Boom!
A beam of Psychic energy struck the confused Haunter head-on.
The explosion of power swept through the field, tearing up a layer of soil and sending dust billowing into the air.
A satisfied smile appeared on Sabrina's face. Her Kadabra wasn't like an ordinary one—it had been personally trained by her. Its psychic power was innately strong, and when she unleashed Psychic at full strength, its power was more than double that of an average Kadabra.
Of course, there was a drawback—the charge time. The stronger the attack, the longer it took to build up energy.
But when facing a confused opponent like Haunter, charge time didn't matter at all.
"As expected of Miss Sabrina," thought the young referee on the sidelines, admiration in his eyes.
In his mind, once Sabrina got serious, no one could defeat her.
"Haunter is unable to battle. Sabrina—"
Just as the referee was about to announce Sabrina's victory in the first round, Nozomi suddenly called out:
"Wait!"
"Hm?"
Both Sabrina and the referee turned to look at him.
"Do you have any objections?" Sabrina asked coolly. "Your Haunter shouldn't have been able to withstand an attack of that level."
Even the most gifted Pokémon couldn't break the laws of battle. That Psychic was strong enough to defeat even some powerful Gengar—how could a Haunter possibly survive it?
"You're right," Nozomi replied evenly. "But tell me, are you certain your Psychic actually hit my Haunter?"
"It did. I clearly saw—"
"Sometimes," Nozomi interrupted with a faint smile, "your eyes can deceive you."
As his words fell, a ghostly figure rose silently from Kadabra's shadow—Haunter!
Kadabra's senses immediately flared in alarm, but it was already too late.
A Shadow Ball condensed between Haunter's hands and, in the blink of an eye, slammed straight into Kadabra.
Boom!The violent explosion sent a shockwave rippling across the battlefield, blasting Haunter backward more than ten meters.
Kadabra, caught at the center of the blast, wasn't nearly as lucky. It was blown away, crashing heavily into the ground.
The entire sequence had happened so quickly it made Sabrina's eyes blur.
By the time Kadabra hit the dirt, she finally processed what had happened. "When? When did Haunter move behind Kadabra? It was confused—wasn't it?"
"Confused? That was just a Substitute."
Substitute—by sacrificing one-fourth of its HP, a Pokémon could create a decoy identical to itself.
The decoy could be controlled remotely by Haunter. That was the trick Nozomi had set up.
"Even so, Kadabra should have sensed Haunter approaching," Sabrina said, still incredulous.
Psychic Pokémon were known for their sharp perception—how could they miss something as large as a Haunter sneaking up behind them?
"Why not?" Nozomi smiled faintly. "Your Psychic was immensely powerful. The explosion scattered psychic energy all over the place. Haunter hid beneath the Substitute's form, and during that split second of psychic turbulence, it was enough time for it to slip behind Kadabra."
Sabrina fell silent for a long while before finally recalling her fallen Kadabra.
"You've won the first match."
The referee stood there, utterly dumbfounded by what he had just witnessed.
It was the most spectacular battle he'd ever seen.
Usually, trainers who challenged the Gym either relied purely on type advantages or tried flashy tactics, only to end up being crushed once Sabrina got serious.
Over time, he had grown accustomed to Gym battles being dull and predictable. But this match between Nozomi and Sabrina had completely overturned that impression. So Gym battles could be this exciting after all.
He silently promised himself never again to underestimate Gym challengers. Then he raised his flag high. "Second match—begin!"
Boom!This time, Sabrina sent out a Slowking.
Nozomi decided not to continue with Haunter. Instead, he switched Pokémon.
"This one's yours, Dusknoir! Don't let me down."
He released his newly captured Dusknoir onto the field.
Despite their short bond, Dusknoir was far from weak—and after the beating it had taken from Metagross not long ago, it wasn't likely to misbehave again.
In terms of typing, Dusknoir held an advantage. Unlike Haunter's dual Ghost–Poison type, which both countered and was countered by Psychic, Dusknoir's pure Ghost type had no such vulnerability.
"Another Ghost-type Pokémon?" Sabrina frowned slightly.
Some challengers had tried to counter her Psychic types with Ghosts before—but bringing two Ghosts? And from the Hoenn region, no less—a Dusknoir!
Still, even if Psychic attacks had no advantage over Ghosts, they weren't ineffective either. The battle could still go either way.
Sabrina could tell this Dusknoir was newly captured—it wasn't yet fully in sync with Nozomi. If she played carefully, she still had a chance to win.
"Be careful, Slowking," she warned.
"Gwooooh!"
Slowking nodded, eyes sharp and alert.
Unlike the vacant Slowpoke or the sluggish Slowbro, Slowking looked intelligent and composed.
Nozomi had fought a Slowking before—one that belonged to a Team Rocket member in Viridian City—so he had some experience dealing with them.
"Dusknoir, Shadow Sneak!"
Dusknoir's shadow stretched and elongated, darting across the ground to appear behind Slowking before rising up to strike.
In Nozomi's previous life's games, Shadow Sneak was a priority move that always struck first.
While that wasn't strictly true in the real world, its execution was still so fast that most couldn't react in time.
Before Sabrina could even give an order, the attack landed squarely on Slowking's back.
Caught off guard, Slowking cried out in pain, its face twisting.
But Slowking was clearly much stronger than the Kadabra before it. Even after taking the hit, it immediately counterattacked.
From the gem on its forehead, a multicolored beam of light shot toward Dusknoir—
Psybeam!