"Challenger?"
The voice was cold—as if it came straight from the depths of the abyss, able to freeze the air itself!
Silas couldn't even imagine how a girl could sound so icy, but he didn't care to ponder it. He was here for one reason: defeat Sabrina and claim the Marsh Badge. Simple as that. He introduced himself, "Pallet Town, Silas Oak!"
"Silas Oak?!"
A trace of surprise slipped into Sabrina's voice, but then it was all ice again: "Battle rules are one-on-one. If you lose, you accept punishment."
"Deal," Silas nodded. As soon as he agreed, the plush doll in Sabrina's lap flew forward and tossed the held Poké Ball!
Bang~
White light flashed. An Abra appeared on the field!
Now, Sabrina opened her eyes at last—diamond-bright blue—and a blue aura engulfed her Abra. The evolution began instantly, skipping Kadabra and going straight to Alakazam!
Hacks?! Are you kidding me?!
Facing the Alakazam, that was all Silas could think.
Only now did he understand why Lorelei warned him to avoid using Pikachu. Under Sabrina's psychic boost, that Alakazam was already at mid-Elite Four level or higher, and psychic Pokémon tended to be stronger than most anyway. You could even argue it was near the peak of Elite Four class. No wonder no one had taken home a badge from Sabrina for years!
There aren't many Trainers on a journey with anything close to Elite Four-level Pokémon. Even if you had one, odds are it'd just be entry or mid-tier. Who could possibly beat a late-stage Elite Four-level Alakazam?
Thinking it over, Silas sent out his Master Ball: "Gastly, first match—don't hold back!"
Bang!
Keeheeheehee~ Gastly emerged with a ghostly laugh. The moment he saw Sabrina and Alakazam, he blurted out in cringy awe, "Whoa… Kid, you gotta bag this gal. She's a born psychic! If you score with her, you'll get psychic powers too!"
"…" Silas turned to stone.
While Silas stood speechless, Gastly floated right up to Sabrina, clicking his tongue. "She's unlocked at least ten percent of her natural psychic talent. Another couple decades? She'll be at fifty, sixty percent—pair her up with the right psychic Pokémon, she'll wipe the floor with Champions. Kid, if you land her, you'll be livin' large."
"…" Silas was now petrified.
He wanted Gastly to fight—not clown around! If Sabrina lost patience and turned him into a doll, there'd be nobody to blame but Gastly for the "sexual harassment!"
Through it all, Sabrina remained stone-faced. She dismissed Gastly with a single word: "Out."
"Out?" Gastly immediately started barrel-rolling through the air. "Hey sweetie, I'm out! So how about grabbing a room with my boy here?"
That did it. Sabrina's eyes flashed blue, determination to teach Gastly a lesson blazing. But much to her shock, her revered psychic power could only freeze Gastly for the barest instant—maybe a hundredth of a second—and then he broke free!
Watching Gastly still tumbling around, Sabrina turned a lethal stare on Silas. "Can't you control your Pokémon?!"
"Gastly!" Silas called out, real anger in his voice. "Get back here, or I'll make you get all cuddly with Dragonite and the rest!"
"No no no!" Gastly zipped to Silas's side, groveling instantly. "Chill, chill, I'm back! You happy now?"
"What the hell was that?" Silas hissed.
"Nothin'." Gastly shook his head, whispering, "Honestly, I'm trying to help—if you hook up with a girl like her, you might score psychic powers someday!"
"Knock it off!" Silas rolled his eyes. "Quit the crap, destroy the opponent, and not another word—especially nothing about 'hooking up,' got it?"
"Got it!" Gastly sensed Silas was actually mad, so he cut the antics, grinning. "Mission accepted!"
"…." That's as good as it gets with Gastly, Silas thought!
"Alakazam!" Sabrina attacked, "Confusion!"
Sabrina didn't believe this Gastly was all that tough—could it really resist the combined force of her and Alakazam's Confusion? Instantly, Alakazam's eyes shone bright blue, the aura surrounding Gastly like a prison. Gastly began "struggling," but no matter what he did, he seemingly couldn't break free!
Got him!
Feeling Gastly under her control, Sabrina grinned inwardly, maintaining the full brunt of her Confusion as she gave a silent command: Slam it!
