"Oh ho?"
Hayashi immediately wore an "I'm screwed" expression, guiltily thinking, 'Damn it! Did she read my mind just now when I imagined Sabrina stepping on me with her black-stockinged feet? No way, right? It can't be—'
Of course not.
Although Sabrina's psychic abilities were incredibly overpowered, they were far from capable of spanning half a city and accurately picking out the wild fantasies of a complete stranger in a sea of people.
But the question remains—why would Sabrina specifically send people to invite us? Hayashi glanced around at the psychic apprentices before him and asked with a puzzled look, "Sabrina... you mean the Gym Leader of Saffron City, right? What does she want with us?"
"Apologies, we are not privy to that lady's arrangements—" The man adjusted his bottle-thick glasses again with his middle finger, speaking in a cold, emotionless, and unreasonable tone. "We only need to obey that lady's commands."
Is this guy out of his mind? He just called her 'Lady Sabrina,' but now he's switched to 'that lady'— Hayashi tugged at the corner of his eye, staring deadpan at the bottle-bottom glasses guy. More importantly, is he doing this on purpose or is it a habit? Why the hell is he pushing his glasses up with his middle finger??
The regret! Hayashi hated that he wasn't wearing glasses—otherwise, he'd totally be pushing them up with his middle finger while talking to this guy!
"There's gotta be a reason, right?" Hayashi subtly shielded Erina and Hisako behind him. "Logically speaking, we've neither met Miss Sabrina nor had any interaction with her—"
"That's not something we need to know." The thick-glasses man silently adjusted his spectacles with his fingers and said, "Please come with us."
Hayashi, Erina, and Hisako clearly saw the men before them openly moving their hands toward their belts—where their Poké Balls were undoubtedly stored.
"Eve!"
"Pika—"
Sensing the shift in atmosphere, the Eevee in Hayashi's arms and the Pikachu perched on Erina's shoulder bared their teeth fiercely, ready to pounce at their trainers' command.
"Playing the courtesy-before-force card, huh?" Hayashi gave a resigned smile, soothing the Eevee in his arms while glancing at Erina and Hisako. Then, turning to thick-glasses, he said, "Let's go."
If not for Erina and Hisako, Hayashi could have relied on Gengar's surprise attack to escape the encirclement. But he would never leave them in danger.
...
...
After half an hour of silence, the car slowly came to a stop in front of the Saffron City Gym. The thick-glasses man in the passenger seat stepped out first, then opened the rear door with a polite bow. "We've arrived. Please exit."
Quite the display of courtesy.
Except for the fact he adjusted his glasses with his middle finger again.
"Sorry."
Erina, holding Pikachu, stepped out of the car and looked apologetically at Hayashi. "Hisako and I held you back."
"I brought you here—how could I just abandon you and run?" Hayashi shook his head, forcing a calm expression. "No big deal! I already have a plan for dealing with Sabrina!"
In Hayashi's memory, the anime version of Sabrina was a "psychic machine"—someone who, from a young age, possessed overwhelming psychic abilities, became obsessed with them, and sealed away her emotions, turning cold and ruthless. Ash had managed to break through by using a mischievous Haunter to tickle her funny bone, reawakening her emotions.
'If that Ash kid could crack Sabrina's shell with just a Haunter back then, today, Hayashi the Great will obliterate her funny bone with my secret weapon—no problem!' Hayashi tightened the backpack on his shoulders, his expression icy. 'First, I'll ambush her, then hit her with a super combo, and clean house!'
Perfect.
Under thick-glasses' guidance, Hayashi, Erina, and Hisako entered the Saffron City Gym. After traversing a long corridor, the four stopped before a metal door.
"Beyond this door is where that person resides. We are not permitted to enter," thick-glasses said, adjusting his glasses with his middle finger. "So please proceed on your own."
With that, he bowed to the trio and turned to leave the hallway—he still had to continue his psychic training, hoping one day to master X-ray vision and enjoy a live view of the women's bathhouse from the men's side.
"Well, let's go in." Hayashi glanced at the button on the wall. "Don't panic. It should be fine!"
After pressing the button, the metal door retracted into the wall on the right, revealing a pitch-black room—only a small area near the entrance was illuminated by the hallway light outside, while the deeper parts were swallowed by profound darkness, making Erina and Hisako gulp nervously.
