Hello!

I've decided to post two chapters today as a result of my busy schedule (and because the last one was so short), so I'm posting this one, too.

Chapter 28 - Meet the Professors

"Keep it up, Khrista - just a little bit higher!"

Khrista frowned, gritting her teeth in concentration as she tried to lift the boulder using Telekinesis onto the already tall stack of rocks she had created.

The teen had managed to learn the basics of six of the Eeveelution Types over the past few days, mastering most of them within a day or two. At present, she was trying to get more of an understanding of the Psychic-Type, since Alak hadn't truly been able to teach her enough of the techniques she needed.

Now, it was Elaine, an Espeon who had been trained by Mist, who had taken the job of teaching her.

Khrista let out a low growl as he powers reaches their limit, the boulder she was lifting levitating right next to the rock already at the top of the pile. Waving her arms around like a band conductor, she tried to get it higher, only to receive a pounding headache. the boulder fell to the ground with a bang.

Elaine flinched as the rock hit the earth. "Looks like we've found your limit," she remarked, her pronged tail twitching. Her pink head inclined as she looked up at the pile of boulder. "I have to say, though, I don't think I've ever been able to lift up that many boulders that high before."

"Nor I."

Khrista's head turned sharply, and she caught sight of Sabrina and a Haunter standing at the cavern's entrance. Obviously, news of what the teen was doing had reached even the Psychic-Type Gym Leader, making Knrista wonder if Green had managed to get Red to talk...or if one of the Eeveelutions she had been working with spread the news.

"You certainly have quite a gift, if you can lift seven boulders of that size," the Kanto Trainer continued as she approached the teen and the Espeon.

Khrista became embarrassed and surprised by the statement. "Really?"

The Haunter nodded, which looked like his entire body shook up and down except for his hovering hands. "Sabrina lifts two, maybe three at once, but not ones that are that big." He motioned to the pile of boulders between Khrista and the cave wall.

"Cackle," Sabrina stated, giving the Haunter a cold look.

The Ghost/Poison-Type shrugged, smirking. "What? It's true."

"Cackle?" Khrista repeated in confusion, cocking her head.

"It's the name I had back at Lavender Tower," Haunter replied, grinning. "Where did you get your name, kid?"

"Mine?" Khrista blinked in confusion. "Uh...Mom and Dad just gave me the name when I was born. I don't know why, they just did." She shrugged.

Haunter scowled. "Names are given for a reason. You should get a different name that fits you."

"We'll cover that later," Sabrina replied. She looked at Khrista directly. "What I want to know is what you can do."

Khrista smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "Alak only got to teach me how to Teleport, Confusion, and other support-style attacks, but I haven't been able to learn any honest-to-goodness attacks yet."

The Psychic-Type Gym Leader frowned, then she walked forward until she stood next to Khrista. Looking up at the pile of boulders, she stated, "I think I can teach you how to use an ability that an Espeon wouldn't be able to use unless through...strenuous circumstances."

Elaine looked up at Sabrina with a curious expression. "What are you suggesting?"

"Psycho Cut."

Khrista's eyes widened considerably. "Really?"

"Yes. First, you need good footing." Sabrina held an arm in front of her, one foot in front of the other.

Khrista blinked. "Does it matter which foot or arm is in front of the other?"

"No; I've seen multiple Gallade with right or left first; it does not matter."

Khrista gave a nod, then got into her own stance, placing her left foot in front of her right, about a shoulder-width apart, and moved her left arm in front of her golden shirt.

"Now, you're going to need together your energy and send it into your arm," Sabrina continued. Khrista looked over, but the Kanto Trainer didn't return the look. Instead, her arm started to glow with green energy tinted with purple.

A moment later, Sabrina's arm flew forward, and the energy flew off in the form of a blade-like construct. It flew straight and hit the cave wall to the right of the pile of boulders, leaving a dent in the wall.

"Whoa..." Khrista looked from the dent to Sabrina, wide-eyed. "I knew you had some Psychic abilities because of the anime, but I didn't think that it went this far."

"You learn something new every day, it seems," Sabrina replied, relaxing her stance. "Your turn, Khrista."

Khrista swallowed, then turned her attention to the pile of boulders, which was directly in front of her. She got down a little further in her stance, now holding her arm in front of her chin more than her chest. A look of concentration came over her face as her energy shifted into a dense form around her left arm. It wasn't long before her arm started to glow a watery purple.

