Red stares at the branching tree of possibilities on the projected screen, a dizzying web of red and green and white lines that crisscross from and through various pokemon names, most of which pivot from a single node. “So you think you basically just have to beat the haunter?”
“I think it’s his best chance. It’s not as fast or strong as kadabra, but it’s faster than anything else he’s got.”
“Even his venomoth?”
“Yep, by just a bit. With enough training it could outspeed a kadabra, particularly a younger one… but Tops in particular is a beast. I doubt Koga’s got a top tier pokemon on his five badge team.”
Red looks over the rest of Koga’s team, thinking over everything he’s been learning from Blue about the competitive meta. “And it’s immune to your Ground attacks, and both will be Super Effective against each other, so whoever strikes first might just take it.”
“Now you’re getting it. If he does something to slow Tops down—”
“Or has something to set up a Light Screen—”
“—right, he might get just the lucky hit that he needs.”
“Bob can handle him, though, right?”
They turn to look at Blue’s snorlax, who’s idly scratching its stomach as it lazes beside Glen’s. “Probably, if he can catch him.”
“He’s getting big.”
“They all are. I think Maturin’s about ready to evolve.”
“You’re not going to wait for that before you challenge?”
“Nah, might not even use her, and it’ll still take a couple weeks I think. Unless you want to…”
“No.”
“It would just take a little—”
“No, Blue.”
“Hang on, hear me out. Winning this is more important than just the badge.”
“I know, you want to improve the gym culture to the one you’ve been pushing—”
“No, not that.” Blue gives Red a meaningful look. “There were some people who wanted to share something secret with me—”
Red rolls his eyes.
“—but after I told them about metahonesty, they said they’d have to spend some time thinking about it, and I think we should have warned people that explaining metahonesty may make them miss out on juicy secrets.”
Red gives him his best flat stare, which Blue seems impervious to. “You know it’s not meant to work like that, and also you gave away enough information that I can now guess who has the secrets. Doesn’t do much to inspire confidence in your ability to keep other people’s secrets, my own included.”
“Hey, they didn’t say I couldn’t share things they told me.”
Red almost asks if he’s referring to a plural they or a singular one, but reminds himself not to dig. “In any case, it sounds like winning was the precondition, but now it’s not. Of course they might not share it with you once you tell them you might share it with others, that’s the point.”
“It still sucks,” Blue grumbles as he looks over his chart. “Sometimes it feels like every time I get stronger I’m also being told to fight with another limb tied behind my back.”
Red eyes his friend, wondering if he’s talking about the conversation they had that night before he and Leaf left for the cruise. “Do you regret letting Koga know about Miracle Eye?”
“Nah. It was the right call. I’m seeing it more and more, what you said about the power in sharing my secrets and then winning anyway. It keeps surprising me that despite all your blind spots around social stuff, you saw the value in that before I did.” Blue’s smile is warm, but brief. “But there’s only so much optimizing I can do while also worrying about how people are going to see me.”
“Don’t people celebrate it when a battle trainer takes unusual paths, though?” Red asks. “Like that guy who won the world tournament with the pachirisu… there were parades and stuff back in his home region, weren’t there?” Little as Red paid attention to the competitive battling scene back then, even he heard of that.
“Se-jun Park. Yeah, he got lots of attention for that, but it’s not like it was his favorite pokemon. He picked it strategically, and it only worked because of some very specific things he knew about his opponents and meta of the time.” Blue shrugs. “I can bring a pokemon I bought, like Rive, but I still have to be careful with which ones and how often.”
“Koga is hamstrung too,” Red points out. “It’s not like he can just have his weezing self-destruct to take your kadabra out, because if he could that’s the obvious right play.”
Blue frowns. “That’s different, we both have to care about safety. If I went all out I’d also have more options.”
“But he’s holding himself to an even higher standard. Is there a way you can exploit that?”
Blue raises a brow, but he looks impressed. “Wouldn’t have expected that kind of thinking from you.”
Red shrugs. “I figure you have to take every advantage you can get. Have you ever tried to do something like that?”
“It’s tricky. You can get a bad reputation, though I think what I did with Brock’s arena was borderline and I basically got away with it…” Blue is frowning at the team projection. “Now that I think about it more, he might use a haunter just in case it’s faster, but it may be too luck-based to be his real pivot…”
Blue creates another hypothetical Koga team and runs some simulations to see which of his pokemon might be best to match it, while Red keeps staring at the earlier one and trying to think through the various surprises the Leader might have in store.
