Chapter 5: Second Impressions

Three hours later—three slow, agonizingly boring hours of drifting as an immaterial consciousness, only vaguely aware of the outside world—Braixen was released from her pokeball. Her new environment was a large room that smelled of weird foods, and was full of humans and pokemon chattering loudly in their respective languages. She had no clue where she was except that it was inside and probably the same building as earlier.

The disoriented fire type shook her head, muttering angrily to herself for allowing the human to put her back in the pokeball. She turned around, and was happy to find the silhouettes of Hayden and Regi standing behind her—but only because that meant she could give them a piece of her mind.

"Where are we!?" Braixen demanded. "What's going on? Why was I in the pokeball? I thought you said you were going to train me!?"

"And I am," Hayden replied plainly. "I told you, we needed a nap. And right now we're in the Pokemon Center's cafeteria. I figured you might be hungry."

Braixen started to object, but was interrupted by her growling stomach. A deep, painful growl that came from going an entire day and night without food.

"…Fine," she huffed. "First we eat, and then you train me."

Taking her by the paw, Hayden escorted the fire type to the other end of the room. She felt so small in this place, a feeling not helped when Hayden had to help her clamber onto a chair and she could barely rest her arms on the table. It must have been an awkward sight; no doubt other humans looking at her found it amusing. Her suspicions were confirmed when a pair of blurred colors stopped in front of their table and giggled. Braixen turned her head away, preferring to scowl at the wall than acknowledge their presence.

Three bowls were sat down with a clink—she hadn't even noticed Hayden was gone until now. She expected some kind of commentary from him, but no, merely the sound of him and his slowking munching and chewing their respective meals.

Braixen sniffed at her bowl. "What exactly is this?"

"Pokemon kibble," Regi answered between bites. "It's not the best tasting food in the world, but it'll fill you up all the same."

Braixen plucked a bit of the kibble out of her bowl and took an experimental nibble. It was…decent, like Regi said it would be. Soft and chewy, but not so much that it turned to mush in her mouth. It wasn't as juicy as a berry, but it had a richer flavor to compensate. Although the flavor itself was kind of odd…almost artificial. She supposed it made sense; humans created their own tools and shelters, so why not their own foods as well?

"It tastes weird," Braixen admitted. "Is that what I'm going to be eating all the time?"

"Beggars can't be choosers," Regi said coolly. "Perhaps you'll come to appreciate it more with time."

The slowking's reply irked her, but Braixen decided it wasn't worth pursuing. Her curiosity had been satisfied at any rate, and right now she was hungry.

In the end, Braixen decided it didn't matter. Her curiosity had been satisfied, and right now she was hungry.

"Slow down, you'll make yourself sick!" Hayden warned as Braixen shoveled handfuls of kibble into her mouth. "How long has it been since you ate?"

"Abou' a dah," Braixen admitted through a mouthful of food. "I ha' a burry bus' to mysef beye a wever, buh was run ofh buh sum diggersbee."

"Well, the only diggersby you'll find in here belong to other trainers, and I'd like to see them try to run you off with me and Regi around! So just relax—your food's not going anywhere, I promise."

Braixen slowed down, but not without glaring at Hayden first.

"Cool." Hayden paused for a moment before continuing, "By the way, since we're already talking, I wanted to ask—what kind of nickname do you want?"

Braixen blinked and then swallowed her food with an audible gulp. "Nickname?"

"Yeah, a nickname! Or just a regular name—like Maddie or Bree or something. Even wild pokemon have to have names, right?"

"Pokemon don't name themselves like humans do. We address each other by our species name, and let context handle the rest." Braixen furrowed her brows and added, "I'm surprised you didn't know that. Wouldn't Regi have told you?"

"I cannot remember my time as a wild slowpoke," Regi explained. "The species has an infamously poor memory, and it wasn't until I was captured that I evolved."

"Really? You don't remember anything?"

"Not a thing," Regi confirmed.

"I…see," Braixen said.

Hayden cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to him. "Okay then, since you don't have a name, why don't I come up with one for you? I can think of some good ones off the top of my head."

