"That's it? That's the sum of your assessment?"

"Are you surprised? You have not given me much to work with."

"Your entire analysis gave us nothing new. We already know that this person is a powerful psychic. What we want to know is–"

"Not just a Psychic. A Ghost-Caller, too. One whose potential rivals that of Agatha, or the Mystic Seer of Ecruteak, at the very least."

"That's impossible. You can't both be a Psychic and a Ghost-Caller. Those two properties are mutually exclusive."

"The world is vast and ever-changing. Who are you to claim to know every mystery within it?"

"What you are speaking of is a scientific impossibility. The very nature of being a psychic makes the mind exceedingly vulnerable to Distortion. It's fundamentally unachievable for anyone — even a Legendary — to weld both arts, let alone a human. You know this."

"And yet, the evidence is undeniable. The man was clearly weaving both psychic phenomena and Distortion in his duel with the Thunderhawk. Even after Gym Leader Brock's intervention, he still managed to maintain domain superiority throughout the entire battlefield. It's rather fascinating to see, really…"

"He might have had a partner then. That's far more plausible than what you are suggesting."

"I would have thought the vaulted Lieutenant of the last Intercontinental War would have more imagination than this. You somehow constantly manage to disappoint me, Surge. One wonders why Giovanni even keeps you around."

"You are the one giving useless assessments, Karen. I had thought your specialisation with Void Hunts would give us more insight, but clearly, I was mistaken."

"It isn't as if Psychic Pokemons using Ghost-Type abilities is unprecedented. That mutant bitch we keep caged in Saffron trains her entire Psychic team in the use of Distortion moves. This would be the same… except on a far larger scale, and the opposite besides."

"A dominant Ghost-Caller with Psychic abilities? How would that work? The Distortion would have eaten away at their sanity long ago."

"Incredible, is it not? I would like to dissect this boy's brain, if we ever manage to catch him. The things I could learn… it makes me excited just to think about."

"Why do you call him a boy?"

"Do you not see the youthful impulsiveness in his moves? The use of a perverted Sun to weigh down a god? The arrogance to use the mythos of one Legend to chain another… What else but an idiot boy would come up with a reckless strategy to fight the Thunderhawk?"

"A fool would. Or a man with nothing left to lose. The way he fights… it as if he doesn't care for his life…"

"… Or perhaps he doesn't have time left to care…"

"Karen?"

"… I need to go. Inform Giovanni I am personally hunting down our John Doe."

"… Not that I am against that, given our lack of progress. Yet may I ask why?"

"Well, Surge. For once, that worthless mouth of yours actually contributed something useful. I think I might know who and where our foolish boy is."

Chapter 6: The Same For You

When I emerged from the other side, I found myself in the same forest clearing I had left earlier. The light of the distant flare over the mountain allowed me to look around the base of the tree where we had found the injured ranger. He was still asleep, leaning against one of the giant tree roots with a ranger-issued thermal blanket over him. I suppose my companion found it within herself to make sure the man didn't freeze to death in this cold. The blanket was likely dug up from his backpack.

The corpse wrapped in my jacket that I had dragged into the portal earlier was nowhere to be seen, but the injured ranger I had found in the cave was lying face down on the ground next to me. I set down the two sleeping cubs I was holding next to one of the giant tree roots. They shivered violently, likely from a nightmare induced by our little trip in the void, but otherwise, they appeared fine.

I propped the unconscious injured ranger against another root, separating him from the Ursas. The light from the flare was still present, so I took the opportunity to look over his wounds and treat them as best I could. There wasn't much I could do with what I had on hand, but at the very least I could clean the blood off his face and disinfect his wound to prevent infection. Once that was done, I looked around the previous ranger's backpack to see if I could find another thermal blanket. All the while, I kept a close watch over the area with my senses. My range wasn't as good as my companion's, but at least I would have some early warning if there was anything threatening headed our way.

