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"speech"

'thought'

"English"


Void and veil-Getting ready

6 weeks later

"Psybeam," I said to my partner, psychic energy ripped through the air coursing Chewtle to use protect, a blueish-green energy formed around him, neutralizing the shot.

"And swap," Gran commanded. Hatenna left the arena through her own barriers as Yamper entered. 'Doing alright, Hatty?' I asked her, receiving indignation in response, 'OK, OK. Just let me know if you need any energy. You're fighting and maintaining the barrier at the same time,' I sent her my own concern this time and received exasperation in response.

"Water gun," Sonia commanded Chewtle. As Yamper accelerated into a spark attack, straight through the water. They were getting better.

After about 15 minutes the fight came to an end with Yamper knocked unconscious by Sonia and Chewtle, like I said better. But Chewtle and Yamper would always have trouble operating by themselves without a LOT of drilling and training, they were simply too animalistic.

"Excellent work, Sonia. You're doing well with both Yamper and Chewtle," Gran praised. Sonia cheered in response. And literally jumped for joy.

As gran waited for Sonia to calm down she waved me over, "Now children we will be stopping early today, we need time to pack for our trip to Hammerlocke tomorrow. Remember we'll be gone for a month and then heading to Motostoke for the opening ceremony."

"Jericho," Gran got my attention specifically.

"Yeah, Gran?" I was curious now.

Gran continued after getting my attention, "After the ceremony, there's some people who want to meet with you and Hatenna." Ah, I think I have an idea who. And so does Hatty if the images of a Hatterene and Togakiss alongside leader Opal appearing in my head are anything to go by. "Got it, Gran," I confirmed.

As we all returned to the house I took notice that summer was right around the corner, the flowers were in full bloom and the leaves and grass were a fresh green, it was a hot one today.

Sonia raced upstairs as soon as we returned to the house, giggling the entire time with Yamper and Chewtle in tow.

"Time we start to pack as well," I informed my partner and gran at the same time. I felt irritation from Hatty directed at my sister, again, 'Yeah, I know. Just keep focusing on my calmness.' I rolled my eyes. Hatty huffed, as I followed Sonia upstairs and entered my room.

This was the last day I could do the rituals before the trip. There's no telling how chaotic it will be at the training school and gran was probably reading her textbooks again like every other time we'd back come from training. And I knew Sonia was going to be taking a bath then packing all her things, or what she could take on the road anyway. It's all she'd been able to talk about today, she was so excited.

This was a good chance, first on the agenda is getting an actual combat knife and some throwing knives. 3 old stainless-steel utensil knives, from the kitchen, would serve as a base I could reshape and reinforce.

A primary circle with a slightly smaller inner circle representing oxygen, followed by a solid arrow facing northeast and representing iron. Then a black circle dot in the center for carbon followed by two descending in size circles for dioxide down the arrow's tail to release oxygen into the air and finally a, T, With three loops at the end of the arrow's tail. Ash wood would be placed in the circle for extra carbon.

Making a perfect circle was hard, but the chalk I got from gran would allow for corrections on the chalkboard, that I'd placed on the floor. Putting one of the knives and some of the ash wood in the circle I prepared myself, 'Alright, here we go, Hatty.'

Hatty teleported onto my bed as I began putting everything together, calculating the grams and centimeters to try and prevent alchemical rebound. I put my hands on the circle and felt energy begin to draw into the circle from the surrounding area as I activated it and began poring in my own energy, then in a flash of blue energy, the knife in the circle changed as the leftover material disintegrated.

"Holy shit, it actually worked," I whispered under my breath. I picked up the throwing knife from the circle, checking it over, it was a bit blade-heavy, but I could rap the hilt. It had an edge but would need sharpening, overall, it wasn't bad. I smiled and showed the smaller stiletto blade to Hatenna, "It worked," I couldn't help but smile.

Hatty sent pride to me as I replaced the elements in the circle and transmuted two more times, for two more knives. Brilliant, that's three throwing knives. I placed the blades on my dresser next to the large grey-furred bandolier I had made from several of the Skwovet we had hunted. Along with several belt grey furred pouches I had also made, not well mind you but usable.

OK, next up, combat knife. I placed two large utensil spoons along with a butcher knife that I had… Procured from the kitchen as well, gran never used it anyway. Along with another piece of ash wood, the last of it, actually. This would be harder, more material means more calculating.

Alright, I put my hands on the circle and began to pour energy into the alchemical array. Then I began the process of forming the combat knife.

I'd missed something, the measurements? Or maybe something was missing? Because as the knife finished I found myself in agony, my arms were on fire. I bit back a yell into a strangled whimper and grit my teeth, groaning with every forced breath, trying not to scream.

