Chapter 35: Memories


    (Vera’s POV)


    Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I relive it all: the moment the seal broke and my mind was flooded with memories I had lost. It happened at the same time my adoptive grandparents died, the only people who loved me unconditionally. I felt such profound pain that the seal blocking my power and much strange knowledge shattered completely. All the information about my lineage, the technique known by the stranger who placed the seal on me, the history of my psychic father who rejected me… of my mother whom I… it all came back at once, like a hurricane.


    Thanks to that, I was able to return to the house where I was born, and there I found books and an egg that my mother had kept for me in a hiding place. It was the only thing I possessed of her. Its pages are filled with advanced studies on psychic Pokémon’s abilities and moves; she may not have been a psychic, but she was born into a clan of psychics and was very interested in knowledge. Also, in every line, I perceive the affection she must have had for me, an affection I couldn’t know because of my father, who abandoned her and left her alone during childbirth.


    Since then, I learned to survive by maintaining an external coldness. In the eyes of others, I seem unbreakable, but in reality, I get angry easily. That temperament has played tricks on me, especially with two people who, ironically, are the closest to friends I’ve had: Kara and Aspen.


    Kara and I understand each other well. We both grew up alone, rejected by our clans. She is a prodigy of aura, and I of telekinesis, so people always labeled us as “abnormal.” Perhaps that’s why we sympathize, despite our apparent opposition in temperaments.


    With Aspen, it was different. When I first saw him in the library, I thought he was an assassin from the Poison Clan, something that unnerved me because I had just regained my powers and couldn’t tolerate threats. He swore he didn’t want to harm me; he even made a joke about Sabrina that drove me crazy. Sage, Abra and gift from my mother, was forced to teleport me before I killed him. Later, I discovered, to my surprise, that Aspen was neither a hitman nor a warrior: he was a chubby, insecure boy, but he possessed a strange courage. He demonstrated it in the Cerulean caves when he risked creating crystallized poison weapons for Kara and me, even though it left him almost unconscious.


    On the Seafoam beach, I thought it would just be a harmless training day for Aspen and Kara. I was far from them, focused on achieving my Pokémon’s evolution. When I finished, I teleported to see how they were doing and found a spectacle I couldn’t have imagined: Aspen running toward me, a complete mess, trying to escape Kara’s pursuit. Suddenly, he hugged me desperately… and I lost my mind. My skin bristled; I interpreted his touch as an unforgivable audacity. Before I knew it, I had already thrown him into the water and was manipulating the tide to drown him mercilessly. It was an explosion of power and fury.


    When consciousness returned to me, he was on the verge of fainting. Kara, amid nervous laughter, jumped in to rescue him. I was left alone, motionless on the shore, biting my lip. I couldn’t believe what I had done. The next day, I went to look for him in the infirmary… but he wasn’t there. I tried to locate him with my powers, in vain; it seemed that the Dark type of his Grimer completely concealed his mental presence.


    Weeks passed, and his trail was nonexistent. Kara couldn’t find him with her aura either. I started to get irritated: who did he think he was to ignore us like that? No matter how guilty I felt, that attitude seemed intolerable to me. Finally, one day we saw him at the Academy. We called out to him, but he turned and walked away with something I interpreted as disdain. I wanted to smash the walls. I would make him understand that Vera Espern is not ignored with impunity.


    That same afternoon, we found him, and he had no escape. Kara chased him; I preferred to teleport to his room, and from his bed, I coldly watched as he entered, a bundle of nerves. The door bent behind him, and Kara appeared with a tense smile. My magenta eyes gleamed, and I felt the gravity increase on Aspen. He had no escape.


    “Why are you ignoring us?” Kara asked, in a cheerful and playful manner but with a burning tone of threat.


    “That was very disrespectful,” I said in an icy tone.


    (Kara’s POV)


    I have always been seen as a force of nature: cheerful, boisterous, and explosive, but in reality, when I truly get angry, my interior becomes a calculating iceberg. I learned it in the orphanage where I grew up. Since I was a child, I had enormous strength due to my innate mastery of aura. The other children saw me as a monster; the adults feared me. Every adoption failed when they saw I could break the wall with a punch. So I developed two layers: an ardent exterior, full of laughter and challenges, and a cold interior, where I coldly analyze how to act to protect myself and not be hurt again.


    When I finally left the orphanage, I stayed away from everyone; I only signed up for a martial arts contest where I defeated everyone without technique. There I won Karate, my Machop, and discovered my passion for fighting styles. But even so, I couldn’t make friends with the martial artists; I was too powerful, too intimidating. They didn’t let me join the dojos and forbade me from learning martial arts. My only passion. That’s why I have an insane hatred towards the Fighting Clan and decided to develop my own body technique. I thought I would never find anyone who would accept me as I am. However, I met Vera at the Academy, a psychic genius as resentful of her clan as I was of mine. It seemed like a perfect union of opposites. Then Aspen appeared, a chubby boy with a poison affinity who at first seemed pathetic to me. But he surprised me when he helped us defeat enemies in the Cerulean caves, creating weapons at the cost of his own health. Somehow, the three of us formed a strange bond, almost familial.