Another loud crack whipped off from the mountain, accompanied by a bright flash of sapphire light. A streak of azure lightning fired off into the night sky, its radiance temporarily overshadowing even the luminance of the signal flare. It appeared that my companion had a lot of steam to let out tonight, or perhaps she was simply indulging in the opportunity to let loose. Given how lethal most of the attacks in her arsenal were, she couldn't safely spar with the other trained beasts back in Pallet. The woods surrounding our home similarly did not provide many interesting challenges for her to enjoy, as the beasts residing there were always significantly weaker than her.

That was not to say the beasts of this forest were dramatically stronger or more challenging to defeat. But without the Professor's oversight nearby, she could revel in the use of her more powerful moves without the threat of a lecture or punishment after returning.

As my companion's battle with the entire forest raged on, I continued my ministrations of the wounded rangers, fruitless as it might be. Without any proper medical equipment, there was nought I could do but make sure the patients were kept warm, but even then my attempts at finding another thermal blanket proved fruitless. As the light from the flare began to fade, I could only sigh and drag the two injured men together so that they may at least share the cover. They rested against the base of the great tree while I settled down next to the Ursas, placed opposite from them.

The two cubs would have no issues enduring through the winter night. Even though they were young, their thick furs and fats would be more than enough for them to comfortably weather through the cold. That left only me, with only a blood-soaked singlet and no blanket or fur to protect me from the frost. I leaned against the tree and watched my breath mist over as the last of the signal light faded. Seconds later, I felt a familiar presence return to my side.

Brief flashes of azure lightning sparked about her feet as my companion emerged from the shadows — the residue energies of her previous onslaught. They light up the area long enough for me to get a quick look at her. She appeared as pristine as ever, with not a speck of blood on her fur. You wouldn't have thought that she had just come back from a bloodbath by just looking at her.

The violent wave of energy that stalked out of the shadows behind her, however, told a very different story. Amused, I asked her if the word 'moderation' meant anything to her.

"If I had my way, I would have flattened the entire mountain just to make a point. In any case, what do you care for the beasts of this forest anyway?"

I mentally shrugged and told her I didn't care an ounce for them. What I did care for, however, was the safety of myself as well as the two men that I had painstakingly saved. While she was away having fun with her now-deceased playmates, we were left in a precarious situation of having few ways to defend ourselves in a beast-infested forest.

"As if any beast would be dumb enough to try. I think they have learned their lesson already after I had dealt with the first few dozen that tried coming after that man while you are away."

She mentally gestured at the first wounded ranger. I had wondered why there was a lack of psychic signals near my location. I supposed my companion's usual heavy-handed method of dealing with unwanted harassers had come in useful.

She walked over and sat down beside me. I had half a mind to reach out and scratch behind her severed ear, knowing how she hated me doing that. She caught that thought and sent a light mental jab my way. I winced and raised my hands in surrender.

"You still haven't told me why you have brought along those two cubs. Don't tell me you are planning on raising them?"

I thought that the reason would have been obvious. Ursas fetched a good price on the market. Seeing as they were just there for the taking, why shouldn't I have taken them? My companion hummed in approval.

"So, in short, you murdered the children's mother, and then proceeded to take them with the intent to sell them into a lifetime of slavery? Truly, you'd make a halfway decent villain now."

Darkly amused, I asked her what a real villain would look like then, if what I did was only considered halfway villainous. There was a beat of silence, and when she replied, her voice was filled with an emotion I couldn't easily describe.

"The kind that was capable of doing the things done to you and me, of course."

Something heavy settled upon my chest upon hearing that. I leaned back against the tree root, sighing. My companion didn't say anything else, and we both lay there deep in our respective thoughts, comfortable in each other presence. The night passed by us in a serene, tranquil silence…

For the first few minutes, at least. And then I sneezed, unable to bear the cold any longer. She laughed soundlessly, but I could still hear the mirth clearly in my head. I told her I was probably freezing to death, and that she shouldn't be finding amusement in my plight.

