"The power of...Psychic?" Red said to Mr. Psychic who levitated into the air, the teen looking at the spoon in his hand before he looked at the man with a determined expression. "How do I start?"
"Good spirit. Your first lesson is to learn to activate and deactivate your powers." Mr. Psychic said as he gestured Red to follow him to the table. "Basically, you're going to learn control."
"Control, huh?" Red thought about the word as he sat down and looked at the ground.
"Correct. Well, in order to control them, you must first learn the trigger to your powers." Mr. Psychic said while hovering into the air, pulling a teacup towards him. "Your switch, if you will."
"Ok, sir." Red nodded before he closed his eyes and stayed silent. Seeing this, Mr. Psychic smiled at the boy's inquisitive mind as the teen took a breath and calm himself down. 'He's a quick thinker but-'
"What are you doing, my boy?" The telepath asked to which the teen lifted a brow. "I'm a type of telepath, right? And using my telekinesis is like using Psychic, right? If that is the case, doesn't that mean that I need to clear my mind to use my powers?"
"Clear your mind? Hahahahaha!" Mr. Psychic hollered which confused Red before he wiped a tear from his eye.
"Umm. Did I do something wrong?" The ravenette scratched his cheek with a confused expression.
"Yep. You're sharper than I give you credit for. However, you couldn't be more wrong, kid." Mr. Psychic said before he sat by the table and poured water from the kettle. "You're misunderstanding a lot about your powers. And of course, Sabrina nor Fuji did not explain a thing to you about them."
"Hmm?" Red hummed as the man started to explain. "You see. Psychics need to clear their minds to use their telekinetic abilities however the same cannot be said for Channelers."
Going to the fridge, Mr. Psychic levitated several cups towards the table before he picked up the kettle while he continued with his explanation. "Channelers need to utilize their negative emotions to use their powers."
"So...my anger is the trigger?" Red deduced, getting a smirk from the man who nodded before he put down the cups. "Well, yes and no. Your negative emotions can range from sadness to jealousy."
"Oh! Negative emotions are needed to use my powers but if that's the case, doesn't my powers get stronger or weaker depending on my mental state?" Red said which got a nod from the man. 'He's a quick one.'
"That is correct. Remember your fight on the top of Lavender Tower against Team Rocket? How did you feel back then?"
Red tried to recall the event, Mr. Psychic intently watching the boy's behavior.
"I was...angry. Very angry. They hurt my Pokémon, they hurt Leaf and they did so much terrible things...including Marowak." Red said as he remembered the events, his hands tightened into his fists. "I wanted to beat the hell out of them. Maybe even ki-"
"We don't need to go into specifics." Mr. Psychic cut off the teen before he gave him a spoon. "You have an idea on how to activate them so the next step is to understand the feeling of activating and deactivating them. Now...let's get to work. Try to use your powers, the spoon will tell you when you're using them by changing color."
Red looked at the spoon, seeing it changing color much to his confusion. It then started to fluctuate in color which made the teen more confused as he rubbed his hair. 'I wasn't even using my powers.'
"Do you see what I mean?" He heard Mr. Psychic said, looking at the man who folded his arms. "Your powers are being used even without your knowledge. This is the reason for you to learn control over your powers: to avoid the side effects and to make sure that you do not lose your mind."
Hearing that from the man, Red wondered about his powers before he let out a sigh. 'It's all or nothing.'
After putting Togepi to sleep and recalling her into her capsule, Red readied himself as he closed his eyes and focused, the spoon turning from white to a light purple color until it turned back to normal.
"Nice job, kiddo. You got it to lavender. Can't tell if that's a coincidence but that's a nice attempt." Mr. Psychic said after seeing the teenager trying to use his powers, his crimson eyes flickering intermittently. "Why don't you take the time to clear your mind outside? It's not good to stay cooped up in one place for too long. You may get an idea on how to control your powers."
"Oh...ok." Red thought as his eyes landed on the utensil in front of him, the teen deciding to get up and leave the house, finding himself coming out of an alleyway as he looked around the place. "Now where do I go from here?"