Khrista let out a grunt as she threw her arm forward, causing the energy to fly off her arm. However, the energy was not quite as straight and sure as Sabrina's had been, and it flew off to one side, nicking a boulder and causing it to wiggle as the energy dissipated.

The wiggling was enough; the entire pile collapsed with a loud, resounding boom.

Khrista let out a sigh and relaxed her stance. "Shoot. I was hoping to get it on my first try."

"It was good for a first try," Sabrina replied calmly. "However, that isn't the reason why I came here."

"It isn't?" Khrista blinked in surprise. "Then what is it?"

"The Professors wanted to send someone over here so that they could get you into the Underground and talk to you."

"Wha - really?"

Cackle bob-nodded. "Birch is really eager to meet you in person." The Haunter grinned.

Khrista grinned, her shirt going from Psychic gold to its normal dull red color; the yellow Master Ball materialized seconds later.

"I'd like to meet him, too," she remarked. "They're back in the Underground, right?"

"That's where they have remained since Deep Coronet was discovered," Sabrina confirmed. She turned towards the tunnel exit she had come in from and motioned for Khrista to follow her. "Come on; I'll show you where it is."

"Thanks!" Khrista looked back at Elaine and the pink, ribbon-covered Pokemon that was sitting nearby. "I'll come back to you guys later and finish up my training, okay?"

Elaine nodded. "I've given you all that I think you'll need - Sylvia will be working with you when you get back." She nodded to the ribbon-covered Eeveelution, who nodded back.

Khrista nodded. "Ok. Thanks." She turned and started to jog after Sabrina, catching up with the Gym Leader and slowing to a walk in order to keep pace.

"So...any reason why they sent you?" Khrista asked, cocking her head in curiosity as she looked over at the dark-haired woman.

"Perhaps they thought I would be of some sort of help," Sabrina replied. "I have had more experience with...psychic abilities than others."

"There are other Psychic Trainers around, right? Like...Tate and Liza?"

"They're stuck in one of our fake Gyms," Cackle explained.

"Really?" Khrista frowned. "Oh, yeah - you guys don't have your own Gyms down here, do you?"

"No. We rotate depending on what the day might be - at least, in what might be considered a week. Erika will be replaced by Gardenia soon, and I will be stepping in for...the twins of Mossdeep."

"They run the clocks around here," Cackle added.

"That makes sense - they do own a Lunatone and a Solrock."

Sabrina frowned. "And you know this how?"

"I've fought them in a Gym Battle through my video games," Khrista responded. "My Swampert and Mighteyna were integral in beating them."

Sabrina gave Khrista a curious look. "Oh?"

Khrista nodded. "Lunatone is a Rock/Psychic-Type and Solrock's a Fire/Rock-Type. Swamp's Water moves were super effective against both, and Mighteyna assisted in taking out Lunatone. Course, Xatu and Claydol were also a bit of a problem, but Raichu helped against the Flying/Psychic-Type, and Swamp had Claydol easy."

"You certainly know a lot about us," Cackle noted.

"I was one of the people who went to all the regions," Khrista answered, "so it would make sense that I had this sort of knowledge." She smirked. "The people up there don't know that, though. All they know is that I'm a Trainer from Hoenn and Sinnoh - and that's it."

"They didn't learn anything else about you?" Sabrina looked slightly surprised.

"All they did was lock me in a room with the corresponding regions and had me answer a bunch of questions." Khrista shrugged. "I've played all the games, so it was kinda a no-brainer, but I just hit 'Research' instead of letting them know I actually played the games." She grinned. "I know more than they realize."

Cackle grinned, then let out a laugh. "Awesome! You're quick on the draw, kid. Have you done anything else to them?"

Khrista gained an embarrassed expression. "No...not really..." Her expression brightened a moment later. "But Ash has! He got Darkrai to mess with Cyrus' head."

Sabrina and Cackle now looked really surprised, and they exchanged looks before looking back at Khrista.

"How is that even possible?" Sabrina demanded, frowning. "Ash is -"

"Using the liberties he got when the Red Chain hit him," Khrista replied, grinning. "He can wander into people's heads at night and scare them half to death if he wants to, and he can build up emotion to the point where he can break free for a little bit and yell at anybody in earshot. He managed to tell Darkrai to have at it."

