Uwa! So Temperate
This is the single dumbest chapter title I've ever made.
Four days passed, and nothing too eventful happened. The 'special gift' Eric spoke of was actually a very large feast. That wasn't the first time Charlie had tasted the cooking of the Jones family, but he was still completely blown away by how delicious their cooking was.
His mornings, all the way to the evenings, was spent training with Claydol. Psychic Vision was still a work in progress, but it was progressing. The most annoying part of each session was the obstacle course and actually leaving The Ruins. Combat training was alright. He wasn't…the best fighter, but he was slowly improving.
Charlie also did a lot of online research and tried to improve his form, and that did help him a bit. Even if he did feel like he was messing something up, he couldn't exactly pin-point it properly. But that was fine. Practice makes progress, after all.
In these past four days, he had constructed a schedule for himself. Wake up at seven, get himself ready, leave Carmello's house at nine. He then attends Claydol's session and tends to get off after around six in the evening. He then eats dinner, helps some of Carmello's siblings and does independent research, and goes to sleep at exactly eleven.
This meant he could average out around eight hours of sleep. Charlie personally finds this schedule to be very mentally and physically taxing, but hey, he at least gets free days on the weekend–
No he doesn't.
Charlie needs to complete the mission that Claydol assigned to him. His best option so far was finding a Ralts in Petalburg Forest. There was a resurgence in the Ralts population globally, and Hoenn was no exception. However, despite this, Ralts definitely weren't a common Pokemon.
There were also a couple problems. First of all, he couldn't release Veritas to help him. Once again, Petalburg Forest is very heavily guarded, so he couldn't exactly just let the steel Pokemon run around willy-nilly. So, he had to counter this problem by renting another Pokemon.
But, the main pain in the ass, due to the horrible state the Pokemon he had last rented had been in when he returned it, most rental services in Rustboro have denied his entries.
So, in other words, he had to enter Petalburg Forest with nothing but himself–
Well, at least that's what he had initially thought.
The mission description entails Charlie to get a second psychic Pokemon. The "method" doesn't matter. Hell, he can go onto Online Trading Services and buy himself a psychic type.
And that's what he had planned on doing, even if it meant undermining a small section of his savings. That is, until Carmello entered the frame.
"Well then, why don't I help you get one!" Carmello boomed.
"...What?" Charlie asked incredulously.
"Why buy one online when I can just help you capture one? It's a much better and worthwhile experience if you catch one in the wild, after all." Carmello stated, and Charlie mused the idea to himself.
"But don't you have, like, ranger work?" Charlie asked, and Carmello shook his head.
"Nah, I got the night shift today." Carmello said, grinning. "Let's go right now!"
The blistering Hoenn heat assaulted Charlie. He wished he had applied sunscreen, though it wasn't like it'd be much help in the forest, the trees were thick enough to shade most of the ground under
Petalburg Forest loomed over Charlie and Carmelo. Carmello heavily contrasted Charlie, while Charlie was rather deflated of a single ounce of energy, Carmello was annoyingly enthusiastic.
"It's time to get to Ralts Hunting! Don't worry about things too much, not much in this forest can even stand up to any of my Pokemon." Carmello said arrogantly, flashing a confident grin.
Not much happened in the first half an hour. The thick trees and bushes hindered any possibility of finding a Ralts. They mostly saw bug type Pokemon crawl in the bushes and flying types soar through the skies above them.
Charlie really didn't like Petalburg Forest. The many bug types completely unnerved him. It was normal for psychics like him to have an irrational fear of bug types, after all.
After a while, Charlie grew frustrated of finding nothing, so he decided to use some of his own abilities.
"Carm, stop for a second." Charlie said firmly, and Carmello did as instructed.
"Can you defend me for a second and make sure I don't get mauled?" Charlie asked, and Carmello simply nodded.
Carmello released an Espeon. The light-purple, feline Pokemon materialized on the soft leaves scattered around the floor.
