As soon as Leaf confirmed that Raze had not been badly hurt by his unintentional use of Leaf Blade, and likewise finished apologizing for the same reason, things started to settle down again. The Leafeon evidently felt too guilty about the situation to be proud of himself, but he wasn't beating himself up about it either. Instead, he just went to get a drink and then bask in the sun. The sky had cleared up even more since that morning, so Frost didn't even need to use one of his Sunny Day spheres to appease him.
This left time and energy open for Shadow and Frost to continue the tutoring, but now Raze was free, so he sat down nearby. The additional presence of the Buizel made Shadow a little more self-conscious and nervous, but when Raze suggested he sit somewhere further away, or out of Shadow's line of sight, the Espeon shot it down. He suspected that he'd feel even more uncomfortable if he knew someone was watching him, but he couldn't see them. Besides, he knew that if he was ever going to learn how to use his psychic abilities, he would have to get used to having other people around.
Frost once again suggested that Shadow relax, and allow his mind to wander freely rather than focus too hard on anything. This so far had proved to be somewhat beneficial advice, but Shadow still didn't know what to do. The only time he noticed himself tapping into any Espeon abilities was when he had sensed things nearby, or about to happen, and letting his mind wander too much could cause him to miss the signs entirely. But he didn't have any better ideas at the moment, so he forced himself to keep going with Frost's method.
The Glaceon also seemed perplexed in regards to what he should direct Shadow to accomplish. Shadow was quickly getting the feeling that Frost's expertise when it came to psychic abilities was barely better than his own, but the ice type probably wasn't comfortable admitting this much after practically laughing at Shadow's ignorance the day before.
"Okay, are there any other ways you've tapped into your abilities, besides the ones mentioned? Have you accomplished mind-reading or the sort by accident, if not deliberately?" Frost asked finally.
"Um...once or twice, but I never did it on purpose," Shadow admitted. Actually, both times he clearly remembered doing it had not only been completely unintentional, but also had been extremely uncomfortable and confusing experiences. Frost seemed to consider this answer for a moment, and exchanged a glance with Raze, but the meaning of the glance was lost on the Espeon, because neither of them said anything before Frost turned back to Shadow.
"May I ask who you've done it to?" Frost asked carefully. "And when?"
"Uh...Leaf, almost immediately after evolving...and Cecilia...yesterday," Shadow said, feeling his face grow warm when Frost bit his lip to keep from smirking.
"Who's Cecilia?" Raze wondered curiously.
"Nobody," Shadow said quickly. This really got Frost snickering, but the Buizel remained confused. "Just a recent friend," the Espeon amended sheepishly. He couldn't even explain to himself why he had become so defensive, or why his cheeks were burning as hot as the Quilava's flames. He was so glad his fur was black right now.
"Uh huh...just a friend?" Raze asked skeptically. Shadow cursed internally. Raze was clearly more astute than he had hoped he would be, and Frost's amusement at the situation was not helping matters. "A female friend you've unintentionally had your mind linked to?"
"Does this have a point to it?" Shadow asked impatiently. For one, he really wanted to get off the subject. As another thing, he didn't want to distract Frost from the tutoring, especially when they were maybe on the verge of getting somewhere.
"Psychics tend to be very emotionally guarded," Raze explained seriously. "Because emotions tend to disrupt their focus, right? Dark-Types by comparison are usually far more emotional, but let's not dwell on stereotypical traits. The emotional guard is two-fold. For one, it keeps their own focus intact and lets them remain distant and impartial, so the information they gather from their psychic abilities can be examined without bias or judgment."
"I'm totally losing you," Shadow said blankly.
Frost chuckled. "I think I see what Raze is getting at. I assume the second purpose of the emotional guard is to protect their own mind?"
"Something along those lines, yeah," Raze said. "When people are emotional or vulnerable, their mind is more susceptible."
"I'm still not getting your point," Shadow said wearily. What did the vulnerability of other people have to do with the situations where he linked with others? Neither Leaf nor Cecilia had been emotional at the time it happened. Nor had he, for that matter. No more than usual, at least.
"When they're vulnerable," Raze repeated. Shadow just gave him a blank look. "Am I using the wrong wording, Frost?"
The Glaceon smirked. "Slightly. A better phrasing would be to say those who are emotionally open. Those who are close to you."
"Is there a clearer wording?" Shadow asked, gradually growing annoyed. It was their tones that was bothering him the most. They were talking as if what they were saying was inherently obvious, yet it was so vague. Did they expect their words to just click with him and he'd understand all the layers of what they were trying to explain?
Frost and Raze exchanged glances, then Raze sighed and massaged his forehead. Frost chuckled. "Emotional closeness, Shadow. You and your brother care a great deal for each other, so it's not overly shocking that your minds may have linked unintentionally. And you and Cecilia...well, I think I'll leave judgment of your emotional bonds with her to you. Although without asking for details, I have to wonder whether the link in your cases were one-way or two-ways."
