"... That boy of yours is an idiot."
"That is the common consensus among those who know him, yes. You are not saying anything unexpected or surprising."
"You are also an idiot."
"... That's a little more unexpected, but somehow hearing you say that makes it less surprising."
"You allow that reckless child far too much freedom. The Sun Crow was an acceptable gamble; that ancient thrillseeker would let us get away with anything so long as it amuses her. But the Thunderhawk? That pompous prick would have destroyed half of Central Kanto if the boy had wounded its pride any further. And we would have to allow it too, to maintain the Truce."
"You presume too much of me if you expect me to able to control the boy."
"And you presume too little of me if you expect me to believe that."
"... You know what he is, what the thing he carries with him represents. It is not that simple."
"Of course I do. It's the only reason why I am helping you keep him a secret, rather than informing the League and watching their Black Ops Divison hunt you and your family down like dogs instead."
"..."
"Ah… No need to glare at me like that, Oak. You know if it ever comes down to that, it would just be business, yes? Anything to ensure the continued existence of Humanity…"
"... We have veered off topic. Trying to cage or restrain the boy would be a mistake. After his last imprisonment, confining him would only lead to distrust and resentment. If we are to mould him into something useful, we cannot afford anything less than complete loyalty."
"I am hardly asking you to shatter his mind into something malleable by locking him up in a Trick Room for a thousand years. A man of your calibre should already be preparing emotional shackles to chain him to our cause, yet I have seen little of that. Unless you would count your grandchildren among those shackles?"
"Their affairs are their own."
"You could have at least nudged your granddaughter to initiate a more physical connection with him. Starve of intimacy for so long, it should be no trouble for that ex-Ace of yours to seduce the boy. Perhaps she needs some motivation–"
"Agatha."
"Fine, fine. Rest your hackles. You are scaring the ghosts."
"... The situation is under control. But I agree with your point that it is not tenable, not at his rate of progress with his powers. It's part of the reason why I've come to visit you."
"Well, this should be interesting… You want me to train him?"
"His psychic prowess is developing by leaps and bounds. By next year's end, I will have nothing left to teach him, save perhaps if I bring in the more esoteric foreign experts. Or Sabrina."
"Which leaves his Distortion-manipulation abilities to be shored up, I suppose. Since I can't afford to leave this place without all of Eastern Johto being swallowed into the Void, I guess you must be bringing him here?"
"In two years, yes. Assuming he keeps his current pace of progress."
"Very well. It's been a while since I had a student gifted in the phantasmal arts. Given his unnatural affinity with the Void, this will be an interesting challenge indeed…"
"Then we are in agreement?"
"For now. There's still the matter of payment. And you will have to somehow keep the boy alive through the next two years, of course. Given the state of his body, and his tendency to throw himself headfirst at the closest Legendary he can find, you might find that task difficult."
"I'll manage somehow. In the meantime, I need you to–" ring ring "Hmm?"
"I didn't know the League has started issuing PokeNavs that work in Void Space. Go ahead, pick it up."
"Hello? Blue? What is… I see. And has she checked–? … Hmm, understood. Search the usual places, then check the satellite readings over the Seafoam Islands, Mount Ember, and the Central Kanto Power Plants. Inform me immediately if you detect a spike in activity. I'll be in touch."
"Good news?"
"The exact opposite. We will have to resume this another time. I have to go deal with a certain idiot."
"Don't let me stop you. The door's right there. Or, inter-dimensional hell portal, in our case."
"And Agatha?"
"Hm?"
"Threaten my family like that again, and I'll put you on the cross."
"As if you hadn't already. Why do you think I'm here, Oak? Listening in to the wailing screams of ten million souls being repeatedly eaten alive by a Kaiju didn't exactly factor into my retirement plans."
Chapter 4: Hell's Den of Macabre Sweetness
Blackness erupted all over the Ursaring's psyche, and all hell broke loose. Fear, anger, and — above all else — an overwhelming urge to protect its young from the hungry abyss flooded the monster's mind in a tidal wave of emotion. The previously dazed beast was instantly active, roaring in fear and confusion as it clawed at itself. My own will was crushed in an instant, the deluge of powerful sensations too sudden for me to put up even the slightest measure of resistance.
