Sabrina's desire to go on a journey couldn't be stopped in the end, as her father had neither the right nor the capacity to control her.
Meanwhile, Sabrina's mother, who was relatively closer to her, didn't try to stop her from leaving. She saw things more clearly than Sabrina's father.
As a father, he naturally worried a lot about his daughter, fretting over numerous trivial things, like claiming Sabrina had no common sense...
With Sabrina's superpower and her ability to sense people's hearts, what unexpected situation could she possibly encounter outside?
If anyone harbored any ill intentions towards Sabrina, it would be wise to worry about them instead. If someone schemed against Sabrina, they should count themselves lucky if she only turned them into a doll and tossed them into the wilderness.
So, the father's worries about Sabrina were completely unnecessary. Instead of worrying about Sabrina, it would be better to worry about the people who might have bad intentions towards her.
At the same time, the news that the Saffron Gym had been breached reached the alliance's ears.
Although the alliance officially no longer concerned itself with the Saffron Gym, in reality, they had always had people monitoring its every move.
After all, Sabrina's actions were already considered extremely dangerous, and the alliance had sent Lorelei intending to capture her and then bring her back to the alliance to figure things out.
However, Lorelei couldn't capture Sabrina, partly due to concerns about the situation in Saffron City and partly because of Sabrina's own strength.
If Lorelei had truly defeated Sabrina or posed a fatal threat to her, wouldn't Sabrina run away?
With her ability to read people, if Lorelei approached with such an intent, Sabrina would have fled before Lorelei even had a chance to defeat her. Allowing such a ticking time bomb to leave their sight was undoubtedly a source of anxiety for the alliance.
Ultimately, for various reasons, Lorelei abandoned the idea of defeating Sabrina, and the alliance had no choice but to send people to monitor the Saffron Gym to provide timely rescue if any challengers encountered danger.
Fortunately, although many challengers were turned into dolls and failed, they all returned alive within a day or a few days without any casualties. Otherwise, the Saffron Gym might truly no longer exist.
But today, the alliance agent monitoring the Saffron Gym sent back word that Sabrina had been defeated! And the person who defeated Sabrina was a newbie trainer—Ash from Pallet Town!
In a room full of ice-blue decorations, Lorelei was lounging lazily on a beanbag chair in her home clothes, holding a newly obtained photo.
It depicted a young, handsome boy wearing a hat, with a Pikachu on his shoulder, looking very youthful.
"Ash from Pallet Town... Hasn't been traveling for more than a month and a half without previously obtaining any Pokemon, and he actually defeated the elite-level Sabrina? What an interesting little guy, might be worth meeting him sometime..."
...
On the other side, Ash, whom Sabrina was thinking about, was already walking in the center of Saffron City. As one of the most prosperous cities in Kanto, large shopping malls were definitely in abundance.
There were many things available here that couldn't be found in other cities, but Ash and his team's finances were tight, so indulgently spending money here was certainly out of the question.
Even with lots of extra prize money, there were many mouths to feed on this side!
Just the cost of preparing food for the Pokemon each meal was a considerable amount, so dreaming about buying other things was out of the question.
After running back and forth through the mall, Ash and his team bought quite a lot of things, primarily ingredients for food, and some outdoor camping supplies.
Things like switching to a larger pot, some insect repellent items, new sleeping bags, plus a small table and such...
In total, it all cost over a hundred thousand and vanished in no time!
Ash also purchased two extremely practical items in the mall, Assault Vests.
This was a new black-tech invention by the Silver Company, able to freely adjust weight, with great flexibility for wearers. It could be fitted from a Rattata to a Tyranitar-sized monster!
The weight could be adjusted from ten pounds up to a ton, making it extremely convenient.
Such a surreal item, like the space backpack of a Pokeball, was a mystery to how it was created—perhaps it incorporated Pokemon powers.
And given its utility, its price was inevitably high.
One hundred thousand for one!
Two meant two hundred thousand!
It completely surpassed the total purchase by Brock and the others!
And completely drained Ash's little treasure trove! If there's no way to earn more money before reaching Celadon City, Ash might need to resort to eating the Gym Leaders out of house and home.
However, Ash did have quite a few valuable treasures on him; each was worth a fortune. Not to mention, if he were to sell the Spell Tag, the Ghost-Type Elite in Kanto would surely buy it eagerly.
According to Brock's assessment, that item starts at least in the eight-figure range, worth several times more than a top-grade Moon Stone!
After all, in a Pokemon battle, even a ten percent improvement in stats could give you an absolute edge in a head-on clash!
Let alone the Celestial King Champion's Pokemon with incredibly high stats, a thirty percent boost was monster-level, and even an eight-figure sum to buy it would be worth it for the Elites.