"Come on… you know where. Skip ahead."
------------------
After Lucario entered his Mega Evolution state, his aura surged with explosive momentum.
The sudden intensity caught Sabrina's eye, even in her berserk, unstable state.
She raised a hand without a word.
"~!!!"
Alakazam reacted instantly, a surge of psychic power bursting from its form.
It launched a Psycho Cut invisible to the naked eye but pulsing with deadly intent, straight at the charging Mega Lucario.
"Luca, block it!" Sam's voice cut through the tension.
"Luka, !!"
Mega Lucario brought its arms up in a defensive cross, bracing itself.
The shimmering white blade slammed against its steel-hard frame.
Lucario's dual Fighting and Steel typing dulled the attack's edge; Psychic moves had little effect on it.
The impact still pushed Lucario back several paces, its feet scraping deep grooves in the dirt, but the damage was minimal.
Sam wasn't surprised.
He snapped out his following command.
"Luca, Extreme Speed!"
"Luka!!"
A pulse of aura exploded beneath Lucario's feet as it vanished from sight in a sonic blur.
The force of its launch cracked the earth, a shockwave rippling outward.
It reappeared mid-stride, already accelerating toward Alakazam like a missile.
Sabrina's eyes narrowed.
"Intercept!"
Alakazam's reaction was razor-sharp.
It read Lucario's trajectory in an instant and summoned a Light Screen, a transparent,
glowing barrier, just in time to block the incoming blow.
Sam's eyes sharpened.
"Now!"
While Alakazam's focus was locked on Mega Lucario, it didn't notice the shadow looming
behind.
"Darkrai, Dark Void!"
From the edges of the battlefield, Darkrai emerged.
Swirling black energy welled around it, seeping outward like ink in water.
A vortex of darkness expanded before Alakazam, a portal to another dimension.
Dozens of shadowy hands extended from the void, grasping with eerie precision.
Alakazam, straining to keep Lucario at bay, was too slow to react.
The black hands latched on, dragging it toward the void.
The moment they made contact, Alakazam's consciousness slipped, instantly forced into a deep, unnatural sleep by Dark Void.
Its body sagged.
At that same moment, the Light Screen faltered, and Lucario broke through like a battering ram.
With a thunderous crack, it struck Alakazam squarely and sent it hurtling across the battlefield.
The Psychic-type hit the ground hard, skidding nearly ten meters before coming to a stop.
Sabrina shrieked, raw, piercing.
"Wha, AAGHHH!!"
The violent spirit she had fused with surged, trying to return to Alakazam's unconscious body.
But before it could,
Sam was already behind her.
In one fluid motion, he brought his hand down like a blade.
A clean strike to the side of her neck.
Sabrina's eyes widened.
Then, everything went dark.
The moment Sam struck her neck, Sabrina's body went limp.
She collapsed without resistance, crumpling silently to the ground.
Everything around them fell eerily quiet.
Sam gently eased her down, laying her flat against the cool floor.
Then he sat beside her, eyes steady, observing closely.
But even unconscious, Sabrina didn't seem peaceful.
Her lips were drained of color, her brows drawn tightly together.
Her expression twisted, not from the faint, but from something internal.
Pain. Struggle.
Sam frowned.
He reached out, pressing two fingers lightly against her forehead.
A soft green light glowed faintly from his fingertips as he activated Viridian force, focusing his senses inward, searching through her disrupted aura, reading the disturbance within her.
What he found was chaos.
"…So that's it."
Her mind and body were in disarray, overwhelmed by power she couldn't contain.
Without wasting another second, Sam activated his psychic force.
Calm, pure energy coursed through him, flowing into Sabrina like a slow tide.
Bit by bit, he began to suppress the erratic waves of psychic force churning inside her.
It was grueling work.
Sweat rolled down Sam's temples, trickling past his jaw.
His breathing grew heavy, shoulders tense. But he didn't stop.
Slowly, Sabrina's tightly furrowed brows began to ease.
The lines of pain softened.
Her lips still looked pale, but she no longer trembled.
Her breathing evened out.
The chaos subsided, at last.
As if sensing the comfort, Sabrina unconsciously turned toward him in her sleep.
Now's not the time for sentiment.
Beads of sweat dripped from his chin.
His clothes clung damply to his skin.
The repeated use had drained him more than he expected.
"…It's done," he muttered between gasps.
"She's stable now."
The instant he finished, a soft chime echoed in his mind.
[System Notification: Task complete.]
[Reward: Black Belt. Delivered to the backpack.]
[Please retrieve it manually.]
Sam blinked, momentarily stunned.
Then a grin crept onto his lips.
"Finally!"
"With the Black Belt… Luca's potential can be raised to the peak tier 3 Legendary!"
His heart surged with excitement.
All the effort and risk had paid off.
But before he could celebrate further, a soft voice interrupted his thoughts.
"…Thank you."
Sam froze.
He turned his head sharply and saw Sabrina sitting up, awake.
Her eyes, a deep and unreadable shade, stared right into his.
Calm. Clear.
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
The silence stretched uncomfortably between them, tension thick in the air.
Sam cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to break the stiffness.
"Uh… so, uh… my name is Sam," he said, scratching the back of his head.
Sabrina repeated it quietly.
"Sam…"
Her voice was soft, as though tasting the name.
"I'm Sabrina. You saved me back there… didn't you?"
Sam nodded once, keeping it simple.
"Yeah."
Sabrina fell silent again, but this time it wasn't because she didn't know what to say.
She just kept looking at him.
Not dazed or confused, focused. Like she was figuring something out.
Sam shifted under her gaze. He glanced to the side, then back at her.
Was there something on his face?
"Do I have dirt or something?" he asked, reaching up to rub his cheek.
Before he could finish the sentence,
"Sam," she interrupted, eyes steady.
"Stay with me."
Sam blinked.
"…Huh?"
"Stay with me," she repeated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Sam stared, completely lost.
'What?'
'What does that even mean? I sense a headache coming.'
His brain tried to compute, but only came up with one result:
Black question mark loading…
A mental image of a giant "???" hovered above his head.
"Seriously," he muttered under his breath, "what is up with this girl?"