Red decided to walk around Saffron City, looking for a place to practice his powers. On his walk around the city, he decided to shop for groceries at the supermarket and dropping them off within his room before he tapped his fingers on his chin.
'The abandoned train station should work.' He thought as he made his way towards his destination.
After a while, the red-eyed teenager reached the construction site, a smile on his face as he wandered the place, noticing a few items covered under the dust and cement bags.
"Who throws away a whole Max Revive and a Silk Scarf? In an abandoned construction site much less." Red commented while releasing Togepi and giving it a toy to play with. Taking a deep breath, he then sat down in a crossed-legged position, his mind resonating with the silence until he took out his spoon.
"Now how do I go about activating my powers? I was told that my powers were being used in the Lavender town incident." Red thought aloud as he looked at the utensil, memories of his battle with Team Rocket flooding my mind. 'Focus.'
Red thought about what Team Rocket had done at the time. The crimes that they had committed which made him frustrated.
'I'll never forgive them.' Those thoughts went through his mind as he remembered those events.
As he continued having those thoughts, the spoon in his hand darkened in color as his hands gripped the utensil tightly, almost like it would snap in two under his grip. Red's hair started to move wildly, his eyes glowing brightly while his mind was filled with negative thoughts. After several attempts, the teen started to become a bit emotionally exhausted before he rubbed his head.
"I swear. Knowing that I need anger and negative emotions to conjure my powers makes it harder for me to get angry." Red stated, lifting his gaze to the sky. He then lifted his spoon to his face, looking at it beginning to change colors. "Use my sadness and anger as my strength. That's quite the process."
He then tried again but this time, he remembered about the people who insulted him in the past, their voices echoing through his mind.
"You freak!"
Red remembered the words of the people that mocked him in Pallet Town. Those nightmarish memories echoed through his mind which made guilt and anger flow through his heart. His eyes glowed intensely when he started to rub his arms and chest, the teen unaware of the spoon becoming darker in color.
"You're just a demon!"
His eyes turned into a crimson glow as he felt his emotions stir within his stomach. Feeling a bit panicked, Red tried to regulate his breathing as he noticed the spoon's color. "Alright, it's almost black. C'mon...focus..."
"Nobody wants you. You should just die!"
A dark aura sprouted from his chest and then covered his body, the black energy being siphoned into the spoon which made it darken in color.
"Just die!"
Veins appeared on Red's forehead as he started panting. As he was focused on conjuring more of his energy, he heard his Pokegear ringing from his bag which broke his concentration.
"Who the hell is calling me right now?!" Red said in an irritated tone which surprised Togepi and Dusclops. Worried about her trainer, Togepi touched his chest, causing his aura dispersed which made him calmer before he answered the device.
"Hello?" Red answered his call only to hear nothing but static which made him confused. "It's not Leaf or Kim so who is it? Got any ideas, Togepi?"
Togepi simply chirped happily which made a smile came across Red's face. He then turned back to the device, seeing his Porygon appear on the screen.
"Virus, do you know who was calling?" Red asked.
"Bzzt! Negative! It was an unknown number! Bzzt!" The Pokémon responded.
Red was confused by that before he massaged his temples, feeling the veins on the sides of his head. The raven-haired trainer then felt his anger lessening, much to his surprise as he remembered his outburst.
"What happened back there? Why did I explode like that?" Red thought aloud before he noticed his spoon being a dark purple color. As the spoon slowly returned back to its original color, the raven-haired teenager held his head before he tried again to conjure his powers.
"Well, the good thing is that I'm getting the hang of my powers." Red commented before he noticed the spoon being a light purple color. "Let's try again."
He continued with experimenting with his powers, getting a bit of control over them as he relentlessly trained himself. After a while, it was almost nighttime, Red noticing the time before he saw a glow on the ground. Changing his Pokegear into photo mode, he saw that his eyes were glowing intermittently which made him a bit frustrated.
"Darn it." Red said, feeling his patience wavering which made the spoon change color before it returned to normal, much to his confusion. "Why isn't it working?"
Taking out his mirror and looking into his eyes, Red noticed that his eyes are no longer glowing anymore, much to his confusion. 'But why? Before I was able to get it much darker.'