Hayashi took a deep breath at the doorway before stepping forward first, with Erina and Hisako following closely behind him as they entered the room together!
The moment the three stepped inside, the door slowly closed behind them, cutting off the only source of light and plunging the entire room into complete darkness.
Thud—
A few seconds later, with a soft sound, a light flickered on from the ceiling, illuminating…
A doll sitting on a chair.
"Wh-what is that?"
Hisako stared at the doll under the spotlight, her voice trembling slightly as she spoke.
"Sabrina's puppet." Though he already knew about Sabrina's situation, Hayashi couldn't help but gulp at the eerie sight, his voice dry as he explained, "It's like her proxy, used to communicate with outsiders."
"Th-then, where is her real body?"
"Probably… in this room?" Hayashi replied uncertainly—the anime had given so little description of Sabrina, far less than the manga's special chapters!
What a waste of such a beautiful character design, stupid writers!
Just as the three of them were feeling chills down their spines, the doll, which had been sitting motionless with its head lowered, suddenly raised its head. Then, under their horrified gazes, it floated into the air, revealing a face that could hardly be described as "cute."
"Welcome to my Gym—" A robotic, emotionless voice emerged from the doll's mouth. "Would you like to play a game with me?"
Hayashi stepped in front of Erina and Hisako, forcing a composed tone as he said, "Miss Sabrina, could you tell us why you specifically had someone bring us here?"
Faced with Hayashi's question, Sabrina didn't answer immediately, instead falling into silence—so prolonged that Erina and Hisako began sweating nervously in their palms.
After nearly half a minute of silence, Sabrina finally spoke.
"Because of fate."
She uttered just four words.
"F…fate?"
Hayashi showed a bewildered expression—What the hell? Did the anime version of Sabrina have this mystical setting too?? What's with this "destiny" nonsense??
"Um, could you explain?"
Hayashi couldn't help but ask.
"..."
Another half-minute of silence followed, leaving Hayashi completely unable to gauge what was going on with Sabrina.
"This morning..." the doll suddenly spoke up. "My psychic powers foretold that the person who would change my future would appear in Saffron City. So, I created this—"
The next moment, under Hayashi's horrified gaze, a bent spoon appeared in front of the doll. Eerily, the broken tip of the spoon remained motionless, pointing directly at Hayashi's location.
"..."
Hayashi instinctively took a step to the side, but the spoon obligingly rotated, still pointing unerringly at him.
Holy shit, isn't this Sabrina's "Destiny Spoon" move from the Pokémon Adventures manga?! Hayashi sucked in a breath so deep it could uproot a willow tree. Wait, why the hell is a manga-exclusive ability showing up on the anime version of Sabrina??
Hayashi was at a loss! He had originally assumed this was purely the anime world, but Sabrina's behavior now made him question everything.
"You seem surprised?" The doll representing Sabrina floated slowly toward Hayashi, the spoon in its hand, its voice cold and monotone. "From the moment you entered Saffron City, the spoon pointed to you. By filtering everyone along its trajectory, I finally caught you—"
Damn!
Just how broken are Sabrina's psychic powers?! She can scan half the city and lock onto someone along a straight line?! That's straight-up cheating! With abilities like this, she could probably rival an Elite Four-level Pokémon...
Oh, right. It's the manga version's power. Never mind.
So, this Sabrina has the anime's personality but the manga's abilities? I really hope that's the case—otherwise, I might be screwed. Hayashi gulped. Taking a deep breath, he shifted his backpack to his chest, unzipped it, and pulled out his laptop. "Miss Sabrina, there's something I'd like to show you!"
"..."
Sabrina fell silent again. Normally, she would never be this "patient," but since Hayashi was the one her powers had designated as the "one who would change her future"...
"Bring it here," Sabrina's voice came from the doll. "But only you."
Under the anxious gazes of Erina and Hisako, Hayashi nodded slowly. "Got it. I'm coming over—"
Seeing Hayashi's back as he prepared to walk forward, Erina couldn't help but call out, "Hayashi..."
"It's fine." Hayashi turned his head, looking at Erina's face, barely visible in the dim backlight. "If Sabrina wanted to attack us, we wouldn't stand a chance."
In other words, since they were still safe for now, it meant Sabrina had no intention of taking action. Therefore, Hayashi could only try his best to comply with Sabrina's demands, attempting to prolong this "safety" as much as possible.
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