22 Chapter 22: To The Rescue
Author's Note: To those that have issues with Pokemon having personal names: Shut up about the names. I'm naming his Pokemon just like everyone else names their pets. I don't care if you don't like names.
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he next few days consisted of constant training while moving toward Sunyshore City. Even with their slow pace, the duo and their Pokemon had crossed most of the distance and were only a day or two away at their current pace.
Xander had wandered away from the camp with Tamamo to search for a Psychic Pokemon. The duo stumbled upon several small caves when they heard the cries of a Pokemon coming from one and the malicious laughter of another Pokemon inside of it as well.
"Wanna be heroes?" Xander looked at Tamamo and asked
'Let's go!' Tamamo nodded, ready to rush into the cave
Seeing that his partner agreed, the duo sprinted into the cave together, Tamamo slowing down enough to ensure that she did not leave Xander behind. The duo arrived toward the end of the cave where they could barely see an orb made out of black energy surrounded by purple gas. The creature was floating above a Pokemon that looked to be dressed in white with a green helmet that had two pink horns, one sticking out the front and one pointing toward the rear.
'A Ralts! I finally found a Psychic Pokemon!' Xander felt elated when he saw the Ralts and wanted to thank Gastly for leading him to it. But first, he had to drive the Gastly away or knock it out.
"Tamamo, only use Ice Moves on the floating one. Also, watch out for any Poison moves that it uses," Xander warned, knowing that his Pokemon had a weakness to Poison Types.
'Understood,' Tamamo responded before opening her mouth as an orb of blue and white light appeared in front of it. After the orb was formed, white beams of energy emerged from it and struck Gastly from behind.
Focused on torturing the Ralts, Gastly was hit by the move from the unexpected opponent. Gastly turned around to see who was attacking it and was surprised to see Tamamo and Xander had arrived. Tamamo opened her mouth again to fire another [Ice Beam], striking the Gastly once more.
Gastly flew over to Tamamo, trying to close the gap since it knew that it could not fight the other Pokemon at such a range.
As it rushed forward, Tamamo backed away, luring the other Pokemon closer to the cave's entrance and creating distance between it and the Ralts. Xander saw this and ran toward the Ralts, wanting to make sure that the smaller Pokemon was alright.
Just as Xander neared it, the horns on the Ralts began to glow with a blue outline before a pink beam was fired from it and struck Xander directly in the head. Xander fell back to the ground, feeling an enormous amount of pain in his head from the attack.
"Agh!" Xander cried out in pain while rolling on the ground and holding his head. He felt as if something had exploded in his mind.
Tamamo rushed over when she heard Xander's cries of pain after quickly finishing off the Gastly.
'Xander! Are you alright?' Tamamo asked, her voice filled with worry
"Ugh. Just a major headache," Xander reassured her
'That's good. Let's get you back to camp with Cynthia and the others,' Tamamo wanted to let him rest and get him somewhere safer instead of being in the cave.
"I'll be fine. No need to...," Xander paused and looked at Tamamo in surprise. "Do I understand you?"
Tamamo was also shocked. She knew that Xander could tell what she meant by her aura and the way she made noises but he never truly understood what she was saying.
"Name three Pokemon," Xander told her, a smirk appearing on his face
'Gastly, Bagon, and myself,' Tamamo named the first three that came to mind
"Gastly, Bagon, and the prettiest Pokemon around," Xander repeated her answers, adding some flair to the last one. Now his smirk had turned into a full grin.
"I'm a psychic!" he announced to Tamamo, his voice filled with excitement. He quickly stood up and hugged Tamamo before kissing her on the snout.
'Even if I don't get to the level of Sabrina, I can command my Pokemon with telepathy and use other powers to support me outside of battle,' Xander was already thinking of the possibilities.
'Congratulations, Xander,' Tamamo was excited for Xander and also for herself. Now, they could freely communicate.
Xander was about to rush off with Tamamo when he felt a tug on his pants. He turned around and saw that Ralts was pulling on him. Seeing th little Pokemon, Xander remembered his original goal. He kneeled as much as he could so Ralts did not have to look up too much.
"Thank you, Ralts. Because of you, I was able to become a psychic," Xander sincerely thanked the Pokemon. "Do you wanna come with me? This place doesn't seem too safe."
Ralts tilted her head, not fully understanding what Xander was saying. Her psychic powers were still too weak so she was unable to comprehend him as well as Tamamo.
Xander saw this and held out a ball for the Pokemon before pressing it against Ralts' head. The small Pokemon was engulfed in red light before getting sucked into the ball. The ball moved a few times while a red light flashed on the button in the center before standing still with a clicking sound and the light turning off.
"Nice. We just caught our 4th partner!" Xander held the ball in the air and cheered, Tamamo cheering along with him. With their new ally with them, the duo began walking back to camp with an extra pep in their step.
'This outing has been very fruitful. We got a new partner, someone to help Tamamo learn Psychic moves, and I became a psychic myself. Watch out Sinnoh, here I come!'