Braixen growled, her ears falling flat against her head. "I'm not your pet, human! You don't get to name me like you did the slowking."

"Actually, I chose my own name," Regi interjected. "It's based on the word 'Regis,' which was the term for an employee of a royal household. Slowking are known as the 'Royal' pokemon, so I thought it was a fitting moniker."

Braixen felt her eye twitch. "…Yeah, well, that doesn't change what I said! And why does he care so much anyway?"

"Because I don't like calling pokemon by their species name," Hayden said simply. "It just seems so…impersonal. And boring to boot."

Braixen muttered some frustrated babble under her breath. "Alright, fine. Just…let me think about it first."

"No rush," Hayden said. "I'd rather you came up with a name you liked than I think up a half-dozen that you hate."

The fire type grumbled mutinously before taking another bite of her kibble.

The rest of their meal continued in silence. Braixen was grateful for that—she didn't know why, but something about the two and their very presence seemed to set her off! Or was that because of her not having a stick? It was hard to tell honestly.

Her thoughts drifted away from her frustrations and towards the peculiarities of her new situation. It was so odd to just be given food instead of having to scrounge for it. One of the tradeoffs of being captured she supposed; you had to do what the trainer said, but at least you got free food and shelter. Although it begged the question of what kind of opponents she'd be expected to face.

"Hey Hayden," Braixen began, straightening up as she spoke, "you said you're a trainer—a human that fights other humans and their pokemon. Who are we fighting that you specifically wanted a delphox?"

Hayden made a sound like he was about to speak, but stopped himself short for some reason. "Well…first of all, there's more to being a trainer than fighting each other," he began to explain. "A trainer can just be someone that likes raising pokemon, they don't have to be competitive. And then there's people like me, type specialists that want to master our chosen type—to learn as much as we can and push our abilities as far as we can!"

"As for why Hayden sought out your parents, it's related to a more short-term goal," Regi added. "There's a gym in Anistar City that specializes in the psychic type. It's lead by a woman named Olympia, who is widely considered the most powerful human psychic in the Kalos region."

"Only strong psychics or trainers with a strong affinity for the type are allowed to train at her gym," Hayden continued. "Any trainer can have a battle there, sure, but only the best of the best get to be a partof the gym itself!"

"We once challenged her to combat in a bid to prove our mettle," Regi said. "We lost, unfortunately, but it was still a good learning experience."

Hayden bolted upright, chair scraping against the floor as he did. "Yeah, but just you wait! One of these days, I'm going to surpass Olympia—not just as a battler, but in raw psychic ability too!"

Braixen blinked as she digested the information. "You sound rather confident about that," she observed.

"Of course I am!" Hayden replied. "I told you, I'm going to master the psychic type! And I bet Olympia's never taught a pokemon to use their psychic powers to overcome blindness before!"

There it was, the real reason he'd kept her. She was a project—proof of his prowess as a trainer. Still though, his confidence was impressive, and if Regi's strength was any indication of Hayden's skill, that confidence was well earned.

"Anyway, that's where you come in," Hayden continued, simmering down a little. "When we lost, I made a promise that I'd be back in a year to re-challenge the gym. While I feel pretty good about myself and Regi, I've realized recently that I need someone besides him to rely on."

"How long ago was this challenge?" Braixen asked. "Er, I guess what I mean is, how long do we have until the fight?"

"About three months," Hayden answered.

Braixen did a double-take, and in doing so almost fell out of her chair. "Three months!? You think I'll be ready to fight in only three months!?"

"Well…yeah. If I didn't think it could be done, I wouldn't even try." He waited a moment and added, "You'll fight with me, right? Because if you don't want to, that's fine, I just need to know now while I still have time."

Braixen was at a loss for words. It seemed impossible that she'd learn to use her powers and be ready to fight this Olympia person in such a short amount of time! Then again most things humans could do seemed impossible.

Hayden's unflinching confidence that she'd be ready certainly helped.

Braixen folded her arms, trying to regain a little composure, and huffed. "I'll fight for you at the gym, to repay you teaching me, but don't try to force me to fight otherwise!" Giving her declaration some thought, she decided to add, "And if I'm going to fight, then I'll need a new stick too!"

