Author's Note: Not much to say, except my usual connection is acting up even more (though I can't complain since it's free) and I don't know when I'll be able to update. Here's the next chapter:
Light's Adventures
Chapter 9: Psychic Problems
Light stretched as Nick took them outside again. He had been healed much faster this time. Nick took them back to the area they had been training at for a while. Light and Blaze sat down as they waited for Nick to get something out of his backpack. Ace took flight to a nearby branch.
After a while, Nick finally found what he was looking for. "Ah hah, I found it. For a second, I thought I had lost it," he said, pulling it out. In his hand was a disc with a hole in the center, a TM. "This is the Psychic TM. Blaze and I found it early in our adventures, though I haven't had anyone to give it to until now."
Light thought about it. He had seen Mark's Pokemon use Psychic and it provided a large amount of power. He decided he would do it. This move should really help him. He nodded at Nick.
"Good, now . . . um . . . how do you use this?" Nick asked, scratching his head with his free hand.
Light pointed at the ground and Nick put it down. Light was about to put his paw on it, when he remembered that he would lose a move. He needed to decide what move to lose. Hmm . . . definitely not Dark Pulse or Protect. Quick Attack is a normal move while Bite is another dark move. I'll go for variety, Light thought.
As he put his paw on the TM, he concentrated on keeping Protect, Dark Pulse, and Quick Attack, while letting Bite be forgotten. Soon, he felt power being transferred into his paw. He felt a new power in him.
"Uh, okay then, Light, use Psychic," Nick said.
Light closed his eyes and concentrated. He reached inside himself and activated his new power. He felt a sudden freeness as his consciousness left the boundaries of his mind. He felt Nick's, Blaze's, and Ace's presences nearby, but not in the seeing sense. It was more like . . . feeling their presences. He could also feel the objects around him.
Testing his power, he touched a nearby twig with his consciousness and felt it attach to him as though he was a magnet. He tried to move it and it moved. He heard a gasp and opened his eyes. He saw a twig nearby floating in the air, a soft blue glow around it. His excitement bubbled up and he stopped concentrating. The twig fell to the ground again.
"It worked!" Nick yelled. He started his little dance.
Light didn't feel as excited. He had only moved a twig a little bit. He wanted to do more with the move. He closed his eyes and reached out again. He felt the presences around him and started again. He reached for the twig and picked it up. He opened his eyes, but continued to concentrate. He saw the twig once again floating again. He started to move it a little and it moved where he wanted it to.
Suddenly, a headache started and Light lost his concentration. The twig fell to the ground again. The headache soon disappeared. Trying again, he reached for his power. But soon after he activated it, the headache came again, this time a little larger.
Light stopped and shook his head. The headache once again cleared quickly after he stopped. Nick saw him and became concerned, "What's wrong, Light?"
Light tried to think of a way to tell him, but couldn't think of one. He shook his head.
"Well, I guess I should set up a battle with Mark again. This time we'll crush him," Nick said. As they headed for the gym, Nick brought his Pokedex out and pointed it at Light. "So, you now know Protect, Psychic, Quick Attack, and Dark Pulse. That makes three different attack move types and a defense move."
They soon reached the gym. Mark had nothing to do, so they were able to face him then. Light would have preferred to practice Psychic some more, but guess it would have to wait.
Nick and Mark stood at their respective places. The announcer stood up and went through the normal opening, "Welcome, challenger, to the Saffron City Gym. You have challenged Mark to a one-on-one match between two Pokemon. The challenger may at any time return his Pokemon to switch for another. The gym leader may not. Both the challenger and the gym leader are allowed only two Pokemon each. The winner is the one to first defeat all of the other's Pokemon. Ready? Begin!"
Mark threw a Pokeball and his Kadabra once again appeared. Light stepped up. Kadabra raised its hand. Light felt a presence touch his. He realized that it was trying to use Psychic on him. Light stood his ground, knowing psychic type moves wouldn't hurt him.
Light charged a Dark Pulse and shot it at the Kadabra. Right before the attack hit, Kadabra disappeared. Light looked around quickly and saw Kadabra off to his right. This wouldn't work. He may not be affected by the Kadabra, but he couldn't hit it, either. He needed to prevent it from using Teleport, if only temporary, or match its speed.
Light charged another Dark Pulse and shot it. He quickly stopped it and got ready to spring. The Kadabra once again used Teleport and dodged. However, as soon as it reappeared, Light used Quick Attack. He got to the Kadabra before it could react. He was surprised to see how little defense it actually had. The single Quick Attack seemed to stun it and do a lot more damage than normal.