What happened next was unpleasant, to say the least. The explosive backlash ejected my fragmented psyche straight back into my head, and my unprepared mind spun from the impact. Blood leaked from my nose as a brain-splitting headache seized my concentration and I fell to my knees in agony. My psyche, previously split within the Ursaring's mind, struggled to recover as the fractured pieces danced and cannibalised upon the half-formed thoughts in my head.
I still had enough sense to look up, although part of me immediately wished I hadn't. In a rather unfortunate twist, the beast's simpler mind had allowed it to recover from the backlash first. Its bleeding eyes looked wildly around, before settling their maddened gaze onto me. I cursed as the ursine monster roared once more and charged straight at me, moving with such heartstopping agility that utterly belied its colossal frame. The beast would close the distance between us in mere seconds, leaving me no time to properly gather my psyche, much less recover. Cursing once more, I steeled myself for what was to come.
Mere moments before the beast trampled me in its rampage, I looked up and locked my bloodshot eyes with its bleeding ones. With every ounce of will I had, rather than repair my psyche, I split all three broken fragments of my mind once more, and with six tattered screaming blades, I forcefully plunged my will back into its ego.
Poor made as the mental blades were, numbers counted for something. Even with my damaged brain, a sixfold assault on an unprotected mind was still deadly. The Ursaring suddenly stumbled and diverted its charge away, narrowly missing me and crashing into the mountainside with a thunderous crack.
The beast clutched its head as it doubled over in pain, vomiting the contents of its stomach in a red slurry of human flesh, bones, and digestive juices. The nauseating smell, combined with the excruciating pain in my head, nearly made me pass out right there and then.
Tears were brought to my eyes by the acidic stench. I cried, or perhaps laughed, but I struggled on all the same. My six mental fragments tore and rend away at the beast's mind relentlessly, a far cry from the precise cuts made by the dagger from before. The air was filled with the sound of my keening wails as the Ursaring screamed in unholy agony.
The beast trashed in place, at one point nearly decapitating me with one of its claws. I tried taking a step back, but simply fell to the ground instead. My own body felt distant, hazy. All my focus was placed on tearing my opponent's mind apart even as mine collapsed and I convulsed uncontrollably on the ground. The creature's psyche was a mess now, its pulsating core almost fully exposed. With one final effort, I forced my six-split psyche to seize upon its brain with a swarm of jagged hooks and knives. Then, with a triumphant howl, I had the creature's mind torn in two.
The beast trashing abruptly ceased. A beat passed, then another, before finally, the monster toppled onto the ground, landing in its own vomit. Its melted brain leaked out from every orifice on its head, sizzling as they did so. My breathing was heavy as I curled up on the ground, clutching my head as I struggled to piece back together my six-fold broken psyche before I went insane. The pain was excruciating as my tattered mind began to physically unravel my brain.
If I did not bring it under control, the damage would be severe. At best, I would suffer permanent brain damage, and my companion's constant jeering of my stupidity would finally become a reality. At worst, my head could end up internally exploding like the Ursaring, which would also make my stupidity apparent to all.
I vomited on the ground beside me, heaving and gagging heavily until there was nothing left for me to puke up. Blood leaked from my eyes, ears, and nose, but I managed to hold my fractured mind together. Slowly and carefully, I untangled the mess that was my psyche and pieced them back together one broken shard at a time.
It was a painfully slow process. At one point, I had to bite my lip hard enough to draw blood just so I could force myself to stay conscious. Should I pass out now, I may never wake up. After an agonising eternity, my mind finally settled back together — damaged, but not permanently so. I continued lying curled up on the ground, my breathing weak as I waited for the pain to subside.
Eventually, the agony faded away enough for me to ignore. In my weakness, the urge to sleep nearly took over my mind completely. I forced myself to stand, knowing that I couldn't just pass out here. The job was yet unfinished, and in any case, resting there would be a suicidal mistake. The corpse of the Ursaring would no doubt attract all kinds of scavengers soon. Any one of them would eat me up in an instant if I lay nearby unconscious.
Step by agonising step, I pushed myself to walk up the path while using the cliffside as support. My head was in shambles, and I was in no condition to fight anytime soon. Thankfully, my senses informed me that there weren't any other threats nearby that I had to deal with for the time being.
The sun was almost out of sight by now, with only the last vestiges of light peeking over the horizon. Night crept in, and it became even harder to see the path in front of me. My psychic senses could still guide me to the cave, but my prowess was never as advanced as my companions, and navigation would be more difficult if I couldn't rely on light-based vision.
