Chapter 6: Psychic Awakening!
While Naga and Flint were fighting Team Helix, Kappa had problems of his own to deal with. No matter how many potions he gave Lil'duck or how much rest it got, the pain through Lil'duck's body and head wouldn't subside. Kappa continued onward for a day but considered going back to Crowlerville for help, even though he wasn't welcome there anymore.
He continued his travels north-east, keeping Lil'duck in its pokeball with Porygon 2 at the ready. The barren rocky area soon gave way to rolling hills and forests like his home. Kappa took the time to get soil samples to submit to his Forniter Tracker, and was rewarded 5,000 Pokedollars to his account. 'Maybe I should turn back,' Kappa thought to himself,'Maybe this whole trip was a mistake. What's the chance this next town has a pokecenter or anyone who knows how to help?' That thought was cut off as he saw a rustling in the grass in front of him. A pokemon? Kappa threw a pokeball at the grass, but heard a man's voice!
"Ow, what the heck?" The man stood up. He was an older gentleman, with a goatee, and a wide-brimmed hat covering his balding head, in a lab coat.
"Oh my god, can you help me!?" Kappa immediately asked.
"Maybe, if you can apologize for hittin' me in the head!"
"I'm so sorry, sir, I thought you were a pokemon, but please I need your help! You're a pokemon professor right? What else would you be doing out here."
"Why yes, I am. Professor Hemlock. What exactly seems to be the problem, though, young man?" He asked
"It's my pokemon! It's hurting and I don't know how to help it!" Kappa said, releasing Lil'duck, who was still writhing in pain. "It got hit with a psychic wave and it's been like this ever since!"
"Hmm," Professor Hemlock observed the pokemon, before pulling his laptop out of his backpack and checking a document,"I see…I'm sorry to say young man, but there's nothing either of us can do."
"COME ON OLD MAN, YOU CAN'T HELP ME!?"
"No reason to get mad, I didn't refuse to help, there's literally nothing we can do!"
"What do you mean!?" Kappa said, tears streaming down his face.
"Well if this phenomena is what I think it is, your pokemon is going through an internal struggle. Have you ever heard of the 'Major exposure psychic awakening' phenomena before?" The professor asked, sounding very uncaring of the pain of the pokemon in front of him, simply distantly curious.
"No. What's going on? What's happening to my pokemon!?" Kappa panicked.
"Well, there's an effect that happens regarding psychics; people and pokemon alike, and those with untapped psychic potential. See, if a creature with untapped psychic potential experiences a powerful enough psychic attack, the energy can essentially kickstart their own psychic engines, setting it to high gear, sending incredible amounts of power through their body. It can be an extremely painful process, some report feeling like their head is going to explode..and for some, it's true."
"MY POKEKMON'S GOING TO EXPLODE!?"
"Now, I said some, mind you. When a pokemon naturally gains a large amount of power, it often takes on a new form to better harness that power, or because they become too strong for their early form to function without hurting itself. In a situation like this where that power is thrust upon them, such a metamorphosis is not guaranteed. Your pokemon will have to have a very strong will to continue on."
"Lil'duck!" Kappa yelled, holding his pokemon,"I believe in you! You can make it through this! You can make it through anything!"
"DUUUCK! DAA!" It yelled, as its body was engulfed in white light. The professor stepped back, encase of a violent explosion, but Kappa held his pokemon tighter. "Du-Diaaa-Saaaaiii! S-D-SAIDUCK! PSYDUCK!" The pokemon yelled. As its body reformed, there was a blast of psychic energy, but it was directed away from the two men. Kappa put his pokemon down and looked at it's new form. It had grown into a more humanoid form, with its wings turning into more human-like arms, and the feathers on top of it's head being darker and messy.
"PSYDUCK!" It yelled, saluting before grabbing it's head again.
"Well, this is fascinating" the professor spoke, taking notes,"Your little duck pokemon evolved into a Psyduck. I've seen Psyduck be born naturally form other Psyduck and Golduck before but I've never seen another pokemon evolve into one before." The professor pondered,"Is it possible that a form created by a psychic awakening is a potential evolution of many different lines of formerly non-psychic pokemon, who pass on their power to their offspring, and that Lil'duck was an unawakened form of what psyduck used to be before psychic power was introduced to their lineage?"
"So, you're saying that Psyduck is a psychic pokemon now, and that he's safe?"
"Well, I wouldn't say that exactly. This form is an intermediary to a final form called 'Golduck'. See, Psyduck still has problems with his undisciplined raw psychic power building up in his body, which means he will still have headaches, but regularly releasing that power should help. He's still only a water pokemon, but when he masters his psychic ability he will be able to be truly considered a psychic."
"So there's still room to grow. I'm just glad he's not suffering as much," Kappa said, hugging Psyduck.
"I say young man, you have just helped me discover amazing new data on pokemon! I'd say you're entitled to a bit of a reward." The professor said, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a small disc,"Take this, it's an instructional video for psychic pokemon. It can teach them a mental technique to calm their mind, raising their psychic offense and defense against magical attacks! If you have a machine that can read discs, you can teach it to any number of pokemon." Kappa's Frontier Tracker had a disc slot, he suspected for this exact reason.
"Uh, thank you, professor," Kappa said, taking the disc,"Say, it's getting late, you wouldn't mind me camping with you for tonight would you?"
"Absolutely fine," Professor Hemlock said.
They spoke and got to know each other as they set up camp.
"So, what brings you out here, young man?"
"Oh, I'm a frontiersman, I guess."
"You guess?"
"Well, it was never exactly my dream to explore the untamed wild but…It's my friend, you see."
"Your friend? Did he come out here and you followed him from a distance to protect him?"
"Not exactly," Kappa said,"It'd be more accurate to call him my rival. See, he thinks of me as some spoiled brat who had everything handed to him, and I want to prove that I'm not. It'd be easy for me to stay in our hometown, or move to the big city and become a hotshot gym leader, especially with the connections my dad has at Dev-Tec, but that's the easy way, the fake way. When he told me that he was coming out to the frontier to live a life of adventure, and that he was gonna try to be the first man to reach the west coast, I just knew I had to set out too! I didn't want to just beat him though, I didn't want him to think I was some villain, so I gave him some money to get his own supplies, but now he thinks I was trying to set him back somehow! I thought if I could do what he was trying to do, if I could make it out here and beat him at his own goal, that he would finally respect me as someone who has my own merit!"
"It sounds like you respect him quite a bit."
"A little, but he can be a real aggressive jerk sometimes too!"
"Well, do you plan on continuing your journey," Professor Hemlock asked.
"Yeah," Kappa said,"Whether to prove my worth or just to spite the guy, I'm still gonna try to beat him."
"Allright, then how about this, I'm probably gonna set up shop at the next town we stop by, but I'd like you to collect information about any odd occurrences involving your pokemon and any new pokemon you meet," The professor said, handing Kappa two small nubs that looked like a flash drive,"Put that into your Frontier Tracker and you'll be able to send the information directly to me! Depending on the usefulness of what you give me I'll give you anywhere from a few pokedollars to a new training video!"
"That sounds like a deal, pal," Kappa said, taking the devices,"What's the second one for, though?"
"That one's for Naga. Next time you see him, offer the same deal to him, allright?"
"I'll try," Kappa responded.