Charlie concentrated his psychic powers into his vision, and after about a second he opened them again.
"Wow…your eyes, they're glowing!"
"They are?" Charlie asked, and Carmello nodded.
He narrowed his eyes, trying to concentrate on the many silhouettes he could sense. At first, they were scattered all over in a disorganized mess, but as his grip over his vision grew tighter, he could finally make out distinct objects.
"Nothing." Charlie sighed, he wasn't at an advanced enough level to differ between the silhouettes.
He turned around, only to see Espeon and Carmello staring at each other.
Are they…telepathically communicating?
Carmello then turned back to Charlie. "Espeon couldn't sense anything either."
"Well, erm, let's continue our hunt, shall we?" Carmello stated, and Charlie decided to follow suit.
Almost an hour went by. Charlie and Carmello finally found it. They were hiding behind a large bush, and they saw it.
A Ralts.
It stood alone, telepathically lifting a stick and doodling on a tree.
"Go get 'em, Charlie." Carmello said softly, and Charlie shrugged.
Charlie was about to take a step forward, revealing his presence, when he thought of an idea.
He closed his eyes, and activated psychic vision.
What…the fuck?
Chills ran down Charlie's spine. He could feel it. There was a huge amount of Pokemon surrounding the Ralts, all hiding behind bushes.
He clenched his fists.
No. They weren't different Pokemon, they were all extraordinarily similar to each other. Almost exact copies of each other's mental traces.
He concentrated his psychic energy more in an attempt to find the real one.
"Uhm–Charlie, you there–"
"Release Espeon right now."
Carmello couldn't see what he was seeing, but his Espeon could.
The first thing Espeon did when they materialized was to check their surroundings. They repulsed in sudden surprise, hissing cautiously.
Carmello and Espeon communicated telepathically to each other. Charlie concentrated even further, attempting to find the outlier out of the clones.
"Espeon has identified the 'real' clone." Carmello said softly, snapping Charlie from his trance.
"No, I think it's too late for that." Charlie replied, "The enemy knows our location."
Carmello's eyes widened, his reflexes kicking in as he slid out a Greatball and a Pokeball, tossing them into the air.
Charlie recognized what Carmello was doing by releasing two Pokemon, he was driving the attention towards him.
A Vileplume and Mienshao appeared besides Espeon. "Capture that Ralts, then run!"
Charlie nodded, bursting through the bushes.
The enemies' clones moved forward, revealing themselves as a Lunatone.
Ralts jumped backwards in surprise from the forces advancing towards it.
The Lunatone clones were occupied by the large Mienshao and Vileplume which emerged from the bushes.
"Vileplume, knock em out." Carmello commanded, "Mienshao, defense."
Charlie unclipped a Pokeball from his belt as Ralts prepared to teleport away. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Espeon leap from the bushes, eyes shining a bright blue. Ralt's teleportation was disrupted, and Charlie promptly threw the Pokeball.
To his surprise, the Pokeball was telepathically held in the air.
The crescent-shaped Pokemon emerged from the forests, eyes glowing.
Charlie gritted his teeth as the Pokeball fell to the ground. Ralts quivered in fear and ran away, Charlie attempted to throw another, but the Ralts teleported away.
"The Ralts is gone!" Charlie shouted to Carmello, who was commanding his Vileplume to take out the Lunatone clones. "Change of plans! I'm going to capture the Lunatone!"
"Mienshao, focus blast." Carmello ordered calmly, and Mienshao wiped out dozens of clones with just one blast.
More mirages of the Lunatone were formed, causing Carmello to scowl.
Their scarlet eyes shone a bright blue, ripping trees out of the ground from the roots, and hurling them at Mienshao. Mienshao was unfazed as it smashed all them with one swift motion, the boulders fell to the ground in mere pebbles.
Charlie unclipped another Pokeball, bracing himself.