The Kadabra picked itself up and used Teleport. Light found it on the opposite side of the room. It stood stock still for a while, before its wound suddenly disappeared. It had used Recover. Light was now getting aggravated. This strategy wouldn't work. He wouldn't be able to do more than one attack before it got away and healed. He needed another idea.
Only one idea came to mind: Psychic. He remembered the headaches he had endured, but he couldn't think of anything else. One question left, how did he use it? He had moved the twig, but if he moved Kadabra, he would have to stop before attacking. He needed to blow the Kadabra back, enough to distract it for at least a second. Then an idea came.
Seeing Kadabra didn't seem ready to attack, Light closed his eyes and concentrated. He felt the power and started to use it. Instead of searching for something to control, Light blew his consciousness toward Kadabra and opened his eyes. The effect almost startled Light. He saw a ripple in the air blast the Kadabra back against the wall. However, the ripple hit the wall and moved to the side, knocking the announcer away and going past Mark, though he seemed resistant to the attack. A headache almost as bad as the previous one hit him, but he ignored it, focused on winning.
Seeing Kadabra stunned, he quickly charged a Dark Pulse. He shot the attack and it hit the Kadabra right in the chest. It was blown against the wall. After the attack, the Kadabra slumped to the ground, but Light knew it wasn't defeated and wouldn't wait for it to heal itself. Light charged another Dark Pulse and shot it. The Kadabra was only halfway up before the attack hit. This time, the Kadabra fainted.
The announcer looked up from his position from the floor. Seeing the battle over, he quickly got up and raised a blue flag. "Kadabra has fainted," he said. After he lowered the flag, he rubbed the side he fell on.
Mark returned Kadabra and threw out another Pokeball. A lithe, purple Pokemon appeared. It had a tail that split at the end and had a red gem on its forehead. It was an Espeon. Light gasped. It wasn't just any Espeon. It was the Espeon, the one from the Day Care. A small shiver went through Light. He hoped it wouldn't recognize him, but Nick was there with Blaze, and he was still a shiny Pokemon, if not an Eevee. He could see that she recognized him in her eyes.
This Pokemon also didn't need to know its trainer's orders. It jumped at Light and came at him with a Quick Attack. Light was still stunned at who it was and was hit. He hadn't even prepared for an attack, so he ended up sliding across the floor on himself.
Feeling the pain from the hit, Light got up. He needed to concentrate, or he would lose. This Pokemon knew more than just Psychic moves. He prepared himself and started to make a strategy. He knew that the Espeon knew Psychic, or at least she did before, though he hadn't recognized it then. She also knew Quick Attack, which he just painfully figured out. But there were still two unknown moves.
The Espeon came at him again with Quick Attack. Light quickly used Protect and she bounced off it. She stumbled from the unexpected impact. While she was unstable, he used Dark Pulse. He was able to make a hit and the Espeon flew across the ground.
The Espeon picked itself up and her wounds suddenly disappeared. So Recover was her third move. She still had a trick up her sleeve, though if it was a psychic move, it would be worthless, and therefore would remained unknown.
Light had zoned out for a second. He saw something flicker at the edge of his sight and rolled over on his side. The projectile missed him, but didn't hit anything. He looked back and saw it coming again. The fourth move she knew was Shadow Ball. He rolled to the side again and suddenly came up with an idea.
Light saw the Shadow Ball turn to come at him again. He relocated the Espeon and cam right at her. He used Quick Attack to stay ahead of the Shadow Ball. Espeon prepared herself against his attack, but he passed her, much the same as at the Day Care. He saw her confused expression for a second before she realized his plan. But by then it was too late. Her attack hit her and exploded on contact. The best part was that ghost type moves were super effective against psychic types.
While she was still dazed at the attack, Light shot a Dark Pulse and the Espeon was hit. This attack didn't catch her off guard, though, and her readiness prevented her from being flung away from the move. He knew that she would use Recover and he would be back to square one. He had been hoping that the two combined attacks would defeat her.
Frustrated, Light used Quick Attack and got to her before she could use Recover. This move, however, did catch her off guard. She skidded across the ground. Thinking quickly, Light focused on Psychic and grabbed one of her legs. He yanked and she toppled onto her side. A headache worse than all previous ones hit him. He flinched, but focused and used Dark Pulse. The Espeon was unable to dodge and was hit. This move finally made the Espeon faint.
"Espeon has fainted. The challenger has won," the announcer said, raising the blue flag again.
Nick crossed over to Mark as he returned Espeon. Mark shook hands, but remained silent. He even seemed a little troubled. Light came over and sat beside Nick. Blaze also sat, detecting a long conversation.