Red finds himself getting more and more fascinated with competitive battles each time he engages with novel problems they introduce. He remembered being surprisingly good at them back in Vermilion, but he’d mostly forgotten how fun they were… maybe because afterward, all his time in Vermilion felt tainted by how it ended. His experience with psychic pokemon makes him an extra valuable tutor for the group as they prepare for their challenges, and what started with simply demonstrating techniques and battle strategies with his own kadabra and hypno became full competitive battles where he did his best to model what psychics could do with the right training.
With research into the unown frustratingly stalled, he’s even found himself spending a few spare hours now and then looking over past competitive matches to try and find clues to what might be coming from Koga’s challenge.
His thoughts drift back to Blue’s suggestion to use the psychic projection training again. Since they’re not yet ready to fully reveal the technique, Red asked Professor Oak whether there would be any particular negative effects to pokemon only being in battles where they feel their life is at risk. The Professor recommended he talk with a few pokemon psychologists who specialize in battle trauma. One was even psychic, so they brought Tops to her to get evaluated.
The woman only took a few moments of merging with Tops to conclude that he should “probably spend a week out of the ball in relaxing situations” before going into battle again. Blue was disappointed, as that meant no more training before his battle with Koga, but dutifully spent every hour Red has seen him since in a place his kadabra could relax and recover a little from the ordeal they put him through; it wouldn’t be a week for the challenge match to happen, but Blue decided one match is probably fine, and Red only argued with him long enough to draw the line at using Tops or the technique again until they have more comprehensive studies on whether it will have any permanent effects.
Once Red found the right mental state to project, Tops’s growth was, in fact, measurably rapid, both in combat metrics, and in size. Red made sure they registered it in the pokedex throughout the process, plotting numbers against the average curve until it became more and more clear. Tops doubled in size within a day, and evolved into kadabra the next, going through enough food for a week.
By that point Red no longer needed the unique mental mode to get Tops to fight while fearing for his life, but it became more and more clear how powerful the technique was, powerful beyond even what Koichi must have experienced, since he would have to spend at least some of the time during training getting his pokemon to the edge… unless he had it get brutally hurt as soon as possible, of course.
Which is another reason Red is uncertain of how and when they should reveal this information. There aren’t enough psychics like Red for the discovery to change the world—which is a bit of a relief, given how many of those there already are—but the non-psychic version of the methods would still likely spread, which could mean a lot of trainers with stronger pokemon, faster… but also a lot of competitive trainers who are so eager to get the power boost that they end up actually debilitating their pokemon, either mentally or physically.
Red is mildly terrified that Leaf is going to hate him forever if that happens.
He’s also mildly terrified that it leads to less trainers having pokemon available to deal with incidents when they come up, but if he’s being honest with himself it’s Leaf hating him that feels more immediately relevant.
So when Blue explains why they might not want to share this secret training technique, Red doesn’t need much convincing. What’s one more secret? And it’s not like it’s relevant to the main thing they’ll be announcing…
It takes another minute before Satori joins them, and Red’s attention immediately catches on how different she seems than any time he’s seen her before. There’s a lightness to her movements, a calm that makes him feel more relaxed just by watching her walk straight over to Blue and pull him into a deep hug.
Blue looks as surprised as Red feels, and a little more alarmed than he would have expected. His friend awkwardly pats her back, and Red realizes Blue didn’t pick up on what he did, and is unsure whether she’s upset or not. “Uh… did it… were you able to…?”
“Thank you.”
The words are muffled by Blue’s shoulder, and he looks at Red again before awkwardly patting her back. “It… worked, then?”
“Yes.” Satori takes a step back, face filled with wonder. “It worked. My sister and I are truly connected, now. I can feel her emotions, merge our minds. It’s… strange, and wonderful, and everything I hoped for.”
Red grins. “That’s great, Satori! I’m really happy for you both.”
Satori gives him a long hug too, then turns back to Blue and straightens her dress. “I am eager to return to her, but first… are you ready to become the first dark teleporter in history?”
The first dark human, of course. They tested all sorts of psychic techniques on Dark pokemon before Satori built up to using Miracle Eye on her sister, and as far as they could tell nothing caused harm that didn’t intend to; the dark pokemon didn’t even seem to experience discomfort at losing their “darkness,” and though they do regain it swiftly after teleportation, mergers can last for minutes at a time before the psychic pokemon can’t maintain it anymore.
