Psychic-type Pokémon

Despite the curious crowd surrounding her and peering over her shoulders as she worked, Claire wasn't to the point of exploring her interest in the unown yet. She completed hand sketches of the temple's entire layout, identified the construction material, and scribbled down all of the writings on the wall. She made impression sketches of the walls just in case the TARDIS's translation chip only affected what she saw and not the reality of the walls. When she got back to her own time, maybe the sketches would be the original writings.

Most fascinating to her was the societal behavior of the unown. They had distinct differences from humans, obviously, but only selected unown were allowed in the upper room. Claire wasn't worldly enough to discern the difference. She assumed those unown were leaders—royalty or elders, perhaps. If she were more of a psychologist, she would have enjoyed observing the relationships between the pokémon. That behavior is what drew her attention to the upper room, and alerted her to an issue with examining it.

Being a personal guest of the royal court, Claire was escorted by a small regiment of three samurai guards, including young Denyen. Decades before the idea of unions and limited hourly work, Denyen and the other guards were called into consecutive shifts. And they insisted the Emperor's personal worship room remain sacred and untouched by a lesser mortal. The strict belief that the Emperor's domain is reserved for only the Emperor's bloodline resulted in Claire's abandoning her effort to enter the worship room. She only caught a glimpse of gold and assumed it a decadent room like those found in many ancient tombs.

As she remained on the lower floor continuing her impression sketches she was watched by the floating creatures with deep curiosity.

"Does it not disturb you to have hundreds of unknown pokémon watch while you work?" he questioned of the diligent worker.

So diligent, in fact, she hardly noticed his presence and failed to answer his question for a fair minute. "The pokémon are drawn to this place for some reason," she answered. "I'm accustomed to their being here."

"You are accustomed? But they only appeared last night."

Keeping the current epoch in mind, she said, "It feels like they've been here forever."

A second guard Jared spoke up at that moment. He was older than Denyen by ten years, and he wore his entire uniform—mask and all—like he might get released from the samurai ranks if he ever dressed down.

"If I may ask, what do you know about these pokémon? They seem so different from the rhydon, the mareep, and the other wildlife I've seen within the country. For a woman, you seem to know as much as the Emperor knows."

Claire hardly even noticed the sexist comment. "The only thing really mysterious about unown is where they come from. They are glyphic that absorb nutrients from the air and from the walls they cling to. Researchers always said they only took the forms of the Latin alphabet, but I recently learned that's not necessarily true. They have some kind of hidden power, but they aren't really a battling species of pokémon; their origin is currently what draws the attention of researchers."

"You say they do not eat," Denyen realized. "Do they also not talk?"

"There is a sort of cry that occurs when they move, but speaking is not a capability they possess without mouths. Considering, however, the elaborate messages they spell out without error, it is certainly reasonable to assume they communicate with one another telepathically."

"What is 'telepathically'?" asked Jared.

"Mind to mind," Claire explained, moving her fingers from her forehead to his. "It's a way of knowing what the other person, or pokémon, is thinking without actually using our mouths. A lot of psychic type pokémon do it. I'm surprised you don't know about it."

"I do not understand."

Claire took a deep breath and tried to think about how she might explain unown to a four-year-old child; that's about the level of understanding these people had regarding pokémon. She was suddenly impressed to consider how much information was gained during the next fourteen hundred years.

"Psychic pokémon tend to lack physical prowess. I'm no biologist, but here's the way I think of it. All living organisms generate energy within their bodies and spend that energy in various ways, whether for immediate survival, procreation, what have you. We and the rhydons tend to spend that energy in our muscles in order to move our bodies. Psychic pokémon use the energy differently, usually in their brains in order to generate some effect that takes place outside of the body such as communication or movements. Belle says using psychic abilities requires a great deal more energy than physical abilities, which is one reason her kadabra eats so darn much and is probably the reason unown spend such lengths of time clinging to walls while they gather sustenance."

"Do you mean to say," asked Denyen, "that these creatures can attack without moving?"

"Yes. When threatened enough to defend themselves, they attack psychically. But unown are not known for violence and are highly unlikely to attack. You really have nothing to worry about from them."

The third samurai, a veteran of the last war, was a quiet man named Daniel. He very closely followed the adage: "A wise man speaks because he has something to say." Wearing a mask with pointed features like those of a devil, he drew his sword and held it in a fighting stance, the blade aimed toward the unown. They backed away from him quickly, startled by his sudden movement.

Daniel asked, "Then it is possible these pokémon killed the Emperor?"

Without missing a beat, Claire said, "Yeah, I suppose it would be no real task to… Wait. The Emperor's dead?"

"I am aware that the Professor is highly traveled and a personal friend of our late Emperor," Oliver stated, "but as chamber chief, it is my responsibility to take up this investigation. I believe it is best we begin by investigating the whereabouts of Jomon."

The Emperor's eldest son looked shocked at the suggestion. "Investigate me?"

With a nod, Oliver pointed out, "You had the most to gain."

"I certainly did not kill my father."

"An investigation will prove whether that's true," Oliver declared. He signaled to Harris and requested, "Place him under house arrest until we determine his innocence." At the command, two samurai detained Jomon and led him from the throne room.

