. As harsh as it may sound, Charlie, I'm a terrible mentor. I could've morphed you into an incredible trainer. You could've taken the world by storm. I know you can. But you don't understand the potential you withhold. So, I have one final ultimatum for you.

Either you continue pursuing a normal life, one where you can easily start a family and coast along, enjoying a peaceful existence full of joyous occasions and blissful ignorance.
Or
You can go to the address listed at the end of the note, continuing to pursue me, the craven old man who abandoned you because he was too weak, and pathetic, to the end of your days. Therer, you will meet danger after danger, calamity after calamity, never knowing when the long road ends.. You will obtain information that you wish you hadn't. You might finally know the true meaning behind my departure, but is it worth it? Only you can answer that.

Charlie, please. Choose what's right for you.
I specifically placed this note in this safe to delay you from obtaining it, even if deep down I knew you would eventually find it, and that you deserve to know at least this little. If you wish to know the full truth, even if it means risking your life and tossing aside your perfectly valid life, then so be it. I will never try to force you. I know you have it in you, but I don't have the heart to force you to.

But, most importantly, I wish for you to have people who you hold dear to. Charlie, I don't care if you continue pursuing your current ambitions, or if you continue pursuing me, all I want is for you to have people you love. People you love even more than me.
This is my final message to you. I…

I hope we never meet again.

Goodbye, Charlie.

Charlie gripped the note tightly, true to his word, the author.. His Grandfather.. left an address at the end of the note..

His heart pounded against his chest, and his eyes began to water.

"Fuck.."

He could've simply locked the safe away, never to be seen again. He could've continued his life in blissful ignorance, shifting his curiosity away. Doing everything he could to distract himself from thinking what might have been.

But he knew that he couldn't just leave it at that.

He didn't understand, what had his grandfather seen in him?

It sounded like the man knew something he didn't.

No, it didn't just sound like he knew something Charlie didn't, his grandfather was keeping secrets. He himself said so in his parting message.

Something was wrong with his grandfather, why wouldn't he tell him head-on? What was this deck of mysteries that he withdrew from him?

A storm brewed in his mind, the weak calming effects of psychic reasoning contributed nothing when his mind was being overrun with ideas and questions.

To his surprise, not a single tear even drew from him.

I guess a part of me got over it…

The more he thought about it, the more painful an ambiguous ending sounded to him. His unrelenting desire for a conclusion was irresistible. No matter how much "logic" he tried to beat into himself, he wanted to know. He needed to know.

So, Charlie was met with a dilemma.

Either pursue his grandfather blindly, or live in blissful ignorance.

Who do I have besides gramps?

Right. He didn't have anyone besides his own grandfather. He only had one "friend" present in his life.

The answer became more and more obvious for him.

Charlie gritted his teeth, as he sunk against his seat once again.

Fuck it. It shouldn't hurt to check the address out a bit, right?

Even if it may have seemed rash to make that decision instantaneously, Charlie already had a headache trying to digest all of the information from the final message, and he just wanted closure.

He would go to the address, and make his decision there.

Charlie slid out his phone, before typing the address into the search bar.

His eyes widened, as he read out the address.

It's located in the middle of FUCKING PETALBURG WOODS!?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rustboro City was somewhat close to Petalburg forest.

But even so, it would take an entire day of traveling just to reach the address listed under his grandfather's note.

Charlie ended up taking a psychic teleport pad from the Rustboro PokeCenter to a teleporting station right next to the bridge connecting route 104 to Rustboro.

It had cost him an unreasonably large sum of money, but it shortened his journey by around five hours of just walking through the absurdly large city of Rustboro.

The Hoenn heat was crushing him, every step felt like a slog.

Trainer season was drawing to a close, despite that, training supplies were still at a staggeringly high price. Charlie only nabbed some basic equipment before leaving.

Due to his status as a Pokemon Caretaker, he was able to nab himself a "Rental Pokemon''. Rental Pokemon are Pokemon specially trained to defend the client for a specific time at a price. He ended up renting a Mightyena, which was a very commonly rented Pokemon, to defend himself against the wild Pokemon in Petalburg Woods.

The directions in the message were simple, look for a cabin with an umbrella plastered on the side of the wall and a crooked door with a birdhouse located on the roof. Small cabins are fairly common in Petalburg woods, likely abandoned for bigger houses once industrialization rolled around, or were abandoned because of natural disasters.

Petalburg Woods was… very dimly lit. The thick trees covered up the sun a lot, but it also meant that bug Pokemon were rampant. Most of them were dissuaded by the Mightyena next to him, but as a psychic, he wasn't particularly fond of bug Pokemon.

Charlie avoided thinking about the potential consequences and the mysteries of his grandfather. It made him sick to his stomach thinking about the possible backlash of his actions.

He kept rereading the piece of paper, it was…so oddly structured, as if he was some sort of chosen one.

No, Charlie, stop it. You've been reading too many novels.

He flicked his hands before sliding the paper back into its folder and placing it back into his bag.

As he walked through the woods seamlessly, following the locations and directions listed in the message, he found himself absorbed and buried under his own thoughts and insecurities.

Whether it be about his past with his grandfather, his future, or the present, all of his deepest frights crept up onto his shoulder.

It was suffocating.

What if something terribly wrong happens? I should just walk home, burn this damned piece of paper, and never ever look back again. Do anything less and you will be compelled to risk your life over a man long gone.

But what didI ever have besides my grandpa? Could I really live with regret knowing that I will never know the truth behind his sudden absence?

Even so, should I really be risking my life like this? He said that if I were to indulge myself into seeking him out, there would be risks, and consequences…

Despite his doubts, Charlie gritted his teeth and moved on, scuffling through the bushes and thick leaves.

However, as he kept moving, his thoughts continued to stab him in the back as he further questioned what he was doing.

His insecurities were only exclaimed, when he saw it.

An abandoned cabin with an umbrella plastered next to it, a crooked door, and a random birdhouse on top of its roof.

He gulped.

From here, anything could happen. I don't know what the hell I'm going to find.

This could go horribly wrong.

Charlie, reconsider-

"No." Charlie said firmly, his hand twisting the doorknob as he firmly slammed it wide open.

"My own thoughts be damned." He swore, stepping into the cabin. It was completely empty, with only a few shelves, closet, flimsy doors, and the occasional desk.

Charlie slid out the note from the folder, and turned the page to its back.

Go to the bookshelf in the furthest left and move it out of the way, completely. You will find a large trapdoor.. Therein lies The Ruins.

I wish you luck, Charlie.

His hands quivered as he slipped the note back into the folder. He walked over to the bookshelf in the furthest left. It was abnormally large, perfect for hiding something like a secret entrance.

"Mightyena, return." Charlie called softly, and the rental pokemon was returned to its Pokeball.

Charlie wished he had rented a second Pokemon, because the bookshelves were so abnormally large to where it took him almost forty minutes just to move it completely.

Then, he saw it.

A trapdoor.

Leading to what was called "The Ruins" in his grandfather's final note.

Charlie opened the trapdoor, just halfway. He felt his breathing halt, as he looked down, and saw naught but what looked to be a bottomless pit.

No ladders, no stairs, or anything.

He fully opened the trapdoor, before sticking a part of his chest in, making sure to remain steady to avoid falling off.

As he edged closer, he made sure to stabilize himself.

Charlie felt his psychic senses perking, as his eyes loomed into the pit below. Arceus knows what would happen if he were to jump into the pit from this height.

His curiosity only grew, and he latched onto the trapdoor as he edged closer again-

Charlie felt his psychic shield suddenly shatter. His head throbbed, as he lost balance from the sharp pain caused by the sudden mental attack. Suddenly, he felt his entire body lunge into the pit, as if urged by a foreign power.

He was hurled into the hole, the only thing he saw was the rocky walls which surrounded him. His eyes widened in shock as he screamed, his cries of help echoing through the depths of the hole.

Fuck! I-I'm going to fall to my death…shit…shit…

He flipped himself over, he felt the rush of wind as he raced downwards. Eventually, he'd hit the bottom and perish-

But, to his surprise, he…

Suddenly stopped falling.

He was held mid-air by some sort of…psychic power.

The fuck…?

It was pitch black. He felt as if he was floating. He waved his arms around, and he felt his hands caress the rough surface of the walls surrounding him.

Intruder alert. Examination needed.

Charlie's breath hitched, as he finally saw light.

The walls which surrounded him suddenly quaked, as a massive hole was made in the middle of the wall, light illuminated from the hole. He then heard quaking and loud shuffling, his eyes widened in pure shock as a massive stone platform shot out from the ground, stopping right below Charlie.

He felt himself freed from telepathic control, landing on the rocky platform.

Charlie hastily turned to the hole which illuminated the light, "W-Who's there?!"

Examination complete.

Screening process will be initiated.

"W-who are you?!"

Charlie gaped in shock as a…Claydol suddenly appeared, leaving traces of psychic energy.

The Claydol spun its head around, "Follow me, human."

He felt reluctant, but was firmly pulled by a psychic energy and telepathically pushed from the platform which he stood on into the hole that Claydol had created.

"Welcome to the ruins, human."

"Oi- What the fuck is going on-"

"First screening begins now. Dodge to the best of your abilities."

Charlie's breath hitched, fear ran through his spine as Claydol seemed to charge up…

A hyper beam?

"Y-yo…you've got to be fucking kidding…right?" Charlie gasped in fear, "S-stop.. What.. why..-"

Charlie dashed to the left, as the Cladyol twisted its head around, charging up the hyper beam.

He ran for his life, but fear struck him as the Claydol reared its body back.

"Fuck!"

The beam of pure, shining energy illuminated the entire cavern. Charlie ran for his dear life, but his eyes widened as he saw the hyper beam edge closer and closer to him…

 

[Shizzza]

The Choice

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---

Italics + "quotations"= "Telepathic Communication."

Italics (no"quotations)= thoughts.

The hyper beam erupted into a radiant stream of power, Charlie dashed to the right as the hyper beam flew right past him, causing it to crash onto the opposing cavern wall. This results in a wide, smoking crater where stone once rested.

Charlie spun around, analyzing the "hole" he had found himself in. Within a span of not even thirty seconds, he went from standing on a platform- to being telepathically pushed from it and now in "The Ruins".

The cavern was bland and had no outlying features. It was like he was in a large box with little to show. The ground was rough. There were a lot of pebbles around them, and the cavern was very spacious. Every step he took caused echoes to ripple across the cavern.

He could hear dripping water somewhere in the cavern, but he was too high on adrenaline to notice anything but Claydol.

There were no obstacles…just a flat surface. The cavern ceiling was deceptively high. Just how far had he fallen?!

That hyper beam… it was far too slow. If even someone like me could dodge it, then it's evident that Claydol is holding back significantly here.

Claydol spun around rapidly, before another beam of pure energy was created.

The hyper beam suddenly swerved left, Charlie crashed against the ground. He felt a wave of heat run through him as the hyper beam grazed over his body, once more ruining the walls behind him. Charlie began to wonder how stable the cavern really was, and if it'd endure this assault, lest it come crashing down and bury him.

Claydol levitated into the air and created a spiral of small pebbles which rotated around it. Then, Claydol hurled the stones at Charlie.

Charlie leaped to the right, dodging the pebbles which left smaller indents in the ground upon impact. A lot less impressive than the Hyper Beams, but he still wouldn't want to be hit by it.

The ground beneath him quaked, and from it shot out stone pillars which completely encircled Charlie.

"Shatter."

His eyes darted to face Claydol, whose many eyes suddenly glowed a bright blue. The stone pillars all bursted into smaller pebbles, all of them coated in a blue aura.

Charlie attempted to escape but was pelted by the pebbles and rocks. They were akin to rubber bullets, except he'd been shot by stone, which had much more density.

He fell to his knees, gasping for air as he was bruised all over.

"Watch out for the markings, use your psychic powers."

Claydol's eyes once again glowed a bright blue, Charlie felt the ground quake again and hastily looked down.

There were black markings, in fact, he was surrounded by these black markings.

Charlie instantly leaped backward. Only a second later, large stone pillars shot up from the ground.'

More black markings started to appear around him, he felt adrenaline rush through him as he instantly leaped to the side. Stone pillars shot up from the marked spots.

This continued on a couple more times, and eventually he adjusted to the timing of the raised earth, leaping out of the way before he could be skewered by the stone.

"Not bad for an average person. Considering it took you forty minutes to move that bookshelf completely earlier, I had expected much worse."

More markings appeared, and Charlie barely managed to dodge them this time. It's getting faster!

Practically the moment he noticed the markings, Charlie had to move out of the way else he would be slammed by the stone pillars.

However, the time frame between each set of markings became shorter and shorter until–

He was too slow.

His right leg had already stepped outside of the area of the markings, but his left was still in the hazard area.

The stone pillars shot from the ground and hurled Charlie high into the air, he could nearly touch the top of the room.

He then descended towards the ground, much faster than he'd have liked. Charlie braced himself for impact–

Claydol levitated towards him, their set of eyes glowing a bright blue as Charlie's entire body floated in the air.

"First screening complete."

Claydol stopped levitating and hovered Charlie inches above the ground. Claydol then released their psychic control over Charlie.

He fell onto the rough surface of the ground, bruised and breathing heavily, but no severe injuries.

Charlie managed to recompose himself, his legs quivering.

Claydol's many cold and impassive eyes stared deep into Charlie the moment he got up. Charlie felt wary of the ground type.

"Sike."

Charlie felt a primal fear swell in his chest, his senses screamed at him to move.

Bursting into the air, Claydol began charging up a bright, white beam of energy, no doubt on a direct course for Charlie

He kicked up his legs, and ran for dear life. He turned his head to the direction of Claydol, who detached its head from its body.

The hyperbeam swerved in the air, and Charlie screamed in surprise when it grazed his body, the beam of energy fizzling out afterwards, this time before it could cause any more damage to the area

He fell to his knees in shock, gasping for air.

"You needn't fear, human. Despite the flashiness of that hyper beam, it would've only left you heavily injured. I am more than proficient at controlling my own Hyper Beams."

Claydol's telepathic voice was cold and monotone. Charlie felt chills run down his spine just from Claydol's voice alone.

"Wasn't that a good lesson? Never let your guard down."

Charlie felt oddly creeped out by the amount of emotion and enthusiasm placed in that sentence in comparison to Claydol's previous monotone, telepathic voice.

"Tell me, what the fuck is going on?!" Charlie demanded, and Claydol simply spunits body.

"Be patient, human. You first must have to pass the screening first."

"Second screening, initiate-"

Charlie instantly dug into his pocket, as Claydol spun its head around, opting to charge up an attack instead of continuing to speak.

"Mightyena, go!"

Claydol fired an earth power right as Mightyena appeared on the field. The canine was instantly flung into the air by an earth power, and crashed against the ground.

"Mightyena! Uhm- use Crunch!" Charlie shouted out, and the canine Pokemon hesitantly rose, and dashed at Claydol.

"Interesting. Such a pathetic Pokemon could never stand up to my might."

Claydol, without even charging, fired a hyper beam, though this one proved to be much more compact than its previous iterations. The beam of pure energy crashed against Mightyena, who collapsed against the ground, screeching in pain.

T-that hyper beam…it was even denser than the previous one, and took no charge time!

Charlie turned to Claydol, analyzing the ground type.

They're…not even remotely tired.

He clenched his fists, He was holding back on me with the first hyper beam. That hyper beam was significantly weaker, smaller, slower, etc…

"Mightyena, crunch and quick attack!"

The canine managed to stand up again, before moving at breakneck speed, and-

"Sorry, human, but this assessment is not meant to test one's Pokemon Battling skills."

Mightyena was blown away by a massive crack in the ground, which then exploded with power.

T-that was an earth power…?

Charlie gulped, "M-mightyena! Return!"

The canine Pokemon was thoroughly knocked out, cold. Blood seemed to drip from its body. Thankfully it disappeared into a flash of crimson light, returning to confinement before anymore harm could befall them.

"Now, let's continue. I've decided I should tell you the purpose of this screening, lest your ignorance produce faulty results."

Charlie edged backwards, making an effort to distance himself from Claydol.

"The purpose of this screening is quite simple. It's to gauge your basic capabilities and to figure out whether or not you are gifted or talented. If you are neither of the two, you will never be able to step foot in the ruins ever again."

