Chapter 76. Sabrina
They entered the battlefield, and it was a sealed space.
No lights were on inside, and it was very dim.
"Heh-heh, a new challenger has come."
A child's voice suddenly echoed from all directions, and Misty shivered.
"Why does this feel more like a Ghost-type Gym?"
"She's there!"
Brock pointed not far away.
Everyone looked and saw a doll being cradled in someone's arms, floating in midair, slowly approaching them from the shadows.
Sabrina's voice was icy and low.
"You—ah!"
A beam with an extremely wide spread and blinding brightness suddenly shot out, and Sabrina reflexively closed her eyes, as the originally dark Gym turned bright as day in an instant.
"Ah—Natsume, what are you doing!"
Misty and the others were dazzled and couldn't open their eyes.
"Natsume, this flashlight is so cool!"
Ash shielded his eyes, and so did the Pikachu on his shoulder.
"Pikachu—"
Center-parted suddenly sprang up from Ash's shoulder.
Daybreak!?
It wasn't just daybreak all around—center-parted felt like it was standing right next to the sun, a stabbing white.
Sleeping next to the sun would be a challenge!
After a yawn, center-parted closed its eyelids again.
"Turn it off."
Sabrina's face darkened, and the doll in her arms spoke coldly.
The next second, the ultra-high-output, research-grade, portable cave searchlight in Natsume's hand flashed blue.
"Crack!"
With a crisp snap, the flashlight in Natsume's hand shattered into a pile of scraps.
Sabrina had just begun to lower her hand when Natsume flipped his wrist and pulled out another big flashlight.
Her face cooled.
"Crack!"
The flashlight shattered.
Natsume pulled out another.
"Crack!"
Natsume pulled out yet another.
Sabrina: "…"
"Snap!"
Wearing a mirthless smile, Sabrina flicked her fingers.
In an instant, the Gym lights came on.
Seeing this, Natsume switched off his flashlight and put it away.
"Do you have a treasure pouch or something?"
Misty covered her face.
"Natsume, why do you carry so many flashlights?"
Ash asked curiously.
"With this flashlight around, Solar Beam's power can double."
Natsume was dead serious, but in truth he used it to count the number of Pokémon in the nursery.
Every night he'd switch it on and sweep the nursery, and it lit up like daytime.
Only, for some inexplicable reason, a Pokémon would break it by the next day, so Natsume kept many on him.
Seeing this group completely ignore her and start chatting, the veins on Sabrina's expressionless face began to bulge.
An icy blue radiance surged toward them, covering everything.
"Zzzzt~"
Faint ripples spread through the air, and Sabrina's attack was blocked by something unknown.
"Wait, we're being a little rude like this."
Brock pointed toward Sabrina not far away.
When everyone turned back, the impassivity had returned to Sabrina's face.
"Wow, she looks so young."
Misty exclaimed.
What came into view was a girl of about eighteen or nineteen, with waist-length light-green hair and purple eyes cold as ice beneath her bangs.
A black turtleneck dress tightly wrapped her slim figure.
A golden headband set with Unown glyphs crowned her.
Bronze psychic-amplifier rings encircled all ten fingers, and even standing still, her hem fluttered without wind, as if invisible thought-waves swam beneath her skin.
"This should be the Saffron City Gym Leader, Sabrina."
Brock's face was solemn.
"Sigh, a great beauty—and for once you're reacting normally."
Misty was amazed.
"I like gentle big sisters."
Brock quietly explained to everyone.
"Her face doesn't show any expression at all, and that's too scary."
"Shouldn't that be called aloof?"
Misty gave Brock a puzzled look.
"No, no, no—aloof is someone like Honora!"
Ash cut in.
"Ash is right."
Brock nodded in agreement.
On the other side, Sabrina had just picked the doll up from the floor, and as she rose she found the group chatting away again.
"You're… truly rude."
Sabrina wore a mirthless smile as the doll in her arms spoke.
The doll opened its mouth, but Professor Oak's voice came out.
Everyone froze, and Sabrina froze.
She looked down and saw that at some point, her doll had been replaced with a Professor Oak doll, with only her doll's clothes pulled over it.
The impassivity on Sabrina's face began to loosen, and a hint of bewilderment surfaced in her eyes.
"So the doll is the real body?"
Natsume's voice drifted over.
Sabrina turned, and her doll had already fallen into Natsume's hands.
The doll was bare, and Natsume was busy poking and prodding.
At his side, the Rotom Phone was filming from every angle, leaving no blind spots.
"What's the principle here?
What's the principle?"
Natsume muttered to himself.
There was a Pokémon-like aura on this doll, but the Pokédex couldn't identify it, and it felt like… a Pokémon egg?
Ding!
[S-rank Research Task issued—"The Opposite Curse."]
The system's voice sounded in his mind, and Natsume was a little surprised.
There was an S-rank research task hidden in this doll?
"Give it back to me!"
Sabrina spoke, a trace of shame and anger in her tone.
"Wow, so you can talk."
Ash marveled.
"Hey, she looks like she's showing some expression."
Brock said.
Natsume looked back at Sabrina.
Sure enough, the doll was the real body.
"Here."
Natsume didn't continue to provoke her and tossed the doll back.
Sabrina's face was sullen, and the Professor Oak doll by her feet instantly turned to dust.
"Get out.
You're not welcome here."
She hugged the doll to her chest, and the doll's cold voice rang out.
"I'm here for a Gym challenge!"
Ash announced loudly.
Sabrina frowned and instinctively tried to use telekinesis to "see them out," with ripples once again surfacing in the air.
These people had some method that could resist her psychokinesis.
"Fine, then come on."
The doll spoke, signaling Sabrina's choice to compromise.
In the next instant, a cool, ghostly blue glow lit up across the entire field.
The scene beneath their feet flipped into a battlefield like a dream, and amazingly, no one standing on it felt the slightest tremor.
"How amazing!"
Ash praised from the heart.
Clearly, compared to White River, this Gym Leader named Sabrina possessed psychic power truly worthy of the word "psychic"!
"Whoever is going to challenge me, hurry up and finish."
The doll cradled a Poké Ball, and Sabrina's face returned to its joyless, sorrowless state.
"I'll go first."
Natsume waved his hand.
"Heh!"
The doll let out a cold chuckle, and the Poké Ball in its hand fell and rolled to the center of the field.
"Zzzzt—"
With a flash of red light, an Alakazam appeared from nowhere.
"Alakazam, Lv. 66, the Psi Pokémon, the evolved form of Kadabra.
It is said to remember anything, and its brain is extremely intelligent."
As the Pokédex's voice sounded, Natsume drew a deep breath.
He remembered Sabrina was supposed to send out an Abra.
Why was it an Alakazam?
And at such a high level—clearly one of her ace Pokémon.
"Hurry up and start, and leave early."
The doll spoke again, with no courtesy at all.
Sabrina remained cold-faced; on the surface she showed no emotion.
But Natsume had the strong feeling he was being torn to pieces inside her mind.
"Forget it.
Since that's how it is, I'll go all out."
Natsume said this, pulled out a stick of Spicy Mud, and lit it.
Enjoyed the story? Support me and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at: Patr*eon*.com/Resium
Free members can read 10+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Paid member can read 150+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Stories Available
Honkai? No, This Is Daily Life
Hogwarts Pet Master
Pokémon: Who Let Him Leave Pallet Town!
Scrolling Yu-Gi-Oh! Shorts