"I was wondering about that," Hayden admitted. "Don't worry though, I think I've got a good substitute in mind. I'll show you once we get out of town."

Before Braixen could ask him to clarify, there was a flash of familiar red light, followed by the sensation of being broken down into living energy and existing as an immaterial consciousness. She was back in her pokeball again.

Dammit.

The ball opened an hour later, and Braixen was allowed back into the real world. She turned about, snarling, assuming Hayden was behind her again and determined to give him a piece of her mind...and froze.

Her field of vision was filled with blurs of blue and green. The sun was shining and warm. She could smell wood and grass and flowers. Braixen gasped; she was outside. She was back in the forest! For some reason Hayden had brought her back, and…and…no, wait, that wasn't true. She was near the forest, but if she focused she could make out the subtle smell of pollutants that indicated human settlement. The grass was too short, and the smell of flowers was actually too strong; someone had gone out of their way to plant as many of them as possible.

Braixen let out a heavy sigh. For the briefest moment, she'd thought she was home.

The fire type turned, and saw Hayden and his slowking had been standing to the right of her instead of behind. Their white and pink silhouettes stood out well enough against the blurs of green, brown, and blue.

Braixen curled her lips, teeth showing, wanting so badly to just scream at Hayden…but reconsidered when a cough from Regi reminded her that the slowking was watching. So she straightened up and quietly asked, "Where are we?"

"Route 4," Hayden answered, voice a little awkward; maybe he'd picked up on her frustration. "I...I thought you might appreciate training here instead of inside the Pokemon Center. Most of the route is a giant garden, although we stopped just short of that part; trainers like to hang out in the hedge mazes."

Braixen nodded somberly, before sobering up a little and asking, "Are you ready to start training me then?"

Hayden made that sound again, where he cut himself off mid-syllable before apparently swapping out answers. "Yeah, I'm ready. Have a seat."

Braixen sat down, cross-legged, tail swishing idly as she watched Hayden do the same and awaited his tutelage.

"First thing you should know is this won't be training in the way you're used to, at least not at first," Hayden explained. "True mastery over psychic power isn't something you train; it's something you learn. It's about perception and understanding more than raw strength."

Braixen wasn't sure what to make of that, but nodded along anyway.

"Cool, glad you understand. So first, a question; how do you think psychic powers work?"

Braixen cocked her head to the side; was this a trick question? "It's like the other types, you focus on the energy and use it to—"

"Nope," Regi interrupted, reminding her that the slowking was participating. Braixen rewarded his efforts with a scowl.

"Try being a little more specific," Hayden encouraged. "Where does the power for psychic-based attacks come from?"

Braixen had to think a little harder for this one. "It…comes from your mind, right? Fire types have this 'internal flame' they use, so a psychic type draws energy from their brain to—"

"Wrong again."

"Oh fuck off!"

"Hey! No! None of that!" Hayden said sternly. "You too Regi—quit it!"

"I'm merely saving time," Regi replied coolly. "You know she won't give you the right answer."

Hayden grumbled something incoherent. "The reason you're wrong Braixen is because psychic energy is an external source of energy. I was trying to gauge how well you understood this, but somebody is being a jerk."

Braixen furrowed her brows. "But…that doesn't make sense! When I use Psybeam, it feels like I'm drawing from my own energy."

"You're drawing from your mental reserves, but the actual power of the attack is not your own," Hayden explained. "Psychic phenomena is everywhere—it's a power that permeates everything around us. What makes a psychic type pokemon psychic is that they are naturally attuned to this energy and have an instinctual understanding of how to use this power to fuel their abilities. Part of why that is has to do with brain structure and such, but that's probably more detail than you care about."

Braixen turned her gaze downward, trying to wrap her mind around what Hayden was saying. "I'm still confused," she admitted. "If my abilities are based on instinct, then why do I have to 'learn' my attacks? Why don't I already know my other psychic type moves?"

"Well, 'awareness' and 'application' aren't the same thing," Hayden answered. "You might be subconsciously aware of the energy and able to draw from it, but that doesn't mean you know how to turn it into an attack."

