Chapter 220: Mewtwo Meet ups!

Chapter 220: Mewtwo Meet ups!

We need to talk.

Words that have heralded great changes or drastic issues, usually with relationships.

Flags went up in my mind faster than the time I’d discovered what amounted to red shirts in the battlegroup I’d assisted against Team Rocket.

My mind raced. Had I done something wrong? Had I not done something? What was today? Shit! Was today or yesterday an anniversary of some sort?

My mind brought up the relevant days. We’d met in the later half of the circuit due to my desire to have Titan strong enough to face her.

it wasn’t when we’d met. We hadn’t officially started dating until... Well I didn’t count it until earlier this year.

I... wasn’t so naive that I couldn’t recognise that the dates I attributed us as starting dating, and the days that Sabrina assigned might be wildly different.

Possibly it might be an issue with us not having time to go on dates, but that was not a one-way street of blame. We were both busy people and we hung out when we could with her coming over quite often to snuggle.

...

“You’ve done something you need to inform me of,” I said slowly, having come to one of the only rational conclusions.

Sabrina didn’t become agitated or pretend to be annoyed like some other girls might have. Instead, she merely nodded.

“Yes,” she said, her eyes flickering over me. “You are agitated, but you were so before I stated that I need to talk about something that has happened. What is wrong?”

I exhaled. “You...” I pinched the bridge of my nose. For all that Sabrina was better, there were sometimes glaring gaps in her social knowledge. “The girls or Erika haven’t mentioned how ominous saying something like ‘we need to talk’ can be?” I stated.

Sabrina frowned. “I have not encountered that no. Is this something Erika wouldn’t know about though? She hasn’t dated anyone before so I try not to mention our relationship too much around her. She gets flashes of irritation and self-loathing when I...” Sabrina blushed a little.

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you do?”

Sabrina coughed delicately. “I might have given you compliments and mentioned how enjoyable some moments are with you,” she said.

“Wow,” I said. “I am really feeling damned with faint praise.” I leaned in cheekily. “Is that really all you say to Erika to get her so envious?” I asked.

“It is mostly that you are very considerate and a highly skilled lover!” she said quickly.

Sabrina coughed, her face was bright red which was adorable for the usually so controlled woman. “This is not what I wanted to talk to you about!” She said pushing the conversation in a new trajectory.

I leaned in, feeling a lot more certain of my relationship and calmer. I pecked Sabrina on the forehead with my lips. “Alright, lay it on me, what happened?” I said.

Sabrina inhaled and straightened up. “Mewtwo made contact with me.”

I took a moment to consider that.

That... was not... “Huh,” I said intelligently.

Sabrina nodded. “I know. I wasn’t expecting it so early!” she said, a small smile on her lips. “He is growing with how he is reaching out!” she said.

“I’m amazed he did so at all,” I said with a frown. Sabrina frowned at me so I continued. “I mean most of his interactions with humanity has been... rather lacklustre,” I said.

Sabrina nodded, agreeing with the point. “Yes, but not all of them have been negative. He has some of my impressions and while they were shared in a stressful time, it was still an attempt. Something that I have continued to try to extend his way.”

I nodded slowly at this. “Right, okay. So what happened?” I asked.

Sabrina chewed her lip. “Well, I suppose I should start from the beginning,” she said. She reached out and I realised that she was not just going to tell me what happened. Sabrina planned to show me.

“Lay down Brock, this might make you a little dizzy,” she said as she placed a hand on my temple delicately.

I lay back and drew in my dark energy as much as I could.

And then I felt a memory come to mind, and just like that, it felt like I was living a memory of Sabrina’s from only this afternoon...

Sabrina raised a Marsh badge to her challenger. The boy grinned with confidence and Sabrina allowed herself a smile.

The boy had all the hallmarks of a skilled trainer. She’d read the notes from earlier in the season where he had struggled against Brock, but it seemed that changing his style had unlocked a lot of potential in the boy.

More than she suspected the boy even knew. His ability to handle two pokemon at once was almost prescient which was one of the signs of a young psychic manifesting their abilities.