"What happens if I Pass?"

"Then, I shall gift you knowledge. As much knowledge as I can. As much knowledge as I am permitted to."

Sweat trickled down his neck, as he eyed the Claydol intently.

"...Knowledge about what?"

"You know the answer to that…"

"Charlie."

Charlie's blood froze, "What-"

Claydol suddenly levitated into the air, completely ignoring Charlie.

"The second screening will begin now."

l spun around rapidly, kicking up a small gust of sand and wind. Charlie stepped backwards apprehensively as Claydol continued to spin rapidly.

"The second test is simple. Touch me once in this sandstorm. Worry not, I will make it certain that you are unharmed.."

Only a couple of seconds later, the entire cavern was covered in a thick layer of dust and sand, it raged throughout the cavern, obscuring his vision of the taskmaster.

Charlie attempted to shield himself with his arm, but the sandstorm was unrelenting.

He closed his eyes, and concentrated his psychic power.

If I use my Psychic abilities, this shouldn't be too difficult…

He attempted to locate the presence of the Pokemon. Claydol tended to have a very strong mental presence, as do all powerful psychic type Pokemon. He focused, tuning out the sound of the rushing sand. Until he'd found it!

And found it again..

And.. again..

Charlie felt himself grow pale…

There's at least a dozen mental traces I'm picking up!

"I see you've spotted the clones I created with a double team."

Charlie snapped his eyes open, covering his eyes, before they could be assaulted by the localized sandstorm..

Amidst the thick sandstorm, he could barely make out the images of several Claydol.

Why the fuck are the numbers multiplying!?

He gritted his teeth, I need to use psychic location…

This Claydol must be absurdly strong, considering normally whenever a Psychic Pokemon creates clones, I can easily pin-point who is the real one due to the odd distribution of mental traces…

But all of the clones have near-identical signatures!

He shook his head, Think about it, Charlie. It is impossible to create a clone with the perfect replica of your own signature! As long as I concentrate hard enough, I should be able to figure out the location of the real one!"

Charlie concentrated on finding the distinguishable traits of each and every conscious he could sense, attempting to differentiate one from another.

In a broad perspective, all of the Claydol may seem to have the same mental trace- But Charlie knew better. He channeled all of his psychic energy, attempting to find the outlier.

He kept trying, concentrating, focusing more and more of his psychic energy, all in the hopes of finding something.

Charlie's breathing grew heavy and his heart continued to pound, slowly spiking up more and more.

His brain was still in action mode from the previous screening and he still felt the adrenaline…

He clenches his fists, as every hint of the Claydol manifested into silhouettes of white aura. Charlie was taken aback by this, every other time he'd attempted to search for someone's mental trace, it's always manifested into a faint outlining of that person/thing.

Never has it manifested into a white aura.

His concentration was suddenly broken, as he felt a wave of exhaustion run through him.

I have to.. focus...

Charlie closed his eyes, and concentrated on one focal point…again.

This time, it took him much less time to see the white lines of aura, gritting his teeth, he continued to concentrate.

The blobs of white aura became more distinct. He could finally pin-point certain features, but it wasn't completely clear.

He suddenly fell to his knees, gagging and coughing.

Fuck, the dust in the air from the sandstorm is starting to get to me..

His coughing intensified, as he tried once more to locate the elusive Pokemon.

Charlie closed his eyes once again, and continued to focus on the white lines of aura.

As his concentration on the one focal point continued, he could finally figure out the distinct details. His vision of the white blobs of aura slowly, but surely, became clearer.

Charlie continued to ignore the wave of exhaustion that ate away at him, opting to focus on visualizing the signatures of each claydol.

Finally, he could distinctly make out every feature and…

Differences.

All of the Claydol hovered a few feet in the air, roughly thirty meters away from him…

Or is it fourty? Maybe lower? He…couldn't tell.

Charlie cursed to himself, Who the fuck cares.

The Claydol were all unmoving, and Charlie could make out the outlier of them all.

All of the Claydol had a very distinct feature on their white string of aura which was manifested from their own consciousness, all except one.

Charlie could finally visualize it. He could "see" the world faintly through his psychic powers.

He dashed across the rocky field, due to his psychic senses he avoided any stray pebbles or boulders.

"Impressive."

Charlie slapped through several clones, before finally pouncing onto the real one.

"Gotcha!" He shouted, grinning. All of the clones simultaneously burst into a white smoke, and Charlie finally opened his eyes.

He almost instantly fell to the ground, onto his knees from the sheer exhaustion. His head spun as he felt the backlash from psychic locating.

A wave of dizziness rushed through him on top of that. It was disorientating to see the world through normal lenses after visualizing a good chunk of it through psychic ones.

He looked up to see the many eyes of the Claydol peer into him. Charlie was, admittedly, freaked out.

"You passed the second screening. You've proven yourself to be passable in the psychic and physical departments."

Claydol's cold telepathic voice didn't help with the minor headache Charlie had.

"It's time for the third and final screening. Pass this, and I will teach you what I am permitted to."

Claydol levitated into the air, before twisting its body and hovering above Charlie.

Charlie felt the entirety of the ruins suddenly shift, as if an earthquaker was about to strike. He snapped his head over to Claydol, and saw the numerous eyes glow with a bright blue. The sound of the ruins being connected and reformed shook Charlie.

Just as he stood up, he instantly fell against the ground.

The walls which had previously surrounded Charlie all fell apart, and were connected to an entirely separate section of The Ruins.

His eyes widened in pure disbelief when a flight of stairs was formed. The flight of stairs connected the platform he was currently standing on all the way to the trapdoor located at the very top of the gaping hole.

He turned to Claydol as he felt himself gaping in pure awe.

The previous platform where they had stood on was now connected to two other platforms.

Claydol slowly levitated towards the platform to the left, which led to another cavern. Charlie followed them.

Once they entered the cavern, he was blown away.

Unlike the other segment of the ruins which he had been in, this section was filled to the brim with ancient artifacts.

These artifacts ranged from tablets which had an artwork framed inside of the tablet with symbols at the side and bottom. Charlie slowly grazed his hand over a statue, it seemed to be made of the same material as the ground he was currently standing on.

The statues all had a spear, helmet, and wore full bodysuit armor. The statues were placed firmly on top of a carved, stone platform that had numerous symbols engraved onto it.

All of this led Charlie to one (obvious) conclusion:

These Ruins were once home to an ancient civilization.

Charlie observed and analyzed the "room" tenaciously. All of the statues were placed symmetrically across from one another, and there seemed to be a stone path paved leading to a shrine-like structure.

In front of all of the statues were tablets with symbols scribbled onto them, and right next to the paved path there were also tablets with a consistent pattern of symbols.

The symbols were clearly some sort of ancient language, but Charlie wasn't an expert in this sort of matter so he couldn't tell what it was.

"Human, how knowledgeable are you of Hoenn's history?"

"Uh- I know the basics from history classes, and I also studied it in my free time during my teenage years." Charlie replied, he felt his cheeks flush at the memories of his teenage obsessions.

I did not need to be reminded of my obsession with the Age Of Warfare when I was fifteen-sixteen...

"Good. Because I'm going to quiz you."

"...What?"

"You heard me, human. I'm going to quiz you."

He stared at the Claydol dumbfounded.

"I-I'm sorry, but how does this relate…to anything?"

"Advanced knowledge of history is needed for me to deem you worthy."

Charlie sighed, I was hoping for a more detailed answer, but I feel I won't get any.

"S-sure, quiz me then."

Claydol spun its head around, as Charlie suddenly felt a sharp pain spike near his temples.

"Don't worry, I am just forcefully creating a stronger telepathic link between us."

Eventually, the sharp pain went away, but Charlie's breathing was still heavy.

"It won't matter much during the quiz, but it will depending on your results."

"O-Okay." Charlie replied shakily, he was, admittedly, exhausted.

He was glad that the final screening didn't require him to do anything physically strenuous and allowed him to get some rest.

He also had a minor, throbbing headache. The many questions and overwhelming information he had to process didn't help with the headache at all.

"The first question is simple, who was the leader of The Cognitor clan during the wars against The Draconid?"

"Easy. Henry Positum III officially, known unofficially as Henry Cognitor."

Charlie felt Claydol's cold, impassive eyes loom into him. He felt that the ground type was awfully good at making him question the accuracy of his answer.

"Correct."

"Second question, what are the five cruelties of Henry Cognitor?"

He felt something click in his mind the moment he heard the question.

"The Sootopolis Famine, The Constrainment Laws, Draconid Extermination, Mares Incident, and...the Rule Of Tyranny."

"Good. Third question— how did Zephyr Clan leader, Richarz Zephyr II, die?"

Charlie took a deep breath as his fingers quivered in despair.

I…I don't know.

His body tensed up as he attempted to jog his memory.

Richard Zephyr II…his father, Ivan Zephyr III…I remember that Ivan died by an assassination attempt orchestrated by the Draconids. But–Richard Zephyr II…?

He clenched his fists as something clicked in his mind.

"Richard Zephyr II! He died during a battle against The Draconids, specifically during an aerial battle. Uhm- I think he was fighting against Draconid leader Edward IV!"

"Wrong."

Charlie suddenly repulsed in shock, gritting his teeth in frustration as sweat trickled down his neck. This is harder than I thought…

He glared at Claydol, "How many questions are there in this 'quiz' of yours?"

"Fifteen."

"Three incorrect answers, and you're out."

"Are you fucking serious…?" Charlie asked, eyes widening in shock.

I'm so screwed.

---

"Question fourteen, what led to the collapse of The Cognitor Clan and its Golden Age?"

Charlie was sweating furiously and breathing heavily. Only…two questions left.

As long as I get this one right, I am guaranteed to pass this bullfuckery of a quiz.

"The downfall of The Cognitor Clan started when their greatest leader, Charles Cognitor, was assassinated. Up until then, Charles Cognitor had been a great leader and had expanded the horizons of The Cognitor Clan. He had improved everything, ranging from culture, clan structure, combat capabilities etc. Due to the improvements he made, he was deemed Charles The Mystical. After he was killed, havoc wreaked-"

"I'll have to stop you there. I can already tell you are incorrect."

Charlie gaped, glaring at Claydol with daggers, but managed to swallow his anger.

Damn it all! I am now on my second strike. I was doing so well!

"Bring it on." Charlie taunted, "The final question, I can take it."

"Well then. Fifteenth and final question, which ancient Hoenn clan do The Ruins belong to?"

"...What?"

"I'm curious to see your judgment. Which Major Ancient Hoenn clan does The Ruins, that you are currently standing in, belong to?"

Charlie breathed in, Out of the Ancient Pillars Of Hoenn, eh?

"Okay, so we have The Draconids, The Zephyrs, The Cognitors, The Mares, and finally The Calorians…" Charlie mumbled to himself, attempting to set a clear distinction between all of them.

His mind snapped towards the tablets he saw while walking through the paved ground.

Charlie walked over to them, and saw several drawings on the tablets mixed with curious symbols at the bottom.

One tablet depicted a dragon-like creature, soaring through the skies with several humans mounted on its back, destroying what seems to be a village. Fire plagued the poorly drawn houses. In the middle ground of the drawing there were several humans wearing black robes, seemingly fighting off the dragon.

Hm…

Charlie scanned through the other tablets, most of them depicted some sort of battle against some kind of creature.

However, he noticed that dragons specifically were very common. He saw the occasional Wailord, Camerupt, Swellow, etc…but dragons almost covered half of the beasts depicted in the tablets.

If what is being depicted here based on historic battles that the clan involved itself in…

"Wait. There was not a single 'psychic' type depicted here as an enemy."

He scanned through all of the tablets again, and every single depiction of a beast alike to any psychic type, it was being depicted as fighting against the main, evil beast causing mayhem.

All of the beasts depicted are either dragon types, water types, flying types, or fire types. This means that all of the beasts depicted fall under one of the clans type specialties…"

Except for The Cognitor's clan type specialty, Psychic.

Charlie grinned, I see. This would also explain why the guardian of the ruins is Claydol, a psychic Pokemon.

Not only that, the large majority of the tablets depicted dragon types. The Draconids were The Tyrannical Cognitor's biggest opposition during The Cognitor's large takeover of Hoenn after all, so it made sense.

"Alright, I have a final answer." Charlie boomed, a wave of enthusiasm rushing through him despite his previous exhaustion.

"Oh? Pray tell."

"It's The Cognitors clan." Charlie stated, "You, The Guardian Of The Ruins, are a psychic type yourself. The tablets all depict psychic types fighting against Pokemon of the other clans type specialities! The clear answer is The Cognitors Clan."

"Not bad, human. You are correct."

Charlie grinned widely, "Well, I passed your damned quiz, now what!"

"Human. I didn't expect you to make it this far, if I am to be honest with you."

Claydol's impassive voice caused Charlie to shudder, "If that isn't just reassuring…"

"Human, what do you think of The Cognitor Clan?"

"I- I'm personally not a big fan of them. Their tyrannical rule over Hoenn caused millions to suffer. They inflicted a lot of pain on the innocents and attempted to take over Hoenn's neighbors…they committed sickening acts," Charlie replied truthfully.

"Charlie."

He flinched at Claydol suddenly swapping from 'human' to his given name.

"What if I were to tell you the crimes that The Cognitor clan committed were all naught but lies?"

"I wouldn't believe you." Charlie responded frankly, "I don't feel you are a trustworthy source."

"Heh. What a naive boy. Charlie, The Cognitors were a noble and prideful clan. Far from what you people have been taught. It's disgraceful to the hundreds of years worth of history the Cognitor clan has built up, all to be cast aside and reduced to a shadow of the truth. I can prove it to you, if you truly wish."

"Does this relate to my grandfather's disappearance?"

"It very much does."

"Then please do."

"Charlie, I will give you a choice. The decision that you will make could very well decide your own fate. Take one step forward, and you will never be able to return. The moment you gain this information…"

"There is no coming back. You could die a cruel, unforgiving death."

He gulped, "I've come too far."

Charlie smiled softly, "So this is The Choice that will decide how I die, hm?"

He slicked his brown hair back, "I'm not turning back now."

He raised his leg, and with one simple motion…

Claydol's eyes glowed a bright blue, and using the psychic connection Claydol had formed with Charlie…

"You have made your decision."

Charlie's entire body was disorientated as a flashing light blinded him. His exhaustion had kicked in, and he almost fell to his knees.

"Welcome to my very own dimension. Here, you will witness my memories."

---

End Of Chapter

 

[Junebug44]

I'd like to start off by saying I'm so glad catnip brought me here, because holy cow was this a cool read! The prologue was the perfect introduction to Charlie, and it instantly humanizes him, giving him contrasting feelings of worry and confidence. I'm glad he's a dynamic character and not one-dimensional.

The first chapter was confusing, but clearly VERY intentionally so. When I first read that his fist clenched, I was like, did Shizza mess up and write that on accident? until it continued to imply that even calling his own grandson proud was a mistake. What is going onnnn???? And then of course the dramatic disappearance. I half-saw it coming, but it still was a blow to my emotions, and the whole thing is beautifully done. What a hook, I'm so invested now!

The 2nd chapter is also amazing, with the 4-year timeskip. I often struggle with giving out important information to the readers but you do it so effortlessly I'm going to use your fic as an example when I write my own. Coming across the lockbox into heading to the forest immediately keeps the pace of the story running, and I'm very drawn in with the suspense. Instantly I can tell there are supernatural elements to this story and I can't wait to find more!

I also am really intrigued about his friend Carmello. I wonder how they met, and I wonder how important of a role Carmello is gonna play in Charlie's life.

Holy cow his grandpa wasn't lying about the danger; it came almost instantly and aggressively. I can feel my heart racing literally just reading Charlie going through all this, cuz you did such a great job connecting me to him. Also, THE CLAYDOL CAN COMMUNICATE??? IN ENGLISH??? This is getting crazy and I'm here for it. AND IT KNOWS HIS NAME??? CHILLS.

Also I just read the ancient civilization part. That means the one-off conspiracy post that Charlie read earlier could actually be true?? Really cool foreshadowing! I like how you're giving us a little bit of the lore/history surrounding your fic through the means of a quiz, that's so creative. And it's VERY obvious you've put a lot of thought into it...I'm so excited to hear more. Overall the whole quiz scene was done so well, and I think the little timeskip to question 14 was very tasteful while still giving the reader the impression that it was strenuous.