"Let me try again." Red said as he tried to activate his powers, his eyes letting out a dim glow until it subsided. Letting out a huge sigh, the raven-haired teenager massaged his temples. "This is...gonna be much harder than I thought."
Hearing Togepi's grumbling knocked Red out of his stupor before he cuddled the fairy and made his way home, a bit happy that he gotten better at activating his powers. "It's ok, it's ok. Let's go home."
After he went home and finished his dinner with his friends and Pokémon, Red went into his room, using the silence to comfort himself as he tried to activate his powers.
'Hmm. Maybe it would be the same as me being able to sense and speak to the Pokémon around me.' The raven-haired teenager thought about his lessons with Mr. Tanaka as he took a deep breath, taking out a Cleanse Tag from his bag as he closed his eyes. 'If I think about it like this while trying to get angry, then...'
Red tried to activate his power, getting angry as he focused his sights on his shadow. His eyes glowed intensely, showing a crimson color as a dark aura emanated from his body before he saw Dusclops clearly within his shadow.
'Hmm. I can see what's within my shadow, huh? Looks spacious.' He thought before he noticed Misdreavus and a few other ghost Pokémon resting within it which surprised him. 'Mr. Psychic wasn't wrong. I was letting my power go out of control this whole time.'
Suddenly, Red felt a slight, sharp pain in his head, looking at the spoon in his hand to see that it is turning purple. After a while of conjuring his powers, he felt his vision starting to get blurry his heart beating quickly as he gritted his teeth while looking at his spoon.
'C'mon...get darker...' Red thought as he watched the utensil slowly changing color. After a while, Red's eye began twitching as his grip onto the spoon became tighter as he started to become impatient.
"He said that it gets darker when I use my powers so why does this take so damn long?!" Red said angrily, his aura getting stronger before it began to envelop his body, his eyes completely focused on the utensil in his grasp.
After a while, he noticed that the spoon in his hand transformed into a black color which made him smile as he panted heavily.
'Nice. I...did it.' He thought as he held up the black utensil with an exhausted smile. 'Finally, now ho-'
Suddenly, he felt an immense pain through his head which made him clutch his head as he squirmed on his bed.
'I can't stop myself!' Red thought as his headache intensified.
His groaning and squirming awaken Togepi who sleepily touched him, its glowing hand causing his aura to weaken. Feeling the pain subsiding, Red panted heavily, dropping the spoon as his body fell on his bed.
'I gotta try again...' He tried to move but he was rewarded with failure, his muscles and body staying stagnant until he fainted out of exhaustion for the rest of the night.
It was a few days since the day he had started to train on how to use his powers.
Since the night he was able to successfully conjure his powers, the teen trained endlessly to activate his powers. Although he was able to gain considerable process in activating his powers, the problem came behind how to deactivate it. Despite his use of the Spell Tag or learning anger management techniques, he still failed in suppressing his negative emotions. Reaching a stalemate, the teen decided to visit Mr. Psychic to have more understanding and seek help about how to control his powers.
On one early morning, Red made his way to Mr. Psychic's house, bags under his eyes as he took out an energy drink to keep himself awake. Reaching the house, the boy noticed Mr. Psychic enjoying the light breeze at the entrance of his house until the man saw him. As the two locked eyes with each other, the elderly man inspected Red intently before he nodded in content, a smile came across his face as he spoke. "Show me what you have learnt so far."
Red nodded before he took out his spoon, the teen focusing on it as his eyes began to glow. Mr. Psychic watched as the spoon began to get darker in color as it absorbed the black aura seeping out of Red's body. As the spoon started changing from lavender to a black color, the man let out a smile until he noticed the teen's hair moving wildly and his scarlet eyes turning crimson.
Recognizing the boy's pupils becoming white, the elder's facial expression changed into one of worry as he spoke. "Try to stop your power."
"Got...it." Red said, taking deep breaths and closing his eyes shut to calm himself but it ended up in failure as the spoon started to glow.
"Keep calm." Mr. Psychic said, Red gritting his teeth as he started getting annoyed. "I'm...trying."
