"A psychic lock?" Lance fully turned his body to face me. "Why do you ask of such things?"

I gulped, slightly regretting my decision to ask. "I'm… I'm just wondering more about it, as I heard the term from another trainer the other day. It just caught my attention, that's all…" Lying to a psychic probably isn't the best idea in the world. A suspicious look came over Lance. "I hope you know I could easily read your mind if I wanted to." He seemed to examine me up and down. "However, I won't, as I don't like delving into the minds of others."

A wave of relief came over me. "Can you just answer my question?" I asked, wanting this conversation to be over quick.

"A psychic lock is when a powerful psychic Pokémon segments part of its power to place inside the mind of another individual. Anything the individual feels, any thing they do, or wherever they go, the psychic can also feel. I have a psychic lock on Master Jay myself."

Great. He told me what I already knew, except for the lock on Jay. "How powerful would the psychic Pokémon need to be? Are we talking very powerful, or like, a good portion of psychics?"

"Powerful. Among the likes of myself, Gardevoir, Alakazam, Bronzong, Slowking… Among that kind of power."

I pretended to know what a Bronzong and Slowking were. "What about... Say, an Espeon?" I hoped that question didn't raise too much suspicion. Luckily, it didn't.

"An Espeon is nowhere near as powerful as most psychics. I don't believe they even have enough power to communicate using telepathy." He seemed to talk down about Espeon. "Thanks Lance, that's really all I needed to know."

"Very well then." He elegantly turned around and walked away. I watched him walk off, and when he came out of view, I felt relieved. That conversation could have gone much worse had I said something wrong. But now it left me with a lingering question in my mind. Why was Moonshine powerful enough to put a psychic lock on me? As evidenced by Nikki's Espeon, they shouldn't have enough power to communicate using their powers. It made my brain hurt just thinking about it.

…

That night, I basically forced myself to go to sleep. I wanted to get some sort of answers to my questions.

Tonight, rather than appearing in the purple cloud world, I found myself in nothing. It was only darkness, and I was just floating in it. There was nothing I could do, but try to get Moonshine's attention.

"Moonshine!" My voice echoed throughout the dark void. "I need to talk to you! Moonshine!" I kept calling out, hoping it would get him to notice me. It seemed like an hour had passed, but I couldn't tell. The concept of time seemed to be nonexistent. Finally, just when I had nearly given up, purple clouds rolled in around me, and filled in the dark space. A purple and blue platform appeared, and I was gravitated towards it. On the platform was a small red orb. My feet readjusted to the fact they were now standing on solid ground. I approached the red orb, but it started glowing before I could take another step. After a brief flash of red, there was now an Espeon where the orb was.

"You know, I can't just come here whenever I please. I have duties in the real world to attend to with my trainer." The calm echoey voice said.

"You're not normal, are you?" What I said was more of a statement than a question.

"No, I suppose I'm not. I'm better than most Pokémon. I can thank my trainer for this ability."

"You're trainer… Nathan, right?"

"That is the name he was given."

"So what's his deal? Did he put you up to this? The reason I'm here almost every night?"

"No, I'm afraid I'm actually doing this against his will. There are multiple trainers like you whom I've placed a psychic lock on, although most have proven to not be what I'm looking for. You don't seem to be amounting to much either, so perhaps I'll be gone soon, and that will be the end of it for you."

I glared down at the little feline. I used to be easily intimidated by it, but now I felt like I could at least stand up to it. "What's that supposed to mean? Do I not meet your expectations or something?" I spat.

The Espeon examined me. "Easily agitated. Not one of the more desirable qualities…"

Moonshine was right, and I was mad. "Okay, you are going to tell me what the hell is going on right now! What are you trying to do with me!?"

"You might not want to get so angry."

"Stop avoiding the question!"

"It's not that I'm avoiding the question, it's that I simply cannot tell you."

I was already frustrated enough, and the fact he kept dancing around any answers was pissing me off. "God dammit!" It probably wasn't my smartest move, next to sticking my finger out at a Gligar, but I charged straight for the Espeon.

"I told you not to get too angry." Were the last words I heard before I landed face flat on the hardwood floor next to my bed. The next sound I heard however was the sound of something sharp slicing through the air. I looked up, and was met with the sharp edge of a Gallade's blade nearly pressed against my neck.

"Get up. We need to have a talk." Lance's voice was fierce. Too nervous to do anything else, I shakily complied. He grabbed the back of my shirt collar and walked me to the living room, where he basically threw me onto the couch.

"I detected a strong psychic energy come from you as you slept. I was skeptical of you at first, but now I'm very suspicious. What the hell was going on?" Lance interrogated. I was to nervous to say anything, but he continued to pressure me. "Speak!" He swiped his blade arms in the air to scare me, and it definitely worked.

"O-okay! Okay! I'll tell you!" I stammered. "There's- Theres this Espeon who put a psychic lock on me, and drags me into this dream world every night! I don't know what it wants from me, but I just want it to stop!" I was honestly scared out of my mind, as Gallade were scary as hell. He seemed to be satisfied with my answer. "Interesting. Follow me." He led me into a room just past the kitchen. It resembled that of a walk in pantry. Inside the pantry was a surplus of items on multiple shelves. Jars of what seemed to be Pokémon enhancing nutrients, containers of incense, and boxes of items labeled things such as 'Thunder Stones', 'Reaper Cloths', and 'Macho Braces'.

"Master Jay keeps many Pokémon supplies here." Lance looked around the room, and pulled out a box from a top shelf labeled 'Shields'. I was a bit confused by the labeling. Lance set the box down on a counter in the kitchen, and hesitated to open the flaps. "Before I open this, I'll just let you know, I can't talk to you once you wear the item I'm about to give you, so walk a few paces away to test it, then remove it from your body." I simply nodded, and he opened the box. Inside there seemed to be a multitude of items, and lots of twine. Lance pulled at one of the twine pieces, and winced when the item was removed completely. It was now clear the piece of twine was the string to a necklace, and attached to the twine were dark blue, red, and white feathers. I grabbed the item from his outstretched hand, and put it around my neck. I walked a few feet backwards and stared at Gallade. After a few moments of silence, he nodded, and pointed to a table a few more feet behind me. I set it down there, and I heard Lance's voice once more.

"Good, the dark energy hasn't faded at all."

I blinked. "Dark energy?"

"Yes," Lance nodded. "The feathers on that necklace are that of a Honchkrow. The dark energy that flows in those feathers still linger, even after they have fallen off the Pokémon."

What he said actually made a lot of sense of me. "Oh! I get what your saying! Because I'll have the dark necklace, a psychic like that Espeon won't be able to touch me!"

"Exactly."

"That's really cool actually. That's what the term 'shield' refers to I assume?"

"You learn fast. Keep that necklace on if you want to avoid anymore psychic influence." I looked at the necklace on the table, and aside from the shitty little twine holding it together, I thought it looked pretty cool. Three dark blue feathers on each side, two red feathers on each side of the inner edge of the dark blue ones, and a single white feather in the center. I hoped they were washed though. "You can head back to sleep with the necklace at your bedside. I'm sure the effects will still be the same." Lance sounded sincere, so I smiled and nodded. "Thanks Lance… Again…"

The night remained peaceful as I went back to sleep. No Espeon, no psychic lock, and no purple cloud world. Just nice, peaceful dreams.

Normal days from now on… Hopefully…