Lunatone formed even more copies, and Mienshao prepared to leap into the air for a high jump kick.
"No need, Mien." Carmello said softly, "Plume, Mein. Knock them all out."
The group of Lunatone mirages approached cautiously, waiting for their opponent's next move. They all scattered when Mienshao leaped into the air, before slamming into the ground with a swift kicking motion. The attack sent shockwaves across the field. Vileplume reared back before firing a wave of spores. The shockwave and propelled wind from Mienshao's vacuum wave exacerbated the radius of the spores that Vileplume released, knocking out a large majority of the clones.
Charlie's eyes glew a faint white as he attempted to pin-point the real Lunatone amidst the chaos, swapping the Pokeball in his hand with a Greatball. The pristine blue texture and red stripes of the capsule shone brightly against the sun, Charlie braced himself.
He found it.
He found the original Lunatone. It was clearly affected by the spores, but didn't explode into smoke.
Carmello leaped backwards, "Espeon, Shadow Ball."
Espeon materialized a sphere of purple energy before expelling it. A purple explosion caused the doppelgangers to explode into more white smoke.
Charlie strained his eyes further in an attempt to find the perfect opportunity to throw the ball.
Seven clones left…
Carmello snickered, "Mienshao, focus blast. Into the ground."
Mienshao leaped into the air, preparing a large sphere of energy. Mienshao threw it into the air, before using its powerful legs to kick it onto the ground with incredible force.
Charlie could barely stand from the sheer magnitude of the explosion, but his psychic vision never faltered.
Now!
He felt adrenaline rush through him as he saw the perfect opportunity. He threw the Greatball, the capsule accelerated through the air. The smoke cleared out. The barely conscious Lunatone's eyes widened as in a ray of brilliant scarlet light, it was absorbed into the Greatball.
Charlie counted in his head the shakes. A wide grin spread across his face when he heard the ringing sound which signified the success of the capture.
Lunatone…
Captured.
Charlie spent the latter half of his Saturday and the entirety of his Sunday helping out Carm's siblings and doing independent research on battling, history, trainer culture, and most importantly…
Lunatone, as a species.
The Lunatone he had captured wouldn't really listen to him. They weren't hostile, but wouldn't take commands from him. Charlie soon began to realize this wasn't just a wild Pokemon issue, because this Lunatone wasn't wild at all.
He had checked with the nurses, and this Lunatone used to belong to an entirely different trainer. The nurses at the Pokecenter couldn't legally reveal any credentials involving Lunatone's previous trainer, but apparently they were released into the wild a while back.
Unless the Pokemon released was well-trained and powerful or freshly caught, most released Pokemon tend to…die in the wild. So, the fact that Lunatone could survive there likely signified that they were released not long after they were captured, so they still retained some of their wild instincts.
It also seemed that Lunatone's previous trainer had taught it enough for it to know Charlie wouldn't hurt them, so they were tolerable with Charlie's presence and showed no signs of hostility.
However, Lunatone still frankly refused to listen to Charlie. Which was an obvious issue for him. In fact, at some points it seems that Lunatone listened to Carmello more than they listened to him.
That fact brought Charlie to the simple conclusion that he needed to prove to Lunatone that he was worthy of being their trainer.
And so, when Monday rolled around, Charlie began his sessions with Claydol with a goal.
The obstacle course was pretty much the same. Soft-textured pillars will randomly shoot out from the walls, and Charlie needed to dodge them.
Same was combat training and psychic training. According to Claydol, they had plans of merging combat training and psychic training together when he had progressed a bit further. Thus leaving more room for actual Pokemon training.
He felt himself progressing well in terms of controlling his psychic power. The more he trained, the longer he could last whilst using psychic vision.
Combat training was an entirely different situation…he still, erm, sucked at fighting. Most of the sessions consisted of him attempting to mimic the dummy's movements and stance, and they almost always ended in him getting beat and on the verge of puking.
Finally, Battle Training rolled around.
