The Psychic Phenomenon: Telepathy

The phenomenon of telepathy, better known as mind reading, is a rare yet remarkable ability in which the psychic is able to transmit or in rarer cases, read thoughts, emotions or mental images from one mind to another. This can manifest in a variety of ways, including hearing whispers or murmurs from an unseen presence, sending telepathic messages to a loved one, or even tuning into the thoughts and emotions of another person without physical contact. Telepathic individuals often report feeling a subtle throbbing or banging on their mind, similar to knocking on door, which serves as a precursor to the ability to read the past memories of another individual. In some cases, telepathic individuals may also experience dreams or visions, which are vivid visualizations or sensory sensations that complement their psychic perceptions, allowing them to briefly look into one's future. This is extremely rare and there have been less than a dozen cases in the past three hundred years.

Red eyes skimmed over the words on the pages of the book, ignoring the sound of Yellow training. It was a detailed book on psychic abilities Nurse Joy had given him after she learned of his typing during the checkup.

Flashback

"I already met him back in the White District once. He was talking about recruiting members." Red explained as Nurse Joy checked over them to make sure there were no injuries. "I thought about reading his mind but he left before I could go through with it."

"Read his mind? You can do that?"

Red frowned in confusion. "Yes, I'm a psychic."

Nurse Joy chuckled as if in disbelief. "Darling, not all psychics are able to read minds. In fact, it is incredibly rare for one to be able to."

Red cocked his head. "Really?"

Nurse Joy nodded,"Yes. Psychic ability is more based on perception and reception than manipulation. It does not mean you can control all matters relating to the mind. Especially memories. If you can read minds, it must be special ability."

"So only he can do it?" Yellow asked from the side.

Nurse Joy sighed, holding her forehead. "I always told the League that it's harmful to withhold these information but who listens to the nurse?" She shook her head before smiling at Red. "I'll give you a book on it later. It explains it better than I ever could."

Flashback Over

Red shook his head. To think about all this now was to go down into another mindless spiral. He closed the book and rested it beside him before standing up.

"Time to resume training."

"No."

Red startled as Blue's voice came from directly beside him. He narrowed his eyes at him. "What do you mean no?"

Blue glared at both of them. "I mean, you guys are acting like fools. Training all day? Are you trying to kill your Pokémon?"

Yellow huffed, folding her arms. Her Bulbasaur laid on the ground, panting. "You wouldn't know Blue. You weren't even here when we were battling."

"I wasn't!" Blue shouted. So suddenly that Red stepped back in shock. Seeing his reaction, Blue sighed heavily. "I wasn't. I don't know what happened in there that makes you so frightened. That you become completely blind to what you're doing right now." He glared at the again. "Which is why I'm telling you. You are overworking your Pokémon."

As they moved to interrupt him, he held up a hand. "And don't saying it's to become stronger or any of that bullcrap. Becoming stronger takes time, you can't do it in a single day and you know that." He glared at them. "This." He pointed at the Bulbasaur who was still panting. "Is nothing less than abuse." He stared at Red. "I thought you prided yourself on your rationality?" He looked to Yellow. "And on your ability to care for Pokémon."

He clicked his tongue, folding his arms with a disgusted expression on his face. "I don't know what else to tell you for you to come to your senses. But until you do, don't speak to me." Blue turned and left.

They watched him go, the tension thicker than when he entered.

Red looked down at his feet and as such, he caught the sight of Charmander looking at him worriedly. Its tail fire was the same size as always, healthy, but now it wavered, showing the owner's exhaustion.

"Tch." The boy kissed his teeth. Did he really lose sight of his Pokémon's health because of one experience?

"We really messed up didn't we?" Yellow's voice came from behind him and he turned to see her holding her Bulbasaur in her arms. It seemed to be nodding off.

"Not yet."

The two looked to see Nurse Joy at the entrance. She smiled at them. "Some people wouldn't have listened if someone told them they were abusing their Pokémon. Still." She said with a mild shrug. "It's a close thing as you guys did it in the first place."