"He is innocent," his mother Iset insisted. Despite the look of pure worry on her face, she was still a beautiful woman. "Where is the Professor?"

"The Professor is at the Emperor's temple to determine if the new creatures may be responsible for the murder," explained the butler Omar, head bowed the entire time to avoid making eye contact with anyone of a higher social status.

"Let the Professor explore his far-fetched theories," Oliver suggested. "I believe our culprit is not a creature but a man, and this investigation will prove me right. We must determine precisely where everyone was last night and what activities they completed. Harris, you will collect reports from every person with access to the palace. I want full reports of what they remember starting from the unveiling of the temple."

"Does that include reports from the Professor and his wife?"

"I will discuss the events with them myself," Oliver answered.

Penta asked him, "Are you going to investigate the new pokémon, too?"

"I would be remiss if I did not accept the possibility," Oliver admitted. "We all remember when the previous samurai captain was impaled by that herd of rampaging stantler. I will determine whether this theory about new pokémon is worth pursuit or if the Professor puts too much faith in a creature that resembles a glyph."

Iset was escorted back to her room while her son was investigated. If he was found guilty, she would undoubtedly be convicted with him, and he would never ascend the throne he deserved.

The Professor arrived at the Temple of Alph escorted by his own small regiment, intending to keep him "safe from hungry mareep, curious nidorans, and mobile bellflowers," as he put it. The samurai assumed he was being facetious with the last suggestion. He told them to wait through just a few years more of plant evolution.

Claire was inside the temple taking notes, just as he suspected she would be. The unown began circling him rapidly, a gesture the samurai guards immediately interpreted as hostile.

"No, hold on, men," he insisted, urging them to put their swords away for what felt like the twentieth time. "Thank goodness you don't have guns yet or I'd have holes blown in every part of me. I'd be a walking block of Swiss cheese with an ascot."

"And you'd still look ridiculous," Claire commented. "Speaking of which, did you know these people actually think the unown might have killed the Emperor?"

"They do?" the Professor asked as he eyed the masks of Denyen and his cohort warily. "That's more of an investigative leap than I would have thought possible from this age. I thought only I would develop that hypothesis."

"You think it might be true?"

The Professor scoffed loudly and blew a lot of spittle in the process. "That's preposterous. Of course the unown didn't kill Alph. Emperor Alph," he emphasized as he leaned back to avoid the swords of indignant bodyguards. Continuing as if nothing happened, he pointed out, "The unown would have been hunted to extinction if that were the case. And we both know that never happened." He sat down next to where Claire scribbled her notes. "No, it's much more likely the culprit is a human."

Claire watched him curiously for a moment. "Are you really from another planet?"

"Is it so hard to believe another planet would have human-like species of its own?"

"Not at all. If another planet out there exists with similar atmospheric and ecological conditions to those of Earth, then it makes perfect sense. Are you from such a planet?"

"Almost."

"What does 'almost' mean?" she asked with a laugh.

The Professor smiled and looked up in the direction of the temple's ceiling, but really looking straight through the wall and beyond the boundaries of Earth's atmosphere.

"It's a planet with bright, silver-leafed trees that shimmer and turn amber in the glow of the burnt-orange skies. Vast mountain ranges with field of deep, red grass and capped with sludgy snow that illuminated the world when the second sun rose in the south skies."

"It sounds… colorful." Claire wanted to say "beautiful," but she wasn't able to grasp the combination of an orange sky with red grass.

"It's beautiful," he assured her. His voice trailed off as if to contradict his claim. "A beautiful environment, and yet no place for a human."

Claire was cautious of that comment. Softly so as not to upset him, she asked, "You don't really like people from this planet, do you?"

"Humans are a wonderful species. Cruel and compassionate, pleasant and frustrating, joyful and morose… They create poetry and develop amazing structures. Humans are in possession of unlimited potential as a species. I do not fear all humans for what a few bad eggs have wrought."

Trying to piece together what he was saying, Claire wondered, "Do you think there may be a few bad eggs around here now?"

After a moment of silence, the Professor stood up and said, "All I know is that these unown have not hurt anyone. They rather liked the Emperor. Apparently he reminded them of a cartoon character."

"The unown watch cartoons?" Claire said with a chuckle.

"Apparently so. I'd be very curious to see this dimension of theirs someday. But for now, let us return to this palace and let these psychic pokémon get settled into the home they've selected for themselves. And put away your sketch pad. We've got a murder to solve." A few of the unown seemed to droop in disappointment at his impending departure. The Professor smiled at them. "Of course I'll come back and chat. I want to hear all about your home dimension. You all just get settled, okay? See if you can't spell something."

"You understand them," Claire realized suddenly.

He looked bewildered by her off-the-cuff comment. "Of course I do. I speak everything. I told you this already."

"I just had a thought," Claire expounded. "You can talk to the unown, and they are psychic."

"And?"

Claire thought he'd get it faster than that. "Psychic means they have access to information not readily available to the rest of us."

"And?"

It was like he deliberately ignored what she said. She just stared back at him, wondering if maybe his hyperactive brain functioned so quickly he found difficulty finding time to interpret her words in context.

Suddenly a wave of realization passed over his face. "Oh."