Running to his bag, the teen went into his bag and took out his Cleanse Tag, wrapped it around his arm which caused his aura to weaken before he stared at the ground.
'C'mon, stop!' Red thought desperately. 'Please stop.'
Mr. Psychic noticed the Cleanse Tag beginning to tear and burn while Red kneeled to the ground. Red began to punch the ground, ignoring the pain ringing through his knuckles as he had one goal on his mind: to deactivate his powers. After a while, the glow in his eyes disappeared which caused his aura to disappear.
"That...was...tiring." Red said, panting heavily while he tightly clutched his chest. "...it's...finally over..."
Mentally exhausted, Red pushed himself from the ground and rubbed his aching head. Seeing the scene in front of him, Mr. Psychic walked up to the boy with a cup of tea in his hand and handed it to the ravenette. "Take this."
As he drank some of the tea, Red looked at the spoon on the ground, seeing the utensil returning back to its regular color.
"How do you feel now, Red?" The elder asked.
"Tired...mostly..." Red said as he massaged his temples. The telepath watched the raven-haired teenager who was able to catch his breath. "I'm...alright now."
"Hmm." Mr. Psychic hummed while inspecting the boy before he spoke. "Try again to activate your power but this time, only activate a little. Make the spoon lavender."
Red obeyed, letting out a sigh as he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, his hand gripping the spoon as it started to change to lavender.
"Good. Hold that power output. Control your anger. Take deep breaths."
Red did as told, the teen trying his best not to conjure any more energy. This continued for a while, the Cleanse Tag on the ravenette's arm beginning to burn and tear until it has disappeared. Once the paper has fully disintegrated, a sharp pain coursed through Red's head which did not go unnoticed by Mr. Psychic. At this moment, the man noticed that the spoon began to quickly turn darker which made him worried.
"Alright! Try to stop your power." He commanded, Red immediately followed but the teen began to find it difficult to do so. Red remembered the teacup, drinking the tea which managed to calm him down. Able to think clearly, the teen took out another Cleanse Tag that he slapped it on his arm, the piece of paper causing his power to subside.
"Good job." Mr. Psychic commended the boy before he spoke telepathically. 'In the span of a few days, you have gotten a considerable control over your power. Not enough to use your full power but it is enough for us to go to the next step once you're able to exercise your control over it for the next several days. Let me know if you have any problems right now.'
"Well...I've gotten the hang of activating my powers but stopping them is a whole other story." Red said as he tried to calm himself down, his eye twitching as their glow began to dissipate. "I guess clearing my mind is able to stop my power from going amok but I never knew it was this hard.
Red looked at the Cleanse Tag on his arm as he continued. "I had to resort to using Cleanse Tags to do it now but it takes two or more of them to control and stop it from getting out of control. I'm at my last Cleanse Tag now. The first few times I've used it, I never had any problem turning it off, I wonder why."
'It's because of your Togepi.' Mr. Psychic answered as he gestured the teen inside his house.
What he said caught Red by surprise until he realized what he meant.
'Togepi is a fairy Pokémon that brings out the positive emotions of the people around them, especially their trainers. This is good in your case.' Mr. Psychic explained to the ravenette who raised a brow. "Huh?"
"You have a good handle on understanding how to activate your powers but when it comes to deactivating your powers, you're slow at doing this naturally but you are smart in using the Cleanse Tags to do so. Since this method is much more taxing than expected, you will need to find another surefire way of controlling your emotions. Togepi would be a good option but knowing you, you're not going to go down that route, especially since it's a baby." Mr. Psychic said as he lifted a mirror and put it in front of Red, the glass showing the teen's disheveled appearance. "Right now, it's all about balance. You should focus on taking one step at a time. The process of control is different for each Channeler. It's possible that you have some repressed emotions."
"Hmm..." Red nodded as he looked at his hands. "Repressed emotions?"
"It could be linked to your sealed memories but on another hand, think of it like this." The elder poured the water into the smaller glass until it is full. "Psychic Pokémon have a move called Calm Mind that clears their mind to increase their psychic prowess, increasing both the power output and control over said power."