She walked up to Yellow and took Bulbasaur in her arms then walked over and picked up Charmander. She turned back to them. "You two find something else to do to clear your mind and think about what you've done. Then, think about what you're going to do. I'll look after these sweeties for the day."

She too left, the door closing softly behind her.

/

"Red!"

Tina called with a wide smile on her face. She rested the broom against the table to walk up to him with open arms. "I was wondering where you were." They hugged in greeting. "You didn't come yesterday and I knew you would leave on the weekend so I thought I wouldn't see you again."

"How could I leave without saying goodbye?" Red smiled slightly. His previous behavior towards Charmander still rested heavily on his mind but this served as a nice distraction. "Have you been doing fine?" He followed her into the room.

She waved him off. "Of course. Pidgeotto is a huge help." She looked to him, picking up back the broom. "But what about you? What have you been up to? And where's Charmander?"

"Ah..." Red trailed off as his polite smile faltered. Tina frowned, noticing his reaction. "What? Did something happen?"

Red seemed hesitant. "I-" He then sighed deeply, his body sagging with the action. "There was an attack on the Center yesterday."

Tina gasped, putting down the broom and walking up to him. "What happened?" She led him to sit and took a seat of her own in front of him. "Is Charmander really hurt?"

Red shook his head slowly. "No, no one was really hurt by the attack. I was the one to hurt Charmander."

A pregnant pause.

"What happened?" Tina's voice was soft.

Red sighed softly. "I got scared. The battles were so one-sided, I didn't even know how me and Charmander managed." He had used his powers a lot to help out Charmander but he had yet to tell Tina of his typing. "Yellow's Bulbasaur was also pretty roughed up. She was crying when I found her and it seemed to just suddenly hit me that they– that she could have died. I didn't want that to happen so I..."

Tina leaned closer, trying to see under his cap. "What did you do Red?"

Red's head ducked further, he'd never been more ashamed in his life. "I tried to train...I started as soon as I woke up. But Charmander suffered a lot. Blue scolded us and Nurse Joy told us to cool off and think about our actions." Red explained.

Tina's eyebrows furrowed and the silence dragged on. "I don't see the problem here Red." She said finally.

Red looked up to meet her eyes with such a confused expression it made her have to fight a smile. "You don't?"

"I understand that you're disappointed in yourself for almost hurting your Pokémon-"

"I did hurt him."

"But-" Tina continued. "You were scared. And sure." She shrugged. "It does not justify your actions but the fact that you regret it this much despite not even going a full day with it, says a lot about who you are."

Red frowned. Tina was saying it as if wasn't a big deal but Red was unsure. There were frequently documented cases of people with the Mind Trio typing completely losing the ability to empathize. It was the whole reason Blue refused to use too much yin energy. It made him to cold and calm. Red's powers were becoming stronger and he was terrified of becoming one of the "lost ones".

He briefly wondered if it was inevitable. That no matter what he did, he would become someone who-

"Red?" Red looked up at Tina who seemed concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He replied instantly. "I just-" He shook his head. "It's nothing."

Tina's eyes became sympathetic. "You're a good person Red. Don't forget that."

Red smiled slightly. At least she believed that. "Thanks." He glanced at the hallway. "Is it okay if I go see Pichu?"

Tina smiled widely, brightening up. "Of course! Go right ahead. The other Pokémon are currently in the backyard but it's sitting in its cage." She leaned in to whisper. "Don't tell her that I told you this, but she was worried about you."

Red smiled. "Sure."

He got up and went to the room Pichu was in. All the cages were opened and he ignored the empty ones to walk to the very end.

Pichu, who was laying down, peeked an eye open to see who was approaching and made a sound of surprise when she saw Red.

Red gave a small grin as he sat down by the open cage. "You miss me?" Pichu blinked at him with an open mouth. The boy seemed to be in a strangely down mood. She squinted at him for a while before laying back down.

"If you really want an explanation, I was at the Center." Red started to go deeper into the story. The only sign Pichu was listening was the twitching of its ears.

/

Yellow frowned as she stared at the computer screen. Today, she was planning on publishing her first post. The topic would be on the Pokémon Center attack. She had done some online research before beginning writing and it was reported that the Pokémon Center at Cerulean was also targeted.