"It's time. Release the psychic Pokemon you captured."
Charlie nodded, unclipping the Greatball off his belt and releasing Lunatone.
The crescent-shaped Pokemon levitated in the air, their eyes staring intensely at Claydol. Lunatone eventually withdrew themselves, opting to explore The Ruins.
"Interesting. To think you would find a Lunatone…"
"Well, actually, Lunatone…doesn't really listen to me." Charlie explained, "I think I first need to actually beat it in battle first. I never really 'fought' to capture it, mostly just took it by surprise with a lucky throw."
"Oh? That's even more intriguing. Through my vast experiences, Lunatone tends to be withdrawn rather than arrogant or head-strong. The Lunatone you've captured strikes me as the conceited type, certainly a rare trait for its species, and could pose as a worthy obstacle for you to overcome."
"Yeah, erm, I think the only way for me to 'tame' Lunatone is through Veritas beating them under my command." Charlie mused, "However, I don't think Veritas is at the point where they can beat Lunatone."
"I figured. Veritas is very much a newborn. I suspect it'll take you at least a couple weeks of diligent training before Veritas could even think of defeating Lunatone."
Charlie sighed, "Well, that fucking sucks."
"No, I see it as a worthy opportunity for you to improve. Defeating Lunatone will be your goal for the three months you'll spend with me."
"Sure."
"Now, let's continue working on 'confusion'."
It's been one month since Lunatone's capture.
He's grown quite proficient in running up massive flights of stairs that slowly ascends to the top of the heavens, disguised as torturous hell as your legs throb and flinch in pure unrelenting fury– Wait, he was getting carried away.
Charlie had also begun appreciating the obstacle course, weirdly enough. They were a good way to train his reflexes, and he had also learned to use psychic vision to sense incoming objects. It was good training before the torture he had to endure with Claydol. His utilization of psychic vision to dodge things had made things easier and the combat training had made him weirdly used to having his body absorb damage, meaning the hellish feeling he usually had after their training sessions was gone.
Additionally, In this one month, Veritas learned one new move. Since they mastered confusion, the more basic psychic move, Charlie had focused on Veritas improving their overall 'physical' attributes rather than new moves. So, due to this new shift, the Beldum only learned one new move the past month.
Take Down. The reason why Charlie even made Veritas shift to physical attribute training was, after some research, he found out that it was basically a necessity for a Pokemon to train their physical body before learning Take Down. If they didn't, they could get severely injured from the physical recoil of using the move.
He also attempted to have Veritas practice some sparring sessions with Lunatone, but after a couple of them, the crescent-shaped Pokemon got bored and refused every request.
Claydol had been a great aid in strengthening Veritas's physical attributes. In Claydol's words, 'Steel types need to toughen up while they're young'.
Charlie could visibly tell that their reaction speed was getting quicker and their attacks were hitting harder. He ran various tests every week to see Veritas's improvements in every department, and each time he could notice the significant progression.
Everything was going smoothly.
As for the weekly goals that were assigned to him, most of them were related to history, surprisingly.
At first he was confused by how Claydol was going to know whether or not he completed their weekly goals. But, on every monday when he came for the training sessions, Claydol would fucking quiz him on the topic he was requested to research.
Claydol would throw out five questions, and if Charlie got two of those questions wrong, there would be 'severe consequences'. So far, Charlie has barely avoided facing these 'consequences', and whenever he asked Claydol what the punishment was they just dismissed it with a 'Work hard, and you'll never have to know'.
He was, admittedly, very scared.
As for psychic training and combat training, they were both progressing smoothly. Well, depending on your standards, combat training wasn't going smoothly, but he could at least put up a fight. He could actually do well in the training now.
Psychic training still left him a sweaty, heaping mess. He was never in pain, just exhausted. Claydol told him that he'll be practicing Psychic vision for the entirety of the three months he would be spending with Claydol.