Besides the spirit of scientific curiosity, they also want to make sure they have as many answers ready for their press conference as possible. While dark people would likely have mixed feelings about the loss of immunity from psychic mergers, Red smiles every time he thinks of how life-changing teleportation would be for them. It’s nice to make discoveries that will unambiguously help people again, for a change… Though it required them to code Miracle Eye as a non-attack, a loophole in the programming allowed by psychic pokemon being unable to attack dark humans mentally in any case… until now, at least. He’s not even sure how to report the loophole given the lack of context, but he worked with Satori to write up the report, which would be sent as soon as the media interview starts.
It takes them just a few minutes for them to go outside so Blue can set up his teleportation point, then command Tops to use Miracle Eye on him, then rerun the training programs of himself as the kadabra’s trainer. Red merges with Tops as he reappears, and can feel the pokemon’s confusion as he looks at Blue, who he now recognizes visually and has a memory of a merger with…
“Wait,” Red says, holding a hand up, and Blue stops himself from commanding the Miracle Eye. Instead they all watch and wait, and just as Blue is about to speak again, Red feels the kadabra twist his perspective, a sort of shoving motion using limbs Red can’t quite feel, and suddenly another mind appears in the room.
Though part of him is terribly curious to know what Blue’s mind feels like, Red quickly tightens his senses until all he can sense is the vague cluster of thoughts and feelings. “He did it!”
“On his own?” Blue frowns. “That doesn’t seem good.”
“It’s natural,” Satori says. “Having the sort of bond the training programs create would make it hard for any psychic not to desire a merger when possible.”
Like she felt for her sister. But Blue is still frowning. “But I’m vulnerable as long as he does it, right? It’s not just from him.”
“Correct. Any psychic will be able to detect and attack you.”
“Will he still have protection against ghost attacks?” Red asks.
“I don’t… believe… that should be affected?” Satori shrugs. “Perhaps Jason will have a better sense for this, once he learns of it.”
“Still, not sure how I feel about this.” Blue glances at Tops. “Is he still doing it?”
“Yes,” Red and Satori say together.
“You guys aren’t reading my thoughts, right?”
“No,” Red says, while Satori shakes her head. “Do you want to withdraw him?”
Blue looks oddly hesitant, and Red realizes that despite Blue’s initial excitement at being able to teleport, he must have underestimated how used to having his psychic immunity he’s been.
Satori steps forward and lightly touches Blue’s shoulder. “Don’t be afraid. You are no more vulnerable than anyone else in the world, including your grandfather, who lived his whole life, and achieved all that he did, without your darkness.”
Blue takes a breath and nods. “Right. There might be situations where I want to summon Tops and not lose it, though.”
“We’ll have to see how strong this impulse is in him,” Red says. “Whether he can be trained out of it. Want to hold off until we do that?”
“No, no. I’m okay.” He smiles at Satori, and she returns it before stepping back. “Alright, let’s do this.”
It’s not dramatic at all; he just puts his hand on Tops, says “Teleport,” and disappears.
Red positioned himself so he could see the arrival zone without turning, and lets out a woop as Blue and Tops reappear. A knot of tension releases in Red’s stomach as some inexplicit part of him, convinced that Blue was going to disappear forever or reappear a hundred years older or something, relaxes.
Blue himself drops onto his rear and hangs his head over his knees, and Red feels a spike of alarm that quickly fades as Blue lets out a rush of air and says in a small voice, “Holy fuck am I glad that worked.”
“Congratulations, Blue,” Satori says. “Also, your darkness has returned.”
“Really? Sweet.”
Red watches as Tops looks around before noticing his trainer. “Aaand it’s gone again.”
Blue falls onto his back. “Okay, we’ll deal with that tomorrow. For now, let’s just focus on what comes next.”
“Yes, the significance of this on society will need to be evaluated most thoroughly—”
“Nah, not that. I mean, not yet, I’ll let the community talk that to death before I wade in.” Blue grins and sits up. “I’m talking about something more fun.”
“Ah.” She looks between them, brow raised. “Your battle with Koga, then?”
“No,” Red says with a grin of his own. “Buying as many abra and natu as we can afford.”
The stands around the arena are full enough that it’s hard to find a seat, but even with his newfound appreciation for competitive battling Red still doesn’t see much reason for being up close to the battles. The screens often provide clearer view of the action than a direct line of sight would, and even let you see things from the trainers’ perspectives, which Red finds particularly immersive.
He and the rest of Blue’s friends shuffle along the rows together until they find a space big enough for all of them, then Red plops down at the end of one beside Maria. Red feels a mental prod to give her an encouraging smile for reasons he’s not sure he fully understands, and she returns it looking faintly grateful, so he supposes his unpartitioned self knows something he doesn’t and lets the thought go with long practice.