So she decided to write about the Viridian attack from the perspective of a victim of said attack.

Still, even as she tried to write, her mind kept wondering back to what she did today.

It was just as Blue said, she prided herself on her care for Pokémon. So that incident this morning was so shameful for Yellow that she wished Arecus would just strike her where she stood.

She wondered what made her so blind to Bulbasaur's state and as Yellow watched her Pidgey desperately try to lift her backpack despite its weight, it suddenly struck her.

Every Pokémon had a limit.

A trainer's job was to help them pass that limit slowly but surely. Yellow nodded as she realized the first thing she should do.

She needed to learn the limits of her Pokémon.

Red accepted the pokeball gratefully. "Thanks Nurse Joy."

She smiled at him kindly,"Of course. And I'll tell Lieutenant Surge to keep an eye out for you when you reach Vermilion. He knows someone who can help you with your abilities more than anyone."

"Thank you." He smiled. "You're a lot of help."

Nurse Joy waved him off—as if to say it was no problem—before turning to Yellow.

"And you, young miss, remember to study. Not all wounds can be healed by pure will alone."

Yellow nodded furiously, hands tightening around her bag straps. "Yes, Nurse Joy. I won't forget."

Nurse Joy's stern look softened and she turned to Blue last. "Look after them well. For the looks of it, you're the most responsible one here."

Blue nodded at Nurse Joy—not without give a smug side eye to his friends first— with a honeyed smile. "Of course Nurse Joy. It was a pleasure meeting you."

Taking the hint, the other two followed just a beat after Blue started moving, waving to the lady.

As soon as they made it out of the Pokémon Center Yellow nudged Blue harshly with her elbow,"Responsible my ass."

Blue's retort came quick. "Well lucky for me, you don't have any."

"What was that you prick?!" Yellow lunged for the brown haired boy who yelped as he tried to fight her off. Red made no move to stop them. It was normal that Yellow had not started maturing physically yet but didn't feel the need to remind her of that. It was better Blue than him anyways.

"Red."

A voice dripping with exhaustion called him softly. He turned to the right to see Tina.

"Tina?" He tilted his head as she walked closer. "What are you doing here?"

He had already said goodbye to her and all the Pokémon back at the shelter. Speaking of...

"Is the shelter okay?" He wondered if that was the cause for concern.

Surprisingly Tina scoffed playfully. "Of course it is. Pidgeotto's got that all covered for me. He's watching that place like a hawk."

Red nodded. "Ok. So is it something else?"

"Yep!" She smiled. She took a pokeball out of her pocket. "Here."

Red went to take it. "A pokeball?" As he got it in his full grasp, he felt the weight of the ball. It was not empty.

"Huh? There's-"

"Shhh." Tina put a finger to her lips with a cheeky smile on her face. "It's a surprise. Just register it and open it when you're in a calm place."

Red looked at her suspiciously but nodded all the same. He became aware that his friends had stopped bickering and were waiting by his side.

"Oh. Tina, this is Blue and Yellow, my friends." He introduced them.

"So these are friends that you talked about." She smiled widely. "It's nice to finally put faces to the names."

Blue and Yellow nodded and smiled politely. "It's nice to meet you too Ms. Tina. We heard about what you're doing. It's really kind."

Tina dismissed Yellow's words with a wave of her hand. "Oh I'm not doing much. I heard all about your courage to fight the boss of the group that tried to steal the Center Pokémon. Now that's something I can't compete with."

Yellow blushed. "It was nothing. I just didn't want anyone to get hurt."

Tina smiled softly. "You have a kind heart Yellow. I hope that stays with you." She perked up. "Speaking of not getting hurt, I have to go back to the shelter. The Pokémon are in their free time and they tend to get rowdy when they play. It was nice meeting you."

They waved as she went. "Goodbye!"

The trio turned back to each other when she was out of sight. Blue's eyes trailed down to the pokeball in Red's hand. "You adopted a Pokémon?"