Alakazam responded, accelerating the psychic grip—it hauled Gastly into the air and smashed him toward the ground!
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
With each thudding impact came Gastly's running commentary:
"Tsk tsk, this is cheating! Two against one—afraid of a fair fight, huh?"
"Ow ow ow, could you go a little gentler? Not that it actually hurts, but come on!"
"Ow! Now that actually stings a bit. You humans have a saying: beating is intimacy, scolding is love—does this mean, little lady, you're falling for me?"
Gastly's clowning echoed through the gym, leaving Silas utterly speechless, while Sabrina's anger blazed icy-blue. Her voice grew frostier: "Alakazam, hold it in place—use…"
"Alakazam, keep it pinned and hit it with Hyper Beam!"
"Alakazam!" Alakazam called out, the blue light in its eyes undimmed. A golden orb of energy gathered at its mouth, then fired as a searing Hyper Beam straight at Gastly!
"Wow." Gastly watched the attack come; cool as ever, he preened, "Confusion and Hyper Beam? I mean, sure, I AM the best-looking, most talented Ghost in the business, but isn't this a little too much love? I can't handle so much attention."
"…" Sabrina.
"…" Silas.
Just then, Hyper Beam landed.
Gastly didn't dodge; he stared it down, smirking as the blast hit him dead on.
BOOM!
A massive blast echoed out, black smoke churning through the air above the battlefield.
Did it work?!!
Sabrina stared into the thick smoke, tense.
But hopes are one thing—reality is another. When the smoke cleared, Gastly floated there, totally unscathed, taunting, "Come on! Why stop now? That wasn't bad—got me scratching an itch! C'mon, hit me with a few more!"
Scratch an itch? More please?
Sabrina was stunned.
That had been a full-force Hyper Beam from a late-stage Elite Four-level Alakazam—strong enough to match the best signature moves of the very top Elites! But it hadn't even tickled this damned Gastly.
Looking at Sabrina gaping, Silas gave a half-bitter smile. What was supposed to be a gym battle had become a comedy sketch, all thanks to Gastly. But he had to finish things. "Gastly—break out of Alakazam's Confusion!"
"Alakazam!" Sabrina snapped back, barking her own order: "Increase Confusion output!"
"Alakazam!" Alakazam's eyes flashed even brighter blue!
Keeheeheehee~ Gastly just grinned at the amplified aura. "Not bad, 'psychic prodigy'—you can power up your Pokémon like none other. A weak Ghost-type would be finished by now—but I'm not some third-rate nobody." With a final willful chill, the blue aura snapped and vanished from Gastly's body before Sabrina's shocked eyes!
No—no way… Is it possible for a Ghost Pokémon to be this strong? Is this Gastly… a monster?
As Sabrina reeled, Silas struck: "Shadow Ball!"
Whoosh!
A black energy sphere shot down out of nowhere—so fast, no normal human could react. But Sabrina wasn't normal; as the Queen of Psychics, she fired off a telepathic order—Teleport!
Whoosh!
Alakazam vanished instantly.
Boom!
The Shadow Ball struck the ground where it had just stood, blowing a crater two meters wide into the floor!
A monster.
Staring at the fresh crater, a wave of helplessness washed over Sabrina.
That was just a casual Shadow Ball from Gastly, and it tore up the battlefield. If that was Gastly messing around, what kind of devastation could he cause if he got serious? How could she possibly keep fighting?
As Sabrina's sense of defeat set in, Silas pressed: "Multi-Shadow Ball!"
Instantly!
Dozens of Shadow Balls formed overhead, raining down like a barrage!
For the first time, Sabrina's frosty calm broke—her face showed real panic. She yelled to Alakazam, "Dodge with continuous Teleport!"
"Alakazam!" Alakazam's eyes blazed with blue psychic fire.
Could it dodge them all?
Watching Sabrina fight on rather than surrender, Silas only held scorn in his eyes.
Because this Shadow Ball spread covered the entire field—even with repeated Teleport, Alakazam couldn't possibly evade everything. And even if it dodged, the blast radius would be enough to finish things. Alakazam's abilities may have matched late-stage Elites, but that didn't make its body just as tough!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Shadow Balls battered the place like falling meteors, thunderous explosions raising clouds of dust high into the air!