Sabrina hadn’t felt anything overt, but with some more testing, she suspected that she would be proven correct.

“Congratulations on earning yourself the Marsh badge Harrold! You have demonstrated the skill and ability required. For that I confer onto you the symbol of my gym,” she said, making sure to announce it verbally and not just with her mind.

“I believe this is your sixth badge now and thus you are only two more away from earning your right to attend the Circuit at the end of the year.”

If today’s showing was any indication this Harold would breeze through the rest of the gyms. “Where do you plan to go from here?” she asked.

Harold grinned at her. “Thanks! I think I might look into challenging Manny before challenging Koga,” he said. “I think both will be tricky with their styles and I want to spend some time to really learn what they have, because they both offer similar but different ways of tripping up or altering battles to suit them and their teams,” Harrold said.

Sabrina nodded. Yes, since Brock had first faced this young man he had certainly grown in interesting ways. It was good that he was willing to slow down and learn the lessons offered by the Gyms these days.

“What did you learn here from me?” she asked, enjoying the honest glee in his eyes as he began to speak about having adaptable plans while being away from the chain of events that can lead to certain situations in battle.

Sabrina nodded. That was one of the more nuanced points of fighting that she tried to convey. As a powerful psychic, she could read into the future and see what was going to happen. Or rather what potentially could happen to a very high degree.

It therefore became important that you knew about what was most likely. That required a bit more study and experience. Something that her younger self hadn’t understood, resulting in a series of events that led to Brock entering her Gym.

Most of the time it came down to trainers reading ahead on her pokemon and knowing how their own would react or impact a match.

As Brock had once said to her.

You needed to know yourself and your enemy to achieve victory.

This was merely part of the lesson. Usually by the second or third pokemon people began to feel the pressure.

With the ability to glimpse the future she was able to highlight how important micromovements and control of your pokemon was in a fight. How speed became essential. How the smallest factors could pile up and lead to victory or defeat.

All without uttering a word to them.

Words were for the victors or for those with actual potential.

So often people swaggered into her Gym thinking themselves ready. There was a world of difference between her Gym and others.

Mostly it was how ruthless she was.

Her standards for earning her badge through any measure but victory was higher.

If people wanted to earn her badge they had to present a polished set of skills, not rely on mere strength or tricks.

The young man accepted his badge and charged away, his badge clutched in his hand while his mind sung of joy and gratitude to his pokemon. His mind was weary but his spirit was soaring. From what Sabrina could feel of the boy’s pokemon, she knew that they too shared in his feelings only their fatigue was greater having been beaten down with the battles.

She could see the boy’s plan to treat them all lavishly over the next few days.

As the boy departed his cloud of thoughts drifted far enough away from her that Sabrina would have to actually pay attention to glimpse at his thoughts.

The boy’s earnest emotions sadly weren’t the prominent emotion in the arena now though. Now with people witnessing her ‘defeat’ there were more and more people leaning forward in their seats. They might not realise it, but there were enough of them that their thoughts weighed down on her as they salivated like packs of Houndoom and Mightyena.

A picture of a form standing triumphant formed as people imagined themselves in Harold’s place.

A younger Sabrina wouldn’t have been able to handle the arena she’d created these days. She wouldn’t be able to handle the press of minds that suddenly fractured and melded in a chaotic sea of thoughts.

But she’d grown stronger and more resilient. Now she could endure large crowds for days at a time. Matches could be dragged out instead of being forceful displays where she overpowered her foes.

She could tease out potential where it existed and lead young trainers onto paths that might see them go far.

She blamed Brock for that.

Previously she wouldn’t have cared. She would have been a cold and unbreakable wall for them to scrabble against with only the most canny, or strongest getting through.

Now she saw how they attempted to overcome her, and sometimes she nudged them towards weak points.

But only slightly.

Other times she crushed them and made them realise how good they’d had it with other Gyms.

The Cerulean Gym, as the easiest gym to earn a badge at, couldn’t give these harsh lessons. Erika didn’t have the disposition to crush her foes. Koga’s fights always involved some form of misdirection, traps or trickery, much like Manny. Sophia had a brashness to her that had potential but she was rough in her delivery.