"I don't think so. She wouldn't force a Pokémon to go with a trainer just like that. I think..." Red thought about a certain yellow mouse before shaking his head. That was wishful thinking.

"I'll find out later." He pocketed the ball, reminding himself to register it as his later before nodding his head to Viridian Forest. "Let's go. It's better to cover as much of the forest as we can."

/

Pichu watched with an unreadable expression as Red drilled Charmander through various exercises. Its ears twitched as Red called it to a stop before crouching down to speak to it.

Red spoke very soft so Pichu had to actually put a little effort into hearing them from where it was laying in the tree. Just from traveling with them for two days, the mouse came to the conclusion that its trainer wasn't a blabbermouth as it originally thought and actually liked to keep quiet unless there was something important to be said. Which is the Pichu's reason for trying to listen in on the current conversation.

"Today, I'm adding something new to our training." Red explained. Charmander listened without responding and Red continued. "Since we've worked on your physical fitness a lot, I think it's time to add more moves to our roaster. I was thinking Smokescreen and Dragon Breath."

Charmander nodded slowly. Red, seeing its confused face, chuckled.

"You're not going to understand what I want you to learn yet but I'll show you on the Dex in a minute. We need to wait for a while until practicing Dragon Breath as I need to slowly get you to produce stronger gases."

Dragon Breath is, though a dragon type move, essentially fire. Charmander could be able to learn the move now, but not without causing some damage to its untrained pyrosac.

To strengthen the gases produced, Red is going to use Charmander's fire to roast the meat instead of eating it raw. This would give Charmander more complex hydrocarbons to digest and would allow its body to produce stronger gases which in turn, allows it to handle the stronger gases needed to support a dragon type move.

Smokescreen also needed higher hydrocarbons, but not as much as needed for a dragon type move. Actually, if a Charmander was well fed and healthy, it should be able to learn the move with little to no problem.

Red smiled lightly. "So for now, we'll work on Smokescreen okay? Let me start by showing how it looks."

Pulling up the move on the Pokedex took little time and in a few seconds, Charmander was watch intensely as a Charmeleon surrounded the field on the screen with smoke.

Red drew back his Pokédex before pointing to Charmander's tail. "That's where the smoke will come from. You aren't actually trying to release fire so we need weaker gas." Red looked Charmander intensely in the eye. He had heard of many trainers who suffered from the dangerous chemicals released from Charmander's gas. "Never use your mouth to use Smokescreen, it's dangerous. Understand?"

Charmander nodded firmly. Red smiled and rubbed its head,"Okay." He stood up and began to walk backwards.

"First, I want you to try it on your own without any tips." As Charmander looked hesitant, Red encouraged it with a small smile,"Go ahead."

The starter looked at him worriedly before inhaling deeply. The fire type closed its eyes and its hand tightened into fists. Its tail began to wag, seemingly trying to coax the smoke out.

Red prevented himself from laughing or smiling, no matter how funny or cute the scene looked. From the tree, Pichu smothered a laugh.

"Stop Charmander." Red walked closer as Charmander seized its activity. He crouched down to it, cocking his head as he thought about how to explain the move. "Think of it like...an Ember but from your tail." He tried.

The Char line could not actually control the fire on their tail as the flame is just a result of the chemical reaction from the oxygen in the air to the released waste gas from their tail. However, Red is hoping Charmander would release more gas in an effort to release fire thus causing smoke.

"Okay?" He stood up. "Try again."

Once Red was a safe distance away from Charmander, it took a calming breath. Charmander then jumped into the air and swung its tail as if to release embers from the small appendage. Rather than any actual fire, a wisp of grey mist was released from the tail before rapidly fading away.

Charmander landed on its feet and watched as the last of the mist diffused in the air. That was smoke right?

He looked over to his trainer to find him smiling.

"Good job."

Charmander's tail flicked happily as it smiled.

/

"Let's stop here for today Charmander." Red said. They had been training with Smokescreen for a little over an hour and Charmander was now able to release enough smoke to surround most of the area around it.

Charmander didn't release any protest when Red picked it up instead choosing to flop on his shoulder in exhaustion.