The storm swallowed the whole gym; Silas and Sabrina both had to squeeze their eyes shut.
When Silas opened his eyes again… he was stunned.
The battlefield was just rubble now, littered with broken stone. In the ruins, Alakazam lay collapsed, no sign of life.
Staring at the devastation, Silas's eye twitched.
Sure, this was a proper gym match, but this level of destruction was definitely overkill. Especially since he could have won with so many safer moves. Normally, going this far wouldn't faze Silas, but Sabrina wasn't just any gym leader—who knew if she'd flip out and make him her next doll?
While Silas anxiously wondered what might happen next, a golden badge floated over into his hand. Sabrina's icy voice followed: "Just you wait!"
...
Three hours later.
The three girls came back, their chattering waking Silas from his groggy sleep.
"You're up?" Suzie was first to notice Silas crawling out of bed. She beamed and waved him over, pointing at the pile of shopping bags. "Perfect timing—come check out the clothes we picked out for you! If any don't fit, I'll go swap them out."
"That's… a lot." Silas blinked at the heap—there had to be over a dozen bags full of clothes, minimum!
"You think that's a lot?" Suzie looked baffled, then grinned. "Honestly, I don't. There were so many more that'd look great on you—I'm just making sure this batch fits before I go buy the next round."
There's a second round?!
The thought just left Silas dizzy—he'd never seen so many clothes in his life.
While he was still reeling, Suzie grabbed him, shoved a bag into his hands. "Here, try this on!"
"Right here?!" Silas stared, dumbfounded.
"Well, duh." Suzie rolled her eyes, still grinning. "It's just us. Even if there were strangers, you're just a ten-year-old brat—nobody would even blink if you stood around naked. What, you think we're going to get dirty thoughts about a literal child?"
A brat…
That line did Silas in, but then Lorelei jumped in for the kill-shot.
"Exactly!" Lorelei nodded, all seriousness. "You're ten, not twenty. What's there to be shy about? Even if anyone's taking a loss here, you're the last on the list."
"…." Silas.
"She's right!" Giselle piped up, twisting the dagger. "I'm twelve, and between the two of us, I'm the one who'd be embarrassed! If I'm not worried, what are you scared for?"
"…." Silas.
Right then, Silas felt a thousand wild Tauros stampeding through his soul. But he couldn't clap back—he really was just a ten-year-old in this world. So, holding back tears, he stripped down and started trying on all the clothes Suzie handed him.
No sooner had he slipped into one than Suzie nodded. "That looks good. Try this one next!"
"…Alright."
"Eh, this one's so-so. Next!"
"…Okay."
"This shirt doesn't go with those black pants. I'll get blue ones later. Next!"
"…Sure."
And so it went; Silas tried outfit after outfit, standing for review after review. His expression screamed dead-inside, making Lorelei and Giselle giggle uncontrollably. Neither of them thought the usually-mature Silas could ever look so defeated.
In the middle of this little fashion parade, the Master Ball at Silas's waist suddenly burst open!
Gastly shot out, eyes flaring with violet light, instantly wrapping the whole room in ghostly aura!
"What's wrong?" Silas paused mid-change at Gastly's sudden move.
"That psychic prodigy chick is looking for you," Gastly intoned seriously.
That startled Silas—he glanced quickly around the room. No sign of Sabrina, thank Arceus. He turned to Gastly, "How do you know she's looking for me? And how would she even find me?"
"Psychic powers," Gastly replied, sounding almost impressed. "She might not have fully tapped into her prodigy-level power, but she sure knows how to use it. Right now, she's channeling the energy from a bunch of Psychic-types, stacking all their abilities together to scan the entire city for your aura. If you step outside this room, she'll spot you instantly!"
"…That's insane," Silas muttered. "You can't be serious. Aren't powers like that kinda broken?"
"Definitely busted," Gastly nodded, tone almost envious. "If that girl ever maxed out her psychic prodigy powers, I bet she could go toe-to-toe with the strongest Legendary Pokémon!"
"Damn…" Silas was floored.
"Silas." At that, Lorelei spoke up. "What's going on? By psychic prodigy, do you mean Sabrina? Why is she hunting you down?"
"…." Silas hesitated, then grimaced. "I blew up the Saffron Gym battlefield."
