"Come on… you know where. Skip ahead."
------------------
Hidden deep in the mountains, steam rose gently from a natural hot spring.
In the middle of the frozen wilderness, this place was said to hold miraculous healing properties, warm, ancient waters that soothed even the most stubborn wounds.
But today, the hot spring wasn't peaceful.
A dangerous tension filled the air, thick enough to freeze the steam mid-rise.
Two women stood across from each other on opposite ends of the spring, eyes locked.
The silence between them was sharper than any blade.
"Sabrina!"
The voice, sharp and accusatory, came from a red-haired woman dressed in a black uniform with crimson trim.
Her expression twisted with fury.
"The moment you turned down our invitation, you became our enemy! And enemies of Team Rocket, don't get to walk away alive."
It was Ariana, one of Team Rocket's four executives.
She stepped forward, pulling a Poké Ball from her belt with practiced ease.
With a flick of her wrist, she tossed it high.
The ball burst open in a flash of red light, releasing a mid-tier Elite Honchkrow that flapped its massive wings with a shrill cry.
"Hoooonchkrow!"
On the other side, Sabrina, the enigmatic Psychic-type Gym Leader of Saffron City, barely twitched.
She exhaled slowly through her nose, eyes narrowing.
"You expect me to help with your petty criminal campaigns?" she said coldly.
"Forget it. Never going to happen."
Without another word, she summoned her partner, a powerful Alakazam.
The air shimmered as the Elite-rank Pokémon appeared at her side, already prepared for battle.
Spoons glinting in hand, Alakazam didn't need instructions.
It could feel the hostility rolling off its opponent.
Ariana's smile twisted cruelly.
"Still talking big for someone about to die. Honchkrow, Wing Attack!"
"Uuuuh!"
Honchkrow let out a piercing cry and dove through the air, wings glowing with energy as it launched itself at high speed.
"Alakazam! Reflect!" Sabrina ordered sharply.
"Huuh!"
Alakazam's eyes lit up, and the spoons in its hands vibrated slightly.
Psychic energy surged outward, shimmering in the cold air, forming an invisible barrier in front of them.
Crash!
Honchkrow struck the psychic wall with force, but the Reflect held strong.
The air rippled violently from the impact, but Alakazam stood firm behind the barrier.
Ariana didn't flinch. Her voice was low, mocking.
"Let's see how long your defenses last."
"Honchkrow! Night Slash!"
Dark energy exploded around Honchkrow as it surged forward again, talons glowing with an ominous black aura.
Sabrina opened her mouth to counter, but suddenly froze.
A sharp, blinding pain pierced her skull like a needle driven straight into her brain.
"Ah!"
She staggered, one hand clutching her forehead, teeth gritted in pain.
Psychic interference?!
Whatever it was, it hit hard and fast.
Without her command, Alakazam was forced to act on its own.
"Huuh!"
Alakazam reflexively tried to raise another Reflect.
But this time, Honchkrow's Night Slash was wrapped in raw Dark-type energy.
It cut through the psychic barrier like paper.
Alakazam barely had time to teleport.
Boom!
The attack hit squarely.
Alakazam was slammed into the snow-covered ground, a sharp cry escaping as it landed hard.
Its frail physical frame couldn't absorb such a hit unscathed.
"Alakazam!"
Sabrina cried, shaking off the pain and running to the edge of the battlefield.
Her voice cracked, full of concern.
The Psychic-type Pokémon pushed itself upright, breathing heavily, with obvious wounds marked across its side.
Ariana chuckled darkly.
"Still standing? You're just delaying the inevitable."
"Honchkrow! Use Assurance!"
"Uuuuh!"
Honchkrow's body surged with evil aura again.
It lunged forward, talons glowing ominously as it aimed for Alakazam, this time aiming to end the fight for good.
"Alakazam, teleport! Get out of there!"
Sabrina shouted, her voice panicked.
Alakazam's eyes began to glow, spoons rising, but the damage from Night Slash was too much.
