Chapter 125: The Point of No Return
"This achieves nothing!" Professor Oak scolded sharply, watching Xiu tremble under the psychic strain, skin flushed, sweat pouring freely. "You're just hurting yourself! Break the connection!" In Oak's experienced view, Xiu's attempt to share Scyther's burden was irrational, bordering on suicidal— a futile gesture against overwhelming internal forces.
But Professor Oak didn't understand. Xiu couldn't retreat now. Through the agonizing telepathic link, he felt Scyther's consciousness flickering, fading rapidly. He wasn't just sharing the pain anymore; he was actively anchoring Scyther's mind, providing the focus it desperately needed to fight.
If he broke the connection now, Scyther would succumb completely, lose consciousness entirely. And then? Oak's earlier grim prediction echoed: complete systemic collapse. Explosion. Death. There was no choice. He had to hold on.
He didn't bother explaining this to Oak; explaining required energy he couldn't spare, and he feared Oak might try to forcibly sever the connection if he understood the true depth of the danger Scyther was in.
Time stretched, measured in agonizing heartbeats. Strangely, as the minutes crawled by, Xiu found a bizarre equilibrium amidst the pain— perhaps his nerves were simply overloading, becoming numb? Or maybe, through the shared struggle, he was developing a tolerance? The overwhelming urge for Scyther's internal energy to just explode seemed to lessen slightly, becoming a fraction more manageable.
He found he could even form coherent thoughts again, could even speak, albeit through gritted teeth.
"Feeling it…" Xiu gasped out, his voice strained, "…getting… control… slowly…"
"Nonsense!" Oak retorted irritably, clearly not buying it. "That's my intervention stabilizing the external readings! Why else do you think I'm standing here monitoring everything?!" Xiu's apparent resilience, his refusal to collapse, clearly angered the Professor on some level, perhaps offending his sense of rational procedure.
Xiu ignored Oak's skepticism, focusing inward, analyzing the sensations flooding through the telepathic link. "This feeling…" he muttered, more to himself now, "…the energy build-up, the pressure… it feels like… like evolution…" He suddenly recalled the game mechanics, the specific requirements.
Scyther evolves into Scizor when traded holding a Metal Coat. Trade… communication… connection… "Professor!" he asked urgently, latching onto a desperate idea, "What else does Scyther need? To evolve into Scizor? Besides the metal?"
"You're thinking about evolution? Now?" Oak sounded incredulous, but seeing the desperate hope in Xiu's eyes, he answered the question. "The standard procedure involves exposure to specific electromagnetic frequencies while saturated with the necessary metallic compounds – typically delivered via the 'Metal Coat' device during a transfer process… but that's irrelevant! This isn't a controlled evolution!"
"But maybe it needs that final trigger?" Xiu pressed, the idea solidifying. "The 'communication' aspect? Maybe it's reached the threshold physically, but needs that final… push?" It felt wildly speculative, a long shot based on game logic, but what other options did they have?
Oak clearly thought the idea was madness. "That's ridiculous! Evolution is a complex biological process, not just flipping a switch! Taking shortcuts, trying to force it now, in its current unstable state… it could be catastrophic!"
"What's the essence of evolution, Professor?" Xiu countered, throwing Oak's earlier philosophical question back at him, his voice gaining a strange intensity despite the pain.
"I told you," Oak replied impatiently, "sublimation of life level, adaptation…"
"No," Xiu interrupted, a new clarity, a sudden insight, cutting through his own agony. "It's accumulation— the build up potential until a critical point is reached. Then," his eyes, though bloodshot, burned with conviction, "a transformation; a glorious evolution![1] Scyther has accumulated the metal, the energy is surging… maybe it just needs direction!"
He looked directly at Oak, no longer asking, but declaring. "I know what to do."
Oak stared back, probably guessing Xiu's reckless intention, but before he could protest further, Xiu acted. "Professor, I need you to trust me on this."
"You're insane!" Oak shouted aloud, seeing the look in Xiu's eyes that screamed "I finally got the situation under control…"
However, Xiu ignored Oak's frantic protests. "Don't worry, Professor," he projected weakly through the link, forcing a grim smile that looked more like a death mask due to the strain contorting his face. "I never do things I'm not sure of."
He then turned his full mental focus inwards, towards the chaotic storm raging within Scyther's consciousness, towards the building psychic pressure threatening to tear them both apart. He looked towards Abra, still hovering nearby, watching helplessly.
Abra instantly understood Xiu's unspoken intention. It opened its eyes, which now glowed with an intense, focused blue light.
Xiu didn't need to give a verbal command. He pushed mentally, not fighting against the surging energy within Scyther anymore, but joining it, guiding it, using his own willpower, amplified and channeled through Abra's immense psychic potential, to shape the chaotic energy, to force the transformation he believed was necessary.
He focused on the image of Scizor, on the feeling of stable, controlled power.
He felt Abra's power surge, flowing through their connection, enveloping Scyther. The injured Pokémon, still lying on the examination platform, began to glow intensely, not just red now, but a blinding white light that filled the entire lab.
Xiu felt like he was being torn apart, his mind stretched to the breaking point, sharing Scyther's agony but also channeling immense power. He focused on the goal, pouring every ounce of his willpower into directing the transformation.
Professor Oak watched, horrified but powerless to intervene now, as the light intensified. The temperature in the room spiked rapidly. He saw Xiu's body arch off the floor, held suspended only by the psychic link, sweat turning instantly to steam on his skin. 'He's going to burn himself out!'
Inside the psychic maelstrom, Xiu felt two distinct forces warring within Scyther – the chaotic, explosive energy of the unstable transformation, and the stabilizing, integrating force of its own innate metallic affinity.
For a time, they seemed evenly matched, a terrifying internal stalemate. Then, slowly, agonizingly, Xiu felt one power begin to yield, the chaotic energy gradually being consumed, reshaped, integrated by the other. The explosion wasn't averted, but… channeled. Transformed.
Suddenly, Xiu felt a sharp, psychic kick, ejecting him violently from the connection. He gasped, consciousness slamming back into his own body with dizzying force. He stumbled, catching himself on the edge of the examination platform.
On the platform, the blinding white light surrounding Scyther pulsed erratically, then began to rapidly contract, coalesce. Scyther's body twitched violently one last time. Its eyes snapped open – the pupils no longer black, but a burning, metallic gold, ringed with black.
Professor Oak, seeing the sudden change, the uncontrolled energy spike, rushed forward again. "What's happening? What did you do?!"
Xiu ignored him, his own consciousness still reeling. He struggled to focus, forcing himself upright. He looked at Abra. "Abra!" he shouted, his voice raw. "Quickly! Control it! Reconnect us! Now!" He needed to ensure the transformation completed safely.
He needed to anchor Scyther's mind in these final, critical moments.
[1] Viktor nation, how are we feeling?