AAAAND THAT'S THE END. NOOOO WHAT A CLIFFHANGER I WANT MOREEEEE. Claws at the wall.

Ok I noticed a few grammar things, but instead of pointing out every single one I'll point out the big themes and you'll be able to notice if you do it again somewhere.

“Charlie, you’ve…grown.” He spoke softly, Charlie noticed his fists starting to clench.

"He spoke softly, Charlie noticed his fists starting to clench" is just barely off grammatically. A good way of writing quotes usually is with a comma at the end instead of a period, followed by the dialogue tag. Ergo:

"Charlie, you've...grown," he spoke softly. Charlie noticed his fists starting to clench.

His grandfather looked Charlie up and down, he had a childish grin on his face. But, he also had an air of maturity shrouding him. Befitting of his age.

Similarly, a few grammatical things here. The phrases "His grandfather looked Charlie up and down" and "He had a childish grin on his face" are both independent clauses, meaning they can stand as their own sentence. To connect two of them, you can't use just a comma, you would need a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction like "and". OR you can just toss a semicolon between them. I LOVE using semicolons, I use them so much. However, in this case, I would honestly change it to say "who" so it's obvious who has the grin. Here's how it could look:

His grandfather looked Charlie up and down, who had a childish grin on his face. But, he also had an air of maturity shrouding him befitting of his age.

Notice how I changed the 2nd half to combine the sentences. Just a stylistic preference, totally up to you!

Charlie was visibly distressed, as his grandfather sipped the tea. Peering out the window.

Comma after tea.

That's all I'm gonna give for the grammar. Now onto the rest of my review in quotes!

No, Charlie, stop it. You've been reading too many novels.

HAHA I love his meta moment right here.

“Sike.”

This legitimately gave me chills holy cow

This Claydol must be absurdly strong, considering normally whenever a Psychic Pokemon creates clones, I can easily pin-point who is the real one due to the odd distribution of mental traces…





But all of the clones have near-identical signatures!





He shook his head, Think about it, Charlie. It is impossible to create a clone with the perfect replica of your own signature! As long as I concentrate hard enough, I should be able to figure out the location of the real one!”





Charlie concentrated on finding the distinguishable traits of each and every conscious he could sense, attempting to differentiate one from another.





In a broad perspective, all of the Claydol may seem to have the same mental trace- But Charlie knew better. He channeled all of his psychic energy, attempting to find the outlier.





He kept trying, concentrating, focusing more and more of his psychic energy, all in the hopes of finding something.

This whole section seems a little bit repetitive. You state a lot that one has a distinguishable trait and Charlie knows better. I think it could be more concise if you wanted it to be.

Overall, though, I LOVED this scene because it gave insight into how it's like when Charlie uses his powers. I got a very vivid visual and now I know what to expect in the future! I see there's a little bit of a physical/mental toll it takes on him, which is a nice way to balance the power.

In conclusion, fantastic start to your fic! I love the premise, the characters, and mainly the pacing, which makes reading your fic very rewarding. I can't wait till you release more! As for criticisms, I just noticed a few grammar things but nothing that took away from your story. Keep it up!

 

[Shizzza]

Memory

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T/W:
Somewhat graphic depictions of violence.

---

It is impossible to describe what it's like to lose your vision—nothing like closing your eyes to pitch black. No, it was an absence of anything, no light, dark, black or white, shape or depth.

He felt a round of neon lights assault his vision, but it quickly faded.

He still could feel Claydol's telepathic voice echoing within his mind.

Charlie felt nothing—not a single physical sensation. It felt as though his soul was afloat, drifting in the pitch dark void, disembodied and lost.

"I have tethered my consciousness to yours. In other words, what you will be seeing are my memories. I am simply able to visualize and send it to you telepathically through our mental link."

"Wait, hold on—so you're forming a mental link between us and manifesting your memories into my consciousness using your psychic powers?" Charlie asked, absolutely bewildered.

"Yes, simply put, but it is correct."

Charlie was disgruntled at this fact.

That's…unreasonable. The only Psychic Pokemon in existence capable of manifesting one's own memories into full-blown simulations and linking them to someone else's consciousness are champion and legendary level psychics. Something like Steven Stone's Metagross, or Dianthia's Gardevoir… not some random Claydol I found in the ruins.

"I—how—no, what are you? Who trained you? This shouldn't be possible, not for an untrained pokemon."

"Fret not, I will explain later. For now, all you must know is that I am much more capable than others of my kind."

"... Okay." Sure, why not. It wasn't as if it was the strangest thing he'd have learned today.

"What I am about to do may be… disorientating, so just bear with it."

Charlie internally scoffed at that. Oh yeah. Because nothing you've done so far has been disorientating…

He was immediately proven wrong. The experience of disembodiment was disorientating for sure, but the sensation of embodiment? It felt like an irresistible hypnic jerk as he felt his entire body lunge forward.

His eyes widened in surprise as bursts of blinding neon color assaulted his vision. Charlie shielded his eyes, but even that became difficult as his body floated upwards.

Flashing lights continued to harass him. He felt like he was riding an intense roller coaster, his body twisted and arched in every single direction possible.

Then, finally, the mental lightshow stopped and his vision cleared.

His breathing was heavy and he felt light-headed.

Charlie found himself levitating in the air.

He looked down, and sure enough, he saw his levitating–

Wait. It's not my body that's in the air…

Charlie attempted to move his "arms", only to find out he didn't have any. At least, he didn't have the arms he was used to.

Instead, he saw that his "arms" had become gourd-like.

He looked down on the rest of his body and saw runic markings all over it. That paired up with the fact that his "body" was completely black, it was easy to figure out that he had "become" Claydol. This was a perturbing development, to say the least. He was quite literally piloting the body of a Pokemon.

Charlie attempted to move his body, but he realized that he just couldn't. The only thing he could do was look around. He was fairly certain that Claydol had 360-degree vision due to the amount of eyes they had, but he still had the same, limited vision.

It seemed he was just watching events from the "perspective" of Claydol.

He suddenly felt his "body" levitate further from the ground as he heard several voices from behind him.

Charlie felt himself forcibly being dragged across the air. It seems that he couldn't separate himself from Claydol, so wherever Claydol went, he had to "follow".

Eventually, they came to the spot where he heard the voices.

"Who's there?" He heard Claydol's cold, telepathic voice ask. Charlie's breath hitched when he heard shuffling and cursing from the same voices, this time muffled behind a flimsy house.

Charlie turned his head around, observing the surroundings. The bright moon illuminated the village, which was completely sacked, razed to the very ground.

The homes lay in ruins and were completely destroyed, he could hear the faint whimpers of injured villagers, who seeked shelter with what little they had.

Claydol slowly levitated across the ground, and the voices muffled behind the house's wall became more clear.

He was taken aback as the wall suddenly exploded, a ray of power erupted from the ground. Debris scattered across the air. All of them were kept afloat by Claydol's psychic powers.

Two uniformed men emerged from the smoke, bruised all over and covered in soot and ashes.

"Draconid Swines! How dare you raid our village and pillage the innocents! The treaty between us clans has been shattered! The rest of the tribes will crush you!"

The uniformed men's eyes darted across the tattered battlefield, noticing Claydol.

The two of them both dashed away in fear, hiding behind houses and hopping between them.

Charlie felt a wave of anger and fury rush through him. He clenched his fists in anger, he figured it was due to the forced connection with Claydol.

The men were already barely standing from the previous earth power shot by Claydol, and they quickly collapsed on the ground.

Charlie felt his head throb suddenly as rage continued to bottle up inside of him, mirroring Claydol's emotions.

The Pokemon slowly levitated over the unconscious bodies of the two uniformed men. The ground erupted once more, in a burst of earth and fire. This time, the earth power completely burnt the tribesmen, leaving nothing but soot-covered corpses.

Charlie turned to observe his surroundings, the village seemed more and more devastated. Houses were toppled, and what seemed to once have been a shrine laid at the very center of the village, completely crushed.

He also saw a sign plastered on a wooden stick, barely standing amidst the chaos.

Mavle.

He recognized the name. Mavle Village was one of the most famous villages in ancient times, being a part of countless wars, and due to its strategic location, it was a very sought-after territory. It is now modern day Mauville City.

Claydol didn't move as it stood in front of the corpses.

To Charlie's surprise, a loud explosion suddenly boomed from above the village.

He looked up, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw a massive Salamence circle the skies, before slowly descending upon the ruined village.

The man riding upon the Salamence exclaimed several foreign phrases that Charlie had no way of deciphering.. Despite this, he could tell that the young man seemed to be very arrogant. It seemed he was making a speech to the remaining citizens in the village.

However, it was as if something clicked, and he could suddenly understand the man's words.

Wait…is it…automatically translating!?

Claydol levitated from its hiding spot, and met eyes with the young man, who was obviously unnerved by the Psychic's presence.

"-Pathetic Cognitors like you would never understand the glory of the Draconids. You, a lone Claydol, are the last hope of the Cognitor clan. How your once high clan has fallen from its past glory." The man exclaimed, a cheeky grin plastered on his face. "I, Alexander Conrad, will end this war once and for all!"

Charlie narrowed his eyes, Alexander Conrad? So this must be the downfall of The Cognitor clan and the rise of The Draconids…

Wait a minute, in the history books, Alexander Conrad never fought in the battle of Mavle Village. They state that this battle was an overwhelming Draconid Victory, and was motivated by the harsh treatment of The Cognitor Clan. Due to The Cognitor Clan forcing the citizens into harsh labor, many had rebelled and defected to the sides of The Draconid during the battle which ultimately resulted in complete victory for The Draconid.

"If you would still stand- so to speak- against me beast, let's see how you fare against my mighty Salamence."

P

The Dragon reared its head back as Alexander leapt from his back .

Charlie felt a wave of fear and apprehension take root within him as the Salamence released a bellowing roar, a challenge to any daring to stand in its path.

He saw the few remaining villagers peek their heads out in morbid curiosity, but all sank back into their hiding spots as the Salamence roared again.

"I do not fear your dragon. Now, where is my master?"

Alexander's eyes widened, "Master…? Don't tell me you're one of Charles's Pokemon."

There was an evident amount of fear in Alexander's expression, and yet despite it, he still managed to flash an arrogant smile.

Try as he might to hide it, the man was practically trembling in fear just from Claydol's mere presence, but continued to feign confidence. "I killed your master. He's dead. He attempted one last charge of glory to salvage victory over us. He failed."

Charlie felt his body shiver, Impossible. The only reason why the wars against the draconid started…was because of Charles dying before it."

Due to The Mystical Charles dying, The Cognitor Clan started to become more and more corrupt and treated the territory it occupied poorly. The entire reason why they went to war with The Draconids was because the citizens were rebelling and they needed money and war glory to appease them.

What he was seeing right now directly contradicted what he had learned in tomes reflecting the history of these events.

"You lie."

"Believe my words or don't, It matters not. The war is over, you alone are the final bastion of the Cognitors…" Alexander stated, "Salamence, finish this."

With a single flap of its grand wings, the Dragon bursted into the air before dashing at Claydol.

Claydol's several eyes glew a bright blue as it managed to stop Salamence right in its tracks.

"Once again, you lie. This feeble dragon could not have possibly slain my master."

Charlie once again felt another rush of anger. Claydol's emotions were genuine. It completely overwhelmed him as he felt an ensuing headache.

"You sure talk a lot for a Pokemon." Alexander snickered, "Salamence, show them your strength."

Claydol's eyes glowed a bright blue again, and Salamence's entire body twisted and convulsed in pain from the mental attack. The dragon roared, before managing to break free from Claydol's psychic control.

Salamence flew at amazing speeds, and before Claydol could even react, the dragon was behind them.

Charlie felt a sense of impending fear strike him, as he instinctively turned around just like Claydol did.

Without warning, Claydol's body was smashed against the ground by the wyrm's Dragon Claw.. Charlie's actual body never made contact with the ground, but the sudden movement caught him by surprise.

Salamence was now on top of Claydol, pinning them down with its strong body.

"Away, vermin."

Salamence roared in defiance. However, it was forced off by Claydol using Ancient Power.

"Salamence, Dragon Rush-"

"Silence."

The ground beneath Alexander erupted with a tremendous explosion. Alexander's eyes widened in fear and panic as the power completely engulfed him.

Charlie turned his head up and noticed the Altaria flying in the air above them, he had almost mistaken it for an actual cloud.

"Great job, Aerialea."

The Earth Power which had seemingly consumed Alexander was being blocked by a bright, green forcefield.

The translucent barrier was large, and Charlie soon realized that it was that very same Altaria which now hovered several feet in the air behind Alexander, who had created the forcefield.

"Salamence, Dragon Rush!"

Snapping back to focus, The dragon reared its body backwards, a purple draconic energy gathering and swelling around it.

Claydol fired a pre-emptive Stone Edge, the sharpened rock erupting from the ground would spell death for any other. But to Charlie's surprise, the pillars of stone completely shattered upon contact with Salamence's draconic infused body.

Salamence let out a blood-curling roar, before charging at Claydol.

Claydol vanished in an instant, as it teleported behind Salamence.

"Die, fool."

Charlie felt another rage-infused headache as Claydol once more raised earth from the ground. Salamence quickly turned around, and then completely blitzed through the path of stone pillars that Claydol had created.

Altaria flew above Claydol. The draconic avian expelled a dragon pulse. The beam of purple draconic energy was halted by several stone pillars that Claydol erected just in time.

Altaria dived downwards, and Claydol was forced to teleport once again, this time above the cloud-like dragon. He'd brought a stone edge with him via ancient power, which collided with the avian and knocked The Ataria onto the ground below.

Salamence blitzed through the air, preparing to crash its body into Claydol.

In one final, desperate attempt to stop the raging dragon, Claydol's many eyes shone once more. A blue aura engulfed Salamence, who screamed in defiance before breaking Claydol's psychic control.

Salamence finally slammed into Claydol. Charlie felt his body repulse as if an invisible force was pressing against his body.

An explosion of purple draconic energy flared, and Claydol was sent hurling against one of the few still standing houses.

It was not in one piece much longer.

Salamence stood just outside the ruined home, growling with anticipation, daring his opponent to rise once again.

Altaria landed next to Salamence, eyeing the rubble which covered Claydol intently.

Eventually, Alexander arrived at the crumbled heap of wood where the Psychic was buried.

"Tch, I expected more from Charle's only remaining Pokemon." Alexander said, "Down in one strike. How pathetic."

Alexander turned around, back facing the rubble of the destroyed house. Before slowly walking away.

"You are underestimating me."

Alexander hastily swerved back, eyes widening as the ground under Altaria was disturbed, and in but an instant, its white, cotton like cowl was stabbed by a stone spike, dyeing it a blood soaked red. Blood spouted from the vicious stab. Using its Psychic powers, Claydol then lifted the already critically wounded beast off the thick, bloody spear, and violently slammed the bloodied dragon onto the rubble.

Charlie felt a burning fury bubbling inside of him as his eyes snapped shut. Were he able to speak, another piercing headache would have caused him to groan in pain.

Enraged, Salamence attempted to pounce once again onto Claydol, who simply held the dragon mid-air with its psychic power. Both Altaria and Salamence were being controlled by Claydol simultaneously.

Stone spikes shot from the ground, piercing through Salamence's tough hide and leaving a gaping hole in its chest.

Claydol turned its head to face Alexander, who's eyes bulged in fear as Salamence's blood dripped onto the stone pillar it rested atop..

"I shall not be tricked by the likes of you. Master would never fall to one as weak as you have proven to be."

Thick stone barbs erupted from the ground once more, two more stone edges pierced Salamence's body once again, and Altaria's entire body resembled a pin cushion..

Charlie gulped. He could feel a partial amount of the emotions that Claydol was feeling, and the throttling anger Claydol was experiencing only continued to make his headache worse.

In a gruesome fashion, Altaria was forcefully detached from the spikes which had just drilled several holes in its avian body. Claydol willed it, and violently flung the draconic bird deep into the air, outside of the radius of Charlie's vision.

"How does it feel, Sir Alexander? Your own companions being slaughtered? Two versus One, and yet you lost so miserably. God's Accomplice Of War? The Chosen Prince? No, you're just a conceited and pathetic human."