Koga walks out into the arena first, and the gym members among the audience rise as one, then bow, which cues the rest of the spectators to do the same. Red cranes his head up to watch as Blue enters the arena a moment later, and Koga takes a moment to bow to both sides of the audience before bowing to Blue, who does the same. Once the gym members sit, Red and the rest of the guests do the same, and then the pre-battle speeches begin.
“Been waiting for this,” someone in the row behind Red mutters, and Red ignores the urge to turn and shush them.
“We are all tools,” Leader Koga says. “Tools for survival, tools for progress, tools for happiness, even. But tools nonetheless. So I believed, once, and so some part of me still believes, despite wanting something more for myself. For my daughter. For my region. And for all mankind.
“But if we must be tools, we must remember we are also our own maker, sharpener, and wielder. That is the only way we can ever become something more than what the brutal necessity of the world requires us to be, and since arriving at this gym, Blue Oak has proven himself to understand this, both as a guiding principle for himself, and an aspiration for those around him. In addition, he has shown us all his vision for another path… knowing that we must decide whether we wish to take it.
“Now the time has come to see what we’ve taught him in return. Blue Oak, what is your Challenge?”
“I challenge for Mastery.”
“Fuchsia Gym accepts. Our battle will be six against six, to the faint.”
Red thinks back to the battle maps Blue was studying, picturing the nodes that represented the most likely paths to victory for Koga; haunter, golbat, and venomoth seem the most likely, but he’s also likely to include at least one Dark pokemon, and they can’t guess which, but the heuristic that makes the most sense is fast versus bulky. Since kadabra are too frail to take hits, particularly physical ones, Koga’s best bet is to hit first or take at least one hit and hit back.
Koga’s problem is that kadabra hit hard in exchange for their frailty. It’s the quintessential glass dragon; even otherwise tough Poison pokemon like muk can be taken down in one hit if the kadabra is powerful enough, and Blue’s is one of the strongest on record. If he can’t take advantage of Miracle Eye’s setup, it’s too big a risk.
Koga’s other problem is that Kadabra are fast. Drapion are too, but kadabra still has them beat, and while something like a crobat could outspeed it, they’re too powerful for a 5th badge challenge, and golbat wouldn’t be enough.
One potential solution is the indirect, and obvious, route: poison…
“Go, Weezing!”
“Go, Pals!”
“Sal!” A shimmering Light Screen appears between the pokemon, though it does nothing to stop the toxic spikes that Koga’s weezing suddenly spits out. It also doesn’t stop the electricity that snaps through the air in the weezing’s direction as Blue follows up with a “Bat!”
“Toxic Spikes!” Koga yells again, and Red grins as the poisonous spikes on Blue’s side of the arena grow more dense. As he predicted, Koga’s hoping to poison Tops badly enough that it won’t be able to Recover past the building toxicity. What he could only have guessed is that it’s a kadabra whose recovery powers are strong enough that it has the rare ability to passively negate any chip damage, including poison.
It was worth a try, but the bet might cost him a pokemon. Only two rounds and Blue is already ahead, even if others may not recognize why.
“Bat!”
“Flamethrower!”
The weezing tanks the second Thunderbolt, clearly trained for toughness, but Blue’s magneton struggles against the stream of fire despite the attack only partially penetrating its Light Screen. Red judges Pals can get off one more attack before it gets taken down, but if the Weezing can survive another Thunderbolt…
“Return! Go, Ivysaur!”
Looks like Koga isn’t willing to take the risk, though Red wonders what an Ivysaur is supposed to do against a magneton. They hadn’t expected him to use one in most of their projections, and Red immediately feels models of the match falling away, leaving the possible worlds they’re in more narrowed…
Leech Seed and Synthesis.
The thought seems to come without him even thinking about it, and sure enough a moment later the seeds are flying out to cover Pals as the ivysaur takes the thunderbolt about as well as the weezing did, then starts to visibly heal itself of the damage even as the vines start to stretch around the magneton.
“Return!” Blue shouts. “Go, Nin!”
The golbat appears above the toxic spikes, and Red leans forward. Now they’d find out if Koga brought a toxtricity… a risky move given it would just be another easy target for Tops and stacks ineffectiveness and vulnerability to any Ground types…
Instead Koga replaces his ivysaur with a Galarian slowbro, which shrugs off the free hit Nin had already been commanded to give before Blue’s followup whistle brings it back to be replaced by Aegis.
Stealth Rock, Flamethrower, Rapid Spin?