Pichu watched, feeling a small sense of envy. The position seemed comfortable and she wondered what it felt like...She shook her head rapidly to ward away those thoughts. She was content with the arrangement they had right now. Red wouldn't touch her without any permission at all and she would eat what he gave her.

It was a weird deal to be made if Pichu was being honest. Why would he care if she ate? Especially from him alone? Did he want to poison her?

Well, it's not like that hasn't happened before so at least she wouldn't be shocked if-

"Pichu!"

Pichu looked up as she realized Red had been calling her for a while.

"Let's go back to camp. Dinner is ready."

Pichu climbed down the tree and ran up to him. He smiled at her before making his way back to camp, sure that she was following. Pichu noted the Rattata that was also now in his arms, looking perfectly content to being carried. When did it reach here? And why was it in her trainer's arms? Was it really that comfortable?

/

"Hey! Rattata! Hey!" Blue yelped, clutching unto his Pokédex as Rattata used his lap as a launching pad followed by Squirtle running through his legs. He also had to duck when Spearow flew too close to his head. "Stop using me as a playground!" He shouted after them. They didn't seem to care about his response, with Squirtle blowing a raspberry back at him.

Blue groaned and turn back to his friends. "For how well they listen in battle, you'd think they'd listen to me outside of it."

Red smiled amusedly, not looking up from his book. "At least they're taking training seriously."

Yellow herself chuckled without stopping the action of writing in her notebook. She did pause to look up at her peers with a smile, perking up visibly. "Speaking of training, how is the Rapid Spin thing going for you?"

Blue sighed, shaking his head. He put down his Pokédex to fold his arms. "Still no progress. She keeps getting dizzy. You'd thinking after a week, we'd get somewhere."

No one said anything for a while thinking on it. Red then hummed and Blue faced him. "What? You figured something out?"

"Hm?" Red looked at him as he snapped out of his thoughts. He rested his book down. "Oh not really. I'm just wondering if maybe Squirtle's body is just not healthy enough for it." Red explained.

"Squirrel is healthy though." Yellow informed.

Red nodded. "I know that. But sometimes certain parts of a Pokémon's body needs to be strengthened before learning a move. And there are certain parts of Squirtle's body that will need enough strength to withstand dizziness when spinning." Red pointed to his ear. "One of the most important is the inner ear. To strengthen it, we would need a lot of the vitamins we get from healthy fat like Goldeen, Arrokuda or eggs. It hasn't eaten much of those foods since you got it and I don't think Professor fed them anything other than the usual Pidgey meat."

"So I need to feed it some more fishy stuff and eggs?" Blue asked for clarification.

"Sort of?" Yellow tried to clarify. "Magikarp is a fish but has less of the nutrients that a Goldeen would have. So certain fish won't be enough."

She blinked as they both started at her in silence. "What? I've learnt a lot from Nurse Joy."

Red shook his head a little with a smile. "Yellow is right though. Maikarp is, essentially, an evolved fish but is not as close to its ancestor as a Goldeen is so some of the benefits are lost."

Blue held his head and released a disappointed sound. "Ah...And I could have gotten a Goldeen back in Viridian."

"And we're too far now to turn back." Yellow smiled at him sympathetically. "Sorry Blue."

He shook his head. "It's okay. At least it gives me something to work with." He nodded to Red. "What about you? You said you would get Charmander started on Smokescreen."

"I did and he managed to produce enough smoke to cover himself. I want to strengthen its pyrosac though for when we start to learn Dragon Breath." He shrugged. "Just in case."

Blue nodded. "Never hurts to be cautious." He turned to Yellow. "You?"

Yellow twiddled with her pen. "Bulbasaur learnt Poison Powder pretty quickly and we've started working on Sleep Powder." She smiled wryly. "Little progress with Pidgey I'm afraid. Aerial Ace just isn't working. The moves cancels out right before it hits."

Blue nodded slowly with an concentrated look. "That's must be because it's a sure-hit move."

The others looked at Blue curiously and he went to explain. "Sure-hit moves always hit, but only when they are performed successfully. There a certain set of goals Pidgey must meet to perform it."