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    At Seafoam, I only intended to train Aspen to improve his endurance. I am fascinated to see how a body seemingly devoid of physical conditions can be strengthened with practice. My method was… aggressive, I admit. But when Vera appeared and drowned him almost without realizing it, I laughed reflexively. It was a nervous and unconscious laugh, believing the situation could be controlled. Things got out of hand. In the end, I took him to the infirmary, feeling guilty. I expected that when he recovered, he would throw my cruelty in my face, and I was ready to argue. But he disappeared.


    Days, weeks passed, without a trace of him. And my patience ran out. I tried to track him with an aura sense I developed, but I couldn’t find him; he said he had a ghost Pokémon that hid his vital essence. To make matters worse, we saw him one day strolling through the Academy, pretending not to know us. I felt my blood boil; on the outside, I wore a fierce smile, but inside, I wondered if he really considered breaking the bond we had created. Ku


    So I planned—coldly—how to hunt him down. Enough of letting him avoid confrontation. With Vera, we coordinated a simple attack: she would teleport to wherever he sought refuge, and I would chase him physically. It didn’t take long to corner him in a hallway.


    Before he reached his room, I saw something that left me stunned: Aspen channeled his poison to create viscous balls beneath his feet, using them like skates or wheels to move. I had never seen him so agile! In an instant, I slammed him to the ground, pinning him with my knee. To my surprise, venomous spikes sprouted from his back, tearing through my keikogi.


    “Well played,” I whispered with a hint of genuine admiration and latent frustration.


    He managed to break free and lock himself in his room. I suppose he trusted the multiple bolts and safety mechanisms. I didn’t need a Pikachu or anything like that to unlock them—I used my hands and aura to burst the door open, bending it with little effort.


    There was Vera, sitting elegantly, and Aspen, with beads of sweat rolling down his cheeks. I approached slowly, wearing a smile many have called “terrifying.”


    “Why are you ignoring us?” I asked, feigning lightness, though inside my emotions were cold and calculating.


    “That was very disrespectful,” Vera added, cold as a polar blizzard.


    (Aspen’s POV)


    My heart beats frantically. Everything started… less than a minute ago, when I felt them grab my shoulders in the hallway. My only thought was to escape. I never imagined I’d flee with such fluidity.


    In a pure instinctive act, I crouched down and instinctively channeled my Poison-type energy toward my spleen. I realized I could now control my toxins without needing to poison myself each time. Before, I used to ingest dangerous substances to generate my crystals, but now the poison emanates more naturally from my body.


    When Kara tried to restrain me, I focused on my spleen. I felt a tingling in the pit of my stomach, and out of nowhere, I sculpted smooth little balls that I placed under my feet, sliding through the hallway as if wearing organic skates. I let the adrenaline carry me, bumping into the walls a couple of times but moving forward at high speed. When I heard her on my heels, I created a second layer on my back and formed toxic spikes to force her away. Kara cursed, giving me just enough time to escape into my room.


    I slammed the door shut, activating all the locks, and prayed for a breather. Still, my pulse raced, sensing Vera’s overwhelming presence. I knew she would teleport sooner or later, but I hoped for just a second of respite to catch my breath. When I turned around, she was already on my bed, arms crossed, wearing an expression of absolute coldness.


    I tried to step back, but my body grew heavy. I felt the air vibrate with her psychic energy: the force of gravity fell on me. Resisting was useless. And then I heard a crash: the door bent like wet paper, the metal bar twisting. Kara entered, a smile on her lips and fire in her eyes.


    The two of them formed a terrifying contrast. Vera, immaculate and icy-eyed, her red hair gently undulating from her mental power. Kara, with her torn keikogi and rapid breathing, smiling while her eyes burned with fierce rage.


    A terror gripped my chest that I hadn’t even felt in the Cerulean caves. I remembered the Seafoam beach, the water swallowing me as both of them seemed entertained. Inside, I wanted to scream at them that I hated them, that they weren’t my friends, that they had humiliated me. But all that came out was a useless stammer.


    “Why are you ignoring us?” Kara sang, her tone giving me goosebumps.


    “That was very disrespectful,” added Vera, frost-like.


    I knew I had to say something. My throat went dry, and I only managed to stammer:


    “Y-you…”


    My voice cracked. My legs buckled, my shoulders sank beneath that psychic weight. I wanted to tell them to leave, or beg Arceus to make them go away, but I couldn’t get the words out. I felt like a helpless Poochyena before two alpha Mightyenas.


    I glanced at the remains of my door. If we’re discovered fighting here, the Academy won’t let it slide. I haven’t released Dozy, Noizy, or Creepy because the rules forbid it in enclosed spaces. And even if I did, I doubt my Pokémon could stop these two forces of nature.


    The silence became unbearable. I wanted to explain, to complain, to say something. But my lips trembled. My mind screamed for me to run, not realizing there was no escape left.


    Finally, I held my breath and forced myself to speak:


    “N-no…” I muttered, struggling with each syllable. “I didn’t want to…”


    The rest of my words were lost in a tremble. The scene froze: Kara watching me from the entrance, Vera regal by the bed, and me, unable to finish what I needed to say.


    I feel like I’m about to face the most dangerous storm of my life.