There’s a clear sense of uncertainty attached to that last thought, and Red realizes what’s happening. His partitioned self is thinking ahead, less distracted by what’s happening in front of him, and able to predict—
“Ras!”
“Flamethrower!”
“Sar!”
And just like that the first pokemon is down, having accomplished little beyond setting out the Stealth Rock trap and clearing the toxic spikes. Red knows from their preplanning that this is all within Blue’s path to victory; his forretress didn’t even need to Rapid Spin, but Blue did it to make Koga think he’s concerned about avoiding the spikes.
The audience doesn’t know that, however, and there’s a tangible increase in tension as Blue appears to shift to the backfoot. He sends Rive out to deal with the slowbro—
—swap to Ivysaur, Flamethrower—
And so it goes, Koga’s misplay re-doubling the crowd’s excitement. Red has to pull his senses in around himself, and he notes Maria shifting beside him.
“Is it always like this?” she murmurs.
“Dunno,” he whispers back. “First time as a real psychic.” It’s impressive that she’s picked up on anything, and a testament to Jason’s tutelage. Red’s attention shifts back to the battle as Koga orders a Mega Drain, which Blue swaps Nin back in to take on, which causes Koga to return his slowbro, which brings back Blue’s magneton…
Red can see the threads of potential futures collapsing as it becomes clear who has what, and both trainers are able to judge their swaps to only take resisted damage, which will nevertheless add up in Koga’s favor if Blue can’t manage to take out that slowbro. But if he risks using Rive to do it, he might not be strong enough after to actually check whatever’s waiting in the wings.
Blue’s golbat checks the ivysaur, which checks his rhydon and magneton, which means…
Pals tanks the psychic attack and re-establishes the Light Screen, and then—
Soul.
“Go, Soul!’
Blue’s arcanine brings a cheer from part of the crowd, who no doubt still remembers the part it played in his victory in Celadon. Its roar clearly intimidates the slowbro, and combined with the lightscreen none of Koga’s attacks hit quite as hard as they normally would.
What follows is a brutal exchange that leaves the combatants covered in burns and sagging from poison, until both are returned together, and then it’s 2-1, and Koga brings his weezing back out to reset the toxic spikes.
Rive, meanwhile, starts chucking stones at it, which miss, giving Koga the time to swap his ivysaur back in, which returns Nin, which brings out—
The Alolan muk shimmers like an oil slick, rainbow highlights playing over its sludge-formed body as it rushes forward to meet the golbat.
“Return!”
Trap, it will have Giga Drain
“Go, Pals!”
The prediction saves Blue’s rhydon, but magneton is already weak, and even the resisted attack visibly takes something out of it. A thunder wave is its last gasp, and then it’s taken down, bringing the score 3-1.
The audience is stirring and murmuring again, starting to believe they might just witness the end of Blue’s win streak.
And Red just smiles, because none of it matters until Tops comes out. Which should happen right about…
“Go, Tops!”
The arena goes silent, confusion and shock disorienting Red for a moment before he pulls his senses back into himself again, fingers gripping his armrests as the kadabra appears on the spike-littered ground.
This is it.
Koga doesn’t waste the lesson he learned from Janine, and sends his pokemon convulsing forward with a “Crunch!” as Blue yells “Eam!”
Without the paralysis, things might have gone different. But the muk is still struggling against the Magneton’s shock, and so is only halfway across the arena when Blue says, “Pa.”
The muk’s whole body vibrates, goo flaring out and then contracting, and the battle is done before the audience even understands what happened.
Koga withdraws his muk rather than risk it being killed by another hit, and sends out a haunter.
Many in the audience visibly flinch and look away, but Red’s gaze just stays fixed on Blue’s side of the arena, where he simply repeats, “Pa.”
And the haunter goes down, just a bit too slow to get its own attack off, followed by a venomoth that faces the same fate, and that’s the match. What would follow is a single syllable, two more times, and the sweep would be complete, unless the kadabra goes down to its poisoning… which it’s showing no signs of being affected by. Something Koga no doubt would be noticing, now.
So instead of sending his last two pokemon out to be instantly felled, Koga simply lowers his hands after withdrawing his venomoth, and smiles as he bows. “Well fought, Challenger. I concede.”
The audience is still silent, still grappling with what they saw, as Blue withdraws his pokemon and bows. “And you, Leader.”
“Wait,” the person behind Red says. “What the f—”
“Shhh!”
