Pokemon: Rising From The Dark

With the fusion of psychic powers and spatial energy, Slowking carefully controlled the thin needle.

A barrier that Aoki couldn't break no matter how hard he tried was effortlessly pierced by Slowking's precise intervention.

However, the thin needle wielded by Slowking went straight through.

In a moment!

A thousand-mile long dike can be destroyed by a small hole.

Because of the appearance of this tiny pinhole, the entire barrier that blocked Aoki's psychic powers was instantly covered with intricate cracks.

A large amount of psychic power began emanating from it.

The long-lost feeling of control and connection appeared in Aoki's mind once again.

The psychic power that allowed him to control his surroundings at will had returned.

Slowking and Kirlia's psychic powers retreated together, their task complete.

Aoki frowned and closed his eyes, focusing inward.

Slowking and the others left silently, knowing the rest was a task Aoki had to face alone.

At this time, a huge uproar had already been unleashed within Aoki's mind.

His newly unbound psychic powers crashed against the remnants of the mental barrier like a turbulent sea.

Aoki could only try his best to control the fraction of psychic power he could currently grasp, barely comprehending that his abilities had suddenly surged to an unprecedented level.

He tried his best to restrain those wild, rampaging energies, to corral the storm within his own head.

It took a full hour to finally calm the psychic powers in his mind.

"Huh—what the hell!?" Aoki let out a long, shaky breath, and when he opened his eyes there was deep surprise and a fleeting, visible ripple of psychic energy.

He didn't expect that his psychic powers had broken through to an advanced level without his knowledge.

Advanced psychic powers!

With what he had always considered his mediocre talent, there was actually a day when he could reach the level of an advanced psychic.

Aoki still remembered that when he had just awakened his psychic powers, his system had analyzed that it would take him more than seventy years to break through to the primary level, but now, in such a relatively short time, he had reached an advanced stage.

However, it was profoundly difficult for Aoki to control this new magnitude of power.

If Aoki's control over his own psychic powers had originally been at 85%, then now his control had suddenly plummeted to around 50%.

He was barely at the controllable passing line.

Furthermore, although Aoki's psychic powers had already been at the peak of the intermediate stage before, he had now only broken through one major hurdle to barely reach the advanced level.

But the sheer quantity and refined quality of these new powers were vastly different.

If his previous psychic power quantity and quality were considered base one, then his current psychic power was base ten.

A tenfold gap.

No wonder intermediate-level psychics had little ability to resist advanced psychics.

However, it was only after his breakthrough that Aoki fully understood how immense the gap was between himself and Sabrina.

Even though he had now reached the level of an advanced psychic, he suspected he would still have little ability to resist her.

No wonder Sabrina's personality had become so isolated and intense.

Aoki felt that Sabrina was being remarkably restrained now.

Anyone who, before their mind is fully mature, possesses god-like abilities that rival those of powerful Pokemon, would likely see ordinary people as little different from ants.

If she didn't restrain herself, the psychic powers she released at will could easily incapacitate weaker humans.

Her often flat emotional state and isolation were probably necessary, a result of her abilities being far beyond what any one person could easily control.

Aoki finally calmed down his own raging mind.

He could finally control his psychic powers again!

Although it was tremendously difficult, it was no longer the absolute helplessness he had felt before.

Staring at a large tree in the distance, he extended his psychic power towards it. The energy unfurled like a tangible ribbon, coiling around a single branch.

There was no sound. The branch simply broke off cleanly. There was no sign of the branch sliding or falling; it was as if it passed through a spatial doorway and suddenly materialized directly in front of Aoki.

He looked thoughtfully at the extra branch now in his hand.

Aoki became very interested.

The spatial energy from before seemed to have been completely absorbed and integrated into his psychic powers; now it appeared his abilities carried latent spatial properties.

Aoki suddenly felt that this seemed to be a capability perfectly suited for stealth and surprise attacks.

However, his control over these psychic powers needed to be improved drastically.

Otherwise, he would be detected by an opponent long before he could get close.

And judging from the current situation, Aoki felt that he might now have the potential to perform Teleport.

Thinking of this, Aoki stared at a tent in the distance, desperately recalling the precise energy fluctuations and sensations when Slowking used Teleport.

"Now!"

It was as if he found the precise point where space could be folded for an instant.

He wrapped himself in his psychic energy and disappeared on the spot.

Slowking and Kirlia, sensing the distinct spatial fluctuations of a Teleport, immediately looked towards where Aoki had been.

They found that he had indeed vanished.

When Aoki reappeared, however, he was still in exactly the same place.

"It's not that simple." He saw that he had not appeared at the edge of the tent as he had imagined, but had snapped back to his origin point. He couldn't help but sigh in frustration.

But fortunately, the reason for his failure wasn't a lack of potential, but his current lack of fine control. The moment he found the spatial fold, his psychic power fluctuated uncontrollably, destabilizing the Teleport and causing it to abort.

As long as he could improve his control over his psychic powers to a certain level, he would be able to use Teleport reliably.

In that instant of realization, Aoki suddenly felt that he was no longer just an ordinary human being.

He was now part of a truly special group of people in this world.

With his psychic powers restored, Aoki was no longer handicapped.

He could use his abilities to solve various problems, and this practice would, in turn, help him improve his mastery.

A long string of mental-training beads materialized in the air before Aoki, constantly shifting and changing shape under his conscious direction.

He increased their number, manipulating more and more beads, yet Aoki didn't feel the same crushing pressure as before.

"It seems that after breaking through to the advanced psychic level, the previous mental beads are no longer sufficient for training." Aoki thought to himself as he watched the beads morph and dance.

"Honchkrow!" Aoki called out towards the sky.

Hearing Aoki's voice Honchkrow landing in front of him.

"Add more Dark-type energy to the mental beads," Aoki instructed.

This was the solution Aoki had devised: to increase the strength and resistance of the training beads, ensuring they would remain effective for his advanced training.

If he were to ask which of his current Pokemon had the strongest control over Dark-type energy, it would undoubtedly be Honchkrow.

After Honchkrow finished infusing the mental beads with a deeper, more potent dark energy, Aoki immediately felt a significant pressure return when he tried to control them.

After expressing his gratitude to Honchkrow, Aoki began a new, intense round of training.

His motivation for this training was greater than ever. He knew that if he could reach a level of control commensurate with an intermediate psychic—but with his new advanced power—he should be able to execute Teleport.

At that time, even if no other Pokemon were around, he would still have a reliable and powerful ability to protect himself when encountering danger.

And so, surrounded by his team, Aoki and his Pokemon all began their respective training regimens, each pushing their limits under the quiet sky.