Apparently, there was more to psychic vision than he had thought. Psychic vision is basically a weird off-shoot of the psychic location technique he used. Charlie sort of lucked out in that aspect– Advanced Internal Psychics like him are rare. Psychics are already very rare in this world, and Internal Psychics are the minority in the bunch. And a Tier III Internal Psychic was even more scarce. Psychic Location was a technique that very few in this world could use for this exact reason.
Charlie normally utilized psychic location by channeling his energy into his legs or arms and touching an object. He normally only does this in short burts. Let's say he used psychic location on his hands and touched a bookshelf, he could then somewhat get a grasp of how much books is in that shelf.
Using psychic location in his eyes was never a thought to Charlie up until his encounter with Claydol. The screening he was put under was the first time he had used psychic location through his eyes, and the design of the trial was clearly intended for that. When Claydol had first explained Psychic Vision to him, he had sort of assumed that it was just a more advanced version of psychic location involving the eyes…
Boy was he wrong.
Psychic Vision required him to channel a lot more psychic energy into his eyes, but also required him to manipulate the flow of that energy in a very complex way. He needed to essentially cut off all psychic energy flow from the rest of the body, and smash it all into his eyes in one instant. Not only does this require a lot of linear control, but it is also super exhausting.
However, due to the nature of psychic energy and how it directly enhances the brain function, by channeling so much psychic energy into the eyes, your brain will also be effected by the psychic energy. And since psychic energy naturally enhances all of the brain functions…
You will see an entirely different world through the lenses of psychic vision.
Up until now, most of Charlie's capabilities was just a nice addition to his resume, but since his training with Claydol, he had developed a new appreciation for his abilities.
Even if he could barely handle Psychic Vision at the moment, using it was an entirely different experience. He gained a new, previously unprescendent deep understanding of the world around him.
Apparently, unless he could sustain Psychic vision for at least twenty minutes, he shouldn't even be thinking of moving on to practicing his psychic shield. In his current state, he could barely even manage ten.
It was rough.
Additionally, Charlie had also been contacting and setting up meetings with PsychicJurids. Their discussions mostly went swimmingly well so far, but there was only one main wrench in his plans.
'Accompanied Trainers'.
Basically, Charlie needed to make a research team. This research team had to have either two professionals, like a ranger or gym trainer, or four trainers to serve as Charlie's 'Accompanied Trainers'.
Rangers and gym trainers have the benefit of being able to go off duty to join a research team, even if most don't. They have the legal right to serve as 'Accompanied Trainers', and the Ranger Association and Gym Leader can't deny them that right.
Charlie approached Carmello about joining his research teams. Naturally, the man nearly instantly complied after hashing some things out with his family members.
But the issue was finding a second member.
He didn't have any other connections besides Carmello.
Even if Charlie didn't want to be even more indebted to Carmello, he sadly had to request help from his one friend to find a second researching member.
Three months.
Finally, he was at his final session with Claydol.
A quick overview of the sessions he had over the past two months.
Combat training…oh sweet, combat training.
Just when he had gotten the hang of fighting one dummy, in the final two weeks of his session with Claydol, the absolute jackass decided to make him fight TWO dummies.
He spent ten days getting his ass kicked by two opponents. Charlie was actually quite impressed that Claydol could manage two dummies with their telepathic power so efficiently.
Psychic training and combat training was indeed merged. Charlie did some analysis on himself. In a non strenuous situation, he can manage Psychic Vision for about fifteen minutes. That number decreases to barely six minutes during a fight.
Claydol told him that even when he does reach the twenty minute mark, that he should still practice Psychic Vision consistently. Unlike with a psychic shield where there is a limit to how durable one's mental barrier is, that limit doesn't seem to apply to Psychic Vision.
Shifting from psychic/combat training, we have Veritas's progression.
They mastered Take Down after almost a month of consistent practice. This increased their offensive potential by a lot, Take Down could serve as an useful trump card when placed in a tight spot. Something to drill through the opponent's defenses and capture a climatic victory.