“You’ve not just earned your badge, but your place in history by redefining what is possible. Thanks to your gracious decision to share your discovery of a way for psychic attacks to affect Dark pokemon before our match, I did my best to prepare a fifth badge challenge that still might win against such a unique strength, and still failed. To luck, some might say… but you prepared the stage to create that opportunity, and it’s more than fair given what would have happened if I hadn’t known what to expect. Of the many changes in the days ahead, the world will have to prepare, now, not just for dark trainers who can use psychic pokemon more skillfully, but also psychic pokemon who can pose some threat to dark ones.”
“Thank you, Leader. It was Satori Komeiji and Red Verres who took my idea and turned it into reality, and they were gracious enough to hold their press conference after my challenge. The world will have plenty of questions, but I’ll leave answering them to those most equipped to.”
Many in the audience around him have turned to stare, and Red manages to withstand the attention until some of the cameras start displaying his face. He catches himself raising his hand to lower the brim of his hat…
No, we deserve this recognition.
…and instead tips it up, smiling as he lets himself lean into the feelings of excitement he’s felt around the discovery.
“I see that you’ve inspired more than the new culture in this gym, then, but also your friends. What will you do now?”
“I’ve thought long and hard about what my team and I have accomplished at this gym,” Blue says. “And while many of my friends have decided to stay and continue our work, I’ve decided to return to Saffron and claim its badge as well now that Sabrina has invited me to return for my Challenge.”
As always, Red wonders how often claims like that are cleared ahead of time with whoever is being referenced. The wording itself, even, implies things that are definitely intentional on Blue’s end, but that Sabrina might object to… unless she has a good enough relationship with Blue to not find it worth quibbling over in public. Which, from what Red has seen, is probably true.
His heartbeat is still higher than normal, the ambient energy of the crowd and atmosphere adding an expectation that anything can happen, even with the battle over. Or at least, the physical battle. Red still doesn’t know how much exactly is planned out and how much is improvised; Blue said it was always a bit of both, though denied having ever coordinated with a Leader other than Erika. But the audience doesn’t know even that much, and many are leaning forward with bated breath.
“And will you return, once you’ve claimed her badge?”
“I will, and even before. With this discovery, we also paved the way for Dark humans like myself to teleport.” The audience begins to murmur, but Blue’s amplified voice still cuts through the noise, and people immediately quiet. “I feel I’ve made bonds here at least as strong as those in Vermilion and Celadon, and with so many of my friends remaining to continue our work, I intend to keep a close eye on how the culture of the gym evolves.”
The implicit, ongoing challenge to Janine is obvious, but Red knows that it’s only the badge victory that makes this, in any way, not a failure… or at least, a retreat. Blue said he ended things close to ideally with Koga and Janine, but only in private; the public would see it as Janine’s win, which, even Red understands, is part of how his relationship with Janine is better than it otherwise would have been. It seems a fair trade, but if it slows his plans for group battles spreading through gyms…
“I trust that whatever direction the gym chooses to grow in, our culture will help us rise above the competition. We’ve built our strength in part on pushing the forefront of the Poison Type, and though part of our institutional knowledge is going to rapidly become obsolete, that means Poison, along with any Dark, Fighting, and of course Psychic gyms, are on the forefront of new strategies and tactics that will define the coming meta. Whatever the future holds, Fuchsia will prepare our region for it.”
The audience applauds, somehow both measured and disciplined while also showing fierce pride, but Red finds himself frowning. It’s not like wild pokemon are going to suddenly start using Miracle Eye; insofar as its discovery requires a change in strategies or tactics, it will be mostly for competitive trainers.
Red reminds himself he could be jumping to conclusions. This isn’t his field, after all, and he could be underestimating what new offensive tricks trainers would be able to utilize against wild Dark types. But if not, all this is a further reminder of why part of him feels so uncomfortable with the idea of being a competitive trainer, even if trainer battles are one of the most exciting things he’s experienced.
He’ll have to ask Blue about this. In any case, Koga and Blue have bowed to each other again, and the audience, so Red gets up, limbs still trembling with adrenaline, and starts shuffling past everyone to get out ahead of the still-stunned crowd.
He’s got a press conference to prepare for.
The Saffron Gym isn’t just aesthetically standard compared to places like Vermilion or Fuchsia, it’s also fairly plain, as utilitarian as Pewter without even the thematically appropriate stone structures. But the conference and press rooms are far fancier than any Red has been in, and as soon as he enters he’s glad Blue convinced him to dress up for this.
Satori is already waiting inside, and smiles as he joins her on the raised platform at the front of the room. “You look good.”
