Transcendence

Tempered Reforged part 3: Pulse

With Alex's aura powers now awakened, Mew's training escalated into something that could only be described as psychic sadism.

Each day, Alex's mind was under constant siege. Mew no longer relied only on physical torment-now, it was psychic torment.

"Use your aura manipulation!" Mew shouted gleefully as Alex gritted his teeth in pain, clutching his head. "Prevent me from entering your mind! Seal it off, block me out!"

Easier said than done.

Alex tried again and again to reinforce his mind with aura shields, to cut Mew off from his thoughts-but Mew danced through his defenses like wind through torn curtains.

Every time Alex slipped, he was subjected to a barrage of illusions, false memories, twisted emotions, and deep, disorienting confusion.

"You call that resistance?" Mew mocked telepathically while tossing him into mental labyrinths. "Even a Rattata could block better than that!"

***

Blindfolded again, Alex barely managed to dodge a brutal Lightning Claw from Mew who had taken the shape of Zeraora.

The surge of electricity singed his fur and knocked the breath out of him, but he was alive.

Just as he was catching his breath-

*BAM!*

A wicked blow from behind sent him sprawling.

Alex yelped, his aura sensing that a Mew duplicate, now in the form of Zarude, looming over him with glowing vines and a maniacal grin.

"Rule one of aura sensing!" both Mews shouted in unison. "Always account for enemy duplicates!"

Zeraora leapt at him with blinding speed, while Zarude pounced from the shadows.

Alex barely managed to put up a defensive stance before it shattered under their combined assault.

He was getting ganged up on. Electrified, ensnared, overwhelmed. And the worst part? The Mew-clones kept mocking him, switching between forms mid-battle-sometimes Regigigas, sometimes Tapu Koko, sometimes even Elton-just to humiliate him.

***

In a desperate moment, Alex tried to center himself, drawing from the raw depths of his aura. He focused, feeling the energy flow through him-

"Now...!"

It fizzled. Nothing.

The twin blows from Lugia and Tapu Fini sent him crashing into the ground, creating a huge crater.

***

*FWOOOSH*

The sky glowed in a cascade of rainbow light as Mew ascended and transformed into the majestic, radiant Ho-oh.

Alex barely had time to react before a sacred flame engulfed the area.
He screamed in pain, doing his best to resist-gritting his teeth, holding on-but the searing fire became too much.

He collapsed, unconscious, body smoldering slightly in the ground.

From the air, Ho-oh-Mew looked down at him with an approving grin.

"One step closer to greatness, Ashen Warrior," Mew said softly, before letting out a melodic laugh and soaring into the sky.

***

The world twisted and bent around Alex until he landed with a clumsy thud onto the street lined with lamp posts and warm-smelling bakeries.

He looked up, dazed, to find himself in the heart of Thistlemire, a state in Lant renowned across the region for its gastronomic heritage.