Afterwards, for the final month he spent with Claydol, he focused the first half of the month on teaching Veritas bullet punch. It wasn't a difficult move per say. For Veritas, it was just a variant of Metal Claw focused on speed and agility rather than power. So, due to his already strong grasp over Metal Claw, Bullet Punch only took two weeks of training.
He spent the latter half of the week focusing purely on Veritas's physical attributes. Every session was just Claydol running drills and Charlie observing them, analyzing each result and planning each training session.
Additionally, Charlie had also spent a bunch of time watching up battles when he wasn't furiously researching about the stupid history topics Claydol made him learn. Most of it was leisurely stuff, one or two video recordings a day. Charlie never followed Pokemon battling much beyond the usual conference streams, and he never really analyzed them…at all.
But, as he analyzed the details apparent in every battle basically every day…he began to understand key components of battling. Well, at least in theory. He still didn't really know how to incorporate battle theory well into…well, actual battles.
All of this research and training he did was all to achieve his goal for the training sessions:
Defeat Lunatone.
It was the final session, though he was, as usual, made to run the obstacle course, Claydol decided to lay off on the combat and psychic training.
Instead, this singular session was dedicated to his battle against Lunatone.
Charlie slid the Greatball off his belt, throwing it high into the air.
The crescent-shaped Pokemon levitated in the air, facing Charlie.
"Lunatone, the past three months, I've been letting you meander around aimlessly and grant you free will."
Lunatone was unfazed, staring blankly at Charlie.
"Today, Veritas will defeat you." Charlie declared, smirking. "If I lose this battle, then I will never bother you again."
Charlie knew that there were about a thousand different, easy ways he could've forced Lunatone to trust him. Whether it be threatening to keep them in the Pokeball forever, or other forms of blackmail.
But he chose to comply with Lunatone's terms. Lunatone will only concede if Charlie proves himself. He would much rather build a relationship based on mutual respect between them rather than force them to comply.
The crescent moon let out quite booms, what Charlie figured was it's voice.
Claydol levitated next to Charlie, "Lunatone says that they don't care how many times you fight them, as long as you show improvement between each battle."
Charlie stared at Claydol.
"Basically, Lunatone is saying you don't need to give up if you lose this battle."
Charlie blinked, before chuckling to himself.
"Ahhh, I wanted it to be dramatic." He groaned, before recomposing himself.
"Well, it doesn't matter, Veritas!" Charlie shouted, Lunatone hurled themselves backwards, preparing for battle.
Veritas levitated inches above the ground besides Charlie, attempting to glare at Lunatone who only seemed amused if anything.
With a flash, Lunatone used double team and several mirages of them appeared.
Charlie's eyes shone a faint white, he attempted to pin-point the exact location of the real Lunatone.
I checked the rules! Psychic ability utilization that doesn't directly attack the opponent's mind is perfectly fair in a league regulated battle!
"Veritas, don't be hasty! Only attack when Lunatone goes on the offense!" Charlie shouted, Veritas followed the order. The Beldum grinned as it braced itself, preparing to fire a confusion if Lunatone made any hasty moves. The attack would admittedly not do much damage to their opponent, but for now it would work.
The duplicates slowly approached Veritas, as Charlie concentrated more on psychic vision.
He finally saw it, hidden amongst the copies, no doubt planning to take advantage of the chaos it had made
"Now!" Charlie shouted pointing at the real Lunatone, he leaped backwards to avoid the crossfire. He saw Veritas take notice of his directions and turn to the real one, who attempted to escape.
Veritas used confusion against the levitating moon. Lunatone's body seemed to tense up from the sharp burst of pain which ran through them, inevitably brushing it off, however. Of course psychics would be resistant to psychic type attacks.
Beldum dashed through the air, heading straight towards Lunatone.