"Very well. Never let it be said that I am not gracious. Here."

I felt a portal open over my head before something wet and foul dropped into my lap. I couldn't see at all in this darkness, but after feeling the object around a little, I realised it was my jacket from before. The same jacket which I had used to drag the ranger's corpse out of the Ursaring's cave. The same jacket that was now covered in blood, visceral, and God knows what other kind of bodily fluid. After a moment of irritated disbelief, I sent her the strongest mental jab I could fire. Prepared this time, the blow slid off her mind like water against a rock. I could practically sense the smug grin she made in response to my pitiful attempt.

"Goodness, is this how you treat those that help you? Delilah would be disappointed if she knew she had failed so utterly in teaching you manners."

I told her that I knew that she had a clean jacket stored somewhere in her pocket dimension. In fact, I had her specifically stored that jacket so that we could use it for these exact situations.

"You mean, the situation in which we are trying to sleep in a beast-infested forest, under freezing conditions, when we could just warp back home in an instant?"

Upon hearing that, I paused for a moment, before telling her that I couldn't help but feel like she was trying to tell me something. She sent an irritated mental jab my way.

"Stop being obtuse. Acting stupid stops making you adorable the moment our lives are in needless danger. Or, at the very least, needless discomfort."

I informed her that while we could return to Pallet Town, the two gentlemen with us would most certainly not survive the trip. It was one thing for an injured, unconscious man to travel a few miles using the Distortion world, and quite another to survive a trip over a thousand miles, which included navigating the turbulent Distortion storm-walls of Mount Silver. They would either end up lost forever in non-space or exit the other end as a mental vegetable. Not to mention the two adorable money bags I had sleeping in the corner.

"Must you insist on taking care of everything? The area here is safe, or at least as safe as I can make it. The rangers have already activated their transponders. Not to mention that the flare you just fired would be seen for miles around. Help would arrive in the morning. There's no need for us to remain here with them."

I told her she forgot about the money bags. She gave me an exasperated look.

"You don't even buy anything. All the allowance that Delilah gives you just sits in your bank account."

I told her I enjoyed seeing the numbers go up. I waited for another mental jab or some other scathing remark about my affinity for infuriating her, but instead, she remained oddly silent. I sat there with my bloody jacket, pondering if there was any merit in throwing it at her to prove a point.

"If you do that, I will drop the corpse on your head."

After appraising the foul-smelling jacket one last time, I tossed it to the side, deciding that I rather brave the freezing conditions than deal with the smell of visceral all night. A portal swallowed up the jacket before it even hit the ground. I asked her what she planned to do with the corpse, seeing as she had not released it into the clearing the same as she had for me and the other ranger.

"Would you rather I leave it out here to deteriorate further? Or has the constant exposure to the stench of death somehow made you crave it?"

I told her that if that was the truth, I would have just kept the jacket. I waited for her to reply, or for her to finally cave in and give me a clean set of clothes before I froze to death.

Yet when she spoke to me again, her words were the farthest thing from what I expected.

"You shouldn't feel guilty, that you are the one who got away so many years ago. You don't have to prove that you were more deserving of living than the others were, those still chained to the Worm."

Her tone was gentle, and it made the words hurt even more. I was speechless for a moment. The past was a topic we rarely touched on. Whenever we spoke of it, it cut both ways, and it reminded us of things we had purposefully made ourselves forget.

We had long wordlessly agreed to make that subject a taboo, forcefully repressed those memories with our powers until they could no longer haunt us. But her words dug up those long-buried nightmares, and I was silent as I remembered them. When I finally found the strength to speak, I told her that my actions today had nothing to do with our past or the people we left behind. We were staying here because it was the right decision, both morally and objectively. These men were still badly injured and utterly defenceless in their state. Leaving them now within these dangerous forests was tantamount to killing them.

"You know me better than that. You know that I would have been thorough in making this place safe from the beasts. These men couldn't be more protected even if they were in a League-protected green zone."