The young prince who stood in front of Claydol cowered in fear, Salamence was barely even conscious, and it would not be for much longer. The dragon couldn't even resist Claydol's psychic might.

"Say goodbye to your precious wyrm."

"No! Salamence-"

Claydol fired a hyper beam. One fueled by rage and irrational anger. The hyper beam wasn't dense and concentrated like a normal hyper beam. It was abnormally large and widespread.

Prince Alexander instinctively leapt backwards and ducked, safe from the burning light. But his Salamence wasn't so lucky.

The dragon was released from Claydol's psychic grasp, and Salamence fell to the ground. There was a hole in its torso. One of its wings was completely burned, and the other had a gaping hole. Even were it to survive, Charlie would guess that it wouldn't ever fly again.

"S-Salamence…"

Charlie didn't know what to think.

No way that Prince Alexander dies here, right? He was one of the leading factors of the war right after this one…"

Claydol slowly levitated towards the devastated Alexander.

"Is master truly dead? And if he is, who killed him. No way scum like you could even hope of standing up to him."

"...Yes. I-I killed him."

Alexander yelped as he was put under Claydol's psychic control. The young prince was forcefully levitated into the air.

"How. Who defeated him?"

"It took the combined effort of five royal guards, me, and my father." Alexander explained frantically, Claydol's psychic grip over him tightening. "I lost half of my team in the battle. Two royal guards were killed. I killed him while he was distracted fighting my father. His Pokemon then went on a rampage, but with no trainer to guide them they were quickly defeated and…"

"Were they killed?"

"No. They weren't. They managed to teleport away after being defeated."

"Do you know where they are?"

"...No."

Claydol's eyes flickered red in visible anger, before reverting back to its normal psychic blue.

"Do not lie to me, human. Where are they?"

"I-I can't-"

Alexander grunted in pain as Claydol's psychic grip over him strengthened once again. The man would soon break."

"If you tell me, I will spare you. The fact I am even giving you this opportunity is a miracle, considering the fact you killed my master."

"Fuck off."

Alexander screamed in pain when the telepathic grip over him intensified. His bones creaked as his ribcage was practically being crushed.

"Spit it out."

"Go fuck yourself. The Draconids will rise to power." Alexander taunted in between grunts of pain, "It's humiliating. We lost the Summit War, and now you Cognitors are looking down on us like pieces of shit."

The Summit War? I've never heard of that war before…

Alexander shrieked in pain again. His bones cracked against the psychic power, and yet he still had an arrogant grin plastered on his face. It seemed he would be defiant till the bitter end.

"Unlike last time, we Draconids struck first. You know, we thought that catching you guys off guard would give us the advantage. I thought it was a vexing, ridiculous idea, but it turns out it worked." Alexander stated, grinning wildly.

Claydol said nothing, content to crush the vain man as he spoke his final words.

Alexander howled in pain once again, gritting his teeth as he glared down at Claydol. He tried to clench his fists, and fought against the tightening psychic grip. Nothing happened, though.

"You Cognitors are so noble, and yet so pathetic. You only stood in our path to glory. The Draconids are the rightful owner of Mother Hoenn, not you worms. You scum should've eradicated us when you had the chance."

None of this…is aligning with my knowledge of history.

"Kill me, it doesn't change the fact that we win. Glory is to us, not you!" Alexander laughed maniacally, his crazed glint only fueled Claydol's throttling rage.

Alexander's eyes widened as an explosion of smoke covered Charlie's vision.

Charlie gaped in pure horror as Alexander screamed in pain. Blood splattered onto the ground, screams of terror echoed across the village. Several civilians poked their heads out, all withdrawing in fear at the grotesque site.

He had to snap his eyes shut, no longer able to bear the horrifying scenery.

Alexander's left arm was cleanly torn apart, blood continuing to drip from the wound.

The prince was on his knees, gaping in despair. He seemed to be barely conscious.

"Tell me. Where are they?"

"Pound sand."

Claydol closed its many eyes, "Such awful last words."

In an instant, all of Claydol's eyes snapped open.

Charlie finally opened his own eyes, and the only thing he saw was a puddle of blood.

Alexander Conrad was dead.

Impossible. In the original history textbooks…Alexander Conrad was the hero of the Draconids who led the them to another overwhelming victory in the Cognitors resurgence, right after the 'Cognitor Downfall'. However, here, Alexander Conrad dies in the 'Cognitor Downfall'...

He attempted to make sense of the information he had at his disposal. All of this was completely overwhelming him.

Okay. So, Alexander mentioned earlier that 'The Draconids struck first', this doesn't match up with the history books which states that the Cognitors were the first one who struck. This stemmed from the fact that The Cognitors grew arrogant after the supposed death of Charles The Mystical, who in here died during the war. The Cognitors had apparently oppressed its citizens, and had deemed the Draconids a large enough threat to attempt to exterminate them. Then, the Draconids 'liberated' the oppressed citizens under The Cognitors rule, and put a stop to The Cognitor's tyrannical reign.

Charlie himself knew it. Everything was going too differently for it to just be 'information lost in time', somebody or something had manipulated the flow of history and made several tweaks to the stories described.

He felt himself pale at a sudden realization.

All of the changes made in recorded history and 'actual history' were all made to paint The Draconids in a much more favorable light. Alexander Conrad's humiliating death was completely wiped off the records and instead replaced by him leading The Draconids to a glorious victory against the 'evil' Cognitors. The records made a big effort to paint The Cognitors as some sort of…tyrannical beast.

Everything was falling into place. It was all clicking for him.

I think the most plausible, working theory right now is that The Draconids did ultimately win the war, and chose to bend the records in their favor for future historians. They likely planned ahead…and likely erased humiliating losses from those records, then added in extra details. 'The Summit War' which Alexander had called as a 'humiliating loss' for The Draconids was something he had never heard of before in his life.

Charlie was too lost in his thoughts. Not that he missed anything, it would seem that was the end of that event.

"Wait…how the fuck do I leave this place?" Charlie muttered to himself, "Claydol! I think.. I think I've seen all I've needed to."

Once again, he felt the disorientating sensation of his 'body' violently lunging forward. The burst of flashing lights blinded his vision, and in a couple of seconds he felt his body being grounded for the first time in what felt like forever.

Charlie almost collapsed completely, his heart pounding against him. His breathing accelerated, and he took some time to recover physically.

"Welcome back to the real world."

"Oh god that feels horrible…I-I don't think I ever want to do that ever again." Charlie said, gasping for air.

It took him a while to properly compose himself. His mind was practically spinning and throbbing like a hamster wheel.

"Wait–Claydol, out of curiosity, do you know what happened after The Draconids defeated The Cognitors?"

"...I do not. I had to flee to this forest with the child of my master and I created these ruins to preserve the embers of The Cognitor clan."

Charlie sighed, "Wait. Does that mean there is still an heir to The Cognitors clan somewhere out there?"

"Yes. The Cognitor clan is still being preserved."

He blinked at Claydol, "Wow…I–I don't know how to feel about any of this. To think that the records of Hoenn history are so…different from what I've known them to be.." He swallowed. "But how does this relate to my grandfather?"

"Your grandfather plays a far more pivotal role than you could imagine."

"Care to explain?"

"...I have one simple question for you. Which group do you think is the most influential to Hoenn?"

"The League," Charlie replied.

"Wrong, it is The Draconids."

"Huh?"

"They manipulate everything. The government, the economy, etc. They control every aspect of Hoenn. The Draconids may be a small group, but the sheer influence they have over Hoenn should not be belittled."

"Your grandfather is at the center of all of this. The reason he's gone missing is to protect you."

Charlie gulped, "What…?"

"He wanted to give you a choice. He wanted you to have a choice in how you wish to lead your life. Charlie, your grandfather is one of the last, burning wisps of The Cognitors clan, and so are you."

Every fiber of him repulsed in shock and his eyes widened. Claydol levitated in the air, unphased. Charlie simply gaped, unable to say anything.

It…It all makes sense.

In a twisted way, it made sense. His grandfather's cryptic comments, his status as a psychic, and it made sense for someone like his grandfather to direct him to The Ruins if he was a direct descendant of The Cognitor clan the entire time.

"Around five years ago, your grandfather approached me. Hoenn's government had discovered his identity. Your grandfather made a compromise with them. He would turn himself in, in exchange for your safety. He fought long and hard, and finally, they agreed. He would keep you, his only grandson, in the dark for the rest of your life. I begged him to give you a choice, to allow you to decide to remain oblivious or recognize the harsh truth."

"Even if it meant undermining all of his efforts to keep you safe from the Hoenn government."

A sense of unrelenting despair loomed over him. He clenched his fists, what was he supposed to do?

"You know, your grandfather told me to not get you involved in any world politics…"

Charlie scowled, "Does he expect me to hold back now?"

"You want to meet him again, don't you? From the very beginning, your goal was to find him."

"Right. So you're saying, my enemy is both the league, and the Draconids controlling them. I have to fight them both to get back that geezer, right?"

"Correct."

Now that Charlie knew a portion of the truth, he felt his resolve hardening. It felt as if a fire was lit inside of him, and he refused to back down now.

"I.. can't just stand around idly anymore. If I backtrack now, I will only live a life of regret." Charlie firmly stated, "Claydol, I will do whatever it takes to find my grandfather again." It would seem a hard path was ahead of him."I will not allow them to obscure the truth any longer." He grinned.

Claydol, on the other hand, felt a pang of guilt.

"You remind me a lot of someone."

Charlie stared at him blankly, "What?"

"Nothing."

Claydol levitated higher into the air, "Your enthusiasm is noted and appreciated.. But you do not currently possess the strength to achieve your aims.. Considering you are the heir to The Cognitors clan, you likely have a strong talent for battling…"

"I'll do whatever it takes." Charlie said, his determination to see the task through peaked "Bring it on!"

Claydol continued to levitate further into the air, before twisting its body to face the ruined shrine at the center of the cavern.

"As the heir to the Cognitors, I shall grant you a boon."

Claydol's eyes glowed a bright blue, and the large shrine was levitated into the air. Beneath the large shrine was a barrier.

The barrier contained a…Pokeball?

The psychic barrier surrounding the Pokeball was shattered, and Claydol slowly lifted it up into the air.

"This capsule will contain the Pokémon that is to be your vassal."

Claydol used its psychic powers to fling the Pokeball to the air, before telepathically pressing the trigger.

"Awaken, Veritas."

Charlie gaped in disbelief.

No fucking way…

---

End Of Chapter

 

[Shizzza]

Chill

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---

With a flash of brilliant scarlet light, a robotic figure with a long cobalt body and silvery claws sticking from its rear materialized on the ground, its singular, crimson eye wandered the area.

Charlie instantly recognized it as a Beldum.

"How–what–where…HUH!?" Charlie sputtered, completely dazed.

Beldum levitated in the air curiously, venturing around The Ruins.

Charlie watched Beldum, one of the most sought-after Pokemon in the world, float around harmlessly.

"Veritas is the direct offspring of my master's Metagross, Aeosis. I will grant you Veritas's Pokeball."

"Wait–Where did you find a Pokeball?"

"...Your grandfather gave me one."

Charlie nodded, "So, this Beldum is mine?"

"Yes, you are to be their charge, their ward."

"Just like that?"

"...Yes."

"Are you stupid!?" Charlie boomed, "Beldum is classified as a Tier IV potential threat. There is absolutely no way I can get away with having a Beldum registered on my trainer card and not be in a load of trouble."

"Hm. Quite peculiar. I didn't think the government had such restrictions on Pokemon."

"It would be fine if I was already a well-defined trainer, but I'm not. If the government really does know about my connections to The Cognitor's clan, then me magically obtaining a Beldum from nowhere is definitely a cause for suspicion." Charlie explained.

"And? Do you have a solution to this problem?"

"Uh, let me think it through for a moment," Charlie said, waving Claydol by.

A flimsy excuse would easily fall in front of The League. My entire existence is…well, a big problem to The League so I need a good excuse…

He mused the possibilities to himself. He needed to come up with something that could work well as a cover-up, give him the flexibility to proceed with things in his way, and is something obtainable with his current status.

Maybe if someone high-ranking were to help me, wait, how would I have access to someone-

"Oh fuck." Charlie swore to himself, "I think I have an idea…"

"Thought of an idea?"

Charlie smirked, "Yes. If I were to be recommended by someone in a high position in the government, then I might be able to get away with having a Beldum if they were the ones who gifted it to me."

"Do you have such connections?"

"Yes, yes I do." Charlie stated, "His name is Carmello. Despite being a total dunce, he's actually very high-ranking in the Ranger Association. He has placed in the semi-finals and finals of several League Conferences worldwide, and has years of work experience under the government and Ranger Association."

"...And what are you going to utilize this connection for?"

"It's a lot more plausible as a cover-up story if someone in a prestigious position were to say, 'gift' Veritas to me," Charlie stated, kneeling down to pat Veritas's smooth body.

Interesting. Veritas seems to be letting me touch them without much issue. Beldum is naturally wary…

Veritas spun around mid-air and did flips using its levitating body. It was awfully playful.

Charlie narrowed his eyes, Veritas has been silent so far. They're also not being disruptive at all, which is weird for an untrained Pokemon…

I can utilize this to my advantage.

Charlie turned to Claydol, "Veritas and their obedient behavior can quite easily pass off as a trained Pokemon. The League in general is more lax on Beldum compared to, say, a Larvitar or Gible. However, I think it'll be best if I hold off registering Beldum until League season rolls around."

"League Season?"

"Ah. The League season for this year is coming to a close in two weeks. League Season is a nine-month time period where trainers can register for the circuit and participate in gym battles. There's a three-month break between each League season."

"Hm. I suppose that will serve well enough in future endeavors."

"Anyways–I think it'll be best if I register another psychic Pokemon as my starter Pokemon, and when league season rolls around, I'll register Veritas," Charlie explained.

"Another psychic Pokemon? So, you intend on specializing in psychic types."

"Of course! I mean, it just all fits together. I am a 'psychic specialist' technically." Charlie said, laughing to himself sheepishly. "I'm sort of an…expert at psychic types, biologically at least. I'm a psychic behavioral specialist and caretaker, so my job is to study and take care of Pokemon, especially psychic types."

"As expected of the heir to the mighty Cognitor clan."

"So, what's my first move? I would prefer not to start by wandering in the dark." Charlie asked.

"The first step, you must collect as much information as possible surrounding the Draconids and glean as much knowledge as possible relating to the true history of Hoenn. Also, try to gather as much information on Team Magma and Team Aqua as possible. Then, acquire a battling position that grants you a lot of political power, be it gym leader, elite four, or something in between. You would know better than me in terms of the current structure of administration concerning modern Hoenn."

Charlie nodded along, listening to Claydol's directions, how he wished he brought a notebook of which to pen the 'to-do' list

"Another critical matter is feigning ignorance. Pretend as if you are loyal to the government and that you are blissfully unaware of the truth. Be discreet."

"Hmmm, well, speaking of remaining inconspicuous." Charlie said, "I'm currently twenty-three. Most trainers tend to start their journeys at eighteen. That means I'll stick out like a sore thumb, and that could cause problems, so I need a good excuse as to why I am starting a journey at my age."

"That is a predicament. I will think of possible cover-up ideas."

While Claydol brainstormed, Charlie quickly got to work socializing with Veritas.

Beldums were naturally social and intelligent creatures. Their intelligence was superb even by Pokemon standards.

Veritas was…quite the excited Beldum. They seemed to be packed to the absolute brim with an endless supply of energy as they flipped and zoomed in the air.

Veritas dragged Charlie around, showing him several "tricks" they had at their disposal.

The Beldum's rear claw glowed a bright white. Veritas flipped its body over mid-air and reared its body back, before using its reinforced claw to completely shatter a small rock.

"Not bad, Veritas." Charlie praised, "What was that? Metal Claw?"

Veritas wiggled in the air happily, causing Charlie to smile softly.

"What other 'tricks' can you do?"

He watched in amusement as Veritas turned around, allowing its claws to be directly in front of another rock.

Veritas, to Charlie's surprise, began to spin rapidly in its place. Veritas slowly inched backward, swirling white energy engulfing half of Veritas's body. Then, in one swift motion, Veritas shattered the boulder into pieces.