He then poured the water into another glass until it is full, some of it nearly spilling on the table.
"However...for Dark and Ghost Pokémon, they use a move called Nasty Plot which increases power exponentially, making their power uncontrollable and unstable. This is the same for Psychics and Channelers." Mr. Psychic explained as he levitated the two glasses in front of Red. He then lifted the smaller cup that is almost full.
"For Psychics, they calm their mind which allows their body to store and utilize the power without many drawbacks but they need to be focused in order to do so and they can limit themselves and control the power they have stored up. This makes it that they do not get overwhelmed by their power boost. Like this water cup, the cup shows the increase in Special Defense that is able to control the water which is Special Attack."
Mr. Psychic then levitated the other cup that is almost full, some of the water spilling as he began to spoke.
"However, unlike Psychics, Channelers' powers are sort of a double-edged sword, it focuses completely on power and nothing else so if you're not careful, you will get overtaken by that power. There is no increase in Special Defense which is the cup which makes the Special Attack start to overtake the person using the power. In this case, you."
Hearing this, Red thought about the situation as Mr. Psychic lowered both glasses on the table. The teenager's eyes then widened in realization before he turned to the old man. "So that's why you wanted me to exercise control?"
"Exactly." Mr. Psychic smiled before his expression changed into a serious one.
"Think of it like this. Psychics need to train their mind in order to conjure the powers that they have. Like calm mind, they have to make sure that their vessel is able to maintain their psychic powers." Mr. Psychic explained to Red who took notes of the man's words. "The same cannot be said for Channelers. Although you have an aura, it's unusually unstable because unlike Aura Guardians and Psychic, Channelers are vessels that channels their ghost energy. Your body is unable to use the energy you produce to strengthen yourself, only channel it through ghost items and Pokémon which leads you all to deal with the full extent of the side effects of the powers. Some of you have some abilities but it varies depending on your family heritage."
"Really?" Red had a pensive look on his face. "Were there any Channelers that are able to control and use their powers?"
"Not a lot but yes. Most Channelers usually seal their powers. As for the ones who actively use their abilities, there are only three I know so far."
"One is a Gym leader of our sister region, Johto, a man named Morty who uses his powers to see into the future. The second is an Elite Four member of our region, the Black Witch, Agatha. As for the last one, it is..." Mr. Psychic pointed at Red. "...your mother, Helen Fires."
"My mom?" Red said, thinking about what the man said before he shook his head in confusion. "Wait! How? I've never seen Mom use her powers. Plus, didn't you say that my mother was overwhelmed by her power?"
"That is correct." Mr. Psychic got up and paced around the room. "But before that, she had immense control over her powers. To the point that your house has been protected by ghosts the whole time. She was even able to neutralize your powers with her own until she lost her mind."
"What?" Red's eyes widened in shock as he heard that, his eyes slightly glowing which did not go unnoticed by the old man. Taking a deep breath and calming down, his eyes dimmed before he spoke up. "Then...she knew..."
"Yes. She did. But that is all in the past now." The man said as he went into the kitchen and took another spoon. "Now is for you to control your powers. Your next lesson after this will not be as easy as this one."
Giving the spoon to Red, the man smiled as Red looked at the spoon, Mr. Psychic floating into the air before he took out several black paper seals in his fingers. "I need you to find these seals within the next 5 days. Mr. Tanaka from Lavender has taught you on how to sense auras and ghosts so I can skip the lesson. Think of it as another way to help you control your powers."
The papers in his hands suddenly flew out of his hand and went out of the door, Red running outside to see them going to different sections of the city, much to his surprise. Red then turned to Mr. Psychic who smiled at him as he took a sip of his tea.
"Now your training begins, Red Fires."
It was nighttime at the outskirts of Saffron City near the Underground Tunnel, Sabrina and the police officers were inspecting around an unknown section of Route 5, their Pokémon sniffing around the area. Reaching an entrance to a cave, the gym leader noticed a few discarded Potion vials before turning to the officers.
"This is the place?" Sabrina asked as she hovered around the entrance.