"Then why are you telling me this? Why does it matter where the energy comes from if I still have to learn how to use it?"

"Because if you rely solely on instinct, you'll never truly master your abilities." The human sounded deathlyserious. "A true master of psychic power is able to control and manipulate the energies around them in whatever way they see fit. You can't do that without being able to consciously recognize and control that power"

The fire type grumbled, paw to her chin, doing everything she could to try and understand what Hayden was asking of her. "You're basically asking me to ignore my instincts and 'learn' how to do something I wasn't even aware I was doing. How does that work? Where do I even start?"

Regi was the one to respond this time. "Meditation, experimentation, and a lot of aggravation. It's not something you'll learn overnight; however, if you desire to master abilities outside your natural inclinations, it's entirely necessary."

Without thinking, Braixen took a paw and touched the scar tissue surrounding her right eye. She regretted the action almost instantly; now was not the time to be showing weakness.

"I understand," Braixen said with forced politeness.

"Good," said Regi with the barest hint of smugness. She chose to ignore it.

"On a brighter note," Hayden quickly interjected, "I have a gift for you." Braixen listened to Hayden root around in his bag before he pulled out something shiny and tossed it into her lap.

Braixen picked up the item, surprised by its cold, metallic feel. Driven by curiosity, she ran her paw across the object's surface, discovering it was some kind of shallow bowl connected to a thin handle with a bend in the middle.

"What…is this exactly?" she asked, gripping the handle and swinging the item experimentally through the air.

"It's a spoon," Hayden answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Braixen raised a brow. "A…spoon?"

"A spoon. Not just any spoon, mind; it's a twisted spoon!"

Braixen's brow arched higher.

"Spoons are utensils that humans use to eat things with," Regi supplied. "More importantly, that spoon is imbued with psychic-type energy. Although I'd argue personally that it's more like a ladle."

"Semantics," Hayden said dismissively. "Anyway, it acts like an amplifier when using psychic type attacks. Normally I let Regi use it when battling, but we both agreed that you needed it more—especially if you're missing your stick."

Braixen held the over-sized spoon up to her eye and squinted at it. She wasn't sure how she felt about this metal…thing replacing her stick. If it was as useful as the human said, however, it was foolish not to accept it.

The fire type took the utensil and stuffed it into the fur at the base of her tail. Almost immediately, a rush of relief washed over her. For the first time since the diggersby attacked her, it felt like Braixen could think clearly.

"…thanks," Braixen said reluctantly.

Hayden scooted closer, and surprised Braixen by putting a hand on her shoulder. "You're going to do just fine, and Regi and I will be there to help you every step of the way. I promise."

Braixen stood still for a moment, then pushed Hayden's hand away from her shoulder. She then fixed him with a steely glare; she would not drop her guard that easily.

"…Right. Guess we better get started then." Hayden stood up, joined shortly after by his slowking. "Regi and I are going to work on combat training. In the meantime, I want you to work on what we talked about. Try using your abilities, and either before or as you're using them, look for where the energy is actually coming from."

"You're leaving? What about that 'we'll be helping you every step of the way' crap you just said?"

"Regi and I don't want to distract you," Hayden explained. "Psychic power is about perception; I can give you advice, but ultimately you're going to have to be the one to figure it out. There's not much I can do about that." A pause, and he added, "That said, I'll be coming back over here now and again to check up on you. I'll answer your questions as best as I can."

And with that, Hayden and Regi walked away. Braixen watched them go, the blurs of color swallowing them up the further they got away, until finally they were gone entirely. The fire type turned away, pulling her new spoon out of the base of her tail and examining it closely.

There was so much to take in. Her powers, her training, Hayden's goals... The grip around the spoon tightened, and for a moment Braixen wondered if she really was up to the task set before her.

Braixen turned her head and stared into the woods. Three weeks she'd spent there, helpless, homeless, and completely at the mercy of her fellow pokemon. Was it really so bad to want to change that—to believe that she was capable of changing that?

Braixen's grip on the spoon loosened, and she let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. Right. Time to get to work.