Feeling Hatty panicking, I opened my eyes having realized they were screwed shut and saw the state of my arms. Dozens of deep gashes through skin and muscle, hundreds of tiny cuts, my arms were one big bruise and missing pieces of skin otherwise. "Shit, Shit, Shit," I hissed out as the blood dripped down me.

I was in the middle of trying not to have a full-blown panic attack. This was different from my body's most recent changes, where the pain built up and would black out. It was fast, all at once, and I had to focus.

Then I was struck by several life dew's and a heal pulse "Ahhh," I hissed, the blinding pain was dulled, but the hot throbbing persisted more so as the wound on my arm began to knit itself together, stopping the bleeding. All I could do was pant and wonder how bad the damage had been, while the cooling blood and sweat fell from me.

"Thank you, you-. Thanks," I praised the now panting Pokemon, she had put a lot into that. Struggling to control my breathing my limbs shakily obeyed as checked over my arms, still some small cuts and bruises, and the gashes had scabbed over. Then I received comfort and reassurance from my exhausted partner.

I Looked at the steel tanto-pointed knife which had formed in the middle of the circle. "It was an Alchemical rebound, I think, I messed up the amount of carbon a larger blade would need. It used material from my body to compensate," I explained, ignoring my still burning and now itching arms.

Hatty seemed to understand if the tiered nod she gave was anything to go by, as she continued to soothe my pain.

*Sigh*

"Dammit," I shuck my head, pulling myself together, and checking my arm movement. "Ok, the knife looks good," I picked up the blade checking it over, it looked good, very good... Well, it bloody better be, I technically used pieces of myself to make it.

*Sigh*

"Come on, this curse ritual-," I was unable to finish because apparently, Hatty wasn't having it. The little witch teleported us both to my bed which I landed on with a thump, followed by Hatty slumping on top of me tiredly.

"Oww, OK, OK. You're right, we should rest a bit," I submitted to my friend's wishes. 'We need to find out more about the tower and magi circle as well, I know I was narrowing down the library books through the past few weeks. There's so much to do,' I sighed again. Hatenna cooed at me a sent reassurance, though I could feel her own exhaustion.

'Rest up, for now, we'll wait a couple of hours, if it's anything like the alchemical reactions, we should wait until Sonia and gran are asleep, so we aren't distracted, we probably should have put up a barrier too,' Dammit I'm rushing again, what if you'd affected the house.

Taking a deep breath I looked at my still throbbing arms, 'For now I'll wrap my arms with some old T-shirts and start packing, Ok?' Hatty didn't look happy at my request, sending an image of my recently damaged arms, after several reassurances that I wouldn't overdo it I got to work.

Hatty is five and is the one looking after the adult in a child's body, damn it. I had spent years constantly studying and preparing in one way or another. The only breaks I took were for my family or when I had to deal with that Joy and Jenny pair at the lab. Then as soon as I had been able I had thrust myself (and my partner) head first into a dangerous situation, several actually if you include the mind link. And recently, I had been training for nearly 18 hours a day for 2 months. Though I did take more breaks now, thanks to Hatty and Sonia, the two who I was often training with. So maybe I am doing better, well, better than I was at least, reading wasn't physically exhausting, but still, it was hard to let go and relax. And isn't that a red flag, at least I was self-aware enough to know that.

After an hour or so, I'd packed almost everything I would need for the trip. My new clothes, courtesy of Sonia, were hung up for tomorrow. That shopping trip was a nightmare, Sonia wanted a break, and guess who got dragged along? Three. Bloody. Hours modeling for my sister and an ear piercing, a silver pentacle now dangling from my left ear. Apparently, it amused her, she just had to have the whole love for shopping thing going on, never again.

*Shudder*

My feet still hurt. Meh, whatever makes her happy, At least I was able to pick my own stuff, contrary to what Sonia had picked out, though I am convinced she was messing with me at that point.

Still, I liked the new clothes. A black trench coat, a white shirt, and black slacks with a gray tie. Why, because it reminded me of John Constantine and Edward Elric, from the telly back home. According to Sonia I looked, all official and adorable, her words not mine. Speaking of clothing, I need to clean my black boots.

My arms were wrapped now with a torn shirt now and a jumper was put on to hide the wrapping. Time for some berries I think, no meat today, well, no filling meat, At least it would help heal my arms. Then a shower to clean off. The witch-to-be seemed pleased at the plan at least, if her appearance on my head was anything to go by.


Lunch with the family was done, with some berries stealth-fully taken. Shower, complete, and shirt rags thrown out.

I was in the library now trying to pass the time and ignore the burning in my arms as they finished healing, they would decently scar, I could already see the angry pink skin taking its place.

*Sigh*

It could have been worse, I am not dead at least.

