The next morning, Eliana woke up before her alarm. The room was still dark, the only light coming from the faint glow of Staryu's core. She quietly got out of bed, careful to not step on any of her waking Pokémon, and got dressed. She struggled briefly with all the clasps and frills of the outfit but eventually figured it out. The outfit was quite different from her usual uniform of practicality and anonymity.
She was sitting on her bed, her mind a whirlwind of anticipation and impatience, when the door swung open with a soft, almost silent push. Sabrina stood in the doorway, her figure a stark silhouette against the dim light of the hallway. She was dressed up more then Eliana typically saw her. Instead of her usual attire, the more elaborate red dress that she donned today seemed to absorb the light, her expression as unreadable as ever.
Eliana stood up, almost bouncing with excitement. She returned her Pokémon to their PokéBalls before following Sabrina out of the room and down the long, empty hallway. The gym was quiet, the only sound the soft padding of their feet on the polished floor. The familiar scent of dust and psychic energy hung in the air, a comforting blanket in the unfamiliar darkness of the early morning.
They walked past the main battle arena, its vast, empty space a ghostly landscape in the dim light. The spotlights were off, the challenger's platform deserted. It was a strange sight, the arena usually a place of roaring crowds and intense psychic battles, now a silent, sleeping giant.
They continued down a winding corridor, a part of the gym Eliana had never seen before. The walls here were different, not the cold, impersonal concrete of the main areas, but a warm, wood-paneled finish that seemed to absorb the sound of their footsteps. The air was cleaner, too, with a faint, almost imperceptible scent of sandalwood and incense.
Sabrina stopped in front of a large, ornate door, its surface carved with intricate patterns of interlocking circles and lines, a psychic mandala of immense complexity. She placed her hand on the door, and it swung open with a soft, almost reverent click.
The room beyond was not what Eliana had expected. It was not a training room, nor a classroom. It was a library, a vast, circular space with towering shelves that reached up to a high, domed ceiling. The walls were lined with books, thousands of them, their spines a rainbow of colors and textures. In the center of the room, a large, circular table made of dark, polished wood sat under a skylight, the faint, gray light of the pre-dawn sky filtering down and illuminating the space.
And at the table sat eight figures. Two of them, a women and a men, were older, much older than anyone else in the room. Their hair was either greyed and the man had a long beard. They were dressed in a mixture of fine clothing, from a tailored suit to a traditional kimono, their postures straight and their expressions calm and confident. They looked up when the two entered but kept their eyes on Sabrina. Eliana decided that she would be calling them the elders until she got their names.
The next was a quartet of young adults, one male and three females. They were all closer to Sabrina's age, maybe a little older or younger, Eliana couldn't tell. They were all dressed in more casual but identical uniforms, less elaborate then what Eliaina, Sabrina, or the elders currently had on but still had details of you looked closely. Their faces were a mixture of curiosity and caution, their eyes fixed on Eliana as she entered the room. One muttered that she had to be the reason their meeting had been delayed.
The final two were younger, closer to Eliana's own age. The first was a girl, maybe three years older than Eliana. She had her long, blonde hair tied back in a tight ponytail, and she was hunched over a large, leather-bound book, her brow furrowed in concentration. She didn't look up as they entered, her focus entirely on the pages in front of her. The second was a boy, younger than the girl but still older than Eliana by one or two years. He was leaning back in his chair, his eyes closed, humming a low, tuneless melody. That stopped the moment Sabrina walked up to the table.
All eight that were currently seated, stood up and bowed to Sabrina. Eliana looked over to her teacher before discretely looking over the minds in the room. She had gotten pretty good at leaving herself undetected, unless it was Sabrina, that woman had eyes all around her mind. Eliana was honestly surprised to find out that these people were scared of Sabrina as well. Obviously not the paralyzing fear of the drones when she first got here, but more like a soldier's fear of a commanding officer. The blonde girl's mind was the most interesting of all to Eliana, it was so organized she almost felt like she was walking through the library they were currently in.
She turned to Eliana, her expression as impassive as ever.
Then, she gestured to the four older psychics.
Sabrina then motioned towards the oldest members,
Izabel finally looked up from her book, her eyes, a startling shade of violet, scanning Eliana from head to toe. There was no warmth in her gaze, only a cool interest. "This is the prodigy?" she said, her voice soft but with a sharp, analytical edge. "How… curious."
