Chapter 276: Modifying Memories
After temporarily turning off the tablet, Ryan and Lillie exchanged a glance: Gardenia's current situation was somewhat similar to Lillie's back then. She was extremely resistant to Ghost-type Pokémon, afraid to approach them... No, Gardenia's situation was even worse; she overreacted even to the sight of Ghost-type Pokémon.
"Gardenia, don't you like Grass-type Pokémon? So what if it's a Grass-Ghost type Pokémon, like Trevenant, Gourgeist..." Lillie said.
"Please stop talking," Gardenia interrupted Lillie. "I'm most afraid of Pokémon with these two type combinations. Should I like them or be afraid? It's so frustrating."
Seeing Gardenia's almost tearful expression, Ryan pulled Lillie back at the right moment, shaking his head to stop her from saying anything more. Then, Ryan walked up to Gardenia. An invisible Psychic aura emanated from his mind. He gently touched Gardenia's forehead with his finger, and a gentle stream of Psychic power entered Gardenia's consciousness, gradually soothing her fear.
"Thank you." The now-calm Gardenia expressed her gratitude to Ryan.
Seeing Gardenia still clutching her chest, Ryan and Lillie knew that Gardenia was in a very bad mood. If she couldn't overcome that childhood trauma, her strength would be stagnant. Her inability to remain calm in the face of Ghost-type Pokémon was a serious problem; if her opponents knew, her battles would be a complete disaster.
"Do you need me to take a look? If possible, I can use my Psychic to seal that memory away. That way, Gardenia won't be afraid of Ghost-type Pokémon anymore."
Ryan's calm words startled Gardenia from her reverie. Looking into Ryan's serious eyes, after a long while, Gardenia said somewhat hesitantly, "Can I trust you?"
Lillie walked over and hugged Gardenia tightly. In Gardenia, she saw her former self—afraid of Pokémon touch. Although she had an immense love for Pokémon, that barrier had always stood in her way, impossible for her to overcome. Lillie gently comforted Gardenia, "It's alright, trust Ryan. I used to be like you, Gardenia. I couldn't touch any Pokémon. Even though I loved them so much, I just couldn't touch them. That was the saddest period of my life. I recovered with the help of Ryan and Sabrina, and Ryan now has Psychic powers too, and his strength is no less than Sabrina's. He can definitely help you."
Looking at Lillie, Gardenia felt a sense of shared suffering and chose to believe her. Then, looking at Ryan, she said earnestly, "Ryan, I hope you can help me. I want to get out of here; I don't want to stay stuck in the same place anymore."
A finger touched Gardenia's forehead, and a vast, gentle stream of Psychic power flowed from Ryan's finger into Gardenia's mind.
"Don't resist my Psychic. I will slowly search through your memories. After finding that memory, I will try my best to modify it. If it's too difficult to modify, I will seal those fragments directly, thus completely eliminating your future troubles."
Ryan's voice entered Gardenia's ears, making her feel a little more at ease. Closing her eyes, Gardenia gradually relaxed her mind, and memory images were transmitted to Ryan's consciousness. Ryan didn't look through them unnecessarily, but started directly from Gardenia's childhood memories.
The memory images flashed before Ryan's eyes like a film reel, and soon he discovered why Gardenia was afraid of Ghost-type Pokémon.
In Gardenia's childhood memories, she ran alone to a dilapidated house. Ryan sighed at Gardenia's reckless behavior, noting that Gardenia's tomboyish personality was evident even from a young age. As expected, the young Gardenia was pranked by Ghost-type Pokémon as soon as she entered the house. However, those Ghost-type Pokémon didn't have any bad intentions; they were just playing pranks. Nevertheless, they scared the young Gardenia half to death, leaving a deep psychological scar on her.
After understanding the whole story, Ryan knew how to modify it. Given Gardenia's carefree personality, the normal course of events would have been for her to either challenge those Ghost-type Pokémon or play together with them. He used his Psychic to modify this part of the memory, but only then did Ryan realize that the Psychic power consumed by this process was simply enormous.
He barely managed to modify a portion of the memory; although he didn't revert it all, he only eliminated Gardenia's fear of Ghost-type Pokémon. The other scenes remained unchanged. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he was completely exhausted and couldn't continue.
Panting, he released his finger from Gardenia's forehead, rubbing his temples with a headache. He had underestimated the cost of modifying memories. When Sabrina helped Lillie, she only broke the seal on the memory, while Ryan directly modified Gardenia's fear of Ghost-type Pokémon; the consumption of the two was on completely different levels. Ryan, doing this for the first time, suffered a few setbacks, but the results were still quite good. At least Gardenia wouldn't be afraid of Ghost-type Pokémon anymore, which would be a great help for her future growth.
Gardenia opened her eyes and asked in confusion, "Is that all?"
"What do you think?" Ryan said, exhausted.
"I thought I'd experience some kind of severe headache, like being pricked all over with needles or something. Why don't I feel anything? You're not kidding me, are you?" Gardenia looked herself up and down, stretched her arms and kicked her legs, but it seemed like nothing had changed.
Taking out his tablet, Ryan was too lazy to say anything to Gardenia, and directly opened the tablet, revealing Rotom. When Gardenia saw Rotom, she subconsciously took a step back, but immediately realized: she didn't seem to be afraid of Ghost-type Pokémon anymore!
Gardenia approached the tablet, looked at Rotom, who was turned away and appeared utterly dejected, and smiled, saying, "Hello, Rotom. I'm Gardenia. You're the ghost from that abandoned house in Eterna Forest, right?"
Hearing Gardenia's words, Rotom turned around. Seeing Gardenia so close on the screen, it excitedly flew off the tablet and circled Gardenia, seemingly having recovered from its dejection.
Gardenia watched Rotom circling, then lowered her head in thought. After a while, she looked up earnestly at Ryan and Lillie, saying, "Ryan, Lillie, I'd like to ask you to leave Rotom here. I want to take good care of it, is that alright?"
Ryan and Lillie exchanged a smile and nodded.
(End of Chapter)
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