"Impressive!" Charlie applauded, That definitely wasn't a normal metal claw, but it doesn't seem to be very useful in combat…

"Anything else you have to show me?" Charlie asked, and Veritas shook its body.

"Hmmm, well then, let's work on a new move later," Charlie said, grinning as Veritas wiggled and danced excitedly in the air.

He turned around and found Claydol again.

Charlie walked over to the levitating doll, "Yo, you got any ideas?"

"You said earlier that you were a psychic behavioral specialist, correct?"

Charlie nodded, "Yes."

"I am not knowledgeable of how the social climate is structured in the modern world, but, you should logically be able to use your status as a psychic behavioral specialist to great use."

It seemed that not even a psychic like Claydol could make up a plan for a topic they had no knowledge of.

He thought of potential stories, but most of them were either incredibly incompetent or would force him into uncomfortable situations.

Charlie mused to himself the possibilities, before coming to a simple conclusion.

"I think I've figured something out." Charlie said firmly, "Someone of my status should be able to get sponsored by a research agency quite easily. Then, I can use that research agency as an excuse to start my journey. They're notorious for giving those sponsored a lot of free will, and I can very easily mask my journey as a simple expedition to pursue my studying and researching of psychic types."

"Once more, I lack knowledge regarding the subject in question, so I will have faith that you have adequately weighed the risks and benefits..."

"Alright then! I'll make the arrangements." Charlie said, "I'll be back here next week. I still need to finish moving out of my apartment and need to hash some things out. In the meantime, I'll take Veritas with me."

Claydol simply nodded, "Our minds are interlinked, so I am able to teleport to your current location at my leisure, as long as you are within a certain radius."

"Cool, cool." Charlie stated in confirmation, "I think it's around evening out there, so I'm going to leave this place."

Charlie exited the cavern, head held high, only to see a massive flight of stairs leading to the top.

He turned around to face Claydol, who stared back intensely.

"Your first trial as the heir to the Cognitor Clan. Exit The Ruins."

"I fucking hate you."

---

Charlie finally replaced the bookshelf in its original location, blocking the entrance to The Ruins. He was sweating all over and his legs felt completely destroyed.

Claydol and his dumbass trials…

He checked the time on his phone. To his surprise, it was only three in the afternoon.

Charlie exited the cabin, letting his thoughts wander to Veritas.

Beldum weren't very verbal at this stage of their life. Despite them being psychic Pokemon, the Beldum line as a species struggle to communicate telepathically. They may be one of the smartest Pokemon even among Psychics, but they aren't perfect.

Veritas was in a weird spot, they were hyper-energetic and expressive, but they also weren't very verbal at the same time.

He would have to get to know more about Veritas later.

Meanwhile, he had to make sure that all was safe around him. Petalburg Forest was a pretty tame forest and was very heavily regulated by rangers. He couldn't release Veritas under these so heavily regulated conditions.

He didn't face any threats and exited Petalburg forest just as the sun began to set. He decided to spend some money on a quick boat ride instead of walking the bridge which connected Rustboro and Petalburg Forest.

When he reached Rustboro he took a taxi. Just as night set in, he had finally reached his apartment.

He thought of everything that had just happened.

Charlie was…scarily calm. He felt that he should be acting irrationally or panicking.

But, as he stared blankly into space, he could only think about how numb he was to everything he just experienced.

His foundational knowledge of history had just been crushed, he had nearly died, and he had just uncovered something about himself that he never even knew about…

Was it his resolve?

His intelligence?

He attempted to evaluate every trait of himself in an attempt to figure something out.

Just…what was causing such a stale reaction from him? It was the same when he found out about his grandfather's disappearance. He had been emotional, yes. But all of it was mostly suppressed into small bursts of emotion which didn't even affect him too greatly. Well, a lot of his decisions were influenced by his grandfather's vanishment, but he wasn't really emotional about it.

Eventually, Charlie got tired of questioning things, and instead just shifted in his bedsheets and went to sleep.

It was a long day.

"Yo, Carm…uhm, do you want to…get something to eat later?" Charlie asked through the phone, only to have his ears pierced with an over-dramatic gasp.

"No way. THE Legendary Charlie D. Samson asking me for lunch!?"

Charlie once again groaned at Carmello's obnoxious voice, "Yes, yes…Wait, 'Charlie D. Samson', how the fuck do you know my middle name!?"

"Oh, silly, don't you remember? You told me once." Carmello exclaimed, his voice annoyingly cheerful.

"When!?"

"5:35 PM, September 21st—"

"I'll have to cut you off right there." Charlie said firmly, "How the hell did you remember the exact time? That's…creepy."

He heard a deafening silence come from the phone. "Oh–It's nothing. I was just messing with you."

"Alright, but–anyways, what time are we going to meet up and where?" Charlie asked, idly grabbing a pen and pocket-sized notebook.

"How about…Chipotl–"

"No," Charlie said, anger evident in his tone.

"Fine. Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know, you choose." Charlie replied, "And no, we are not going to Chipot–"

"Then where are we eating!?" Carmello exclaimed, and Charlie blandly rolled his eyes.

"...Let's go eat at Pancham Express or something." Charlie said dryly, "Or maybe we can go to The Krusty Krabby…"

"We are not eating at Pancham Express. The Krusty Krabby it is." Carmello stated, and Charlie nodded idly.

"Sure, meet up at twelve?"

"You betcha." Carmello said enthusiastically, "See you there, nerd."

This time it was Charlie who made the over-dramatic gasp.

"Such an impudent fool! To think that I could ever associate myself with such a crude person–"

"I'm hanging up before you go on another smartass tangent," Carmello said nonchalantly and hung up.

"Why the fuck are you wearing a whole-ass suit," Carmello asked incredulously. The dark-skinned male was a direct contrast to Charlie in terms of appearance. Whilst Charlie came to the restaurant in a suit-and-tie, Carmello wore more casual clothes.

"A public image matters a lot," Charlie replied smugly, which caused an indignant scoff from Carmello.

"Tch, you're in a seafood restaurant full of dweebs. You're the only one wearing a suit, literally, no one here cares." Carmello snickered, "Isn't it hot wearing that suit? It's almost summer here, so it's hot as shit."

"...The heat of the radiant sun will not allow me to falter, I must–"

"Quit your smartass nonsense," Carmello said, cutting him off completely.

Charlie simply rolled his eyes before calling for the waitress.

The both of them ordered a burger, coke, and some fries.

As the waitress left, Carmello made an offhand comment. "Your lack of interest in women sometimes makes me wonder if you're gay, you know…Not that there's anything wrong with that!"

"...What?" Charlie asked, shock riddled across his face.

"You know, you're still a vir–"

"We don't speak of such vile acts in a public site young man." Charlie snapped and stopped Carmello from making a retort.

"I have no interest in romance, not women specifically," Charlie explained, noting the eye-roll Carmello gave him.

"Anyways, what did you call me out here for?" Carmello asked blatantly, causing Charlie to blink in sudden surprise.

"You've never called me for lunch unless you need to talk about something important." Carmello stated, "In all of our sixty-five times out of going out to eat, I was the one who invited you out more than eighty percent of the time. Every time you invited me out to eat, you wanted to talk about something important."

Charlie stared at Carmello blankly. "Wha—You…calculated all of that?"

"...Okay, ignore the calculations–what did you call me out here for?"

"Well, I plan on moving from becoming a Pokemon Caretaker to a proper Psychic Researcher." Charlie explained, "I also intend to apply for a sponsorship from a research agency, preferably focused on psychic studying, which will allow me to go on a 'Pokemon Journey' to continue my research and study of psychic types."

Carmello nodded, staring intently at Charlie as he spoke.

"Additionally, I also want to study trainer culture and The League as a whole." Charlie said, "So I will also be going through the traditional standard circuit alongside my research of psychic types."

"Now, I think my resume is enough for any research agency to accept me for sponsorship, but I think being recommended by someone of such a high status like you would work wonderfully for a resume," Charlie said firmly.

"Ah. I see, so you want me to file a recommendations tab on your license." Carmello said, a surprising air of professionalism evident in his tone.

"Yes. That's the first thing,, there's one more," Charlie continued, "I recently moved out from my apartment, and I need somewhere to stay until League season starts. Would I be able to crash at your house for the summer? I can pay a share of rent and I will buy my own food."

Carmello smirked, his entire face of professionalism dissipating in an instant.

"So, if I do these two favors of yours, you would be indebted to me twice?" Carmello asked. Charlie narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly.

"Deal," Carmello concluded, and Charlie grinned.

"Now, why don't we just…sit down and talk for a while, like normal friends," Carmello suggested, and Charlie nodded.

Eventually, their food arrived. They idly spoke about random topics of their lives.

"How's your team doing?" Charlie asked, drinking the coke in his hand and throwing some fries into his mouth.

"Nothing much, really." Carmello stated, "Ranger work has been tame this week. There was a lousy herd of Whismurs led by a Loudred, but Exploud commanded them to safety quite easily."

Carmello then took a huge bite of the burger in his hands. Charlie suspected that he would choke on the bread, but Carmello completely swallowed it whole.

"Lord Arceus…" Charlie cursed to himself, "Jeez, what are you, the gluckinator 3000?"

Carmello choked on his drink at Charlie's joke.

Charlie watched as Carmello quickly regained his composure, barely holding a chuckle.

"Wow…t-that caught me off guard." Carmello said shakily, "I'm not gay, okay–I swear."

"Oh? So now you're homophobic?"

"WHAT–Huh!? How are you even drawing these conclusions!?" Carmello shouted indignantly, causing Charlie to break into heckles of laughter.

"Oh, this is too funny." Charlie managed in between fits of laughter.

---

Throughout the next week, nothing much happened.

Charlie spent most of his time browsing the internet and doing research on available agencies.

He applied for some in hopes of being accepted. He had thought his resume was impressive enough, but it seemed his demands were too high for him to get accepted willy-nilly. He got one response from a research agency called "Harvingor's Lab" and attempted to have a discussion about the sponsorship. However, Harvingor's Lab rejected him due to them being unable to accept his demands of having free roam.

Research agencies didn't give their sponsored clientele nearly as much freedom as he thought.

After that was a response from another research agency called "BaringPsychics", a psychic research agency focused on the progressive development of psychics and their fundamental values as a whole. This one was also a rejection.

The third recipient of his application also rejected him. This streak of rejection continued until the seventh agency he contacted. Charlie ended up getting into a call with some officials regarding his status in the agency, as they wanted him to elaborate more on his terms. He explained his wants to have free roam to travel and study battle culture and psychic Pokemon. Sadly, the agency ended up finalizing a decision to dismiss his application.

At this point, Charlie had grown frustrated. But he continued.

After more applications, he finally found an agency willing to accept his application for a sponsorship.

The agency was called "PsychicJurids". The name was a bit weird, but they seemed more content than to accept his idea. Apparently, the PsychicJurids needed a more public figure to represent their company, and Charlie worked perfectly with his entire 'adventure around to do research and grow famous' shtick.

They then made him sign a contract which he very thoroughly analyzed to see any potential pitfalls that he was being baited into, but he saw no problems. The only note-worthy term in the contract was that he had to report all of his findings, large or not, about psychic types to his assigned official every week. Everything else was the usual, unimportant stuff.

It took him about a week to hash things out with Carmello regarding his moving in, finishing everything up with his moving out from his apartment, and also everything surrounding his sponsorship.

Charlie also did research on how to properly raise a Beldum. He never bothered to educate himself on how to raise and feed a Beldum…because well, it's a Beldum, what's the point in researching it when there was a high chance he would never even touch one in his life?

Veritas mostly stayed in the apartment, frolicking around the many wonders in the cramped place Charlie called his home. The steely Pokemon was very easily satisfied. Charlie couldn't hope to train them in his apartment, so he settled for just getting to know Veritas. Despite Beldum's lack of natural verbal communicative abilities, Veritas made up for it by being very expressive.

They would wiggle around in joy and butt heads when anxious. Their way of conveying emotions may be straightforward and sometimes silly, but he found it oddly endearing.

He always had a soft spot for Pokémon.

They were just…much more genuine than humans. They were intelligent, yes, but Pokemon had this charm that was different from humans. Charlie couldn't really articulate his fondness for the creatures, just understand that it was there and would likely never leave.

After he wrapped everything up neatly, he had prepared to trek all the way to The Ruins once more.

"I see you've finally finished. I will teleport you to the cabin."

Charlie felt chills run down his spine, he hadn't heard that cold, telepathic voice in over a week.

"Are you really able to do that?" Charlie asked, "Where I am at is a good distance from The Ruins–"

Claydol appeared beside him, and before he could even process the information, his entire body shone a faint blue and—

He stumbled on his footsteps and his vision blurred. Within just an instant, his entire body arched and repulsed in nausea as he went from being outside of his apartment to standing in front of a bookshelf.

Claydol was right beside him, monitoring him.

"Don't doubt my capabilities, young one."

Charlie felt his head throb in dizziness, "Fuck you…"

Well, at least the bookshelf is moved to expose the entrance already.

Charlie entered The Ruins, he heard creaking sounds behind him. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the trapdoor automatically shut and the bookshelf slowly hovering above it. With a loud Thud! The entrance was completely sealed.

He walked down the stairs. Taking the stairs down was way easier than taking them up.

Claydol followed closely behind Charlie.

"Ah, I forgot to forewarn you, I have prepared a little surprise for you every time you walk down these stairs to enter the center of The Ruins."

"What is it–"

The entire ground beneath him morphed into a softer texture. The stairs shifted to a more flat surface, and after a couple of seconds, it was a straight path.

Claydol teleported into the middle of the straight road.

"I've changed the material to a softer and less dangerous texture so you wouldn't severely injure yourself. I pray to the legendaries you get used to this, you'll be going through this every day after all…enjoy!"

Claydol once again teleported away, leaving Charlie all alone.

Charlie's eyes widened in shock when a pillar shot from the walls. The pillar seemed to be made of soft clay, so it likely wouldn't hurt…

But, as he stood staring down the straight tunnels, he saw the soft pillars shoot from the walls in a disorganized and repeated pattern.

It was an obstacle course.

---

End Of Chapter

 

[Nekodatta]

Here for the catnip review! I decided to do the first two chapters.
I'm pretty much going in with absolutely no knowledge, so I'm curious about what it's going to be like. I like the beginning, right from the first couple of paragraphs it pulls you in and sets up a nice scene. All through the test I kept asking myself "he seems to be doing almost too great, where's the catch? Is there going to be a twist to the questions?" but no, Charlie was honestly just well prepared, nice.
There's also some nice tidbits of worldbuilding strewn in that make you wonder about the setting, I loved the little detail of ghost Pokemon having "spiritual breeding".

His grandfather scoffed, "Who knows. I may just drop dead right now."

... I sure hope he's not going to drop dead by the end of this chapter.
I admit that I have found the POV in this section a bit confusing. The point of view initially "seems" to be on Charlie, since the narration refers to his grandfather as, well, "his grandfather", but then we suddenly switch about hearing Mark's thoughts in italics and his guilt about deceiving Charlie so it's clear that it's actually his POV the entire time... nothing major, but it threw me for a loop a bit. Maybe I'm just not used to that style of narration.
... aaand he's not answering the door, oh no, here we go.

If you're reading this, it likely means that I am missing. Don't come after me.

Well hopefully that means he's not dead??

There was one particularly ridiculous conspiracy post detailing how Team Magma and Team Aqua were totally linked to the ancient clans of Hoenn, but Charlie didn't read any further as he closed the tab.

So that means it's probably going to come up again! Or maybe not.

He personally thinks it can be chopped up to his nature as a psychic. Which is a very complicated and hush-shush topic in society as a whole right now.

Interesting. Something seems to have happened in the last 4 years to give psychics a bit of a reputation it seems. I also like the idea of there being tiers.

Due to his status as a Pokemon Caretaker, he was able to nab himself a "Rental Pokemon''. Rental Pokemon are Pokemon specially trained to defend the client for a specific time at a price. He ended up renting a Mightyena, which was a very commonly rented Pokemon, to defend himself against the wild Pokemon in Petalburg Woods.

