What should I do?
That question stumped Sabrina.
After dropping Alakazam off at the Pokémon Center, all she could think about was settling the score with Silas.
But she'd spent hours searching, and still hadn't found any trace of him. Just as she was about to give up, her staff finally reported his location. She immediately used Teleport to appear right in front of Silas—but in her rush, she hadn't had time to think up how she'd actually deal with him!
Now, Silas's question left her totally lost.
What was she supposed to do with Silas?
She didn't know. What she did know was, she couldn't go too hard on him. She'd heard "Silas" from her grandfather's mouth so many times, and every time, her grandpa had that beaming smile. She could disrespect her parents—but never her grandpa, the only truly close family she had in this world!
Still, letting Silas off the hook just didn't sit right. For her entire life, she'd been honored as the Queen of Psychic Types; everyone showed her respect. But now, she'd been humiliated—flirted with by someone's Pokémon! So she pinned all that resentment on Silas—after all, like Trainer, like Pokémon.
No wonder she was so conflicted now!
"Keeheeheehee~" As Silas waited, and Sabrina stewed, Gastly slid in with a cackling laugh. "Can't decide? Hey, how about this: my Trainer could just devote himself to you! He's destined to be a big deal, y'know. You become his girl, and you're guaranteed a win-win."
Ding!
Sabrina shot him the iciest side-eye.
Silas groaned inside. What the hell was Gastly doing, running his mouth like that at a time like this?!
Sabrina's anger hit max instantly. A second ago she was undecided—now she was set. She fixed Silas with a glare. "You'll be my doll for a whole month!"
"No way!" Silas reflexively shook his head, waving her off. "I get it—you want compensation, fine. But being your 'doll' is a no-go. I've got to hurry up and collect my badges!"
"That's not up to you!" Sabrina's voice went glacial. Her eyes flashed a terrifying blue!
Crazy chick!
Silas cursed inwardly, shouting, "Gastly!"
"Keeheeheehee~" Gastly appeared instantly, laughing wildly. "Little lady, you trying to pull that trick with me around? A bit too confident, aren't you?"
With that, Gastly's own purple flames roared to life!
Blue clashed with violet, the two auras filling the whole room, neither giving an inch. For a second, Silas almost felt like he was in a world of wizards, not Pokémon!
That illusion faded fast—the blue glow was snuffed out by the violet, leaving only shimmering purple light filling the air. When the violet faded, Sabrina staggered forward, exhaustion hitting her hard.
So soft...
Silas instinctively caught her, and all he could think in that moment was how perfectly she fit in his arms.
Then his blood ran cold—his hands had definitely landed somewhere they shouldn't, and Sabrina, sleepy-eyed, glared up at him with undiluted rage. Her eyelids fluttered lower and lower—Silas quickly carried her over to the bed and set her down. "Gastly, what did you do?" he demanded.
"Nothing special," Gastly shrugged, flashing a sly smile. "Just a little sleep hex. She'll be out for at least five hours, and when she wakes up, she'll be groggy as hell. If you want to do anything bad, I recommend—"
"Like hell!" Silas rolled his eyes hard, snatched up Gastly's Master Ball, and recalled him on the spot. Then he raced to the girls' room, pounding on the door and yelling, "Wake up! Now! Get up, get up!"
Creeeeeak—
One by one, the girls opened their door, still in pajamas and looking half-asleep. Giselle grumbled, "What is it? It's the middle of the freaking night."
"It's not midnight anymore." Silas rolled his eyes, forcing a bitter smile. "Pack your stuff. We're bailing. Now."
"Bailing?"
Hearing the urgency in Silas's voice, Lorelei peered at him with a squint, "You didn't mess something up again, did you?"
"No!" Silas shook his head, all innocent. "I swear I didn't do anything this time!"
"Really?" Lorelei narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
Under her gaze, Silas sighed, then gave a wry smile: "Fine, you got me. I might've caused a little drama... Sabrina tracked me down, and then Gastly accidentally put her to sleep. When she wakes up, she's gonna be out of it for a while. Long story short—Sabrina is currently passed out in my room."
"…" Lorelei.
"…" Giselle.
"…" Suzie.
All three girls just stared at him, dumbstruck.
Destroying her gym wasn't enough—he went and knocked her out, too, and now there'd be weird side effects when she woke up. This was going to tick Sabrina off big time—the very first thing she'd do when she came to would definitely be hunting down Silas for payback. She was the Queen of Psychic Types, and now she'd been knocked out by someone's Pokémon, in someone else's room! It was the ultimate humiliation.
"Ugh." Lorelei finally sighed, resigned. "Pack your bags, everyone."