Theo, on the other hand, offered a small, smile. "No need to be shocked" he said, his voice a pleasant, melodic baritone. "You've just met the Great Psychic Theo." He gave Eliana a playful wink.
Eliana gave him a blank look, she had no idea who this dude was. Was she supposed to know him, Sabrina hadn't mentioned anything? He didn't has that much power, none of them did to be honest. She was kind of disappointed by it, Eliana turned to give Sabrina a dissatisfied frown.
Sabrina noticing the teenager pouting at her simply said,
One of the elders, Maria, a woman with sharp, intelligent eyes and a stern expression, raised her voice. "We have been told of your arrival, child," she said, her voice a dry, rustling sound. "Your raw power is… impressive. But power without discipline is a storm without a purpose."
"We shall see if your reputation is deserved, or merely a product of youthful arrogance," the other elder, Arthur, a gaunt man with a long grey beard, added.
Eliana didn't give them a response, if Sabrina wasn't in the room she probably would have killed them. She wasn't here to prove herself to them; Eliana was here because Sabrina had brought her. Their opinions would remain irrelevant.
Sabrina gestured to an empty chair right next to her own.
Eliana sat, the smooth, cool wood of the chair a stark contrast to the now bored energy thrumming through her. She had truly set herself up for failure by getting so excited. The a regular psychic was barley different from a regular person. And it seemed that even the above average ones didn't have access to telepathy. Eliana could truly understand Sabrina's obsession with training her now, it seemed there were very little options to choose from.
A tense silence settled over the library, thick enough to feel. The elder's assessment hung in the air, a challenge that no one dared to acknowledge directly. Izabel's gaze had returned to her book, though her fingers had stilled on the page. Theo's smile had faded, replaced by a thoughtful, unreadable expression. The other students kept their eyes fixed on the table, a unified front of quiet deference. It was in this silence that a new, jagged current of anger cut through the room.
It wasn't telepathy, not in the way Eliana and Sabrina used it. It was a raw, untamed broadcast of emotion, a spike of indignant fury that made the air crackle. The mental noise was sloppy, uncontrolled, but its source was clear.
"This is a mockery," Theo seethed, directed at anyone with the sensitivity to hear it. "That seat is for the one closest to the Mistress Sabrina, for me! Not for some… truant dragged in off the street.>
The temperature in the room dropped drastically and everyone turned to see Sabrina face had darkened with agitation. Theo's ranting had stopped the moment Sabrina turned her full attention onto him.
Sabrina's mental voice was dangerously soft, a whisper that carried the weight of a collapsing star.
Theo's face had gone pale, and he had started to sweat from the sudden increase in the room's pressure. He winced as Sabrina's anger pressed down on him.
The threat was so profound, so absolute, that even the elders, Arthur and Maria, seemed to shrink in their seats. It was a brutal, public dressing down, and it left no room for misinterpretation. Eliana, for her part, felt a small, smug sense of satisfaction. She hadn't needed to do a thing, Sabrina had laid them all bare with a few words.
A tense silence hung in the room, broken only by the harsh rhythm of Theo's breathing. Eliana curiously dug into his mind wanting to know what he was feeling. Surely Mistress Sabrina won't kill me, I've made a mistake by questioning her will.
Eliana snorted to herself at that, "Mistress Sabrina", their fear is why they would never accomplish anything of worth. Everyone in the room, excluding Sabrina, flinched as they felt Eliana speak in their minds.
Theo looked up at her before returning his attention to Sabrina with a question glance.
Sabrina then sent a private message to Eliana,
The journey to the western training hall was a silent affair. The corridor stretched on, the same polished wood and sandalwood scent, but now it felt like a walk to the gallows. No one dared to speak, their minds tightly shuttered. Theo, though, was a beacon of turmoil. He walked a few paces ahead, his shoulders hunched, a frantic energy radiating from him. He was trying to compose himself, to build a wall of bravado, but the cracks were showing.
Eliana followed behind Sabrina, her own mind a calm, observant center. She was acutely aware of the looks she was receiving. Nervous glances from the other students, a calculating stare from the blonde girl, Izabel, and a profound, almost weary disappointment from the elders. They saw this as a pointless display, a disruption of their precious order. Not her problem if she got to have fun it didn't matter what they wanted.