Mewtwo flexed his digits. “That... had been a powerful pokemon.”

“It is considered one of the Legendary birds for a reason. You did well to hold your own hampered as you were.”

Mewtwo snorted. “I could have beaten it if I wasn’t... If that man hadn’t shackled me with orders to merely attempt to weaken it.”

“I see,” Sabrina projected while also mentally marking down that Mewtwo did have a slight amount of pride. “I imagine you could have, but I think it might have been a fight I wouldn’t have been able to stay close to witness,” she said neutrally through their mental link.

Overhead, a pidgey fluttered past, eying them, aware of their power but also feeling brave due to the lack of noise they were making. Sabrina’s lips twitched upwards at the little pokemon’s thoughts.

“Of course,” Mewtwo said.

Sabrina didn’t comment on how well Empress had done against him but Mewtwo seemed to know what she was thinking. “The Tyranitar I faced also did well,” he said with a begrudging tone of respect.

Sabrina repressed a shudder as she realised that he might be one of the only people who could possibly do so. Instead, she smiled. “Empress has recovered well from the Silver incident but she is also another that has... a negative history with who, or what you were before you broke away from Giovanni.”

“I will not be held accountable for—”

“You shouldn’t be,” Sabrina said firmly, projecting over the top of him and cutting the much more powerful psychic off. Sabrina locked gazes with him to make sure he felt the earnestness of her words.

“You aren’t or more importantly you weren’t you, while locked in that armour. You had several restraints and conditions that made you less than you are,” she said.

Mewtwo clenched his digits in agitation. “It was a different time. Your partner is flawed for letting his emotions rule him.”

“He’d be less without them though,” she said.

Mewtwo frowned. “...How so?”

“Emotions are one of the foundations of how we build bonds and healthy relationships with others or even ourselves. Brock and Empress are still in the hurting phase. They can move through it though. They can internalise that it wasn’t you, but something else that caused them harm in the past.”

Mewtwo considered her for a moment with an insatiable gaze. She merely smiled back before allowing her gaze to shift to a trio of brave Pidgeys that were braving the meadow in search of seed.

Slowly, other pokemon began to trickle back into the glade quietly.

They kept an eye on Sabrina and Mewtwo though. For their part, Sabrina and Mewtwo didn’t react at all.

For the next few minutes, neither said anything or shared any thoughts or feelings.

They simply stood in silence.

Sabrina rather enjoyed it after the day of dealing with challengers.

She half considered sending a message to inform the Gym she’d need to cancel the day. She didn’t do that though as any attempt to use her transceiver might result in Mewtwo becoming agitated. She didn’t doubt for a second he could pick up on a message being sent.

She didn’t need or want to rush things right now. She merely needed to let things progress. If that was at a slow pace, that was fine.

Slow was smooth, and smooth was fast, not in this case with fewer points of friction to an already delicate situation.

“How are you feeling?” Sabrina said after a few more minutes, deciding to prompt some conversation while also contemplating how things should be between even acquaintances.

“How... am I feeling?” Mewtwo asked carefully, sounding out each word with the embedded feelings of carefulness that one would find in a person probing at a potentially booby trapped floor rather than a conversation.

“Yes, how are you? It is a common method of checking in with another. Most of the time other humans will lie when they reply I have noticed.

They won’t wish to make things awkward or they won’t want to slow down with their day to actually break down what might be causing them any issues. It is a funny phrase but the intent is there to show compassion.” Sabrina extended a hand gently towards Mewtwo.

“So, I ask, how are you? You reached out, there must be something troubling you,” she said.

Mewtwo’s tail lashed once back and forth before he collected himself and the tail hung behind him in a s like bend. “I wanted...” he paused and reconsidered what he wanted to say.

“You gifted me many memories that tumble around in my mind. They are jumbled and haphazard with how they aren’t mine. I need to... process them and understand them if I am to have any peace within my own mind,” he said firmly.

Sabrina nodded. “Peace within one’s on mind can be important.” Sabrina smiled as she realised that she’d never shared how to meditate to Mewtwo.