Cackle's jaw dropped, bounced on the floor comically, then hit home, causing the Haunter to do a backflip.

"I find that hard to believe!" Cackle barked one he had righted himself.

"I don't," Sabrina responded. "This sort of event has been spoken of among psychics with a sort of reverence. To be able to traverse the Dream Realm is a coveted ability many search for, but few obtain. Very few survived the process of gaining such power... What else did you say the Red Chain allow him to do?"

"Build up emotion to snap at people," Khrista replied. "If he knows I'm no longer in the building, he could be trying to do that a lot more in a regular day than he usually is. I mean, he's visiting Pikachu every single night now, probably, so that's going to give him a lot of emotional ammo, too."

"That would make sense," Cackle remarked. He looked ahead of the group. "Looks like we're almost through."

Sure enough, the group had reached the end of the tunnel and emerged from it between the two gray buildings. Tate and Liza were waiting nearby with their Lunatone and Solrock floating beside them.

"You were almost late," Tate warned Sabrina as the group approached.

"Erika's having a little trouble with a challenger, though," Liza added. "So we have to wait for a little longer."

"What sort of challenger?" Khrista asked, intrigued.

"The pair known as Eliza and Grace," Lunatone responded. "The Espeon and Eevee from your your world."

Khrista blinked in confusion for a moment, only for her eyes to widen a moment later. "Eliza? She's in my grade at school! I'd heard that there was something wrong going on after Matthew disappeared, but I didn't think she and her sister had ended up here!"

"Matthew?" Liza frowned, as did her twin brother. "Is that the name of-"

"-one of the Avatars that was brought here?" Tate finished.

Khrista nodded. "Yeah, he lives across the street from me. His entire family plays the games, but I heard that one of them didn't get pulled through."

One of the buildings' doors opened at this point, and an Espeon, and Eevee, and Gym Leader Erika emerged.

"...and that is why I can't decide what Type I want to be!" the Eevee was exclaiming in frustration.

"Well, you'll have to made up your mind about it pretty soon," the Espeon warned. "I've been hearing rumors that we're going to be heading up in attack formation pretty soon."

"You know, I think that a Glaceon would look a whole lot better than that pink one with ribbons," Khrista spoke up.

The two Pokemon's heads turned, catching sight of their still human friend. Erika looked over, as well, frowning upon hearing the new voice.

"Khrista?" Eliza guessed, cocking her head, curious.

"The one and only," Khrista confirmed with a smile. "How're you guys doing? I didn't think you'd end up getting pulled into this."

"We didn't play the Trainer games," the Eevee stated pointedly. "We played with the Exploration Teams!"

Eliza gave a nod. "Yeah. I've dabbled a little with actually training Pokemon, but I wanted to actually be one a whole lot more than other people, I guess." The Espeon shrugged.

"And your sister followed in your footsteps, I'm guessing," Khrista stated, looking over at the Eevee. "Grace, right?"

"Yup!" The Eevee grinned. "It's a lot of fun to be a Pokemon!"

"In your opinion, perhaps," Erika replied, placing her hands in the sleeves of her kimono. "However, I cannot help but wonder if those who have gone through the transformation long to be what they were before."

"The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence," Khrista offered.

Erika's expression brightened, and she gave Khrista a nod. "Exactly." She looked around the group. "Well, I had better restore my team and prepare for a good spar. The Trainers are challenging us even outside of our Gyms, now." With that, the Kanto Trainer turned and walked away with a calm air about her.

"Speaking of which, you'd better get to the Professors' place," Cackle reminded Khrista, nudging the brown-haired teen with one claw.

The teen nodded. "Right." She grinned in Grace's and Eliza's direction. "I'll see you guys later, then."

"We've got a lot to catch up on," Eliza agreed. "And if you're looking for the Professors, they're in that white building over there." The Espeon pointed with a paw towards the mentioned building, which Khrista noted was right next to a rather dilapidated, smaller house that looked somewhat familiar.

"Thanks!" Khrista gave Eliza a nod, then turned and started for the white two-story. Within a minute, she had crossed the Square and was standing in front of the door.

Khrista could feel her heart start to hammer in her chest, and she took in a breath in order to try and calm down...which was difficult, considering that she was about to meet the professors who had given you your first Pokemon at the start of the games. "Ok...here goes." She grabbed the door handle and turned it, pushing the door open. "Hello?"