"Yes. There have been reports of trainers going missing around this route." Officer Jenny explained as they shine their flashlights within the cave. "When we went in here before, it was like something was pushing us away so that's why we asked you."
Looking within the cave, Sabrina let out her Abra who used Flash to light up the place. The group wandered in the cave, some of the officers finding vials of Potions and Black Sludge on their way.
'This is underneath the abandoned train station.' Sabrina thought as she explored further into the cavern, the woman feeling a weird feeling before she noticed an invisible barrier in front of her.
'Hmm, strange. This is a well-crafted barrier to avoid detection.' The telepath thought as she lightly touches the barrier, feeling an overwhelming force that repelled her arm, much to her surprise. 'It's stronger than I thought. Alright then...'
"Step back!" Sabrina said to the police officers before she stood in front of the barrier.
Taking a deep breath, the woman's eyes glowed intensely as she hovered into the air and outstretched her hands. Everyone felt an powerful pressure as Sabrina's eyes glowed yellow as hair floated. She then placed her hands on the barrier, her fingers glowing as she pushed them through the veil, making it crack.
"Woah! She's no joke..." A male officer mumbled before another put her hand over his mouth. "Shh. She needs to concentrate."
Sabrina's body started glowing as she ripped the barrier apart, the cracks spreading along the shield. After a while, the barrier was destroyed by the raven-haired woman who fell on one knee to catch her breath, much to the officers' surprise. "Are you ok, Ms. Sabrina?"
"Yes. That barrier...was more...powerful than I expected...let's continue..." Sabrina panted before she got up and flew into the cave, the police officers following her.
The group continued on their exploration, cracks being heard from every step they take before one of the officers looked down to see black scales on the ground which confused them as they crouched down and inspected the items.
"What on earth is this?" One of them said as they put on some gloves and picked up the scales. "These are some huge scales."
"It looks like it's the same scales as the Arbok you fought, Ms. Sabrina." Officer Jenny said as she showed the gym leader the scale, the woman had a worried look on her face. "This isn't good."
"Where does this cavern lead to?" Sabrina asked, one of the officers took out a map. "Let's see. It leads to...oh."
"What's wrong? Where does it-" Officer Jenny bumped into Sabrina before she looked to see a sewer system.
"Saffron's sewer system..."
"Of course. That could explain its huge size."
"I don't think the sewer alone could make it that big. And there's mostly Grimer, Muk, Trubbish and Garbodor here. Not the perfect diet."
Sabrina looked at the sewer system before she descended there, her Abra taking the police officers with her. Reaching into the sewer floor, the group continued, the Psychic warding any Pokémon from them. After some time of walking, the group saw a huge crater, pieces of grass and roots sticking from the cracks.
"Roots?" The police officer said as they took pictures and let their Pokémon inspect the area.
"This is the place that they stated that the titan Arbok came from, according to some of the sewer workers." Officer Jenny explained to the gym leader who was searching around the place.
After they finished their inspection, they were only able to pick up a few vials along with some black liquids on the ground.
"There is not much we can find but we need to check if this is similar to that drug that they used in Celadon." Some of the officers deduced as they made their notes. "We are going to have to run another inspection."
Sabrina was quiet while she observed the place before she looked up and squinted her eyes.
"Hey. Where are we exactly in Saffron?" Sabrina asked as she looked up at the ceiling.
"Ok. Let me check. We're under..." Officer Jenny checked the map before her eyes widened in disbelief, Sabrina understanding the look as the officer finished her statement.
"We're under Silph Co."
Alright, Red's training arc with his powers begin. Sorry about the delay. I finally got some time to update on this and write down this chapter. Honestly, I'm looking forward to showing Red's powers later in this arc. This will be just a simple chapter. Next chapter will get the ball rolling for the training.
Also, I've been checking a few of my early chapter and my word, I'm sorry that you all had to went through all that. My writing was ass for those first parts. I'll be redoing a lot of them to make them less bearable to get through. Really, thanks to all of you for going this far through all of that for me. You really didn't have to. I really hope that you guys enjoy the holiday. I hope that you all enjoy yourselves and please take care.
Enigma out!