013: Psychic Awakening Method!
"Hmm..." Ash, who had just leveled with his mother Delia and was mentally prepared to boldly carry out his plan to bond with Pokémon ahead of the legal starting age, originally intended to say 'no.'
But then, he suddenly remembered something important: in the original Pokémon Adventures manga and even in the anime, his Pikachu had been given to him directly by Professor Oak not through the standard Starter Pokémon reservation system, but as a last-minute assignment from Oak's lab.
The words of refusal caught in his throat, and Ash ultimately swallowed them. He paused to consider things and then replied calmly, "The Earl Dervish Pokémon tax and registration fee can be paid at any time, so… let's just hold off for now."
Delia, still emotionally fragile after their earlier conversation, didn't sense anything strange about Ash's decision. Instead, she simply assumed this calm, measured reaction was part of how much he'd matured since the drowning incident.
"Yeah… Ash is becoming more and more decisive. Mom listens to you," Delia said with a gentle nod, accepting his lead.
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After lunch, Delia quietly cleared the table and retreated into the kitchen to clean up. Ash wanted to help, but she gently turned him away, saying he needed rest. So, obediently, he headed upstairs to his room.
Settling into the big wooden chair at his desk, Ash powered up the large, bulky desktop computer. The familiar hum filled the room. With deliberate fingers, he typed in a search: "How to awaken Psychic abilities in humans."
He had assumed there wouldn't be much information on such an obscure topic—but to his surprise, the search results exploded with hits.
Dozens of forums, blogs, and archived research threads popped up, especially centered around Saffron City—the psychic capital of the Kanto region.
Within the regional "Saffron City Post Bar," alongside niche communities like the "Saffron Gym Disciples' Board" and the "Psychic Talent Awakening Forum," there were many excellent posts detailing modern theories and traditional methods on awakening and developing latent Psychic abilities.
Saffron City's fame as a hub for Psychic energy wasn't just regional it was known across the entire Pokémon world. Generations ago, it was said that nearly every local citizen possessed at least some degree of latent psychic potential. However, over time, with intermarriage and a decline in cultural practices that supported psychic development, the city's overall psychic affinity had weakened considerably.
In the Adventures manga, when Ash known as Red in that continuity passed through Saffron City, he only encountered a handful of people with genuine psychic ability. The most notable among them were Sabrina, the formidable Gym Leader and Elite Four candidate, and her father, a reclusive seer who aided Red during the Rocket invasion arc.
Even within Sabrina's Gym, which officially functioned as a dojo for psychics, only a few of the disciples displayed any significant psychic aptitude. In the anime, many of her students struggled to perform even basic tasks, like bending a spoon with Confusion. This demonstrated just how difficult it was to awaken and control Psychic abilities, even in a city steeped in that very culture.
It was important to note that the "Psychic" being discussed here was not the same as Ash's unique Aura ability or the dark 'Power of Perdition' that had recently started awakening within him. This Psychic was of the standardized, League-recognized kind—used by trainers and Pokémon alike in mental combat and support.
Still, despite the difference in source or nature, Ash suspected there were some universal methods that could apply across energy systems.
He wasn't trying to become a fully certified psychic—at least not yet. Right now, he just wanted insight into how latent psychic potential could be triggered or guided toward awakening.
After skimming the most upvoted and credible posts across multiple forums, Ash opened a new WordPad document on his computer and began to organize his notes. He compiled viewpoints, techniques, meditation regimens, dietary suggestions, and even ancestral rituals from different regions.
After cross-referencing the material, comparing sources, and filtering out obvious pseudoscience, Ash finally arrived at a reliable hypothesis about awakening Psychic talent at least postnatally.
The findings were fascinating.
The human physiology of people in the Pokémon world differed drastically from that of his former life on Earth. Though outwardly similar, the differences were significant at the cellular and energetic level.
For one, humans here possessed incredible durability. Pikachu, who weighed over 13 pounds, could perch on a trainer's shoulder all day without any issue. In contrast, people in Ash's previous life would've developed joint pain or a sore spine within minutes.
Even more extreme: Ash clearly remembered seeing Larvitar, who weighed well over 300 pounds in some Pokédex entries, being picked up and carried in Pokémon Chronicles episodes and side stories.
Let's not forget the infamous Team Rocket trio. They were electrocuted daily by Pikachu's Thunderbolt—high-voltage attacks that should've resulted in paralysis or death—and yet they were regularly launched into the sky, only to return unscathed for the next scene. If that wasn't supernatural resilience, what was?
In addition to superior physiology, human maturation in this world occurred at a much faster rate. By the age of 10, children in the Pokémon world were not just physically capable of travel and combat—they were already considered adults in many legal and cultural systems.
This was why, legally, anyone aged 10 or older could register for a Trainer's License, hold Pokémon in their name, and travel independently. They were considered to have full mental and physical capacity under the law—a stark contrast to Earth's definitions of adolescence.
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And this rapid development turned out to be a crucial factor in Psychic awakening.
According to records from the Psychic Association of Kanto a quasi-academic body that regulated research into paranormal ability there were two categories of Psychic talent: dominant and recessive.
Dominant talents were those that naturally activated in early childhood or by the age of 10. These individuals often showed early signs of sensitivity: unexplained telepathy, involuntary telekinesis, or high emotional empathy with Psychic-type Pokémon.
Recessive talents, however, were much more difficult to harness. These were the people who had the genetic potential for psychic ability but failed to awaken it during their critical development window usually before age 10.
According to the Association's data, if Psychic potential hadn't emerged by 10, the odds of triggering it afterward dropped drastically. That age marked a physiological threshold—the end of the body's rapid mental and neural growth period.
From birth to age 10, the natural growth of both spiritual power and mental capacity increased sharply. After age 10, the upward curve began to flatten. This made it significantly harder to stimulate new psychic neurons or activate dormant circuits.
Thus, the classification system was as follows:
Dominant Psychic Talent: Awakens naturally between birth and age 10. These individuals have a nearly 100% chance of triggering their abilities without external aid.
Recessive Psychic Talent: Dormant by age 10. These individuals must rely on intense training, meditation, trauma, or experimental stimulation to activate their psychic circuits and even then, success is not guaranteed.
The researchers stressed that age 10 wasn't a strict cutoff it was a statistical average. Some prodigies awakened earlier; others managed to trigger their powers at 11 or 12. But by 13 or 14, the probability dropped below 5%.
Physical development varied from person to person. So while age 10 was the benchmark, it wasn't absolute. It was a tool for evaluating probability, not destiny.
Ash leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.
He still had several months before his tenth birthday. If he was going to experiment with psychic development, now was the time to try. Before the window closed—at least according to the research.
And maybe… just maybe… the powers that had started to stir within him whether they were Aura, Perdition, or latent Psychic could be shaped by combining the ancient traditions with the knowledge of this world.
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