“Would you like to work through a guided session to... process the memories you have?” she asked.

Mewtwo stared at her before jerking his head tightly, his eyes looking away.

Sabrina allowed herself a small smile as she adopted a cross-legged pose like her Alakazam.

“Take the first thought or memory that you want. It can be anything, an old one or new. If it juts out to you, all the better as it be like a jagged edge in your mind. It will cause other thoughts to snag and drag you back to that moment.”

“That is why you gave me so many... bright memories,” Mewtwo said, his gaze turned to the east where Viridian was.

“You needed something to counterbalance the darker memories. You wouldn’t have much chance of that happening with how Giovanni was treating you so I forced the issue.”

Sabrina coughed. “Do you have a thought or memory?” she asked. Mewtwo nodded.

Sabrina smiled and began working through the process of mentally unhooking thoughts by manipulating them in a myriad of little ways.

“It is important that you don’t just force some thoughts or memories,” Sabrina said casually. “You can’t force them or push them through. The best way to handle loud or heavy thoughts that linger is to work them over.”

“Why?”

“It changes the way we react to them,” Sabrina replied easily having led this class with some of her psychically gifted pokemon trainers a few times now.

Mewtwo gave her a scrutinising look. “By simply processing or handling them they are not being ignored to fester within our minds. They instead lose some of the baggage or edges on some memories.”

Mewtwo nodded slope. “It... feels like you are correct,” he said. He stood and nodded “I must consider this. Goodbye for now.”

“Will you come—” Sabrina started to say only for a quick flash of light to blind her and send the various pokemon that had returned to the meadow breaking for cover.

Sabrina blinked. Huh, so that’s how that felt, she thought to herself. She gave the patch of land that Mewtwo had been standing on a long considering look before teleporting back to her Gym.

There she found her Gym trainers frantically shifting back and forth while lots of loud voices and louder thoughts echoed. Sabrina sighed.

Just as the memory started to dim... I felt her clap her hands and take a moment to breathe.

I blinked as I returned to myself. I stared up into Sabrina’s eyes, somewhat glad they weren’t glowing as she stared into mine.

“So?” she said, swallowing.

I blinked as I realised she was looking for my approval, and support. I swallowed and smiled, the feelings of fear had long since vanished. “I think you handled that as well as you could, if not better than that. I think you hit it out of the park,” I said.

Sabrina exhaled in relief. “Good,” she then lay her head on my chest. “I was worried you might be mad.”

“No, not mad, scared. Which can lead to just as many dumb reactions, but right now I’m just relieved. You did great. I think you got through to him.” I smiled and ran my hand through her hair. “I still don’t think I’m ready to be objective with him but you were right. I am letting how Giovanni used him blind me to one point of view.”

I sighed. “It’s just not easy letting go of them,” I said.

Sabrina squeezed my hand. “Please try. I think you could be a good person to have Mewtwo talk with.” She squeezed again. “You helped me after all.”

I chuckled having recognised the method of ‘decoupling’ that she’d used with Mewtwo as a basic trick I’d learnt in my past life and shared. If anything, I think she’d explained and handled that much better than I ever could.

“We’ll see,” I said.

Sabrina sighed in a happy way. “I think I’m getting through to him and building a real connection.”

I chuckled. “Should I be worried about all these meetings you’re hoping to have with him?” I asked playfully.

Sabrina rolled her eyes and leaned down to kiss me to soothe my worries, not that I actually had any, cause that would be silly.

The kiss still helped me relax and let go of my worries though.

Sabrina gave me a sly smirk when she broke the kiss and for a moment I thought I might get more than a kiss, only for Sabrina’s transceiver to beep in a pattern I knew meant urgent.

Sabrina deflated and checked the message only to perk up. “Ralts is showing signs that she might evolve soon? Would you care to come?”

I perked up at that and nodded. That also sounded like a nice way to end the day.

We vanished in a flash of light towards something I’d been looking forward to for a while now.

I couldn’t wait to see how Ralts would act as a more mature Kirlia.