My pocket device had a torch function, but I did not want to use that in the open unless I absolutely had to. Shining that kind of artificial brightness this close to nightfall in the middle of a beast-infested forest was the kind of decision that deserves to have you killed — for the sake of humanity's collective evolutionary intelligence, if nothing else. In any case, I hastened my walk towards the cave.
It took me several minutes before I found the entrance, hidden behind a cluster of vines and dried mud. The pain had subsided somewhat, and I recovered enough to walk without relying on a nearby wall. The entrance to the cave was smaller than I expected — easily large enough for me to clamber into, but for the Ursaring it must have been a chore to get in or out. There was a thick stench of blood coming from within, but it wasn't anything worse than what I had suffered before. In any case, given that I have already retched out everything in my stomach a while back, I doubt the nauseating smell would be an issue.
This close now, my sense could make out the different psyches pulsating in the cave. There was barely any light entering the hovel. A few steps into the tunnel, and my surroundings became pitch black. My boots occasionally made a cracking noise as I stepped on some random piece of discarded bone. The odour of blood and feral musk grew stronger. As I approached, I began to hear the sound of flesh being chewed on, which abruptly cut off the moment I drew near. My senses told me I was only a few meters away from the cave's inhabitants and their unfortunate meal. After a little digging around in my pockets, I took out my phone and turned on its flashlight.
The sight before me was a terror to behold. There were bloody paw prints all over the walls of the cave. Some of them were the size of my head, while others would barely fit the palm of my hand. A pile of bloody, discarded bones belonging to various animals and beasts stood in the corner of the cave. Prop up against the wall a meter away from the bone pile was one of the rangers, looking closer dead than alive. His face was a swollen, purple mess and his eyes were swollen shut. He was still breathing, however, even if he sounded like a dying Wheezing.
The other ranger, or what's left of him, was a lot less fortunate. Two Ursas, both barely large enough to reach my knee, sat inside the corpse of the ranger. Their fingers were sticky with blood from picking apart the body. In fact, their entire body was almost coated head to toe in the sanguine liquid. The corpse itself had half its torso missing, with strands of flesh and viscera clinging to its frame. I could see the whiteness of its ribs, having been picked clean of meat by the baby Ursas.
His limbs remained untouched, but the head looked like it was chewed on, with bits of flesh and an eyeball missing. If the tear stains and horrified expression were any indication, it looks like he died screaming. The Ursas yelped when the device's light shined on upon them, their large eyes shutting close as they put up their little stubbly paws in front of their faces. One of them fell out from the corpse when it leaned back, tumbling onto the ground in a roll.
It was like a scene straight from a horror film, yet macabrely adorable at the same time. The two little Ursas made little high-pitched noises of distress as they tried to back away from me as I came closer. They huddled against each other in the opposite corner of the room, trembling in fear as I ignored them first to approach the still-living ranger.
Pokemon Threat Assessment
During the days of the Old League's Golden Age, a structured system was used to assess and categorise the threat level of Pokemon. The system, known as the Pokemon Threat Assessment Scale (PTAS), ranges from Tier 1 to Tier 10, with detailed criteria for each level. The scale takes into account several factors, including individual physical strength, supernatural abilities, agility, and general hardiness.
It should be noted that the system does not take into account the species' population density, habitats, or behaviours. The PTAS exists mainly as a rough gauge to categorise a Pokemon's individual destructive capabilities. It does not consider other factors — such as aggression or pack mentalities — that may increase its danger rating.
This means that although certain Pokemons may be of the same Tier, they may not necessitate the same level of precaution from local defenders. For example, a wild Venusaur and a wild Nidoking are both considered Tier 5 Pokemon, but the Nidoking is considered a far greater threat given its larger population and more active aggression against human communities.
The system survived the collapse of the Old League and has since been officially re-established in the wake of the New League for threat assessment purposes. It has thus far provided a clear and structured way for trainers to evaluate the dangers posed by wild Pokemons, allowing ranger outposts and travelling battlers to prepare and respond to potential threats effectively. Aside from being used to evaluate wild Pokemon, it has also since been used in the Battling Circuit to appraise the combat effectiveness of a Trainer's Pokemon.
AN
Thanks for reading. Next chapter will be up next Friday.
