"Uh... who are you?"
"I am Sabrina's mother."
Ash: ???
Ash widened his eyes, looking at Sabrina with a bewildered expression, as if saying — You're really ruthless! You turned your own mother into a doll!
"I didn't hurt her, I just turned her into a doll to keep her by my side, and I even transformed her back to normal midway, but she herself didn't want to leave."
Sabrina's tone remained indifferent and cold, but Ash and the others could still hear the unusual emotion in her words.
Sabrina's mother's actions must have significantly affected Sabrina, the behavior of staying by Sabrina's side even while being afraid puzzled Sabrina greatly.
But at that time, Sabrina's psyche was already thoroughly broken. If she could communicate as well as she does now, maybe her mother's approach would have brought Sabrina back to reason.
"I didn't do much, just had a battle with her." Ash scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed by Sabrina's mother's gratitude.
Sabrina's mother shook her head and said, "If it weren't for you, Sabrina might have fallen into an abyss and never returned. You saved our daughter, and whatever you need, just ask. We'll do our best to help achieve it."
"Uh, no need to exaggerate, it was really just a battle. By the way, I won this battle, can you give me the badge from Saffron Gym?" Ash truly didn't need anything, if anything, just the badge would suffice.
"For you." Sabrina waved her small hand, a golden round badge floated from her and landed in front of Ash.
"Thanks!" Ash grabbed the floating badge mid-air and struck his signature pose: "I got the Golden Badge!"
"Pika-Pikachu!" Having contributed nothing, but still needing to shout for the pose to be complete, just like Team Rocket without Meowth would be soulless.
"I'm exhausted, your first battle after catching me was something you let me fight in, really trying to exhaust an honest ghost!" Gengar, without the energy to revert to Gastly form, sat directly on the ground, gasping and sticking out his scarlet tongue, looking completely worn out.
"Haha, thanks Gengar, let's have Professor Oak prepare some good food for you when we get back."
"I think that old man's instant noodles aren't bad, have him make some for me!" Instantly changing his attitude, Gengar asked.
Looks like this was planned in advance!
Ash agreed with a bright smile, Gengar's contribution in this battle was undeniable, without Gengar, even if he left Saffron Gym for last, he might not have won.
The opponent was at Elite Peak; Ash didn't believe he could train his Pokemon to Elite Peak Level before the Quartz Conference started.
Though there are more than eight Gyms in Kanto, it wouldn't be a big deal not to challenge Saffron Gym, but being one of Kanto's top gyms, challenging it would greatly benefit both the Trainer's Pokemon and their level advancement.
Moreover, this challenge indirectly saved a broken family, although Ash didn't quite understand how it happened... Sabrina obviously became much more normal, even releasing her transformed mother.
This should count as saving, right?
"I'll give you this too." After handing Ash the Golden Badge, Sabrina's eyes shifted slightly, then she pulled out a spoon from her body.
Looking at the small spoon in Sabrina's pale hand, Ash was puzzled. What's he supposed to do with a spoon? Eat with it?
"What's this for?"
"This spoon is a Psychic tool that introduced me to superpowers. If a Pokemon carries it, it can increase Psychic Type skill power by about 25%, so it's a pretty good tool."
Misty & Brock: ???
Wow, a 25% superpower boost, you call that merely 'pretty good'?!
Don't underestimate the Spell Tag that Gengar gave, which can boost Ghost Type power by 30%, and think these tools for boosting Pokemon skills are cheap.
In reality, any tool that can increase skill power is sought after like crazy in the market, they're invaluable.
Generally, attribute boosting tools increase power by 10% to 20%, with 20% being theoretically the peak value for these boosters.
Yet Gengar offered a Spell Tag with a 30% boost, followed by Sabrina offering a spoon with a 25% boost, what kind of lucky streak is Ash on?
Hey, seriously, if you talk about luck, Ash might just win a Champion for it.
This journey can't be described merely as lucky anymore, right?
"Wait! I just remembered, where's that Spell Tag I gave you?" Gengar suddenly remembered after hearing Sabrina's explanation that he gave Ash a Spell Tag, but where is it now?
In the last battle, if he'd carried the Spell Tag, he could've fought with much ease, right?
A 30% Ghost Type boost, combined with Aura Fusion, would have easily defeated Alakazam, without even exhausting the opponent's Physical Strength!
Yet Ash didn't bring out the Spell Tag for him to use, does Ash have another Ghost Type Pokemon using it?
Just getting back from Sabrina's little gift, Ash froze upon hearing Gengar's words.
"Uh... um... sorry, I forgot."
"Forgot?! You can forget something like this!! Do you even know how much that thing is worth! When I gave you that tool, I suppressed my immense inner pain! And you didn't even use it for other Pokemon, in battle you didn't let me use it either, what kind of a person are you!"
Ash's forgetting was met by a torrent of blame from Gengar, people typically, upon receiving such a tool, would wish to look at it every day, contemplating which Pokemon would benefit from it best.
But Ash, on the contrary, just forgot it, what kind of big heart is this!
"Ahem, isn't it that we won! The result is what's important." Ash continued to argue, met by Gengar's eye roll.
The amusing interaction between man and ghost brought a smile to Sabrina's lips.
For some reason, looking at Ash made her want to smile, it wasn't mockery, but a genuine joyful smile, is this what normal human emotions feel like?
She feels like she hasn't experienced it for so long.
Sabrina's spoon was finally accepted by Ash, and became a promise between the two. Next time they meet, they would use the Pokemon nurtured by this spoon to compete.
Ash accepted Sabrina's request and directly handed the spoon to Kirlia in front of Sabrina.
Meeting for the first time, Ash and Kirlia felt good about each other because they were both female and shared the Psychic Attribute.
Ash told Kirlia about the promise attached to the spoon, and Kirlia solemnly accepted the spoon, stating that if they meet Sabrina again, they would definitely make full use of the power increase brought by the spoon.
Watching this scene, Misty had a strange sense of déjà vu... Is this an engagement gift???
After accepting the spoon, Ash, Misty, and Brock officially bid farewell to Sabrina and her parents, and as Ash's figure gradually disappeared from sight, Sabrina turned to her parents.
"I'm going on a trip, you take care of the Gym."
"Uh? Uh? This... isn't it improper, Sabrina, now you are the master of the Psychic Gym, and you've just recovered, you should take more time to recuperate, your strength might be great, but you know too little about common sense, and there's also..."
On hearing his daughter wanting to go out, Sabrina's father passionately outlined what might happen once she left, but upon meeting Sabrina's crimson eyes, he swallowed all his words.
That look... unwavering, as if saying, no matter what you say, I'm going to travel, so don't waste your words.
Seeing this, Sabrina's father could only smile bitterly, then gaze at where Ash's figure had disappeared.
Undoubtedly, he knew Sabrina's desire to travel was closely linked to Ash!
Just reunited with his daughter, and now she's going to be snatched away?
But if anything, that kid isn't an ordinary pig...