Facing the suddenly intruding Kanta, who had seen his demonic side, no matter who it was, there was only one path left for them…
Death.
At this moment, Tetsuya's headache had still not eased. It was even difficult for him to speak, but in his heart he kept repeating, "Keep him here… kill him…"
At this moment, Gengar was within Tetsuya's shadow, and their minds and pain had already merged into one. Tetsuya's shadow suddenly lengthened, while two black rays shot out from within the shadow and shrouded Gardevoir.
At this moment, Gardevoir used Teleport, yet no matter what it could not move.
Just now Gengar had used Mean Look, sealing Gardevoir's Teleport. Now, trying to run away would probably not be so easy anymore.
At this moment, Kanta was already so frightened that he forgot to take out any other Pokémon. In his eyes, Tetsuya was no longer a human, but a monster. Escaping for his life was the only thing he wanted to do now.
"K-Kill... him…"
Tetsuya gasped heavily for breath, while his head hurt even more. He only felt that he would collapse in the next moment, but the intent to kill Kanta was supporting him.
Kanta had already crawled up and started running frantically!
Suddenly, one black shadow wrapped around him, while another black shadow wrapped around Gardevoir.
At this moment, Kanta and Gardevoir only felt their entire bodies turning cold. Immediately afterward came coldness… extreme coldness.
Their brains began to grow dizzy, while their bodies swayed as though about to collapse!
Finally, they fell down…
Their vitality was already being slowly devoured by Gengar.
Until they became two dried corpses.
Only after seeing that Kanta was already dead did Tetsuya finally let out a long breath. At this moment, he himself could no longer endure it either. The intense headache caused him to completely collapse as well.
"Are you alright… Tetsuya-sama… my master…?"
During the period of unconsciousness, there was always such a voice echoing within his mind. Throughout the entire unconscious process, Tetsuya only felt wave after wave of powerful energy penetrating his brain and merging with every one of his cells.
Tetsuya's brain felt as though it was about to explode!
At this moment, Tetsuya only wanted to desperately smash against his own brain, yet he felt that his body was completely unable to move at all. He could only grit his teeth and resist!
Finally…
He had persevered through that period of intense pain. He felt as though an entire century had passed.
Only then did Tetsuya's brain slowly begin to calm down, while the pain started to lessen. Afterward, it seemed as though he had adapted to that energy, and instead there was a very comfortable feeling.
Within his mind appeared the earth, the sky, the universe, dimensions…
It felt as though the theories spoken of by Hawking and Einstein were right before his eyes!
Who knew how long had passed before he groggily opened his eyes…
---◓---
Ditto was feeding him water, while behind it were Piloswine, Golett, Beedrill, and Houndoom.
"Y-You all…? Mmm…"
Tetsuya only felt that his body was especially weak. He did not even have the strength to crawl up.
"…What is going on?"
"Do not worry, master¹[1]. It is only because you have not eaten for two days, so you are this weak. The reason you experienced headaches should be because my psychic capacity is too strong, so your brain could not adapt to it…
Now that you can wake up means that you have already adapted to my psychic power. You can try using psychic energy now."
Gengar's mental voice(?) once again sounded within his mind. However, the other Pokémon were all simply staring blankly at him. It seemed that this was only a complete unity of minds, and only he alone could hear Gengar's voice.
'Wait… what did Gengar just say?'
He himself had also obtained Gengar's psychic power, which meant that he could also use psychic powes now!???
Tetsuya found it somewhat hard to believe!
Something like "Superpowers" was truly something that could only be encountered by chance and not sought after.
Being able to achieve unity of minds with a Psychic-type Pokémon was already the mark of a top-tier Trainer in this world. The only people Tetsuya knew who possessed powerful psychic abilities were Sabrina and Caitlin. The two of them could only be described as freaks!
