The Pantheon

Therapy Session

I'm going to say this once: this chapter is heavy on angst and hurt feelings. It took four full rewrites before I was finally satisfied with it, and I genuinely hope it lands the way it's meant to. This chapter has been a long time coming. Venus has needed this therapy session for a while, and that weight shows throughout the scene. It isn't an easy chapter, but it was an important one to write, and I hope you find it meaningful.

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Venus sat where they had asked her to sit, paws planted neatly on the floor, posture stiff in a way she hadn't consciously chosen. The surface beneath her was cool and even, the sort of floor that didn't give any cues about time passing. She'd been there long enough to notice, but not long enough to settle.

Her tail had curled in close to her body at some point, fins tucked tighter than usual. She registered it with mild annoyance and decided not to fix it yet. Across the room, Chansey waited.

Smiling.

Venus kept her eyes slightly to the side of that smile. Not avoiding it completely, just not engaging with it either. The room was designed to be easy on the senses. Rounded corners, soft lighting, colors that blended into each other without contrast. It was meant to calm, meant to reassure.

It did the opposite.

They were at the Indigo Plateau again. The building was quiet here, far from the training halls and the open spaces where sound carried, but Venus could still feel where she was. The Plateau had a presence that never fully disappeared, even indoors. Schedules, expectations, constant motion just out of reach. They were supposed to be training, working to become a full-fledged Elite Four team.

Instead, she was sitting in that plain room.

Being observed.

She shifted her weight slightly, the faint internal sound of water adjusting inside her body reminding her she was still tense. Her gills fluttered once, then again. She focused on slowing them down, drawing in air and releasing them carefully.

This wasn't how these sessions usually worked. Venus knew that. Pokémon therapy typically involved Psychic-types, chosen for control and sensitivity, trained to keep their presence gentle and contained. But the suggestion alone had been enough to set her on edge before anyone finished explaining. Ashley had stepped in immediately, picking Venus' side and ending the discussion without escalation.

Chansey had been the alternative.

A Normal-type. With her there will be no psychic pressure, or background hum of awareness brushing against Venus's senses. Just experience, patience, and that infuriatingly calm demeanor.

Venus exhaled through her nose, watching the faint disturbance in the air disappear almost as soon as it formed. Her chest tightened briefly, then eased. The reaction had nothing to do with the room itself, and she knew it.

She didn't dislike Chansey. She hadn't been present for what came before, nor had she been responsible for any of it. Chansey hadn't done anything wrong.

Her thoughts stalled there, quickening her heartbeat in panic, so Venus redirected them on instinct. Not yet. This wasn't the moment for that. The point was to start, not to unravel everything at once. That was what Ashley had said earlier, crouched in front of her with that careful look she got when she was trying not to push too hard.

You don't have to fix everything today.

Venus had turned her head away then. Not because she disagreed, but because staying focused on Ashley's supportive and loving expression would have made it harder to keep being mad at her trainer.