Alex and Sable retrieved their Pokémon before using Teleport to head for Rustboro City. They picked a luxury hotel and slept there for the night.
Come morning, Alex decided to take a bit of a break and try out the new meditation method he had just learned. He wasn't in a hurry to complete his objective in Hoenn, since he was still waiting for the League to pay up for his success with Lucien. So, spending a bit of time on this new meditation method might be a good way to waste time.
"I'm going out," Sable said, getting out of the bed to put some clothes on.
"Where are you going?" Alex asked as he followed her, putting some clothes on as well.
"I want to try this meditation thing."
"Can't you do it here?"
Alex had always been able to meditate so long as he was in a quiet room. It didn't make sense to have a preferred location.
"My talent allows me to see through my feet. It's like having a wireframe view of the surroundings, all connected to the ground. That's how I've always managed to avoid ambushes, and it's also why I was hired as a guard instead of a miner. I want to try meditating while my feet are on solid ground. Maybe the meditation will improve, and if not, at least I'll be able to focus my energy more effectively through my feet," she explained, finishing putting on a crop top, tight shorts, and running shoes.
"Alright," Alex replied. "I'll be right here doing the same."
Once Sable left, Alex considered her idea. He usually didn't care whether it was night or day when he meditated, but that was for churning his energy through his Aura. It shouldn't have had an effect either way.
This new meditation technique was different. It required moving the energy itself rather than stirring it with his Aura. It was similar to how he usually used it to cover himself to blend into the dark, his eyes to see in the dark, and his brain to defend against psychic intrusions.
Different from how he usually used it, this technique required circulating the energy throughout his entire body, following the flow of blood and passing through his eyes along the way. He would also have to leave a bit of energy in his eyes to circulate inside while the rest of the energy continued the cycle. Then, he would replace the energy in his eyes every time it passed. This would continue endlessly and was said to have a slow rate of growth.
"It's worth a try, I guess."
Alex closed the blinds, turned off all the lights, and sat cross-legged in the center of the room. He ignored the sounds and vibrations coming through the walls and sent his thoughts inward. Normally, he would focus on his heart to locate the source of his Aura, but this time he willed the energy directly instead.
It churned inside him before obeying his command, but there was a problem. He couldn't mobilize all of it at once.
That had never been an issue before since he only ever needed a minuscule amount to achieve his intended effect. It had gotten smaller over the years as his success with Aura meditation showed. Now, however, he was supposed to mobilize all of it and have it flow through his body.
Instead of getting frustrated, he tried taking it slow. He took half as much as he could carry and circulated it through his circulatory system. He deposited a bit into his eyes before continuing the cycle. Once the energy returned to the pool, he would swap it out and circulate it back to the eyes, taking more energy with him each time.
He repeated this process until he hit his limit. He could move about a third of his energy in one go. It felt like dragging seaweed across the beach rather than a bucket of water. The energy would scrape his body as it went. It didn't hurt or give off any discomfort. It simply felt like the energy was giving resistance as he forced it to circulate.
Supposedly, he would achieve his maximum potential when all the energy was moved as one while simultaneously spreading the leftover energy in his eyes.
Alex could tell, despite his advanced practice with Aura, this would certainly take a while. He likened it to a muscle that needed time, patience, and discipline to eventually produce results.
He continued meditating until he felt the door to the room open, cutting his concentration. He opened his eyes and could see Sable entering.
"You're back," Alex said.
"Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't call."
"Why would I?"
"I lost track of time and had to be woken up by Officer Jenny in the park since it was already past midnight."
"It's midnight?"
"Yeah, look outside."
Alex did as asked and noticed nothing amiss. It was still quite bright outside, judging by the rays of light entering through the gaps in the blinds, almost blinding even.
"It looks like it's still in the middle of the afternoon."
"Alex, it's 2 a.m."
He had to rub his eyes and consciously remove the energy left behind before finally noticing it was pitch black in the room. Sable hadn't turned the lights on yet, likely because she didn't need sight to see with her feet on the carpet.
"Well, damn," Alex said, surprised. "This energy meditation works great."
"I know, right? I'm not usually able to see this well on carpets or through my shoes, but now I can feel the surrounding rooms under my feet."
"How much energy can you use at the same time?" he asked.
"About a tenth. You?"
"A third."
"Damn, that's impressive."
"I meditate my Aura as well."
"Can you teach me that?"
"Sure."
The pair forgot about the time and supposed fatigue and simply continued with Aura meditation until morning. Since they weren't particularly tired, they kept meditating with energy and finally got some rest the following night.
They spent the next week in the same routine until Alex got a message. It was from the League stating that his reward was ready.
It was 40 million credits, significantly less than Don's payout, even as a bounty hunter with a 90% reward rate. Clearly, Lucien wasn't that rich in comparison.
He scrolled through Lucien's belongings on the list the League provided and found plenty of property and businesses, but they were all around Mauville City. It seemed Lucien wasn't an international criminal.
Alex kept scrolling and didn't find anything interesting until he came upon a list of captured Pokémon. Apparently, there was a Malamar under Lucien that wasn't part of his main team, likely a spouse or child under his own Malamar.
"Just in time," Alex said. "I needed a psychic type to probe minds. My original plan was for Metagross to do it, but he hates poking around the human mind."
Metagross never liked being able to peer into human minds. It regarded it as messy. There was a fundamental difference between how a machine processes information and how a human does. In short, human "circuitry" was chaotic and inefficient.
Gardevoir couldn't do it because she would need to stick by Alex's side, which would halt any recruiting process if he left for a mission. Espeon would never leave Alex's side either, plus Alex's mind was the only mind she cared to read.
That left an open position for a psychic Pokémon to conduct psychic evaluations during the hiring process, a benefit only Champion ranked trainers could legally make use of. It was good to be prepared, and this Malamar came just in time.
He paid 15 million credits for it since it was in prime condition and willing to be trained. The perfect Malamar that anyone, even the League, would want under their employ. Fortunately for Alex, they weren't desperate enough to simply take it from him.
The rest of the credits was deposited into his account, which was quite significant now that they had a stable yearly income through Pokémon floods.
An hour later, it arrived in his PC, so Alex quickly opened it up right there in the hotel room. Judging by the reports, the Malamar was quite cooperative, so long as it was given minds to peruse.
Once released, Alex took a quick scan with his phone.
Name: Malamar, Expert
Type: Dark Psychic, Female
Ability: Suction Cups
Moves: [Please demonstrate abilities while scanning]
Description: Malamar, the Overturning Pokémon. It lures prey with hypnotic patterns from its luminescent body and bends the wills of those who look into its eyes. Known for its cunning, it manipulates opponents into acting against their own interests. Legends claim entire groups have vanished after encountering one in the deep sea.
The information matched his expectations, so there was nothing particularly surprising. He just wanted to double-check the specifics and had now confirmed them.
A psychic impulse was suddenly detected while Alex had been scanning. He allowed the connection through, establishing a telepathic link with Malamar.
'Are you my new trainer?' she asked.
"I am. My name is Alex Wattson, and my objective for you is to ensure the loyalty of my future staff."
'Mind control? I was told that was illegal.'
"Mind reading. Once I become Champion ranked and get the necessary permissions, I would like for you to scour my employees' memories and ascertain their loyalty. I want to make sure they aren't being secretly embedded into my organization by others."
'That's easy. I did that often for Lucien. What happened to him?'
"I killed him," Alex answered bluntly. "Will that be a problem?"
Rather than a reply with thoughts, Alex received a wave of emotions. It seemed Malamar had cared about Lucien, so he might have a bit of a problem.
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