High above Saffron City, the Team Rocket balloon hovered.
Inside the basket, Viper adjusted the binoculars, focusing on the gym building below.
"He just walked straight into the Saffron Gym," she muttered, lowering the lenses.
Nova stood beside her, arms folded, expression dark.
She hadn't reported anything to Giovanni yet.
They hadn't found anything noteworthy so far, which made his Pokémon seem stronger.
"He's supposed to be a researcher," Nova said, voice low and edged with irritation. "Why the hell is he going into a gym? He's not even a trainer."
Viper glanced at her commander, then back down at the city.
In the past few days, they had observed him carefully taking care of Ralts, now evolved into Kirlia.
That Ralts had originally been hers, stolen during one of their fights. She had planned to snatch it back the moment an opportunity arose, but seeing how it was unconscious, she decided to wait. Let him cure it first. Then she would take it back.
Viper turned to Nova explaining her keeping her voice steady.
Nova's eyes narrowed slightly, but she gave a small nod.
"Good. Keep watching. When it's healed, we will take it back."
The balloon drifted slightly, engines humming low.
They kept watching.
…
BACK TO SAFFRON CITY GYM
Both hands instinctively flew to the front of my pants, cupping and pressing down desperately to hide how embarrassed I was.
My face burned scarlet, eyes barely daring to lift toward her. My voice came out small, shy, and cracked on every word.
"Wh-what… what are you talking about?"
Sabrina regarded me from her seat with that same unnerving calm. Her voice stayed flat and perfectly even, like she was discussing the weather.
"So. Do you agree?"
The words landed like cold water. My face burned hotter than before. A fresh wave of embarrassment crashed through me.
Has she seen us doing it in the Pokémon Center yesterday? I didn't know how, but the feeling hit me like ice.
She had watched a loving moment between me and my Pokémon. The thought made my ears ring and my cheeks blaze more crimson.
Meowscarada stepped forward at one quiet pace. Her pink eyes locked on my face. She gave a single, slow nod.
"Nya…" Soft, but certain. Agreement.
I stared at her, throat tight. The storm inside me finally calmed, settling into something heavy and aching. My chest felt like it was cracking open.
One year. A whole year without them.
The words hit harder now, raw and real. We had never been apart since the day I found them. Not once.
From the first shy touches to when we couldn't keep our paws off each other, there hadn't been a single day without that closeness.
Without the warmth of their fur pressed against my skin. Without the deep, rumbling purrs that vibrated straight into my bones. Without the way they melted into me like they had always belonged there, like we were made to fit together.
The thought of losing that for even a day twisted something deep in my gut.
But looking at her steady gaze… I knew she believed we could win.
Lopunny's paw squeezed my hand gently, ears drooping just a fraction. Then she nodded too.
"Lopuu…" she hummed, voice sweet and steady, full of quiet trust. "Lopuu♡~"
We could do it. One year apart from me wouldn't break them.
I swallowed hard. My heart hammered against my ribs.
I looked from one to the other, then back to the woman on the raised platform.
Slowly, I nodded.
"I accept."
A small, satisfied smile curved across Sabrina's lips. The first real expression she had shown.
She rose smoothly from her chair, glided forward, weightless and commanding, until she stood at one end of the field.
She rose smoothly from her chair and glided forward, weightless and commanding, until she stood at one end of the field.
She turned. Her purple eyes locked onto mine, sharp and unblinking.
"Then let us begin," she said. "It will be a one-on-one, all-out battle. The match ends when one Pokémon can no longer continue."
The teal-haired girl in her lap stayed silent, mouth unmoving. Its wooden arm jerked upward anyway and tossed a Poké Ball to the center of the floor.
Red light flashed. A small yellow Abra appeared, eyes closed, floating inches above the ground.
Abra, the Psychic Pokémon.
It sleeps eighteen hours a day. It fights with psychic powers in its dreams and teleports away on instinct if attacked.
"Meowscarada, I choose you!"
Meowscarada leaped onto the field with a sharp "Nyaa!"
"Night Slash! End it fast!"
Meowscarada blurred forward, claws blazing with dark energy. She swung hard at the sleeping Abra.
But right before the slash connected, Sabrina's eyes glowed bright red and Abra's eyes slowly opened, glowing the same fierce crimson.
Abra vanished. It reappeared behind her.
Sabrina raised one hand slowly. A deep blue aura flared around her body, shimmering like cold flame, pulsing in perfect sync with Abra's fading red glow.
"Evolve," she whispered, voice low and commanding, carrying through the chamber like an order carved into the air.
A low, eerie hum filled the chamber. Abra's body began to glow with a blinding white light.
The glow spread outward, silver sparks crackling along its form like electricity dancing on metal.
Its tail thickened and lengthened. Ears sharpened into long, pointed tips. A silver spoon materialized in its hand, gleaming with cold psychic energy. The silhouette stretched taller, more angular.
Kadabra emerged from the light, eyes opened.
"Kadabraaa…" it rasped, voice low and echoing.
"What… it evolved?!" I gasped, heart slamming in my chest.
But I knew I had no time to waste.
"Don't let it escape! Magical Leaf!"
Meowscarada spun and released a storm of glowing leaves.
"Confusion!" Sabrina commanded.
Kadabra's eyes glowed red. Blue energy pulsed from its body. The leaves froze mid-air, twisted violently, then shot back toward Meowscarada, sharper and faster.
"Dodge! Jump left!"
Meowscarada leaped aside in a green blur. But a few stray leaves clipped her side.
"Nyaaaaaaa…!" she cried out, long and pained, body locking up as psychic force gripped her tight. She struggled, legs trembling, claws scraping the ground, unable to move.
"Meowscaradaaaa! Break free… and use Dark Pulse!"
My voice cracked with raw desperation.
Meowscarada's eyes squeezed shut tight, body trembling violently under the crushing psychic grip.
Then her eyes snapped wide open, pink irises blazing with fierce determination. A deep, rumbling growl built in her throat.
"Nyaaargh…!!" she snarled, the sound torn from deep inside, full of fury and love and refusal to lose.
Black aura exploded outward from her fur like spilled ink in water, swallowing the blue psychic energy whole.
The invisible hold around her cracked, splintered, then shattered completely with a sharp snap.
Dark energy surged from her paws in a roaring, howling wave, pure shadow rushing forward like a tidal surge…
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