“Thanks,” Red says, and wipes his sweaty palms in his pockets as he looks out over the cameras pointed at them. Not recording yet, he hopes. “Is that your sister?” He can see the resemblance, though she has green hair instead of violet.
“Yes.” Satori waves, and the other girl cheerfully waves back. “She made you and Blue a gift.”
“Oh.” Some of Red’s nervousness fades at the warmth in his chest. “That’s very nice of her, but she didn’t have to—”
Satori turns to him, gaze level above her smile. “It was her quest as well, Red. She pursued it in her own way, and in far less valued a manner than my own studies.” She turns back to her sister and sighs. “Now we both have more time for other things.”
Red slowly nods, watching his friend and taking in her continued transformation from the solemn girl he’s known ever since he arrived at Saffron. It’s been a week, and yet she’s continued to exude the relaxed, happy energy each time he’s seen her… which hasn’t been as much as before. It’s understandable that she spend less time in Saffron now that she’s completed the main goal of her studies, particularly if she’s using the extra time to enjoy the fruits of her labor, but Red’s curious if it will end at some point, or if she’ll just keep drifting away until she finds something else more meaningful to do with her life.
That said, even after she got what she wanted out of Miracle Eye, she continued exploring its limits with enthusiasm, if not as frequently as before. In this case that just meant she’s actually been getting enough sleep.
More than he has, at least. After they told Sabrina about Miracle Eye yesterday to prepare her for the press conference, the Gym Leader entered what Red could only describe as a manic mode, trying to learn it herself since she could see psychic colors. Red did his best to help her, but she’s nearly as good as he is at mirroring mental states now, and mostly joins in the practice to be a sounding board and share in the discovery process, frustrating as it can sometimes be.
Red enjoys being treated as an equal by Sabrina. There’s something nostalgic in the way it reminds him of being a research assistant at Pallet Lab, where he was obviously there mostly to learn and do simple tasks, but where Dr. Madi and others would talk to him about their ideas and listen to his thoughts on them. He’s more aware now of how precious and unique a position he’s been in, both then and now.
But after that day when he believes he tripped over her secret, he’s been more and more restrictive with his partitions around Sabrina. He thought about having a conversation with her about meta-honesty, but realized that, of all people, he can’t do it with her in a way that doesn’t imply he knows, or thinks he knows, she has a secret she’s been keeping, and from there it wouldn’t be too hard for her to guess which. Not after all the ways they’ve already been honest with each other, and not unless there’s some broader context that lets him do it in a way that doesn’t single her out.
Of course, he did post his meta-honesty rules online, as did most people who were at their meeting. But he can’t exactly ask her if she’s read it without the same problem, and if she has, she’s given no indication.
He puts all that out of his mind as she enters the room, dressed in her usual public red and black finery. Satori is dressed in more formal psychic robes, and Red adjusts his lab coat to make sure it’s even. Blue insisted he start crafting his professional public image, but allowed that it needn’t be fancy, so Red went with the standard white coat over his usual black undershirt. Leaf insisted he add a splash of red, both for the obvious association and to build on the black-white-red trend of his usual outfit, so he bought a red vest, then a black one and a red shirt, then spent an hour debating with himself over which to wear until he gave up and called his mom, who advised him to go with black shirt with red vest.
Everyone vetoed his hat.
The leader raises a hand to those assembled as she makes her way onto the stage. “Hello Red, Satori. Are you ready?”
“Yes, Leader.”
“I think so.” He can see she’s wearing makeup to cover her lack of sleep, and almost asks how her night was before thinking better of it. “I think I’m getting used to these.”
Sabrina smiles and turns to survey the room. “I did my best to keep things manageable.” The crowd is fairly small, mostly some reporters and a few of the higher ranked gym members. Satori’s sister and parents are there, as are Red’s friends and mom, along with Professors Oak and Elm.
As none of the island’s regions have a Dark gym, Elite Karen is also present, presumably to say something about the effects of the discovery on her signature type, or just ask questions. He’s not sure what sort of emotions he’d expect her to be having, but she seems very relaxed, leaning against one of the walls beside Professor Elm’s lanky figure and teasing him about his new glasses.
Red returns his friends’ encouraging waves and thumbs up as they see him look over, and is tempted to go speak with them a little, but Sabrina has already stepped up to the podium, and so Red goes to stand beside Satori. After a nod to them both, the Leader turns forward.
It’s only then that Red realizes he doesn’t see someone.
“Where’s Rowan?” he murmurs.
“I don’t see him either,” Satori whispers back. “Is he sick?”
