Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Shards of psychic power poured down like a torrential rain, bursting on the ground into rippling bands of cerulean light and tearing spiderweb cracks through the floor wherever they passed.
Yet amid this near-bombardment, Arbok's silhouette moved like a phantom.
Its long body wove at high speed in a weird S-curve, as if it had used Detect—each feint and switch of direction slipped just outside the bombardment's kill zone.
Even Alakazam's future-sensing couldn't lock onto the serpent's path!
"Hiss!"
With a spine-tingling flick of its tongue, Arbok burst out of the smoke. Dark energy of the Dark type surged along its fangs—
Crunch!
"..."
Sabrina stood as still as a statue, hair streaming in the wind.
An eerie blue light deepened in her eyes and resonated with the psychic field circling Alakazam.
"Hu!"
Alakazam crossed its spoons before its chest. A rosy glow kindled there—
It began no brighter than a firefly, then swelled in an instant.
BOOM!
Light exploded in every direction. Ground bucked as if churned by an invisible plow; gravel touched by Fairy-type radiance powdered into dust.
Arbok slammed headlong into the dazzling flood. The detonation was deafening, and the shockwave crazed the ground for a hundred meters around.
"Commanding by telepathy… not even opening her mouth, yet Alakazam executes perfectly."
From inside the smoke came Ariana's admiring murmur.
She stroked the Arbok that had been blasted back and smiled under lowered lashes. "No wonder even Petrel, that master of disguise, ate it against you."
"He didn't lose unjustly."
"Surrender now, and you won't be hurt."
Sabrina's red lips parted as she rose, buoyed by her power.
Black hair whipped wild; a pale blue radiance sheathed her.
"Heh-heh-heh-heh… Gym Leader Sabrina, aren't you misunderstanding something?"
Ariana's laugh snapped cold—and a new Pokémon stepped out before her.
A petite, indigo-bodied Pokémon with a huge blossom on its head—oddly cute at a glance.
Vileplume.
Another Elite-level combatant.
"Gym Leader, you're just one leader. You may be strong yourself, but under the siege of multiple Elite-tier Pokémon, I doubt you can punch your way out."
Ariana's brows arched. Her voice cracked sharp: "Vileplume, Arbok—corrode that woman!"
Vileplume's great petals flared open and spat a violet-black shell of corrosive energy.
At the same moment, Arbok coiled and sprang like a released spring, deep purple light gathering, lethal, along its fangs.
Two killing lines from two angles—every retreat cut off.
"Boring."
Sabrina's lips parted a fraction. Her face didn't move.
At that flat verdict, a single Ultra Ball at her waist defied gravity and floated free.
It turned lazily inside the psychic field, facets catching a witch-light violet.
Click—
The capsule opened, and a strangely shaped palm-tree Pokémon thudded down, towering.
Three coconut heads along its thick neck wore three different expressions:
Scornful. Drowsy. Arrogant.
"Exeggu~" (Alakazam bro—didn't think we'd be teaming up to pound Team Rocket again~)
"Hu." (Mm. Better than the last guy who went straight to Explosion.)
Side by side, Exeggutor and Alakazam faced the closing pincer of poison.
Twin tides of psychic pressure rose like a tsunami. In the air, hundreds of Psycho Cut blades crystallized at once—
"Vmmm!"
Space shivered with a low hum.
Psyshock crashed out and swallowed both the incoming Sludge Bomb and Arbok's charge.
"Thud!"
Arbok's heavy body smashed to the floor in the psychic gale, scales scored all over with mental scars.
Ariana snapped its ball open and recalled the unconscious serpent, fingers whitening around the capsule.
"The match is decided."
Sabrina's voice fell like ice. "Accept judgment. No one has to be hurt."
"Heh…"
Ariana's lashes narrowed. Mockery glinted in her eyes. "Dear Gym Leader—who said this was the end?"
"Geh-keh!"
Space puckered like a stone dropped into still water, and a fat-bodied Gengar oozed out of the shadow at Sabrina's back.
It split a red maw grin; a Shadow Ball swelled between its claws with a nerve-buzzing whine.
"Bzz-bzz-bzz—"
At the same time, a low, wing-thudding drone rolled closer.
A moth Pokémon beat its wings, eyes full of killing intent fixed on Sabrina.
Venomoth!
"Sa-yo-na-raaa~"
A Xatu flickered into being at Ariana's side. Ariana herself squinted and gave Sabrina a playful wave. "Next up, I'll be moving the battlefield."
Tap… tap… tap…
Just as Sabrina moved to stop her, a rhythmic tramp rolled out from within the Rock Tunnel.
Everywhere she looked—black-uniformed Team Rocket elites, shoulder to shoulder.
"Heh-heh-heh-heh~"
Seeing Sabrina's eyes harden, Ariana pressed one pale palm to her cheek; arrogance bloomed across her face as silver-bell laughter spilled out.
"Gym Leader Sabrina, please enjoy this little banquet prepared by Team Rocket alone! I think you're going to lo—"
Her words died. Ariana's pupils pin-pricked tight.
From Sabrina as the center, a visible storm of sapphire psychic force erupted.
She hung at the eye of it, hair writhing like a live thing, both eyes gone to solid, burning blue.
"Geh-keh?!"
Gengar's Shadow Ball warped and imploded, ground to powder by the pure mental flood.
Its fat body dented inward under the field, pain choking its throat to silence.
"Ven—!"
Above, Venomoth hammered its wings. The falling scale-powder was instantly shoved back against it. Both wings snapped with a "crack, crack," and it dropped like a cut kite.
A hundred meters away, the Rocket elites who had just formed ranks collapsed to their knees at once. Seams split with ripping sounds as invisible weight crushed their uniforms.
Every last one—down and broken.
"What is this power?!"
With Xatu's aid, Ariana barely held her posture—but the fear in her eyes was naked.
Terrifying…
Too terrifying.
Is this even human anymore?!
She's close to that man's level already, isn't she?!
"I told you—give up and you won't suffer."
Sabrina settled back to the ground. The quiet in her gaze held a vein of anger—
Which smoothed away in the next breath.
"I think he'll like this gift."
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810