Shadow scowled. "You had me up to the very end. One-way or two-ways?"
Raze raised his paw, grinning. "Remember what I said about psychics being distant to protect their own minds? If you're vulnerable when you link your mind, especially unintentionally, you might give them insight into your thoughts and mind when you enter theirs."
Shadow bit his lip thoughtfully. As far he knew, his entry into Leaf's mind had not given the young Eevee access to his own mind, but he really had no idea if this was true. Cecilia, however...her reactions to the flashing images he had seen indicated they had seen the same things. Some of the images had nothing to do with him. They had been completely foreign, but held the same sort of emotions within them that lurked within his own heart, and the memories of the incident with his parents. Shadow shut his eyes tightly for a moment, forcing himself to push the thoughts aside, and when he opened his eyes again, he saw that Frost and Raze were smiling faintly, as if they had gotten confirmation of something.
"So what do we do with that, even if it is true?" Shadow asked, frowning slightly. Sure, this conversation had given him a little information about the nature of his powers, but not how to use them.
"Is there a trigger for when you've entered someone's mind?" Frost asked. "Something you did or said or thought about right before it happened?"
"Um..." Shadow had to really think about that one. He had not expected the situations to happen, so he hadn't really paid any attention to the things he did or said before getting mentally assaulted. Yet...one thing did stand out. "Eye contact."
"Eye contact?" Raze repeated, and then he nodded. "Yeah, sounds about right."
"How do you know so much about psychics?" Shadow asked him.
"Oh, one of my friends is a psychic," he answered with a shrug. "I often ask questions about those sort of abilities, because they tend to be really fascinating. And she was just pleased to have someone interested, and I was willing to let her demonstrate some of her tricks on my mind."
"Just a friend?" Shadow asked blandly. "A female friend you've intentionally had your mind linked to?"
Raze laughed. "Hey now, I'm not the one who called her a nobody first," he noted. Shadow rolled his eyes. "If you need a better tutor than Frost, I can introduce you."
"A better tutor?" Frost repeated indignantly, and Shadow could have sworn the temperature in the air dropped by several degrees for a few seconds before returning to normal.
"Okay, Frost, you go right ahead and believe a non-psychic Pokemon is better at teaching someone psychic abilities than an actual psychic," Raze deadpanned. "But Shadow, unless you want to spend another three days accomplishing nothing before you beg me to introduce you to A/C, then-"
"Introduce me to who?" Shadow asked, confused. "Acey?"
Raze paused, then grinned. "I'll let her explain this one. It's a ton of fun to watch her meet new people. Not an Espeon, but it'll be good enough. She's a Kadabra, for the record."
Shadow furrowed his brow. "Is it far? Within walking distance?"
The Buizel scratched the back of his neck. "It's a bit of a hike, I'll admit. She lives just outside Solaceon Town, and does some work with the Pokemon Center and Daycare there."
Frost raised an eyebrow. "A Pokemon employed by the humans? Not owned by a trainer or such?"
Raze shrugged. "Last I checked, yeah." He was about to say more than that, but Shadow cleared his throat.
"How far?" the Espeon pressed. "What's a guess on time?"
Raze gave a bit of a frustrated shrug. "I don't know, I don't usually walk for that long. At my own pace, it could take me a week to get there, but I stop for hours at a time. Frost, any clue?"
The Glaceon snorted dismissively. "How much of Sinnoh do you think-"
"Frost, don't keep answering questions with rhetorical questions," Raze deadpanned. "You're not earning Mysteriousness Points."
"Mysteriousness Points?" Shadow repeated, bewildered. Neither Pokemon seemed too keen on elaborating on this, so it was probably a bit of banter between the two of them that he didn't need to pay much attention to.
"Oh, well, let me get out my map of Sinnoh, then. Oh wait, left it at home, oh darn," Frost said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
"You're alarmingly hostile about this subject," Shadow noted.
"Ah...my apologies," Frost said, his tone becoming much more formal and restrained. "If I had to make a guess, I'd say a walk of a couple hours, assuming we don't run into anything. Unfortunately, you are an Espeon with exotic fur color, making you desirable to humans for about six different reasons, and you can't actually fight back competently yet. No offense."
"Whee, I'm so not offended now because you said 'no offense' at the end," Shadow muttered, which got Raze smirking.
"There's not THAT much traffic between here and Solaceon, though. Celestic's a pit stop in the other direction, mostly just for history buffs and the like, so not too much will be coming this way," Raze said. "It's when we reach the intersection between Solaceon and Veilstone that'll be the problem, but at that point, we'd be home free."
"Am I expected to know what we're talking about?" Shadow wondered. Frost seemed to have no issue understanding, but the Espeon's ignorance of human city names and locations relative to their current spot was showing massively. He at least had known what Eterna had been, thanks to the forest, but Cecilia had mentioned several other locations he had glossed over.