Its psychic energy couldn't gather in time.
Boom!
Another direct hit.
Alakazam was sent flying again, skidding across the snowy ground before it came to a halt, motionless.
"Alakazam!!" Sabrina screamed, her voice echoing across the mountain.
"Hu~!!"
Alakazam gritted his teeth, his body trembling as he tried to push himself up from the snowy ground.
He faltered once. Twice. Three times.
But his limbs wouldn't obey.
He was completely drained.
Still, he didn't give up.
Even as his body screamed in pain, his mind held on, willing himself to rise one more time for Sabrina's sake.
"Alakazam…!"
Sabrina's voice cracked.
She rarely showed emotion toward people, cold and distant as ever.
But toward her Pokémon, especially Alakazam, her heart burned.
Seeing him collapse like this, struggling to stand despite his wounds, ignited something in her.
A heat. A fury.
And then, she stopped holding herself back.
Suddenly, the air around her shimmered.
A wave of raw, violent Psychic energy erupted from her, swirling like a storm.
It surged toward Alakazam, wrapping around him like a second skin.
The snow beneath him began to melt as the energy poured in.
And then,
Alakazam stood up.
Effortlessly.
His wounds closed in seconds. His fatigue vanished.
His eyes snapped open with a new light.
He wasn't just restored, he was transformed.
Sabrina had forcibly elevated him beyond his limits.
From Elite Peak to Champion-tier strength.
"Hu~!!!" Alakazam roared.
He didn't wait.
The spoons in his hands glowed as he raised them high, tapping them together once.
The air twisted violently.
Then, in an instant, a Psybeam shot forward, so fast it tore through the space between them like lightning.
"Honchkrow, watch out!" Ariana shouted, panic flashing across her face.
But it was too late.
The Psybeam struck Honchkrow with brutal force.
Though the Dark-type gave it resistance to Psychic-type attacks, the raw impact energy behind the beam couldn't be negated.
Boom!
Honchkrow was blasted backward, tumbling through the snow in a blur of feathers and smoke.
It crashed into a snowdrift tens of meters away, groaning weakly.
The moment it hit the ground, Ariana's face twisted into a scowl.
She backed off immediately, not even looking back.
"Tch... That power… She's lost control."
Her eyes shifted behind Sabrina, at the woman now radiating unstable psychic force, her hair floating, her feet off the ground.
Still, Ariana smirked coldly.
"Sabrina… once you go completely insane, "
"That's when we'll come back to deal with you."
With that, she called Honchkrow back into its Poké Ball and leapt onto another one of her airborne Pokémon, disappearing into the snowy skies without another word.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
Sabrina let out a scream, unlike anything human.
It was a raw, primal wail of pain and power colliding.
Her hands clutched her head as if trying to rip out the invisible force burrowing into her skull.
Her psychic energy, no longer focused, no longer controlled, surged outward like a wildfire.
Her pupils vanished.
Only the whites of her eyes remained.
She floated slowly into the air, hair swirling unnaturally, body trembling from the power spiraling out of her.
The pressure in the air intensified.
Psychic energy, no longer anchored by sanity, had begun to devour her mind.
At that moment, a familiar cry pierced the air:
"Lili~!!"
From above, riding the back of Silver, Sam descended rapidly, drawn by the sudden energy spike.
As soon as he landed, he saw her, hovering in the air like a specter.
His eyes widened.
Sabrina…?
She turned slowly toward him, her expression blank, her mind gone.
Only those hollow, white eyes stared at him.
Then, without a word, she lifted a single finger.
"Hu~!!!"
Alakazam, still glowing with immense Psychic power, raised his spoons again.
The air twisted.
A Psybeam condensed almost instantly and fired.
Straight at Sam.
There was no warning. No command. No reasoning left in her.
Sabrina's mind had been overtaken by one thing:
Destruction.
She no longer saw people. Or allies. Or enemies.
Just… targets.
Everything alive had become something to erase.
And Sam,
Was next.