Pokemon: Rising From The Dark

Finally, it was not known whether Kommo-o understood what Aoki had said to it.

Aoki spoke smoothly, "How about we leave this place together after we complete our mission? I might be able to help you find your people, but I might need your help sometimes too. Can we just help each other out?"

Kommo-o nodded out of habit, though it had not yet fully processed request.

So Aoki continued, "Why don't you come back to our camp with us first? You can still teach Shelgon during normal times."

Kommo-o nodded again, a thoughtful expression on its reptilian features.

"Alright! It looks like we can't have a battle today, let's head back first! We'll come back to trouble the Combee tomorrow."

After Aoki finished speaking, he directly commanded three Skuntank to pull his cart back towards camp.

Kommo-o still stood there, nodding continuously.

When it finally reacted, it saw that Aoki and others had already walked a considerable distance away.

Hmm?

Did I just agree to something extraordinary?

Bass--

Kommo-o kicked at ground with its scaled foot, then took big strides to chase after Aoki and his Pokemon.

It caught up quickly!

Kommo-o had a puzzled look on its face and scratched its head subconsciously with a clawed hand.

Why do I feel so foggy about what just happened?

However, its body still followed Aoki and others very honestly, its heavy footsteps and sound of its scales rubbing together audible on path.

Hearing sound of footsteps and scales rubbing against each other behind him, Aoki showed a smug, satisfied smile.

Slowking next to him was looking at its own nose with its eyes, and its heart with its nose, a picture of feigned nonchalance.

It looked as if entire situation had nothing to do with it.

Another poor Pokemon had been recruited.

They returned to camp with Kommo-o, which initially scared other Pokemon already residing there.

But after learning what had happened from Slowking, they all understood new arrival.

Aoki was unable to move around easily and could not make any delicious food himself, so he could only use Pokeblocks left by Shelgon to entertain Kommo-o.

It was no wonder that after eating Pokeblock for first time, Kommo-o immediately fell in love with taste.

It lay in a corner of camp, with a large bowl of Pokeblocks placed in front of it, eating slowly and leisurely while watching Aoki's other Pokemon training nearby.

Maybe it was because it felt a sense of gratitude, or perhaps a budding camaraderie, that it from time to time pointed out inappropriateness of other Pokémon's training techniques, especially that of Shelgon and Blaziken.

These two Pokemon shared some of its attributes, so it could offer more specific advice, but it also gave some general guidance to other Pokemon.

After all, with its vast combat experience, it was completely fine for it to give a few pointers.

However, Kommo-o was genuinely surprised that Aoki had so many Pokemon with such extraordinary talents and potential.

Especially that Tyranitar.

It saw in Tyranitar a raw power and a depth of talent that even it, a pseudo-legendary Pokemon itself, could not help but respect and, in a way, not quite match.

If there was any Pokémon among Aoki's team that could potentially catch up to that Tyranitar, it might only be Shelgon that had just evolved today.

Kommo-o didn't know why it felt this competitive urge, but maybe all parental figures had this mentality, not wanting their own charges to be weaker than other children, so it became more and more attentive in guiding Shelgon.

However, Kommo-o did not mean to be partial; it was just that it could not give much specific guidance to Tyranitar, it mostlyl knew fighting and dragon type moves and could not teach any rock type moves.

Watching Shelgon roaring from time to time with renewed vigor, encouraged by attention, made Kommo-o train it harder and more focused.

When it was just a Bagon, it had always been one of most hardworking Pokémon in Aoki's hands. Now that it had evolved, and with help of Kommo-o and specialized Shelgon training methods that Aoki had acquired from Drake, there was still a chance that Shelgon would be able to catch up with Tyranitar in future.

Moreover, Kommo-o might be able to help heal the emotional trauma of Shelgon, providing a strong mentor figure.

Such a strong Pokemon had moved into camp. Aoki felt that his camp should now be one of safest places in this entire space.

He smiled and closed his eyes, trying to relax into moment.

After just a few days, physical discomfort from his injuries made him feel very uncomfortable and out of place, unable to contribute as he wished.

He wanted to see if there was any way to speed up his recovery, to feel useful again.

At very least, he wanted to help his psychic powers recover first.

Moment he had come out of space channel, red and blue energy ball left by Lugia in his mind had been completely absorbed by him.

He didn't know how far his psychic powers had progressed now, what new heights they might have reached.

He tried to use his psychic powers again, reaching inward with his mind. It felt like his psychic powers, which were originally free to use and flow like water, had now solidified into a hard, impenetrable shell around his consciousness.

There was not even a tiny crack to channel a trickle of power.

They still couldn't be called upon.

Aoki slowly opened his eyes, revealing a deep hint of helplessness and frustration.

"What hell is going on? I don't know what's going on with Unown inside space channel. I can just accept that they absorbed psychic energy, but why did they have to absorb spatial energy as well?" Aoki couldn't help but complain about Unown's counterproductive, confusing behavior.

Ever since Unown had attached themselves to him, they had never truly harmed him, and they had been silently, mysteriously helping him improve his psychic powers over time.

When they had made this choice, they must have sensed something within him, known that he had no intention to harm them, that a symbiosis was possible.

Aoki just wanted to vent his frustration, to complain aloud; he didn't truly mean to blame Unown for their inscrutable actions.

"Spatial energy?"

"Spatial energy..."

Aoki suddenly developed an obsession with term "spatial energy," and he kept repeating it softly, as if trying to decipher a code.

Space barrier? Spatial rend?

Perception of spatial energy? Sensitivity to dimensions?

A series of related nouns and concepts flashed through his mind, connections starting to form.

"Could it be that my psychic powers are completely blocked because my mind has absorbed too much raw spatial energy?" Aoki thought of this possibility, a theory beginning to take hold.

It was worth a try, worth testing what his mind had been waiting for silently.

"Slowking, come and help me." Aoki shouted to Slowking, who was nearby, handing over supervision of Kirlia to Kommo-o for a moment.

Hearing Aoki calling for it, Slowking instantly used its teleportation to appear at Aoki's side in a flash of psychic energy.

Kirlia, ever attentive to its trainer, also followed her master's example and teleported to Aoki's side a moment later.

Two Psychic-type Pokemon used skill of teleportation in a remarkably similar, elegant way.

"Slowking, try extending your psychic powers into my brain. Use spatial energy component of your teleportation to see if you can drill a small hole in that hard shell blocking me," Aoki instructed, his voice a mix of hope and apprehension.

When he had been unable to use his psychic powers before, he had studied problem extensively with Slowking.

Slowking was theoretically able to break through that barrier, its power was sufficient, but no one could predict how much damage such a forceful attempt might cause to Aoki's mind.

Moreover, muscles and tissues around Aoki's head had not fully recovered at that time, and moving psychic energy around randomly might have made his physical condition worse, or caused a relapse.

Now that he had almost recovered physically, he could make a further, more daring attempt.

After understanding Aoki's meaning, Slowking hesitated for a moment, its face a mask of concern, but it still gently attached its potent psychic powers to Aoki's head, probing carefully.

Superpower that entered brain was meticulously shaped, turned into a constantly rotating, incredibly thin psychic needle, and under Aoki's focused attention, it slowly, carefully approached solid, spatial-energy-infused barrier within his mind.

Aoki, Slowking, and watching Kirlia were all paying rapt attention to subtle changes, atmosphere thick with concentration and anticipation.