Now let's see, legends, white towers, mages, mirage tower, no that's in Hoenn. Celestial tower, no that's Unova. Hmm, I spent a few hours going through several other books on legends and folklore but had yet to find anything concrete, though the story of the coupes train had got my attention, mostly because, A; we would be taking a train tomorrow and, B; My parents in this world had died under mysterious circumstances on a train platform.

Honestly, the things I find in this library surprise me at times. Gran had bought some random books from all kinds of different places when she learned of my interest in the occult, I think she was just glad I was reading so young. But it meant that these books were all over the place, literally and figuratively.

Hatenna cried out across the room, getting my attention while holding a book in her telekinetic grasp, the wondering spire. Well, well, well, what do we have here? This book is old, very old. I looked at the page Hatty had open and facing me; The wandering spire, also known as the Endless library or Guardian tower, is a tall white tower with a gleaming bell, or more accurately it was. What? That matches my description to a tee.

I continued reading; The tower was first made famous in the Galar/Kalos war, almost 1000 years ago.

Well, at least I had a time frame, that war was over two thousand years ago by the current time. The same war mentioned in the games X and Y. The previous great war.

The book continued; According to my information, the tower, was reportedly an old church spire. Turned to storage for numerous old books thought of as heretical at the time. However, with the constant fighting back then it became ignored in favor of the war effort.

Well, I can definitely confirm that, I chuckled thinking of all the magic books and the like I had seen.

The tower was within range of the ancient weapon when it was fired. Several young soldiers and their Pokemon, from both sides of the conflict, allegedly took shelter within, according to battlefield reports of fleeing troops. I still can't believe it humans and Pokemon working together, however, during the aftermath of the weapons firing and the mass confusion and death on both sides, it would take countless weeks for people to realize that the soldiers that entered were still missing, along with the tower itself. Humanity would begin to blame Pokemon for this catastrophe. Ironic then that it was a human who did this out of love for his Pokemon, yes.

Well shit, that's sad. I can hypothesize all day about the energy from the ancient weapon coming from the veil, or what it could do to the soldiers and Pokemon. Maybe there's a link between the circle and the tower? The tower had information from all over so perhaps not, on the other hand, all that info looked to be magical or similar, so perhaps. Great, something else to look into.

I kept reading; The tower has reportedly been seen since then, though the connection was never made because people only ever saw a crumbling tower that didn't belong. From the old Indigo Empire to Unova, Galar, and once more Kalos. Reports persist of people entering the tower only to show them as turning up hours later having never exited or even remembering the event after the tower is long gone, or simply never returning.

OH, SHIT that isn't good. But then who'd believe such a story? I mean, I'm not exactly screaming it from the rooftops. And if anyone asked me, I'm not going to tell them, am I? The veil could be put at risk.

I took the book from Hatennas telekinetic grip. Research log, Team Galactic survey corp, Professor Lawrance Laventon... What the hell? Where did gran get this? That's the professor from pokemon legend's Arceus. I must have been thinking loudly because I sensed confusion from the little psychic.

'The Team Galactic survey corp was an organization that helped settle Hisui. Before the land was conquered by the Indigo Empire, and it was renamed Sinnoh to calm the diamond and pearl clans who had wanted to rename it at the time. Or the, savages, as history remembers,' I could only frown at that, they were only known as the savage clans nowadays. Very few knew of the diamond and pearl clans. I made a mental note to look for more of Laventons books in the library, Cynthia's ancestor might have been a twat, but she was cool as far as I knew, and had a thing for history. Is she a champion Yet?

'Professor Laventon assisted the survey corp, making the first known Pokedex. On his later return to Galar he became a researcher for the royal family,' I informed my friend. Hatenna let out a small coo of confirmation.

'Come on,' I thought to the witch-in-training, I quickly moved out of the library as Hatenna teleported back onto my head. I moved through the hallway and down the stairway. "Gran!" I called out, trying to find where in the house she was. "Jericho?" gran responded from the living room.

I quickly entered the blue-clad room, though on entering realized she was actually the attached conservatory. Walking through the living room to the half-octagon room, each wall was a window, except for the lilac-colored ones at the entrance. Numerous plants covered the room, and a white-topped oak octagon-shaped table sat between two small cream-colored sofas. Gran was sat in the one facing the garden, book in hand.

"Gran," I started. "Yes, dear?" Gran asked before I could continue. "Gran, I-, we found an old book in the library. It's very, very old, I wanted to ask where you got it?" As I spoke, I lifted the book in question, showing her.

"My, my that's quite the old book indeed," Gran sat up straighter. "Yes, I know that book though, it belonged to one of our ancestors actually, his journal, " I could only blink dumbly at Grans words. 'I'm not sure how to respond to that information,' I thought to myself. Then it was quiet for a second, then two, then three-, then I received a nudge from my partner and found my voice. "Is that right?" I finally responded.