“Maybe.” The gym’s oldest psychic student has been nearly as absent as Satori lately, but Red just assumed he was being his usual reclusive self. Missing something like this, however, is even more unusual.
Lights start to blink on from the cameras set at various angles, and once they all do Sabrina places her hands on either side of the podium. “When I became Leader of Saffron Gym, I had one objective: to ensure the city’s defense and trainer culture were in capable hands. I became a Leader because I felt a duty, and a proud one. But a part of me also wanted more; in my heart, I’ve always been fascinated by the study of psychic phenomena, and that curiosity burned within me throughout my journey. Once I had the responsibility of Saffron in my hands, I knew I couldn’t devote myself entirely to that curiosity… but I also knew there would be others like me out there, Gifted from all schools and philosophies who would want to collaborate and grow their knowledge. So I began a school, and invited the most talented and dedicated to come learn from each other, and teach psychics throughout our region.”
Sabrina gestures to the crowd, and a few of the cameras swivel to pick Daniel, Jason, and Tatsumaki out of it. “Along with the natural collaboration of those who came to train at our gym, Saffron has become one of the leading hubs for original psychic research in the world… and while I expected most of our discoveries to be esoteric to our craft, I knew that eventually the right combination of talent would gather to change the world.”
Sabrina’s smile is warm, and it makes her look younger. “We watched in shock as Blue Oak used the new ‘Miracle Eye’ to secure his victory over Leader Koga… and by ‘we,’ I am in fact including myself. While my students and I often collaborate on projects, my duties frequently keep me busy, particularly lately. I can claim no credit for this latest discovery, and am happy to cede the spotlight to those who made it.”
Red takes a breath and steps forward with Satori to answer the flurry of questions that come. Most are predictable, and the two of them confirm that this does mean dark humans can have their minds read and teleport. Red recites the assuredly incomplete list of pokemon they’re currently aware of that can learn Miracle Eye and explains the concept of psychic colors, and how some pokemon can see them, while Satori describes the subtle differences between psychic and ghost senses.
Most questions come from the experts in the room, while a few are by the (surprisingly well-informed) reporters. Whenever one asks something related to social or political consequences, however, Sabrina steps in to simply say that she plans to hold a separate press conference on that once she’s had the chance to confer with various regional bodies.
The third time this happens Elite Karen snaps, “What are you implying, that they should have kept this secret?” The reporter looks abashed, and the questions stay on the scientific aspects going forward, but some part of Red feels uncomfortable, and he wishes he could reassure people… but the truth is, there probably are dark people out there with secrets they don’t want revealed, and they might well be pressured to submit to mind reading in the months ahead, now that they can be. It still would have been wrong to conceal a secret this big, of course, but Red still finds his thoughts distracted…
“Okay, that’s enough for now,” Sabrina says an hour after the questioning begins. “I trust the interested parties can meet in their own time and disseminate information as they see fit. Before we end, however, Satori had one last thing she wanted to share.”
The young woman steps forward again, and takes a breath. Her gaze finds her sister, and she smiles before turning back to the cameras. “I have lived my whole life in Kanto, and love many things about our culture, and that of our sister regions along the islands. Our history, our music, our food, our spirit. But one thing I have never been able to love is our still-lingering superstitions around those of us who are a little different.
“My sister was born of another mother, but we are both of one soul. I had no doubt of this from a young age, even when my powers began to manifest and I couldn’t sense her thoughts or feelings. I knew she had them, the same way a blind man can know their brother by the shape of his face. And yet I had a stark reminder of how this difference between us, so inconsequential in so many ways, led to such differences in the way we were treated by society.
“As soon as I was known to be ‘gifted,’ I felt admiration and deference from those around me. As soon as she was known to be ‘dark,’ she suffered suspicion and aloofness. A pattern I’ve seen, to some degree, repeated throughout Indigo and beyond.”
Satori’s voice shakes a little, but she takes another breath and sweeps the cameras with her gaze. “I have finally sensed her mind. I have felt her emotions. And I tell you now what I have known all along, and what the rest of society must surely learn: she is no different from any other person. None of those born dark are. And it’s up to each of us to find any part of our systems, our culture, and our own souls that might treat them as lesser in any way, and let those beliefs melt away to the past where they belong.”
There’s a pause as she lets her breath out, then simply says, “Thank you,” and steps back, freezing as many in the room burst into applause, Red included. His gaze finds Blue, whose expression is still vulnerable and uncertain, and then Sabrina, who for reasons he can’t understand, mirrors his friend’s.