The fact that he himself could possess psychic powers was something he had never even dared to imagine, which was why he had worked so desperately to train his physical condition. It was all so that he could have a strong body and still be able to resist somewhat by himself when encountering Pokémon attacks
If Tetsuya had known that he would possess psychic powers, then what would have been the point of all that ridiculous physical exercise...?
"Sigh…"
---◓---
After eating some food and drinking two rations of milk from Ditto, Tetsuya felt especially sleepy. During these two days of unconsciousness, his brain had not received very good rest.
Although he desperately wanted to test whether he could truly use psychic powers, overwhelming drowsiness surged over him. Without caring about anything else, he immediately fell asleep.
This sleep lasted too long. It felt as though he had made up for all the sleep he had lacked before!
When Tetsuya woke up, it was already noon of the next day, which meant that four days had already passed since the summer solstice.
After eating another hearty meal, only then did Tetsuya feel completely refreshed.
Tetsuya had already eaten his fill, then suddenly thought that now Gengar was within his shadow and could no longer move around freely. It could only go wherever he went and follow his intentions in action. In that case, had it become hungry?
"No, gengengen… I am very full right now~ The vitality from that human and Gardevoir is enough to sustain me for a month."
Gengar's voice sounded once again, and only then did Tetsuya relax slightly.
Looking at the two dried bodies on the ground, Tetsuya ordered Houndoom to reduce them to ashes. Thinking about the terrified expression Kanta had shown upon seeing him like that, Tetsuya could not help feeling somewhat worried.
It was not that he cared very much about his appearance, but if his appearance suddenly changed drastically, it would inevitably arouse suspicion from others!
Worried, Tetsuya arrived beside the lake and looked at his reflection in the water…
It was no longer especially "terrifying", but his complexion was still bluish-purple, as though he had been violently beaten by someone.
Thinking about it, this was already the third day since establishing the [Shadow Contract] with Gengar. It seemed that his complexion had already eased somewhat. A condition like this should recover quickly, so naturally there was no need to worry about it.
Next, what Tetsuya needed to do was test exactly what kind of "special effect" the [Shadow Contract] possessed.
Returning to the deepest part of the mountain hollow, Tetsuya still had all of his Pokémon outside doing their respective training. Aside from Beedrill's training being somewhat more special, the other few still did not have any special training tasks.
Most importantly, this ability of his absolutely had to remain hidden and could not be known by outsiders!
Therefore, for his remaining five Pokémon, training was secondary. Their primary role was protecting him and preventing anyone from barging in.
In order to avoid another situation like Kanta's use of Teleport, this time Tetsuya had Houndoom stay inside with him. If someone used Teleport to quietly intrude, it would immediately use Howl to notify the Pokémon outside.
This time, everything was absolutely foolproof. With Kanta dead, there was practically nobody left on this island capable of facing him. Of course, the Shadow Team members were still immersed in the joy of having just obtained supplies. It was impossible for them to casually come to such a hidden place.
After making all the preparations, Tetsuya began his trial…
•.
•.
¹. I was pretty torn on which term to use. I don't really like "master", but I also don't want to be adding "‑sama" in every single line of dialogue. Besides, given everything they've been through together, plus Tetsuya's personality and Johto's culture, it's impossible for Gengar to just call him by name. And calling him only "Trainer" doesn't feel right for their relationship either. So, for now, I'll stick with "master".
•.
•.
Reading Guide.
"Dialogue"
'Toughts'
[Systems, Special Moves, Special Tags, Special Pokémon, Voice through devices, Mutations.]
"Telepathy"Italics for telepathy
"Whoaaa!" Bolds instead of CAPS for SHOUTING!
[1] I was pretty torn on which term to use. I don’t really like "master", but I also don’t want to be adding ‘‑sama’ in every single line of dialogue. Besides, given everything they’ve been through together, plus Tetsuya’s personality and Johto’s culture, it’s impossible for Gengar to just call him by name. And calling him only "Trainer" doesn’t feel right for their relationship either. So, for now, I’ll stick with "master".