"You're such a pain!" Giselle snapped, shooting Silas a look.
Silas gave an awkward laugh, then looked down at his own hands, replaying in his mind what had just happened...
...
The next morning.
Deep in the forest.
Sunlight streamed through the leaves, waking up the woods and the Pokémon within. A chorus of wild voices greeted the day. After fleeing Saffron City in the dark, Silas and his friends camped here, and the Pokémon's morning racket eventually woke everyone from their shallow sleep.
"Seriously…" Giselle stumbled out of her tent with panda eyes, grumbling, "How is it morning already?"
"Mornin'," Suzie yawned, forcing out a greeting.
"Uuuugh." Lorelei yawned hugely as she emerged, nodding at the others, "Mornin', guys."
Seeing how worn out the three girls were, Silas figured traveling just wasn't in the cards today. Not much he could do anyway—after all, they'd traveled all night and only reached the woods around 4 a.m. It was just past eight now. None of the girls had slept more than four hours—how could they possibly keep going?
So he suggested, "Let's take a rest day here, all right?"
"For real?!" Giselle perked up immediately, and the other two looked at Silas with hope in their eyes.
"Yeah," Silas nodded, shrugging, "Celadon City isn't far. If we push, we can get there in a day—there's no point in rushing. The badge isn't going anywhere, so catch up on sleep. I'll spend the day training my Pokémon."
"Awesome!" Giselle cheered, racing right back to her tent.
Lorelei didn't bother saying a word—she just zipped straight back inside. Only Suzie, apologetic and yawning, said, "Silas… I'll... once I wake up… I'll make lunch."
"No need," Silas smiled gently. "I'll handle lunch today."
"You sure?" Suzie asked, a little stunned.
"Yeah." Silas nodded, grinning. "Don't worry, just go rest."
"Okay." Suzie didn't argue, ducking back into her tent—she was just too tired to protest.
...
Once the girls were gone, Silas—still sleepy but determined—wandered over to a secluded spot.
It wasn't that he didn't want to sleep, but his internal clock was already a mess. If he napped now, falling asleep at night would be impossible. Best to tough it out all day, then crash hard tonight.
"All right, everyone." He pulled out five Master Balls and tossed them skyward. "Let's go, team!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Five beams of light instantly revealed Charizard, Tyranitar, Dragonite, Pikachu, and Gastly.
Immediately, Gastly zeroed in on Silas's tired face, voice dripping with mischief, "Keeheeheehee~ What were you up to last night? You look wiped out—must've been something naughty!"
Naughty?
Naughty my ass!
Does he even realize who's to blame here?!
Silas rolled his eyes so hard they nearly stuck, then turned a sly look on Gastly: "Charizard, Dragonite, your task for morning training—take Gastly on, two-on-one. If he's still got the energy to float after lunch, you both go without food."
"Charizard~!"
"Dragonite~!"
At that, both Charizard and Dragonite locked their eyes on Gastly, looks that screamed If I go hungry, it's your fault!
"Oh hell no!"
Feeling those two deadly stares, Gastly panicked, instantly protesting, "Hey now, what did I even do? Two against one? That's bullying!"
"Bullying?" Silas shook his head, grinning wickedly. "How's this bullying? It's special training. Just helping you out, pal."
Training?
What training!
Silas's reasoning had Gastly rolling his eyes so hard they might fall out. At their level—Charizard, Dragonite, and Gastly himself—"training" was basically meaningless. The only real way to get stronger was to research elemental energy, push their natural limits. Obviously, Silas was just looking for an excuse to punish him.
Just as Gastly was about to keep protesting, Silas cut him off: "Unless you want to starve, Charizard, Dragonite, why aren't you moving?!"
"Charizard!"
"Dragonite!"
"Oh, come on!" Gastly yelped as the two lunged for him, bolting like a shot into the distance and screaming as he went, "YAMETE~~~!"
Suicidal move!
Charizard and Dragonite's eyes gleamed with savage intent—they didn't know exactly why Silas ordered them to go after Gastly, but one thing was clear: if Gastly wasn't exhausted by lunch, they'd be the ones to pay. No way would they ever let that happen, so they spread their wings and zoomed after their prey!
With those three gone, Silas turned to Tyranitar and Pikachu, tone gentle as he addressed Pikachu: "You're so much stronger than when we first started out. But don't get cocky—always keep training, okay?"
"Pikachu!"
Getting praise, Pikachu called out energetically.
Silas turned to Tyranitar. "I'll leave Pikachu to you."
"No problem." Tyranitar nodded, then set up a gravity field around Pikachu. "Leave Pikachu to me—he's in good hands."
"Great."
Silas nodded, then stepped aside to watch, deep in thought…