I told her that it was still a needless risk to leave them, especially since we had already gone through all that effort to rescue them. And besides, it wasn't if she didn't enjoy this little detour of ours, given how enthusiastic she had been depopulating the local wildlife.

"Red, you are deflecting."

I am not. Nothing that I have said was a lie or incorrect.

"The reason why you want to stay here is the same reason why you wanted to save those men in the first place."

I do not–

"It's the same reason why you keep going out on your little adventures, why you keep getting hurt, and why you nearly killed yourself last month against the Thunderhawk."

I kept silent.

"The reason you do these things is not because of some heroic virtue, or valiant courage, or moral obligation, or adventurous spirit, or personal ego, or whatever you want to call that little piece of madness and self-loathing in your soul."

"It's the danger that keeps drawing you in. You keep taking greater and greater risks. First with that dragon in the Professor's ranch, then with these little walks into beast-infested territories, then with your actions against that Legendary last month, and finally today. You tried climbing a cliff, even when you know you shouldn't with your recovering body. You ran straight towards a wounded man, not because you cared for him, but because you knew there was something dangerous happening. You heard of a monster that nearly killed three men, three experienced rangers with training and skills that you do not have, and your first instinct was to go try and kill it yourself."

I kept silent.

"But it's not even really about the danger any more, is it? You are not doing these suicidal acts because you are addicted to the thrill, or to even prove that you can overcome them. No, you wanted to prove that you can't. That you don't deserve to be alive right now. To have survived a trial that had killed everyone else."

"The pain that you are feeling right now. Your psyche reeling, your body on the brink of breaking down, and the cold creeping into your veins threatening to kill you. This is what you want. Those pains are the only thing keeping you together. You can't even live without them any more."

She didn't say the rest of the words. She didn't have to. This mixture of guilt and hate, this sense of something lacking. When I was young, I was taken and given a duty that was never supposed to end. Me, my companion, and more than nine thousand other pairs were forced into the void to chain something that must never emerge.

Chains of Ten for the Yellow Worm.

Ten thousand pairs of children went into that endless darkness, cursed to never see the sky again. Except one did. A single, misbegotten pair crawled their way out of that abyss, leaving behind the rest to a fate worse than death.

Every time I saw that void, I felt nine thousand sets of hands clawing at me to stay with them again. Telling me that my freedom was not yet won and that my place was with them in that hell. That I did not have the right to be happy when they had died and are still dying for me. I wasn't looking for something to fill the emptiness in my chest so much as I was trying to widen it. But then again…

"It's the same for you too, isn't it?" The words dragged themselves heavily from my mouth, out into the cold, uncaring darkness with nought but a broken shade to hear them. Something indescribably painful settled on my chest. "Or else you wouldn't have let me go."

What else was there left once you had abandoned your life's duty? She didn't say anything. She didn't have to. After all, as I've said before, this little adventure of mine would not have been possible without her.

And most important of all, despite what those clawing, dead hands might say, I was no freer from the Worm than they were.

Distortion World

The Distortion World is, in essence, Hell.

One of the biggest changes Humanity went through when it first transmigrated to Novus Mundus was the acknowledgement of the existence of an afterlife; an alternate world that appeared to closely co-exist with the planet's alien ecosystem, in a strange, parasitical symbiosis where the Void continuously eats away at all conscious life.

The Distortion World, or the Void in colloquial terms, is the place where all sentient minds end up after the death of their physical body in the real world. Fated to be trapped within a universe of non-space, where time and distance follow no conventional law, all souls are doomed to one day wander eternally through that empty blackness.

The Void is also home to all Ghost-Type Pokemons: coalesced fragments of dead memories, who now wander in search of more scattered minds to add to its bulk. In this new form, a type of hunger is developed, one that yearns for the thoughts of sentient minds.

AN

Thanks for reading. Next chapter will be up next Friday.