I feel like some of this information could have been given in a bit of a less infodumping way, maybe by having a short scene where he approaches the place where pokemon are rented and pays to have the Mightyena escort him, maybe mentioning being a Pokemon Caretaker to establish the fact it gives him some special advantage in the process. But the focus of the scene was obviously something else, and sometimes you just have to get some info out there to the reader.

He felt himself freed from telepathic control, landing on the rocky platform.

There's a couple of instances where I think it should say "telekinetic" instead of telepathic. Telepathy as far as I know is usually just the ability to speak directly with your mind/read thoughts, while telekinesis is the actual ability to move things.
So chapter 2 also ended on a pretty big cliffhanger! My guess for now is that grandpa is hiding that Charlie's psychic potential is actually much stronger than what he thinks-maybe it runs in the family? Since "The Ruins" seem to be meant as a way to test people's abilities... maybe even train their psychic power?
Anyway, the story definitely has my interest! It's established pretty early that Charlie is good with theoretical concepts but seems to lack actual practical experience (like when he wonders how an Exploud could hit a group of flying Pokemon), and with the "test" he's suddenly found himself in, I think he is going to get some practical experience real quick. Nothing like risking an Hyper Beam to the face to learn!
I like the subtle way you do worldbuilding, mostly with things relating to things more unique to the setting, like all the details about psychic powers in humans and how it can manifest in more "external" or "internal" applications. I will definitely keep reading!

 

[Shizzza]

Anticipation

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---

"Claydol…I swear…" Charlie panted, legs throbbing and arms sore. "Your stupid obstacle course…"

"It took you an hour to complete my task. Unimpressive, to say the least."

"Shut up," Charlie groaned, "So, I finally got out of your obstacle course, now what?"

"The obstacle course you just concluded? You'll have to undergo it daily. I've constructed a training regime for you. Foremost is combat practice, then is psychic practice, and last is Pokemon Training. Furthermore, You will also be given a mission you need to accomplish every week, if you fail to accomplish them…there will be consequences. This training regime will stretch until this League Season you spoke of begins."

"Understood," Charlie said, "So, the first practice is combat practice?"

"Yes. The heir of The Cognitors needs to know how to defend himself without Pokemon."

Several swirls of sand and clay formed together to make a humanoid dummy. The dummy had no special features, the standard shape of a male body.

"You will be practicing against this dummy until you completely exhaust yourself. We will do five sets today."

"...Okay," Charlie said, he had a bad feeling about all of this.

Charlie cautiously approached the training dummy. It was completely still and unmoving. He flinched when a blue aura engulfed the dummy, and it reared its right arm back for a punch.

He shielded his face with his arms, blocking the punch, but the dummy reared back its left arm which slammed right into the left side of Charlie's skull. Charlie stumbled backward, slightly dizzy but it wasn't quite as painful as he had anticipated.

It's attacks are flimsy!

He cursed to himself and attempted to counterstrike with his punch, but the dummy simply sidestepped away.

The combat dummy leaped in for another swift strike to the skull, and Charlie was left dazed.

"Interesting. You are proving to be highly inefficient in combat."

"Oh please…" Charlie grumbled to himself, the combat dummy's attacks were purposefully flimsy and weak, but getting hit in the skull still wasn't a pleasure.

He slowly backed away from the dummy, narrowing his eyes as the dummy did the same. Its movements were weird due to it being telepathically controlled. The training dummy suddenly leaped forward and threw a punch at Charlie, which he blocked with his arm.

Yes!

Charlie launched a strike of his own with his right arm. The attack caused the dummy to backpedal a couple of centimeters from the sudden impact, Charlie stepped forward for another punch.

This time, his attack missed the dummy who sidestepped to the left and swung its leg which impacted against his. Charlie felt a slight stab of pain, but dashed at the training dummy again, firing another punch.

The combat dummies' repeated strikes against him were starting to wear him down. The first hit may not have done much, but when all of the blows he took were added together, the pain showed.

The dummy ducked to dodge the attack and fired a jab at his abdomen. Charlie's vision suddenly blurred in pain. He was already exhausted from the previous obstacle course, and this wasn't helping.

The dummy backpedaled several steps. Charlie chased after them, swinging his leg in an attempt to strike the dummy's torso. The dummy simply blocked the kick with its forearms.

In a mix of confusion and haste, Charlie dropped the kick, this gave an opening for the combat dummy to leap at him and punch Charlie straight in the face.

Charlie fell against the ground from the sudden impact of his already imbalanced body.

"You…have a lot to work on."

Claydol levitated over his collapsed body, the dummy that Charlie had just been fighting scattered into sand and clay on the ground.

"I am not proficient in the art of human combat. I am simply mimicking the movements that I saw from my master and many others. So, I am saddened to say that the best I can teach you is through these mock battles."

Charlie groaned in pain, barely standing up.

"I didn't anticipate your combat skills would be so poor…"

Charlie rested on a random boulder he found. He was sweating all over. He only had thirty-minute breaks between the combat training and the psychic training. During the combat training, he only had ten minutes in between each brawl.

He smiled softly as he saw Veritas practice some moves against random boulders. Well, they weren't random. Claydol erected them for Veritas.

Speaking of Claydol, they were absolutely brutal. Those dummies may not hurt much, but when the damage he took from them is added up, then it becomes rough for him.

He did bring drinking water with him, but not as much as he really should have. In response to his grievances, Claydol used his psychic powers to teleport around and got him a couple of bottles of water.

Actually, where the hell did they find this water? Did they…just rob some random grocery store?

Claydol floated over to him. "Get up. Next is psychic training."

Charlie sighed, sweat still soaking his entire body. He rose from the rock he sat on, and approached Claydol.

"As I am sure you already are acknowledged of, you are what is called an 'internal' psychic. I will be personally teaching you how to make the best of your psychic abilities. For internals like you, the highest priority would be the ability to erect a mental shield and a technique that I call 'Psychic Vision'."

Charlie narrowed his eyes, "Psychic Vision?"

He knew what a mental shield was he'd already erected one. But the latter was a term he wasn't familiar with, and that's a big deal considering his profession.

"Oh? I would've assumed you humans would have already figured out psychic vision considering how dominant The Draconids are nowadays."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"'Psychic Vision' is a technique founded by The Cognitors. It's a simple but specific technique that entails the user to hyperfixate all of their psychic energy into the vision. Due to the nature of psychic energy, when so hyper-concentrated on the vision, it directly changes the way the brain thinks. The technique requires fine control over the psychic aura, but when used, it results in the user's perception of the world shifting drastically," Claydol telepathically communicated to Charlie, "What you demonstrated earlier in the screening wasn't true psychic vision. True psychic vision is far more impressive than what you demonstrated."

Charlie nodded. "Well, I think it's fairly obvious why this technique isn't well known. This technique is an internal psychic technique. Throughout the years, internal psychics have slowly widdled down. They've largely been outnumbered by external psychics. Psychic powers are already an incredibly rare phenomenon, being an internal one is even rarer and an internal psychic who is skilled enough to use this technique is just adding on top of that pile," Charlie explained. "Plus, even if someone did figure out how to use this psychic vision technique...I doubt they'll reveal such a wonderful technique willy-nilly."

"To add further to my previous point, society seems to shaft internal psychics much more than external psychics. External psychics tend to get more attention and fame directed towards them because of their flashy telekinesis and other skills, whilst internal psychics tend to be ignored," Charlie mused. "So since I already know how to make a mental shield, should we just jump to psychic vision?"

"Yes, but don't think you'll be able to slack on your mental shield training, human. Your mental shield is deplorable at best. When you first approached The Ruins, I could shatter it with a single flick of my psychic power while holding back as much as I could. Your protection is not strong enough."

"Fine."

"Increasing your mental shield's endurance is simple on paper. You need to strengthen your control over your psychic power, and then manifest that subconsciously. The first part is easy, as conveniently enough, the best way to increase your control is through practicing psychic vision. The second section is the difficult part."

"Uh-huh." Charlie said, "So, let's start with the easy part…"

"Close your eyes."

Charlie did as said and shut his eyes closed tightly.

"Channel psychic energy into your eyes."

He did as told, transmitting as much psychic power as he could.

"There…now…just wait…"

Charlie breathed in and out as his body felt like it was afloat.

"Open them."

He opened his eyes, only to repulse from the sudden whiplash.

He saw them again. The white blobs of aura. The entire world was distorted, all he could see were the outlines and everything was sucked of its color.

"What do you see?"

"I see…a faint outlining of white aura, they sometimes merge into blobs."

"Good. I figured you were in that stage," Claydol said telepathically. "You are in the lower stages. I call the stage you are at the locating stage. At this point, the only thing you're capable of is simple location...a mere variant of the technique which you call psychic location."

The ground doll hovered in the air, staring into the distance. "By the time you undergo my training, I hope you progress through at least one stage. There are five stages to psychic vision before reaching the final, true psychic vision stage."

Claydol spun around rapidly, floating in the air as several pebbles all gathered in the air around them.

"How many pebbles are circling me right now?"

Charlie analyzed the many, faint outlines of the pebbles…

He had a sort of gut feeling like he knew the number just by looking at the crowded group of pebbles.

"Thirty-four?"

"Close. Thirty-nine. Psychic Vision, even in the lower stages, grants you a newfound perception of everything around you. You said thirty-four because you felt like you knew it rather than counting, right?"

"...Yes."

"How many meters in the air am I?"

"...Six?"

"Correct."

Claydol descended from the air. He erected a dummy from the ground and telepathically controlled the dummy to fire a barrage of punches and kicks.

"How many punches and kicks does the dummy just make?"

"Twenty-five?"

"Wrong. Not even close. It seems that's too advanced for you."

Claydol erected several stone pillars.

"How many pillars did I just summon?"

"Fifty-four."

"Forty-nine. Close, but not quite."

Charlie gritted his teeth, sweat trickled from his neck as he rubbed his eyes.

"You're reaching your limit of using psychic vision, aren't you?"

"Yeah…" Charlie replied, panting. "I don't know how long I'll manage."

It was growing progressively more and more difficult for Charlie to maintain the state of mind he was currently in. The faint lines of aura became more and more blurry.

Claydol erected just one dummy this time.

"Let's test how proficient you are in fighting with psychic vision."

"You've…got to be fucking with me," Charlie grumbled to himself but got into a fighting stance.

The dummy dashed at him, Charlie concentrated more on psychic vision. The entire world grew linear, and the blur he saw in the faint outlines vanished.

He could see it.

The attack the dummy was going to make.

The dummy reared its fist back, ready to slam its fist into Charlie. He sidestepped the punch, and then, he saw it again.

The next move the dummy was going to make.

He ducked and dodged the attack, before kicking the dummy right in the torso.

The training dummy stumbled from the impact of the attack but got right back into the heat of the battle and was ready to slam his fist into Charlie.

Charlie twisted his body to the left dodging the right jab thrown at him and quickly attempted to strike a counterattack–

His vision blurred, and an overwhelming sense of nausea ran through him as his fist was blocked and he was struck by the combat dummy.

He nearly collapsed on the ground from the pain and dizziness but was kept afloat by Claydol's psychic control.

"I'll let you rest for twenty minutes. We'll be doing two more sets of this."

---

The rest of the psychic training entailed him doing strenuous exercises whilst using psychic training to increase his control over the technique.

After he finished two sets of hell, he was completely deflated. His body was completely numb. Claydol, seeing just how absolutely beat he was, gave him an hour of rest.

The third and final training exercise of the day was Pokemon Training.

"For this, you and I will spend two hours training Veritas. You can train Veritas in your own time too. I am here as an instructor."

The training session with Veritas was simple.

Veritas already had a good grasp over Metal Claw. Metal Claw was the only move they knew, but it was mastered to a very efficient degree. If used correctly, it could shatter boulders with ease.

Charlie would have to do some studying on moves and battling later, because his knowledge of battling and the likes was far less than he would have preferred.

Claydol mainly served as a demonstrator. While Charlie thought of ideas, they kept Veritas busy by helping it increase its reflexes and agility by running several training drills on The Beldum.

These exercises ranged from making Veritas dodge several pebbles thrown at it, stone pillars popping from marked spots beneath the ground, etc.

Veritas had far too much energy. Despite the physically intensive regime, Claydol was putting on them, they were completely unphased. In fact, the Beldum was actually having fun while training.

Eventually, Claydol moved on from reflex testing to focusing on control. While metal claws were very efficient, Claydol made Veritas focus on the precision where they struck.

Claydol ended up creating dummies with targets for Veritas to practice with Teaching them how to identify the most common and obvious weak spots of an opponent. Due to Beldum's intelligence as a species, Veritas was able to understand and utilize the knowledge to an extent.

After a while of letting the training play out, Charlie decided to focus on Veritas's psychic control. Starting with the most basic psychic move, "Confusion".

Claydol gave some demonstrations of the move when prompted to, but otherwise left Charlie for the teaching of the move.

It was exponentially difficult to explain the move to a Beldum who didn't have a solid grasp over psychic energy as a whole, but due to their natural talent as a psychic type, Veritas was able to utilize psychic energy quite easily.

Then, it just became a matter of Veritas honing their control over psychic energy until they could mimic Claydol's demonstration of confusion.

Due to confusion being a very simple move, they got the hang of it quite easily. It wasn't super efficient as it took quite a considerable amount of charge time. Claydol had calculated that Veritas had a charge-up time of 6.27 seconds before the attack actually took effect. According to the older Pokemon, it was recommended that Veritas practice until they can pull it off in 3.21 seconds or below.

The two hours flew past very quickly. Veritas made good progress on confusion, much faster than Charlie had anticipated. It may be because of their enthusiasm, but he had expected this process to take up at least two sessions. It seems he underestimated the talent of Pokemon.

"The session is over for now. You'll be coming here with Veritas every weekday. Weekends will be your rest days."

"Understood," Charlie affirmed, preparing to leave with Veritas's Pokeball.

"Wait. I need to give you your weekly goal, this week's goal is quite simple."

Charlie perked up, he was quite interested in what it was.

"Find a second team member. I don't care how you do it or what it is. I will give you until next monday"

He narrowed his eyes, "Hm…That shouldn't be too hard. I heard that there has been a massive wave of Ralts being released and transported to Petalburg Forest right now."

"Good. Also, I'll teleport you to your destination when you exit The Ruins."

Charlie scowled, "Can't you just teleport me right now?"

"No. It is important that you quickly adjust to it, the cardio will build your stamina."

He frowned, I have to go up that massive flight of stairs again…

"Fine."

He finally finished slogging through the massive flight of stairs, right as the sun began to set.

The bookshelf magically lifted into the air and was plopped right next to the entrance to the Ruins. Charlie exited the undergrounds, watching the bookshelf be telepathically raised in the air and placed atop of the conspicuous hole.

Claydol suddenly teleported behind him, causing him to jolt in surprise.

"Wait–wouldn't there be a risk of you getting spotted teleporting me?"

"Worry not, I'll teleport you to a place where nobody is paying attention."

"That 'place' better not be somewhere in the middle of a forest," Charlie grumbled.

He felt himself shiver as the disorientating feeling of spatial displacement engulfed him.

Charlie found himself covered in thick leaves and shrouded by trees all around him. He could make out a large sign plastered which gave directions.

He could see Rustboro right behind the sign and quickly realized he was on route 116.

Charlie emerged from the thick forest, The start of routes tend to be barely guarded, due to the fact that most of the time they are scot free of wild Pokemon.

He entered Rustboro city. Conveniently enough, Route 116 was very close to Carmello's house. It was only a twenty minute walk, which compared to the hell he just endured, felt like nothing.

He rang the doorbell to Carmello's house and heard several indignant cries from young children and a more elderly woman.

Eventually, the door was unlocked and a gruff, dark-skinned man met him. The man seemed to be in his mid forties.

"Sorry for the intrusion, Mr. Jones–"

He yelped as he was locked into an iron-tight grip by the man, "Quit the formalities, just call me Eric! Melo told me you would be coming today to live here for three months, so we prepared a little special thing for you."

"Oh, that's unnecessary sir, I'm just–"

"Nonsense, boy!" Eric boomed, "Come in, come in. Melo won't be here, he's out on a shift for the Rangers. He told me to say hi to you for him."

"I appreciate your generosity, erm, Eric," Charlie said politely as Eric dragged him into the house, and left him alone afterward.