"Bullet Punch!" Charlie shouted, Veritas crashed through a clone which exploded into white smoke. Veritas leaped through the smoke preparing to swing its claw…
"Behind you!" Charlie hollered, Veritas turned around only to see the real Lunatone behind them.
All of the mirages bursted into smoke at Lunatone's command, disorienting Veritas enough to prevent him from landing a metal claw.
Lunatone's intense red eyes shone a bright neon blue as Veritas was hurled to the ground with confusion. Lunatone then summoned several boulders from the ground, all held into the air with an otherworldly power.
"Bullet Punch!" Charlie ordered. He disabled Psychic Vision upon realization it was redundant for this portion of the battle.
Veritas's rear claw shone a bright white with energy as it accelerated through the air with brilliant speed. Lunatone hurled the boulders at Veritas who managed to narrowly sidestep them whilst rushing through the air. Lunatone's eyes widened as Veritas's bullet punch connected against the Stone Pokemon, who then crashed against the ground from mid-air.
"Great job!" Charlie praised, grinning, "Connect it with a Metal Claw!"
Veritas slowly hovered onto the ground, its rear claw practically exploding with energy. Veritas floated inches above Lunatone, who was unfazed as Veritas prepared to crush the crescent-shaped Pokemon with its silvery barbs.
Lunatone once again raised the earth. Using ancient power, they hurled the boulders against Veritas who crushed all of them with swift grasps of their claws.
Lunatone dashed behind Veritas, Charlie felt himself pale
Shit-
Lunatone's eyes shone an intense blue. A Psybeam trailing from its eye, connecting with its opponent., Veritas attempted to shield themselves, but the Psybeam caused the Beldum to shriek with robotic sounds.
"Veritas, Take Down!" Charlie commanded, fists clenching.
Lunatone attempted to use Ancient Power once more, preparing another barrage to assault the junior psychic but was disrupted by a swift confusion from Veritas, who prepared to lunge with a Take Down.
Veritas shone brightly as a swirling mass of energy engulfed their entire body. They lunged at Lunatone, who attempted to dodge by dashing away, but Veritas swerved the direction he levitated mid-charge and pounced atop Lunatone's rocky body.
Lunatone crashed against the ground, the swirling mass of energy that was Veritas drove them deeper and deeper through sheer power and force. Eventually, the power dissipated.
Veritas winced in visible pain from the rebound, before reflexively dodging point blank Psybeam from Lunatone.
Lunatone levitated into the air again and shot several sets of Psybeams at Veritas.
Veritas dashed across the air, each Psybeam that Lunatone fired left deep holes on the ground. Eventually, Lunatone ran out of steam and had to shift plans. Opting for the double team strategy to stall time for recovery.
"Don't even!" Charlie shouted, a faint white outline of aura traced across his eyes once again. "Veritas, bottom left!"
It attempted to escape, but Veritas had already managed to pin-point their location and shot a confusion at the real enemy.
Lunatone's clones all unanimously threw themselves at Veritas, overwhelming the Beldum and causing white smoke to fill the entire cavern from the clones all exploding upon contact.
The moon caught no break as Veritas continued to pursue them. The crescent-shaped Pokemon used ancient power in its hurry, which managed to land against Veritas and impeded their pursuit, but the Beldum recovered after a couple of seconds and retaliated with another confusion.
This time, Lunatone managed to disrupt Veritas's confusion with a rock throw, hurling a large boulder at Veritas which slammed the Beldum against another mass of stone.
Lunatone accelerated through the air, releasing Psybeams in short bursts, despite its exhaustion. Due to Veritas being disorientated, it was hit by the first two Psybeams and avoided the rest of the barrage.
It had become a game of attrition. Both were exhausted, even the usually energizedVeritas was visibly distressed and its metal armor was battered. Lunatone's fatigue was much less noticeable, but its movement speed and attacks were clearly inferior to the beginning of the battle.
Charlie gritted his teeth, If he was going to turn the tides, it had to be now.