Yellow's eyes furrowed in thought. "What are those goals?"

Blue raised his index finger. "First, Pidgey must hit a certain speed." He raised his middle finger. "Second, the opposing Pokémon must be in a position where it can't dodge the attack." Blue shrugged. "Though you can effectively ignore the second rule by meeting the third hidden goal, which is for Pidgey to have a certain level of wing strength and flight skill. This way, Pidgey can actually chase after the opponent if they do dodge without coming out of Aerial Ace at all."

Yellow nodded. "So I need to train Pidgey in more complex evasive maneuvers?"

"And wing strength." He looked over to where Pidgey had now been coerced into playing with his Pokémon. "The Pidgey line aren't known for their strength but rather for their speed and evasiveness. It's what makes them strong."

Yellow nodded,"Thanks. I'll try it out."

The two went to go back to their own activities but turned as a concerned cry came from Bulbasaur. Spearow and Pidgey were engaged in battle again with Bulbasaur desperately trying to break them up. Squirtle and Rattata were laughing at them while Charmander seemed uncomfortable with all the dust kicking up. Pichu was at a safe distance, watching the scene with a nervous expression.

Red tried and desperately failed to keep the smile off his face while Blue and Yellow both sighed heavily in sync.

This was the third fight this day.

/

Kanto Region Sees Boost in Criminal Activity.

The recent attack on two of Kanto's Pokémon Centers has led to a surge in criminal activity since its initial decrease over the past few years. Kanto's Pokémon Center's great healing services, training ground and overall hospitality have made it an essential spot for trainers and Pokémon alike. So the recent attacks, even though no lives were lost, was still a huge hit to the system because of its closeness to the new trainer season. When asked about their next actions, Officer Jenny said, 'We are currently looking into the perpetrators of the attacks. We will not rest until the public will no longer have to worry about the safety of their Pokémon and themselves. As for the Pokémon Center, repairs have begun to restore it to its former glory.' The public have expressed their worries...

Yellow sighed heavily, resting her cheek into her left palm. With her right hand she tapped her notebook with her pen.

"Oh?" Yellow looked down to Bulbasaur who had nudged her with its head. She rubbed its head causing its to release a pleased sound in response. "Don't worry Bulbasaur, I'm fine. It's just..."

She looked back at the notebook, taking in the written article. She had drafted her post but had not gotten the courage to actually post it.

"I know I told Red and Blue I was gonna do it but...I don't know. Not only could do many things go wrong, it's really not what I want to do." She smiled softly,"I have to though. And if I want to make change I have to take risks." Her fists clenched,"I'll learn the ways of a journalist and plant seeds of doubt in the public's minds. Someone has to do it. Even if...even if I-"

Yellow froze as she heard the sound of a twig snapping from the trees in front of her. She glanced at her Pokémon before standing up.

Pidgey was taking watch from the sky by orders of Yellow. Whatever that was out there would be attacked in three...two...one...

"Ah!"

A body tumbled out of the trees. Pidgey kept up its assault by pecking at the attacker.

"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!"

Bulbasaur cried out an affirmation, two thin vines appearing from under its bulb to wrap around the person. They complained as they fought but was eventually held still when it was completely swaddled.

Yellow took in the appearance of the boy. He had brown eyes but from the way it glints in the moonlight, it could quite possibly be hazel. He was quite short and a bit chubby but the thing that drew attention was the weird samurai getup he was wearing. A sword, Yellow guessed he dropped, was laying beside him.

She glared down at the boy who looked up at her with surprise.

"Who are you?"

POKÉ-NEWS!!!

-Yellow has not published one post. She is hesitant as she knows that she could very well possibly lose time to relax in our to keep up with the news. Considering the fact that she has yet to find her true goal in life, she is conflicted on whether she should find another way or give up.

SPOILER NEWS!!!

-I have limited ideas on what to do with Blue's character.

-I have too many ideas on what to do with Red's character.

-Character Development is not my specialty and while I'm gonna try since it is important, I will not guarantee that it will be successful.

-I have zero idea on where this book is going.