"I'm surprised, Jericho. I thought you would have read through the older books first," she chuckled. Oh, I will be now. "To be completely honest, I was expecting to have this conversation with you a while ago. Those books are family heirlooms, our history. Not every generation adds to the collection of course, but well you've seen our library," The older woman finished with a smile. Well, that explained that I suppose, still somewhat shocking. But it explained a few other things as well, I thought back to the talisman I had made, one that worked. Perhaps I had an ancestor in the circle, or was it simply luck?


After spending more than a few hours searching the library I had found a few more of Professor Laventon's books, some complete with sketches and ancient photos, I'd placed them in the library's desk for when I figure out what to do with them? Maybe I can ask Leon to contact Cynthia when he becomes champion. I'd asked gran while on the subject, she'd confirmed Cynthia was indeed Sinnoh's champion, albeit a new one.

With nothing else of interest found, me and Hatty returned to my bedroom, where I had pulled out the materials that we would need for the coming ritual of apathy, and the spell of solace. When all was said and done, we were coming up on the midnight hour, had it really been that long?

Right then the first is the ritual of apathy, for Hatenna in case I was otherwise unable to provide a calming influence for her, which is good because my false calm which is good for keeping me focused is just that Faux, fake a facade. I was forcing my emotions through sheer fucking will and while being naturally calm generally did help, it had cracked at times. I couldn't let it break without a fail safe in place, and considering what we could be facing in the future... Well, better safe than sorry.

The ritual would act as a damper on strong emotions, so long as it was placed around her and not on her. The second, the spell of solace was to help with pain because I was already sick of getting hurt, I am not a masochist, thanks.

Let's see here, white candles at each point of the chalk-drawn pentagram. Next a piece of amethyst, I'd have to put that back in Gran's jewelry box when I was done, on the center points. With some fresh wood, ash in this case, with fresh lavender, rosebud, and jasmine on top in the center. 'Ready?' I asked my partner, I received a nod of confirmation.

I placed a lanky wax poppet doll with a piece of Hatty's hair wrapped around it. This was placed at the top of the pentagram, the spirit point. Then Hatty stood in front of it outside the circle I was now drawing around the star slightly below the five points, turning it into a pentacle. Then I stood between the earth and fire points. On a side note, I'm getting good at circles.

I checked my watch. 'Here we go,' I thought out to my partner as I lit the candles, I kneeled down, both hands on the circle, now waiting for the clock to strike midnight, not necessary, but it was my first ritual, I am not taking chances, and it should mean the veil is slightly thinner, right here right now.

I exhaled as I heard the grandfather clock in the library let out its first chime. I used the new control I had of my abilities to form a circular field of energy under the pentacle. Then feed energy into it and the materials, the clock continued to chime.

As the clock began its next chime, Hatenna grasped the five candles' flames with her telekinesis flinging the fire at the center of the pentacle igniting the wood and herbs.

The final chimes were upon us, I spoke in English, "Earth, wind, fire, and air you are called to the spirits and they to use, heed our call, to guard against the most zealous and chaotic of feelings, to bring peace, calmness, and neutrality when faced with anger, irritation, and rage. So, mote it be!" The twelfth came rung out. And my own and Hatennas energy acted as fuel being pulled toward the center of the circle, without input and the burning wood and herds were incinerated I could feel the extra heat, but the flame had remained calm. Then it was gone, no fire, no wood, no herbs. I looked at Hatenna who was examining herself, white halos surrounded her center mass, reacting steadily with her aura. So, that's what a benevolent curse looks like?

Hatenna seemed rather pleased, 'Hold your Ponytas, little witch, we got one more to test,' I thought out to her, hoping it still worked. The new witch shook herself and refocused on me, thank goodness.

I removed my new pentacle earring and took some of the crushed and dried rosemary and thyme with willow leaves and some powdered, clear quarts from my filled belt satchel. I focused my energy, flowing it into the selected items, "Bring relief and solace to this one," I spoke in my mother tongue once more, the energy disintegrated the shredded and powdered items I held, and, and my arms no longer stung. Ha! I'm a bonafide warlock, "It worked," I switched back to Galarian as I talked to my partner, grinning into the night.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

"Jericho it's midnight, go ta' sleep" Came Sonia's muffled yell down the hall. Whoops. Hatenna looked proud.


N/A: Twelfth chapter complete, works still kicking my arse, and the holidays are making things more hectic but I will keep getting these out as fast as I can. Happy Yule to everyone, and have a happy new year, be safe and I will see you all in 2023.

Amaruk1701- regarding specialist typing, Jericho will more than likely be a mixed trainer with 3-4 different types, though he might end up as a psychic specialist, coming up to that chapter in my drafts.

mangouschase1- Jericho is acting weird in chapter 7, because he had a very strange experience and was mentally effected by the tower. Hes also in pain again.

Sir Da Bomb- thank you once again for the support I will have to check that later when I have more time.