He took off his shoes and entered the house. It was quite spacious and was very clearly recently built and had just gone through repairs.

Charlie saw two figures approach him. He recognized them as Carmello's younger sister in middle school, Isabel, and Carmello's younger brother in college, Nicolas.

Nicolas was a tall, thin man. He had black hair just like Eric and Carmello wore casual clothing. He was holding a book about the theories of Fire Combustion.

Isabel, on the other hand, had a more brown-ish hair color and was much shorter than everyone else in the house.

"Wow. You are…dirty." Isabel commented, and Charlie simply chuckled to himself.

Nicolas slid on his glasses, "I was wondering if you could help me with some work for my college–"

"He's about to flunk his test for biology, which he majors in," Isabel stated blankly, much to the annoyance of Nicolas.

"I am not about to 'flunk' it, I would just like help from an expert!" Nicolas corrected, twitching in anger.

"Hah, uhm, I wouldn't call myself an expert per say–"

"You literally are though?" Isabel commented, and Charlie laughed nervously.

"Anyways, Is this about Pokemon Biology…?" Charlie asked, and Nicolas nodded.

"Sure, I'll help you later…but right now, I need to go take a shower and get myself cleaned up," Charlie explained and walked by them.

He heard an explosion of "whispered" bickering between Nicolas and Isabel, which he found amusing. He took a turn through a hallway and was met with a woman who also looked to be in her mid-forties.

"Lord Arceus you're roughed up." She commented, "I guess this is what people working in research have to deal with…"

"Ha-ha, yeah, studying Pokemon is not easy…" Charlie lied smoothly, "Thank you for allowing me to stay here, Mrs. Jones–"

"Please call me Santana."

"Will do." Charlie replied politely, "Your son's a pleasure to be with."

"Oh, I am sure he can be quite a hassle sometimes." Mrs. Jones said, "He's a good kid, and I'm proud of him as my eldest child, but he can be weird at times."

"Huh?" Charlie asked, "I don't think anything is particularly weird about him."

"Huh, I guess I'm growing senile."

From there, Mrs. Jones scurried off to work, and the conversation ended there.

He felt himself deflate once he realized he didn't need to talk with any more people.

He really, really needed some well-deserved rest.

---

End Of Chapter

 

[Shizzza]

Uwa! So Temperate

---

This is the single dumbest chapter title I've ever made.

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Four days passed, and nothing too eventful happened. The 'special gift' Eric spoke of was actually a very large feast. That wasn't the first time Charlie had tasted the cooking of the Jones family, but he was still completely blown away by how delicious their cooking was.

His mornings, all the way to the evenings, was spent training with Claydol. Psychic Vision was still a work in progress, but it was progressing. The most annoying part of each session was the obstacle course and actually leaving The Ruins. Combat training was alright. He wasn't…the best fighter, but he was slowly improving.

Charlie also did a lot of online research and tried to improve his form, and that did help him a bit. Even if he did feel like he was messing something up, he couldn't exactly pin-point it properly. But that was fine. Practice makes progress, after all.

In these past four days, he had constructed a schedule for himself. Wake up at seven, get himself ready, leave Carmello's house at nine. He then attends Claydol's session and tends to get off after around six in the evening. He then eats dinner, helps some of Carmello's siblings and does independent research, and goes to sleep at exactly eleven.

This meant he could average out around eight hours of sleep. Charlie personally finds this schedule to be very mentally and physically taxing, but hey, he at least gets free days on the weekend–

No he doesn't.

Charlie needs to complete the mission that Claydol assigned to him. His best option so far was finding a Ralts in Petalburg Forest. There was a resurgence in the Ralts population globally, and Hoenn was no exception. However, despite this, Ralts definitely weren't a common Pokemon.

There were also a couple problems. First of all, he couldn't release Veritas to help him. Once again, Petalburg Forest is very heavily guarded, so he couldn't exactly just let the steel Pokemon run around willy-nilly. So, he had to counter this problem by renting another Pokemon.

But, the main pain in the ass, due to the horrible state the Pokemon he had last rented had been in when he returned it, most rental services in Rustboro have denied his entries.

So, in other words, he had to enter Petalburg Forest with nothing but himself–

Well, at least that's what he had initially thought.

The mission description entails Charlie to get a second psychic Pokemon. The "method" doesn't matter. Hell, he can go onto Online Trading Services and buy himself a psychic type.

And that's what he had planned on doing, even if it meant undermining a small section of his savings. That is, until Carmello entered the frame.

"Well then, why don't I help you get one!" Carmello boomed.

"...What?" Charlie asked incredulously.

"Why buy one online when I can just help you capture one? It's a much better and worthwhile experience if you catch one in the wild, after all." Carmello stated, and Charlie mused the idea to himself.

"But don't you have, like, ranger work?" Charlie asked, and Carmello shook his head.

"Nah, I got the night shift today." Carmello said, grinning. "Let's go right now!"

The blistering Hoenn heat assaulted Charlie. He wished he had applied sunscreen, though it wasn't like it'd be much help in the forest, the trees were thick enough to shade most of the ground under

Petalburg Forest loomed over Charlie and Carmelo. Carmello heavily contrasted Charlie, while Charlie was rather deflated of a single ounce of energy, Carmello was annoyingly enthusiastic.

"It's time to get to Ralts Hunting! Don't worry about things too much, not much in this forest can even stand up to any of my Pokemon." Carmello said arrogantly, flashing a confident grin.

---

Not much happened in the first half an hour. The thick trees and bushes hindered any possibility of finding a Ralts. They mostly saw bug type Pokemon crawl in the bushes and flying types soar through the skies above them.

Charlie really didn't like Petalburg Forest. The many bug types completely unnerved him. It was normal for psychics like him to have an irrational fear of bug types, after all.

After a while, Charlie grew frustrated of finding nothing, so he decided to use some of his own abilities.

"Carm, stop for a second." Charlie said firmly, and Carmello did as instructed.

"Can you defend me for a second and make sure I don't get mauled?" Charlie asked, and Carmello simply nodded.

Carmello released an Espeon. The light-purple, feline Pokemon materialized on the soft leaves scattered around the floor.

Charlie concentrated his psychic powers into his vision, and after about a second he opened them again.

"Wow…your eyes, they're glowing!"

"They are?" Charlie asked, and Carmello nodded.

He narrowed his eyes, trying to concentrate on the many silhouettes he could sense. At first, they were scattered all over in a disorganized mess, but as his grip over his vision grew tighter, he could finally make out distinct objects.

"Nothing." Charlie sighed, he wasn't at an advanced enough level to differ between the silhouettes.

He turned around, only to see Espeon and Carmello staring at each other.

Are they…telepathically communicating?

Carmello then turned back to Charlie. "Espeon couldn't sense anything either."

"Well, erm, let's continue our hunt, shall we?" Carmello stated, and Charlie decided to follow suit.

---

Almost an hour went by. Charlie and Carmello finally found it. They were hiding behind a large bush, and they saw it.

A Ralts.

It stood alone, telepathically lifting a stick and doodling on a tree.

"Go get 'em, Charlie." Carmello said softly, and Charlie shrugged.

Charlie was about to take a step forward, revealing his presence, when he thought of an idea.

He closed his eyes, and activated psychic vision.

What…the fuck?

Chills ran down Charlie's spine. He could feel it. There was a huge amount of Pokemon surrounding the Ralts, all hiding behind bushes.

He clenched his fists.

No. They weren't different Pokemon, they were all extraordinarily similar to each other. Almost exact copies of each other's mental traces.

He concentrated his psychic energy more in an attempt to find the real one.

"Uhm–Charlie, you there–"

"Release Espeon right now."

Carmello couldn't see what he was seeing, but his Espeon could.

The first thing Espeon did when they materialized was to check their surroundings. They repulsed in sudden surprise, hissing cautiously.

Carmello and Espeon communicated telepathically to each other. Charlie concentrated even further, attempting to find the outlier out of the clones.

"Espeon has identified the 'real' clone." Carmello said softly, snapping Charlie from his trance.

"No, I think it's too late for that." Charlie replied, "The enemy knows our location."

Carmello's eyes widened, his reflexes kicking in as he slid out a Greatball and a Pokeball, tossing them into the air.

Charlie recognized what Carmello was doing by releasing two Pokemon, he was driving the attention towards him.

A Vileplume and Mienshao appeared besides Espeon. "Capture that Ralts, then run!"

Charlie nodded, bursting through the bushes.

The enemies' clones moved forward, revealing themselves as a Lunatone.

Ralts jumped backwards in surprise from the forces advancing towards it.

The Lunatone clones were occupied by the large Mienshao and Vileplume which emerged from the bushes.

"Vileplume, knock em out." Carmello commanded, "Mienshao, defense."

Charlie unclipped a Pokeball from his belt as Ralts prepared to teleport away. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Espeon leap from the bushes, eyes shining a bright blue. Ralt's teleportation was disrupted, and Charlie promptly threw the Pokeball.

To his surprise, the Pokeball was telepathically held in the air.

The crescent-shaped Pokemon emerged from the forests, eyes glowing.

Charlie gritted his teeth as the Pokeball fell to the ground. Ralts quivered in fear and ran away, Charlie attempted to throw another, but the Ralts teleported away.

"The Ralts is gone!" Charlie shouted to Carmello, who was commanding his Vileplume to take out the Lunatone clones. "Change of plans! I'm going to capture the Lunatone!"

"Mienshao, focus blast." Carmello ordered calmly, and Mienshao wiped out dozens of clones with just one blast.

More mirages of the Lunatone were formed, causing Carmello to scowl.

Their scarlet eyes shone a bright blue, ripping trees out of the ground from the roots, and hurling them at Mienshao. Mienshao was unfazed as it smashed all them with one swift motion, the boulders fell to the ground in mere pebbles.

Charlie unclipped another Pokeball, bracing himself.

Lunatone formed even more copies, and Mienshao prepared to leap into the air for a high jump kick.

"No need, Mien." Carmello said softly, "Plume, Mein. Knock them all out."

The group of Lunatone mirages approached cautiously, waiting for their opponent's next move. They all scattered when Mienshao leaped into the air, before slamming into the ground with a swift kicking motion. The attack sent shockwaves across the field. Vileplume reared back before firing a wave of spores. The shockwave and propelled wind from Mienshao's vacuum wave exacerbated the radius of the spores that Vileplume released, knocking out a large majority of the clones.

Charlie's eyes glew a faint white as he attempted to pin-point the real Lunatone amidst the chaos, swapping the Pokeball in his hand with a Greatball. The pristine blue texture and red stripes of the capsule shone brightly against the sun, Charlie braced himself.

He found it.

He found the original Lunatone. It was clearly affected by the spores, but didn't explode into smoke.

Carmello leaped backwards, "Espeon, Shadow Ball."

Espeon materialized a sphere of purple energy before expelling it. A purple explosion caused the doppelgangers to explode into more white smoke.

Charlie strained his eyes further in an attempt to find the perfect opportunity to throw the ball.

Seven clones left…

Carmello snickered, "Mienshao, focus blast. Into the ground."

Mienshao leaped into the air, preparing a large sphere of energy. Mienshao threw it into the air, before using its powerful legs to kick it onto the ground with incredible force.

Charlie could barely stand from the sheer magnitude of the explosion, but his psychic vision never faltered.

Now!

He felt adrenaline rush through him as he saw the perfect opportunity. He threw the Greatball, the capsule accelerated through the air. The smoke cleared out. The barely conscious Lunatone's eyes widened as in a ray of brilliant scarlet light, it was absorbed into the Greatball.

Charlie counted in his head the shakes. A wide grin spread across his face when he heard the ringing sound which signified the success of the capture.

Lunatone…

Captured.

---

Charlie spent the latter half of his Saturday and the entirety of his Sunday helping out Carm's siblings and doing independent research on battling, history, trainer culture, and most importantly…

Lunatone, as a species.

The Lunatone he had captured wouldn't really listen to him. They weren't hostile, but wouldn't take commands from him. Charlie soon began to realize this wasn't just a wild Pokemon issue, because this Lunatone wasn't wild at all.

He had checked with the nurses, and this Lunatone used to belong to an entirely different trainer. The nurses at the Pokecenter couldn't legally reveal any credentials involving Lunatone's previous trainer, but apparently they were released into the wild a while back.

Unless the Pokemon released was well-trained and powerful or freshly caught, most released Pokemon tend to…die in the wild. So, the fact that Lunatone could survive there likely signified that they were released not long after they were captured, so they still retained some of their wild instincts.

It also seemed that Lunatone's previous trainer had taught it enough for it to know Charlie wouldn't hurt them, so they were tolerable with Charlie's presence and showed no signs of hostility.

However, Lunatone still frankly refused to listen to Charlie. Which was an obvious issue for him. In fact, at some points it seems that Lunatone listened to Carmello more than they listened to him.

That fact brought Charlie to the simple conclusion that he needed to prove to Lunatone that he was worthy of being their trainer.

And so, when Monday rolled around, Charlie began his sessions with Claydol with a goal.

The obstacle course was pretty much the same. Soft-textured pillars will randomly shoot out from the walls, and Charlie needed to dodge them.

Same was combat training and psychic training. According to Claydol, they had plans of merging combat training and psychic training together when he had progressed a bit further. Thus leaving more room for actual Pokemon training.

He felt himself progressing well in terms of controlling his psychic power. The more he trained, the longer he could last whilst using psychic vision.

Combat training was an entirely different situation…he still, erm, sucked at fighting. Most of the sessions consisted of him attempting to mimic the dummy's movements and stance, and they almost always ended in him getting beat and on the verge of puking.

Finally, Battle Training rolled around.

"It's time. Release the psychic Pokemon you captured."

Charlie nodded, unclipping the Greatball off his belt and releasing Lunatone.

The crescent-shaped Pokemon levitated in the air, their eyes staring intensely at Claydol. Lunatone eventually withdrew themselves, opting to explore The Ruins.

"Interesting. To think you would find a Lunatone…"

"Well, actually, Lunatone…doesn't really listen to me." Charlie explained, "I think I first need to actually beat it in battle first. I never really 'fought' to capture it, mostly just took it by surprise with a lucky throw."

"Oh? That's even more intriguing. Through my vast experiences, Lunatone tends to be withdrawn rather than arrogant or head-strong. The Lunatone you've captured strikes me as the conceited type, certainly a rare trait for its species, and could pose as a worthy obstacle for you to overcome."

"Yeah, erm, I think the only way for me to 'tame' Lunatone is through Veritas beating them under my command." Charlie mused, "However, I don't think Veritas is at the point where they can beat Lunatone."

"I figured. Veritas is very much a newborn. I suspect it'll take you at least a couple weeks of diligent training before Veritas could even think of defeating Lunatone."

Charlie sighed, "Well, that fucking sucks."

"No, I see it as a worthy opportunity for you to improve. Defeating Lunatone will be your goal for the three months you'll spend with me."

"Sure."

"Now, let's continue working on 'confusion'."

---

It's been one month since Lunatone's capture.

He's grown quite proficient in running up massive flights of stairs that slowly ascends to the top of the heavens, disguised as torturous hell as your legs throb and flinch in pure unrelenting fury– Wait, he was getting carried away.

Charlie had also begun appreciating the obstacle course, weirdly enough. They were a good way to train his reflexes, and he had also learned to use psychic vision to sense incoming objects. It was good training before the torture he had to endure with Claydol. His utilization of psychic vision to dodge things had made things easier and the combat training had made him weirdly used to having his body absorb damage, meaning the hellish feeling he usually had after their training sessions was gone.

Additionally, In this one month, Veritas learned one new move. Since they mastered confusion, the more basic psychic move, Charlie had focused on Veritas improving their overall 'physical' attributes rather than new moves. So, due to this new shift, the Beldum only learned one new move the past month.

Take Down. The reason why Charlie even made Veritas shift to physical attribute training was, after some research, he found out that it was basically a necessity for a Pokemon to train their physical body before learning Take Down. If they didn't, they could get severely injured from the physical recoil of using the move.

He also attempted to have Veritas practice some sparring sessions with Lunatone, but after a couple of them, the crescent-shaped Pokemon got bored and refused every request.

Claydol had been a great aid in strengthening Veritas's physical attributes. In Claydol's words, 'Steel types need to toughen up while they're young'.