"Veritas!" Charlie called out, "Metal Claw!"
He activated Psychic Vision. Psychic Vision granted him a big boost to his overall understanding of his surroundings and could be useful in this battle. He avoided using it too much in this battle due to being unable to maintain it for a long duration, but now was an appropriate time.
Charlie could see everything around him. With Psychic Vision, he felt atop of this world. He hadn't ever used it in this manner during his training, so this was as good a test run as any
Lunatone streaked through the air, attempting to slightly close the distanceVeritas to harass them with ranged attacks.
Veritas also accelerated towards Lunatone, swerving through the air to avoid a stray Psybeam. Charlie could see it, he was processing information at an incredible, rapid rate…
He saw it.
The next move Lunatone was going to make.
Charlie could visualize the rocks beneath the surface shaking in turmoil, about to be pulled from place beneath them.
Using Ancient Power puts the user in a vulnerable position after initially summoning the stones…
"Now! Bullet Punch!"
He grinned as Veritas dashed with amazing speed, their rear claw glowing with steely power as the rocks shot up from the ground. Before Lunatone could even react, Veritas's bullet punch had already landed, right next to the moon's crimson eye, leaving a sizeable crack in its place.
Lunatone's eyes widened in pain as the ancient power was disrupted and they were crushed against the ground from Veritas's attacks.
"Metal Claw!"
Charlie could see it. Lunatone was in a position where a counterattack was impossible, it was the perfect opportunity!
Lunatone attempted to use Psybeam to throw them off, but the Beldum disrupted the attack with a powerful Metal Claw. Their sharpened claws impacted against Lunatone's rocky body and caused visible pain for the crescent-shaped Pokemon.
Lunatone was pinned against the ground. Charlie grinned, ignoring the wave of exhaustion which ran through him.
The only thing he felt was adrenaline, he needed to win. He wanted to win.
It was the perfect opportunity, everything became clearer to him once again. His vision focused, Lunatone struggled, attempting to create a hole in Veritas's offense.
The Beldum prepared another Metal Claw, Lunatone's eyes widened as they saw an opportunity to counterattack.
And so did Charlie.
Whilst Veritas reared back in preparation for Metal Claw, Lunatone took the opportunity to attempt to levitate into the air and use Psybeam-
But Charlie saw right through it.
Charlie grinned wildly, "Take Down!"
Instead of charging a Metal Claw, Veritas feinted, favoring a Take Down instead. The moon Pokemon was visibly distressed when they once more used Psybeam at the swirling mass of energy that was Veritas, and the attack simply bounced off.
Veritas shot forward, the shining Pokemon exploded into a brilliant light upon collision with Lunatone.
The blinding light didn't hinder Charlie, Using Psychic Vision, he could 'see' through the smoke.
The crescent-shaped Pokemon descended from the sky, crashing against the ground and leaving a small crater in its shape.
Veritas slowly descended towards the ground.
Lunatone had lost.
Charlie withdrew Lunatone, gripping the Greatball tightly.
He did it.
He turned to Veritas, their metal armor was all roughed up with scrapes all over.
"You did great, bud." Charlie complimented, patting Veritas's iron-hard body.
He smiled softly when Veritas grinned delightfully from the praise. Charlie then returned them to their Pokeball.
Charlie deactivated Psychic Vision and he felt a wave of exhaustion and nausea rush through him from the backlash. The recoil was so harsh he could barely stand.
Fuck…
From the corner of his eyes, he saw the previously silent Claydol hover over to him.
"Great job, Charlie."
He managed a small smile, and Claydol levitated away.
"I assume you've already made arrangements?"
"Yeah. I'll be departing on monday."
"Here. Your reward for these past three months of diligent training."
Charlie perked up at that, only to feel another wave of nausea rush through him as he found himself in a familiar forest…it was route 116.
"Your reward is not having to climb the stairs."
End Of Chapter