Khrista nearly froze when she saw the Pokemon Professors - and the Lake Trio - standing around a table and looking at papers that had been scattered all over the place.

A familiar white and brown striped dog Pokemon looked up from a bowl of Pokemon food. A grin instantly appeared on his face. "Khrista! You're here!" He bounded over to Khrista and put his front paws on her stomach in an attempt to get closer.

"Hey, buddy," Khrista replied, grinning. She felt her stomach twinge and let her mimicry ability take over, turning her shirt into a dull gray. "Have you been good for the professors?"

"He's been a joy to have around," Professor Birch replied. Khrista looked over at the Hoenn professor, and noticed that he was staring at her in surprise. "Uh...what did you just do, exactly?"

Khrista frowned, resetting back to the "No Type" of humankind. "You haven't been told? I can mimic Types and use their attacks."

"Like a Ditto?" Oak asked, blinking in surprise.

Khrista gave a nod. "Yeah, something like that." She looked around the room again. "Is there anything you need me for? Because I was kind of about to figure out what Type a Sylveon is supposed to be."

Professor Birch blinked blankly for a moment, then gained a grin. "Right. We wanted some input on our battle plan from when you were in the citadel above us." He motioned for the teenager to come over to the table and have a better look at the scattered papers.

Khrista came over and looked over the schematics. "Is there anything you need to know specifically? Because I can't make heads or tails of this stuff, and I didn't exactly go out and wander around the place."

"What we need is infiltration." The Uxie motioned to the map. "Cyrus has psychic defenses set up in certain locations, so my siblings and I are no longer capable of mentally accessing those within his lair unless we use great amounts of energy. This is why you were forced from your hiding place originally - they managed to detect our midnight visit to you and Alak."

"And my own movements," Khrista muttered, to which the Psychic-Type nodded.

"We need someone with an unnoticeable amount of Psychic abilities to sneak in and take out the Psychic sensors," the Azelf continued. "Plus, if that someone could weaken the other defenses, that'd be great, too." The blue pixie grinned at the thought.

"Um...I'm guessing you want either me, Josh, or Mist to do that," Khrista stated slowly, looking from the Azelf to Lien. She gave the Mesprit a helpless look that hopefully conveyed that she didn't know whether the other two members of the Lake Trio had names or not.

Lien's eyes widened, and she gave a nervous smile. "Oh, dear. It seems Khrista doesn't know if you two have given yourselves names or not!" She looked amused by the idea.

"Ah." The Uxie turned to look at Khrista - well, as best he could, considering that his eyes were shut. "I am called Merlin, and my companion is Jewels."

Azelf gave a grin and a wave before gaining a serious expression. "Now that introductions are out of the way, do you think you can take out the psychic sensor and weaken that citadel's defenses?"

Khrista blinked in slight confusion at the sudden change in demeanor, then frowned. "Uh...maybe, if I can get some more training in. I don't know what I'm going to run into up there, but -" She stopped herself short. "Wait a minute. Do you want me to go back up there before the rest of you guys?"

Birch gave a nod. "You're our only connection to Joshua and Mist from the sound of it, so we're going to need you to go up there and let them know what's going on."

"...It may be a bit difficult if they're going to know as soon as I get up there." Khrista was starting to feel nervous about the idea of going back up. "When do you guys plan on attacking?"

"Any day, now," Professor Cedric Juniper replied. "However, we're sending you back a little earlier than our estimated time of attack."

Khrista blinked. "How soon do you want to send me back?"

"We were thinking...about two days," Elm replied.

"Two days?" Khrista repeated in surprise. "It's only been three, and I still haven't mastered all the Types yet!"

"Unfortunately, we don't have the time to allow you to do so," Rowan replied. "If anything, I would suggest you look into what you consider to be the most difficult Type and concentrate on that one before leaving."

Khrista nodded, frowning as she thought of what . "The only Type that I think is the most difficult is the Dragon-Type. I'd better get back to Mt. Coronet and find Rayquaza." She turned and started to leave.

"Don't rely on just your Rayquaza," Uxie called after her. "Gather all the Dragon-Types you have available and have them train you."

Khrista glanced back at the Legendary as she reached the door. "All right; I'll give it a try."

With that, she opened the door and walked out of the lab.

There. Looks like things are starting to heat up, huh?