"…." All three girls.
...
The hotel room fell into awkward silence.
The girls all gawked at Silas—none of them could believe he'd pull something so reckless, especially since they knew how powerful he really was. It was totally avoidable!
"So, uh…" Silas scratched his nose, feeling all the stares. "It was an accident, honest. I really thought Gastly was a lot weaker than that."
"You…" Lorelei sighed, her voice resigned. "Forget that Sabrina's a top League asset for now—her family's one of the Oak family's biggest backers at League meetings. What you did was way out of line. If rumors start flying, it'll be bad for both you and your family."
"…." Silas.
"What now?" Suzie asked, worried.
"No clue," Silas confessed with a rueful laugh. "No way I'm apologizing—not to Sabrina, anyway. She's nuts. If I show up in person, I'll probably spend the next week or two as one of her dollies."
"Dollies?" Giselle echoed in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Psychic powers…" Silas explained, exasperated. "She can literally turn people into dolls."
"Whoa," Giselle gasped, then beamed. "That's awesome!"
"Yeah, real awesome," Lorelei sighed, rubbing her temples. "But the more powerful her psychic stuff is, the bigger a mess this turns into for us."
"…So what now?" Giselle blinked, at a loss.
Lorelei considered, then suggested, "…why don't we just run for it?"
Run?
That caught Silas totally off guard.
Truthfully, that option wasn't even on his radar—he never considered just fleeing. But the more he thought, the more sense it made. Sure, Gastly could curb-stomp Sabrina in a real fight, but he'd messed up first, and Sabrina's family was politically important. No way he could just start a war for such a petty reason.
So after a moment's thought, Silas nodded. "Good idea. I already got the badge, so we can just bail. I'll message my grandpa, let him smooth things out with her family. That should do the trick."
"Nice." Lorelei approved warmly. "That's probably the best option—and no real consequences."
As Lorelei and Silas wrapped things up, Suzie asked hesitantly, "But… how do we get out? Didn't Gastly say that if Silas steps outside, Sabrina will know right away?"
Her question turned everyone's eyes to Gastly. He rolled his own eyes right back. "Don't look at me! I can block her psychic sense in one room, sure, but if we move around, I can't keep her out."
"Nothing you can do at all?" Silas frowned.
"Nope," Gastly admitted, frustration showing. "All we can do is wait. There's no way she can keep up a citywide scan like this forever—once she gives up, we split."
"Alright," Silas sighed, resigning himself.
...
One hour…
Two hours…
Five hours…
Night fell!
He glanced at the window, then at the clock—it was close to midnight. The girls had all gone to bed, but Silas was starting to lose patience. He turned to Gastly, "Didn't you say there's no way she could keep this up? It's been, what, nine hours? She's still going strong?"
"No clue," Gastly replied, looking miserable. "I think that crazy girl's using not just a few psychic Pokémon, but an entire squad. If that's the case, we better settle in—she could keep this going forever. Aside from eating and drinking, she doesn't need a break."
"…You mean she can skip sleep, too?"
"Yup," Gastly said, matter-of-fact. "Psychic power's all about mental energy. She's meshed hers with all those Pokémon—so the drain is actually less than usual. She could keep this up for weeks."
...
Weeks…
That was more than Silas could take. There was no way he was waiting around that long. If worst came to worst, he'd just have Gastly sneak over and KO Sabrina so they could make their escape—though that was his absolute last resort.
Right in the middle of this crisis, a freezing, almost suffocating voice suddenly rang out behind him, scaring Silas half to death.
"So here you are."
The sound came out of nowhere, ice-cold as the grave!
When Silas turned, disbelief on his face, he found Sabrina standing there, giving him a look that could chill a Charizard's flame.
"How did you find me?!" Silas burst out, glancing at Gastly for answers. Gastly just shook his head—he was stumped, too.
"How did I find you?" Sabrina's lips curled into one of those frosty smiles, her eyes brimming with mocking amusement. "Your Gastly is strong, and that fancy barrier did block my psychic scan. But this is Saffron City. My city. If psychic power doesn't cut it, you really think I can't just use manpower?"
Smack!
Silas slapped his palm to his face, totally defeated. "Fine. You win. Just say what you want."