"Great job, Light. You were like, pow, pow, pow, and then pow!" Ace congratulated.
Light dipped his head, glad for the praise. He then held his head high as Nick and mark started to converse.
"You seem troubled. Is something wrong?" Nick asked.
"Your Umbreon knows Psychic?" Mark asked.
Nick nodded. "I used a TM earlier today, why?"
"Your Umbreon should not use it again until it has been taught how to use it correctly. That ripple was made by it, but that is only a small example of the damage it can do if it isn't taught well," Mark said.
Nick looked surprised. "I didn't know. Wait, you have Pokemon that know Psychic. Could you teach Light?" Nick suddenly asked.
"I could let one of my Pokemon if you don't mind. While it does, you and I can converse about Pokemon on the back porch," Mark said.
"You have a back porch on a gym?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, it's the only area I get to relax, so I made it comfortable. There's a small garden back there, secluded by some walls for privacy. I take by your face and emotions that you agree," Mark said.
Nick nodded, still stunned. Light didn't understand about what, but then, he didn't understand Nick very well at all. They headed back through a few hallways and came to a back door. Outside, the sun shown down on a small garden with red and purple flowers all along the perimeter of the wall containing it. A large fountain was in the middle with small yellow flowers surrounding it. The place seemed very serene.
Light walked into the garden while Blaze stopped on the wooden porch and Ace flew to perch on the wall. Nick and Mark sat down in a few wicker chairs. Light sat near the fountain. Mark drew a Pokeball and released a Pokemon. It appeared beside Light. He was despaired to see it was the Espeon.
"Wait, isn't that the Espeon Light beat. Didn't it faint?" Nick asked.
"I caught all my Pokemon with Pokeballs that heal slowly over time. Once past the point of fainting, my Pokemon can simply use Recover," at this, Espeon used Recover and all the wounds of the battle disappeared, "and be fully ready for battle again," Mark finished.
"Wow, so where-" Nick started, turning to Mark. At that point, Light tuned them out.
"So, Mark wants me to teach you Psychic correctly, handsome," Espeon said. She touched Light under the chin with her tail.
Light jerked away from the contact. "Just tell me and get it over with," he said, being short with her.
"Well, someone's got a temper, cutey," Espeon said.
"Get it over with or forget it. I'll teach myself if I have to," Light said, annoyed.
Espeon bristled slightly, but stopped when she noticed Ace and Blaze watching, "Fine, there are three fundamentals of Psychic: telepathy, contact, and vibration. Now for telepathy- blah, blah, blah -and that's how you use it for telepathy. For contact you- blah, blah, blah -and that's how to control with contact. Vibration is the hardest and- blah, blah, blah -and that's why only experts use it."
"Anything else?" Light asked. He thought he had more information than he could handle with just the telepathy part, but somehow he retained.
"Yes, can we go somewhere more private where we can be alone together, if you know what I mean?" the Espeon asked seductively, curling her tail around Light's shoulder and putting a paw on his chest.
Light felt like slapping her, but thought of something better. Using his newly gained information, he concentrated on Psychic. He found it much quicker and used the vibrations of the air, as Espeon called it, to throw her back against the wall of the garden with a mighty gale. This time, Light knew how to just concentrate it on the Pokemon and the attack didn't hit anything else. He felt the headache ready to spring, but Espeon told him why they happened and how to avoid them. It was similar to avoiding recoil damage from normal moves.
Mark stood up abruptly when he saw his Espeon get thrown. Nick glared at Light. Light shrugged and used the telepathy part of Psychic to open a channel between him, Nick, and Mark, wanting him also to hear his reason. He felt Nick's mind a little and made sure to remember it.
I just reacted to her trying to seduce me. I told her to stop, even back at the Day Care, Light sent to Nick and Mark. Nick stared, dumbfounded at Light.
"D-did y-you j-just speak?" Nick asked.
Not out loud, obviously, Light channeled.
Mark picked up his unconscious Espeon and looked at Nick. When he saw the expression, he started to laugh. "Light's using telepathy," Mark said. He turned to Light, "Sorry, my Espeon's in heat, so she often . . . comes onto Pokemon strongly."
Light grunted and returned to Nick's side. He lowered the channel to only Nick and him, You will never take me to a Day Care again, or you will definitely regret it, and that's a promise.
Nick nodded, though he still seemed a little stunned. Nick gave Mark a farewell, and then the group headed for the entrance of the gym. At the last second, Nick remembered the badge and ran back in for it. Light shock his head. He would never understand Nick.