Charlie could visibly tell that their reaction speed was getting quicker and their attacks were hitting harder. He ran various tests every week to see Veritas's improvements in every department, and each time he could notice the significant progression.

Everything was going smoothly.

As for the weekly goals that were assigned to him, most of them were related to history, surprisingly.

At first he was confused by how Claydol was going to know whether or not he completed their weekly goals. But, on every monday when he came for the training sessions, Claydol would fucking quiz him on the topic he was requested to research.

Claydol would throw out five questions, and if Charlie got two of those questions wrong, there would be 'severe consequences'. So far, Charlie has barely avoided facing these 'consequences', and whenever he asked Claydol what the punishment was they just dismissed it with a 'Work hard, and you'll never have to know'.

He was, admittedly, very scared.

As for psychic training and combat training, they were both progressing smoothly. Well, depending on your standards, combat training wasn't going smoothly, but he could at least put up a fight. He could actually do well in the training now.

Psychic training still left him a sweaty, heaping mess. He was never in pain, just exhausted. Claydol told him that he'll be practicing Psychic vision for the entirety of the three months he would be spending with Claydol.

Apparently, there was more to psychic vision than he had thought. Psychic vision is basically a weird off-shoot of the psychic location technique he used. Charlie sort of lucked out in that aspect– Advanced Internal Psychics like him are rare. Psychics are already very rare in this world, and Internal Psychics are the minority in the bunch. And a Tier III Internal Psychic was even more scarce. Psychic Location was a technique that very few in this world could use for this exact reason.

Charlie normally utilized psychic location by channeling his energy into his legs or arms and touching an object. He normally only does this in short burts. Let's say he used psychic location on his hands and touched a bookshelf, he could then somewhat get a grasp of how much books is in that shelf.

Using psychic location in his eyes was never a thought to Charlie up until his encounter with Claydol. The screening he was put under was the first time he had used psychic location through his eyes, and the design of the trial was clearly intended for that. When Claydol had first explained Psychic Vision to him, he had sort of assumed that it was just a more advanced version of psychic location involving the eyes…

Boy was he wrong.

Psychic Vision required him to channel a lot more psychic energy into his eyes, but also required him to manipulate the flow of that energy in a very complex way. He needed to essentially cut off all psychic energy flow from the rest of the body, and smash it all into his eyes in one instant. Not only does this require a lot of linear control, but it is also super exhausting.

However, due to the nature of psychic energy and how it directly enhances the brain function, by channeling so much psychic energy into the eyes, your brain will also be effected by the psychic energy. And since psychic energy naturally enhances all of the brain functions…

You will see an entirely different world through the lenses of psychic vision.

Up until now, most of Charlie's capabilities was just a nice addition to his resume, but since his training with Claydol, he had developed a new appreciation for his abilities.

Even if he could barely handle Psychic Vision at the moment, using it was an entirely different experience. He gained a new, previously unprescendent deep understanding of the world around him.

Apparently, unless he could sustain Psychic vision for at least twenty minutes, he shouldn't even be thinking of moving on to practicing his psychic shield. In his current state, he could barely even manage ten.

It was rough.

Additionally, Charlie had also been contacting and setting up meetings with PsychicJurids. Their discussions mostly went swimmingly well so far, but there was only one main wrench in his plans.

'Accompanied Trainers'.

Basically, Charlie needed to make a research team. This research team had to have either two professionals, like a ranger or gym trainer, or four trainers to serve as Charlie's 'Accompanied Trainers'.

Rangers and gym trainers have the benefit of being able to go off duty to join a research team, even if most don't. They have the legal right to serve as 'Accompanied Trainers', and the Ranger Association and Gym Leader can't deny them that right.

Charlie approached Carmello about joining his research teams. Naturally, the man nearly instantly complied after hashing some things out with his family members.

But the issue was finding a second member.

He didn't have any other connections besides Carmello.

Even if Charlie didn't want to be even more indebted to Carmello, he sadly had to request help from his one friend to find a second researching member.

---

Three months.

Finally, he was at his final session with Claydol.

A quick overview of the sessions he had over the past two months.

Combat training…oh sweet, combat training.

Just when he had gotten the hang of fighting one dummy, in the final two weeks of his session with Claydol, the absolute jackass decided to make him fight TWO dummies.

He spent ten days getting his ass kicked by two opponents. Charlie was actually quite impressed that Claydol could manage two dummies with their telepathic power so efficiently.

Psychic training and combat training was indeed merged. Charlie did some analysis on himself. In a non strenuous situation, he can manage Psychic Vision for about fifteen minutes. That number decreases to barely six minutes during a fight.

Claydol told him that even when he does reach the twenty minute mark, that he should still practice Psychic Vision consistently. Unlike with a psychic shield where there is a limit to how durable one's mental barrier is, that limit doesn't seem to apply to Psychic Vision.

Shifting from psychic/combat training, we have Veritas's progression.

They mastered Take Down after almost a month of consistent practice. This increased their offensive potential by a lot, Take Down could serve as an useful trump card when placed in a tight spot. Something to drill through the opponent's defenses and capture a climatic victory.

Afterwards, for the final month he spent with Claydol, he focused the first half of the month on teaching Veritas bullet punch. It wasn't a difficult move per say. For Veritas, it was just a variant of Metal Claw focused on speed and agility rather than power. So, due to his already strong grasp over Metal Claw, Bullet Punch only took two weeks of training.

He spent the latter half of the week focusing purely on Veritas's physical attributes. Every session was just Claydol running drills and Charlie observing them, analyzing each result and planning each training session.

Additionally, Charlie had also spent a bunch of time watching up battles when he wasn't furiously researching about the stupid history topics Claydol made him learn. Most of it was leisurely stuff, one or two video recordings a day. Charlie never followed Pokemon battling much beyond the usual conference streams, and he never really analyzed them…at all.

But, as he analyzed the details apparent in every battle basically every day…he began to understand key components of battling. Well, at least in theory. He still didn't really know how to incorporate battle theory well into…well, actual battles.

All of this research and training he did was all to achieve his goal for the training sessions:

Defeat Lunatone.

It was the final session, though he was, as usual, made to run the obstacle course, Claydol decided to lay off on the combat and psychic training.

Instead, this singular session was dedicated to his battle against Lunatone.

Charlie slid the Greatball off his belt, throwing it high into the air.

The crescent-shaped Pokemon levitated in the air, facing Charlie.

"Lunatone, the past three months, I've been letting you meander around aimlessly and grant you free will."

Lunatone was unfazed, staring blankly at Charlie.

"Today, Veritas will defeat you." Charlie declared, smirking. "If I lose this battle, then I will never bother you again."

Charlie knew that there were about a thousand different, easy ways he could've forced Lunatone to trust him. Whether it be threatening to keep them in the Pokeball forever, or other forms of blackmail.

But he chose to comply with Lunatone's terms. Lunatone will only concede if Charlie proves himself. He would much rather build a relationship based on mutual respect between them rather than force them to comply.

The crescent moon let out quite booms, what Charlie figured was it's voice.

Claydol levitated next to Charlie, "Lunatone says that they don't care how many times you fight them, as long as you show improvement between each battle."

Charlie stared at Claydol.

"Basically, Lunatone is saying you don't need to give up if you lose this battle."

Charlie blinked, before chuckling to himself.

"Ahhh, I wanted it to be dramatic." He groaned, before recomposing himself.

"Well, it doesn't matter, Veritas!" Charlie shouted, Lunatone hurled themselves backwards, preparing for battle.

Veritas levitated inches above the ground besides Charlie, attempting to glare at Lunatone who only seemed amused if anything.

With a flash, Lunatone used double team and several mirages of them appeared.

Charlie's eyes shone a faint white, he attempted to pin-point the exact location of the real Lunatone.

I checked the rules! Psychic ability utilization that doesn't directly attack the opponent's mind is perfectly fair in a league regulated battle!

"Veritas, don't be hasty! Only attack when Lunatone goes on the offense!" Charlie shouted, Veritas followed the order. The Beldum grinned as it braced itself, preparing to fire a confusion if Lunatone made any hasty moves. The attack would admittedly not do much damage to their opponent, but for now it would work.

The duplicates slowly approached Veritas, as Charlie concentrated more on psychic vision.

He finally saw it, hidden amongst the copies, no doubt planning to take advantage of the chaos it had made

"Now!" Charlie shouted pointing at the real Lunatone, he leaped backwards to avoid the crossfire. He saw Veritas take notice of his directions and turn to the real one, who attempted to escape.

Veritas used confusion against the levitating moon. Lunatone's body seemed to tense up from the sharp burst of pain which ran through them, inevitably brushing it off, however. Of course psychics would be resistant to psychic type attacks.

Beldum dashed through the air, heading straight towards Lunatone.

"Bullet Punch!" Charlie shouted, Veritas crashed through a clone which exploded into white smoke. Veritas leaped through the smoke preparing to swing its claw…

"Behind you!" Charlie hollered, Veritas turned around only to see the real Lunatone behind them.

All of the mirages bursted into smoke at Lunatone's command, disorienting Veritas enough to prevent him from landing a metal claw.

Lunatone's intense red eyes shone a bright neon blue as Veritas was hurled to the ground with confusion. Lunatone then summoned several boulders from the ground, all held into the air with an otherworldly power.

"Bullet Punch!" Charlie ordered. He disabled Psychic Vision upon realization it was redundant for this portion of the battle.

Veritas's rear claw shone a bright white with energy as it accelerated through the air with brilliant speed. Lunatone hurled the boulders at Veritas who managed to narrowly sidestep them whilst rushing through the air. Lunatone's eyes widened as Veritas's bullet punch connected against the Stone Pokemon, who then crashed against the ground from mid-air.

"Great job!" Charlie praised, grinning, "Connect it with a Metal Claw!"

Veritas slowly hovered onto the ground, its rear claw practically exploding with energy. Veritas floated inches above Lunatone, who was unfazed as Veritas prepared to crush the crescent-shaped Pokemon with its silvery barbs.

Lunatone once again raised the earth. Using ancient power, they hurled the boulders against Veritas who crushed all of them with swift grasps of their claws.

Lunatone dashed behind Veritas, Charlie felt himself pale

Shit-

Lunatone's eyes shone an intense blue. A Psybeam trailing from its eye, connecting with its opponent., Veritas attempted to shield themselves, but the Psybeam caused the Beldum to shriek with robotic sounds.

"Veritas, Take Down!" Charlie commanded, fists clenching.

Lunatone attempted to use Ancient Power once more, preparing another barrage to assault the junior psychic but was disrupted by a swift confusion from Veritas, who prepared to lunge with a Take Down.

Veritas shone brightly as a swirling mass of energy engulfed their entire body. They lunged at Lunatone, who attempted to dodge by dashing away, but Veritas swerved the direction he levitated mid-charge and pounced atop Lunatone's rocky body.

Lunatone crashed against the ground, the swirling mass of energy that was Veritas drove them deeper and deeper through sheer power and force. Eventually, the power dissipated.

Veritas winced in visible pain from the rebound, before reflexively dodging point blank Psybeam from Lunatone.

Lunatone levitated into the air again and shot several sets of Psybeams at Veritas.

Veritas dashed across the air, each Psybeam that Lunatone fired left deep holes on the ground. Eventually, Lunatone ran out of steam and had to shift plans. Opting for the double team strategy to stall time for recovery.

"Don't even!" Charlie shouted, a faint white outline of aura traced across his eyes once again. "Veritas, bottom left!"

It attempted to escape, but Veritas had already managed to pin-point their location and shot a confusion at the real enemy.

Lunatone's clones all unanimously threw themselves at Veritas, overwhelming the Beldum and causing white smoke to fill the entire cavern from the clones all exploding upon contact.

The moon caught no break as Veritas continued to pursue them. The crescent-shaped Pokemon used ancient power in its hurry, which managed to land against Veritas and impeded their pursuit, but the Beldum recovered after a couple of seconds and retaliated with another confusion.

This time, Lunatone managed to disrupt Veritas's confusion with a rock throw, hurling a large boulder at Veritas which slammed the Beldum against another mass of stone.

Lunatone accelerated through the air, releasing Psybeams in short bursts, despite its exhaustion. Due to Veritas being disorientated, it was hit by the first two Psybeams and avoided the rest of the barrage.

It had become a game of attrition. Both were exhausted, even the usually energizedVeritas was visibly distressed and its metal armor was battered. Lunatone's fatigue was much less noticeable, but its movement speed and attacks were clearly inferior to the beginning of the battle.

Charlie gritted his teeth, If he was going to turn the tides, it had to be now.

"Veritas!" Charlie called out, "Metal Claw!"

He activated Psychic Vision. Psychic Vision granted him a big boost to his overall understanding of his surroundings and could be useful in this battle. He avoided using it too much in this battle due to being unable to maintain it for a long duration, but now was an appropriate time.

Charlie could see everything around him. With Psychic Vision, he felt atop of this world. He hadn't ever used it in this manner during his training, so this was as good a test run as any

Lunatone streaked through the air, attempting to slightly close the distanceVeritas to harass them with ranged attacks.

Veritas also accelerated towards Lunatone, swerving through the air to avoid a stray Psybeam. Charlie could see it, he was processing information at an incredible, rapid rate…

He saw it.

The next move Lunatone was going to make.

Charlie could visualize the rocks beneath the surface shaking in turmoil, about to be pulled from place beneath them.

Using Ancient Power puts the user in a vulnerable position after initially summoning the stones…

"Now! Bullet Punch!"

He grinned as Veritas dashed with amazing speed, their rear claw glowing with steely power as the rocks shot up from the ground. Before Lunatone could even react, Veritas's bullet punch had already landed, right next to the moon's crimson eye, leaving a sizeable crack in its place.

Lunatone's eyes widened in pain as the ancient power was disrupted and they were crushed against the ground from Veritas's attacks.

"Metal Claw!"

Charlie could see it. Lunatone was in a position where a counterattack was impossible, it was the perfect opportunity!

Lunatone attempted to use Psybeam to throw them off, but the Beldum disrupted the attack with a powerful Metal Claw. Their sharpened claws impacted against Lunatone's rocky body and caused visible pain for the crescent-shaped Pokemon.

Lunatone was pinned against the ground. Charlie grinned, ignoring the wave of exhaustion which ran through him.

The only thing he felt was adrenaline, he needed to win. He wanted to win.

It was the perfect opportunity, everything became clearer to him once again. His vision focused, Lunatone struggled, attempting to create a hole in Veritas's offense.

The Beldum prepared another Metal Claw, Lunatone's eyes widened as they saw an opportunity to counterattack.

And so did Charlie.

Whilst Veritas reared back in preparation for Metal Claw, Lunatone took the opportunity to attempt to levitate into the air and use Psybeam-

But Charlie saw right through it.

Charlie grinned wildly, "Take Down!"

Instead of charging a Metal Claw, Veritas feinted, favoring a Take Down instead. The moon Pokemon was visibly distressed when they once more used Psybeam at the swirling mass of energy that was Veritas, and the attack simply bounced off.

Veritas shot forward, the shining Pokemon exploded into a brilliant light upon collision with Lunatone.

The blinding light didn't hinder Charlie, Using Psychic Vision, he could 'see' through the smoke.

The crescent-shaped Pokemon descended from the sky, crashing against the ground and leaving a small crater in its shape.

Veritas slowly descended towards the ground.

Lunatone had lost.

Charlie withdrew Lunatone, gripping the Greatball tightly.

He did it.

He turned to Veritas, their metal armor was all roughed up with scrapes all over.

"You did great, bud." Charlie complimented, patting Veritas's iron-hard body.

He smiled softly when Veritas grinned delightfully from the praise. Charlie then returned them to their Pokeball.

Charlie deactivated Psychic Vision and he felt a wave of exhaustion and nausea rush through him from the backlash. The recoil was so harsh he could barely stand.

Fuck…

From the corner of his eyes, he saw the previously silent Claydol hover over to him.

"Great job, Charlie."

He managed a small smile, and Claydol levitated away.

"I assume you've already made arrangements?"

"Yeah. I'll be departing on monday."

"Here. Your reward for these past three months of diligent training."

Charlie perked up at that, only to feel another wave of nausea rush through him as he found himself in a familiar forest…it was route 116.

"Your reward is not having to climb the stairs."

---

End Of Chapter