"No, just thinking aloud," the Buizel admitted. "Do you want to meet her or not?"
"I'd have to bring Leaf," Shadow said seriously. There was no way he was going to leave his brother behind, least of all if a trip was going to take several hours. The two of them didn't even have a real destination in mind to this point, and he didn't want to saddle Frost with watching the Leafeon, especially since Frost hadn't given much indication of where he had been going before meeting Leaf.
"Uh, okay, but don't you..." Raze stopped suddenly, and Shadow glanced over to see Frost very slightly shaking his head and shooting meaningful glances at the Buizel. The Glaceon played his actions off as idly grooming his head dangles when he noticed Shadow looking at him.
"Yes?" Shadow prompted, definitely annoyed now.
"I guess I assumed you lived here," Raze explained. "Frost was trying to signal to me to shut up. Sensitive subject, I'm guessing."
"No, we're traveling right now," Shadow confirmed. "Is that going to be an issue?"
"Nah, A/C loves kits," Raze said. "Just doesn't want them herself."
"Glossing over that...unusually specific piece of trivia, I suppose I should accompany you as well. I'm curious about how human cities actually function."
"It's more like a town..." Raze began, but Frost waved his paw dismissively.
"Purely semantics. Besides, I figure you can use all the support you need for a risky journey," the Glaceon said. "It'd be poor luck for you if you ran into more than one trainer. With me in the mix, you can be safe from up to four."
Shadow frowned slightly, taking note of the subtle arrogance in Frost's tone, but at the same time, he couldn't think of any real reason to object. Raze was more amused than annoyed by Frost's comment, so Shadow just gave a slight nod.
"I'll go fetch Leaf," he said, and made his way over to where the Leafeon was relaxing.
The weather today was definitely more of an asset than the previous days the brothers had spent traveling. With Leaf energized by the sunlight, and delighted by his personal progress in battle training, he was perfectly happy to get back on the metaphorical road. Shadow did like the fact that with both Raze and Frost accompanying them, he didn't have to obsessively monitor their surroundings. This gave him a little more time and freedom to reflect on his thoughts and the recent events that had happened.
Of course, his thoughts did drift back to Cecilia occasionally. He hoped the journey wouldn't be a permanent change, but at the same time, he didn't think it was likely that he and Leaf would necessarily go back to that same area after their business with the Kadabra Raze was going to introduce him to. At the very least, he'd have liked to offer a better farewell if it was going to be a long-term change.
He furrowed his brow again at the thought. She still seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't for the life of him place where he might have met her before yesterday. He rarely saw other Pokemon at all when he was a kit, and while he did take walks outside their territory, none of the Pokemon back then had seemed particularly memorable. For all he knew, he was imagining things, though. The only Pokemon who definitely lingered in his memories nowadays was that...thing. His memories and dreams allowed the species name, Riolu, to resonate in his mind, but it felt strange to call it a Pokemon at all. Nothing else in his life had ever instilled such an incredible surge of fear, anger, and even hate inside him. It had to be something completely unnatural. Even back then, he could feel something off about it.
"You okay, Shadow?" Leaf asked, and Shadow snapped out of his thoughts, realizing that he must have been glaring into empty space or something.
"I'm doing great, thanks Leaf," he answered, managing a smile and giving his brother an affectionate nuzzle. Leaf smiled in return, and went back to examining the scenery with innocent fascination. Previous days of traveling with poor weather had stolen the wonder and curiosity from the Leafeon's eyes during those days, but it was good to see him back to his usual self again. He could be a handful, but Shadow loved him for it. No matter how often the little twerp got under his skin as a kit, or aggravated him, he could never hold it against Leaf for long.
There was something that was still gnawing at him right now, though. He was sure that the nightmares and anxiety would resurface sooner or later, but that wasn't what was really nipping at him. Traveling had been the first step to trying to repair the fractured life they had, but it was becoming clear to Shadow that he didn't have any real goals. Nothing concrete yet. Nothing to drive him onward. He felt the need to protect and care for Leaf, and he would definitely do whatever that task required. Perhaps this was what it would be like to be a parent, to have no real goals for oneself, and instead focus entirely on the future of their charge.
But what would that leave him with, in a year or so down the road? An eternity of time in the future, maybe, but when Leaf was old enough or strong enough to no longer need Shadow's protection, what would they do next? Their parents had started giving Shadow gentle urging to pursue life away from home before the incident had even occurred, because he was of age to start considering independence or romantic pursuits. What would he do once Leaf matured enough to want to seek such things?
Perhaps this was still a little too deep for now. But Shadow still felt like he needed something more in the present for himself. At the same time, he was relieved that he hadn't taken up his parents' urging immediately. Because if he had...then there wouldn't have been someone to take care of Leaf.
Or was the loss of their parents his fault somehow?
