Saffron City's buildings aren't flashy like Vermillion's. Instead, they rise like rows of perfect teeth from the ground, straight and squared. The one exception is the massive Silph Co. building, a silver skyscraper which towers far above every building in the area. It's large enough to take up a city block and so shiny that it would make Vermillion's tallest buildings blush. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they built the thing just to show their sister city up.

I approach a door with a dark purple outline, with purple shutters to match. Like the other buildings on the street, the shutters and storefront are the only indication of any difference between them. The buildings are all yellow with a green roof, both in the same elementary color palette as the purple.

I tap the doorbell, and a sagely man opens it. "We're looking for a Mr. Psychic?" I say.

The man nods. "That would be me. As one of Kanto's leading psychics, I predict... you'll be looking for this." He brandishes a CD case containing a single, pinkish disc. "This is the TM for the move Psychic. Great power comes at a great price, young one. In this case, it's 3000P. Are you interested?"

"Am I ever?" I ask, trading a wad of bills for the disc. I load it into the Pokedex and withdraw Fang back into his Poke Ball. After clicking a few buttons, I run the program and Fang emerges, wagging his tail.

"Fang, do you feel any different?" I ask.

"Do I ever!" Fang says. His head ring glows a pinkish-purple and he levitates a nearby car a two good inches off the ground before putting it down, unharmed. "Rad!"

"The power of the psychics of old is indeed 'rad', is it not?" The old man laughs.

"You can hear him?"

"Oh yes. Psychics possess the power to commune with Pokemon, strange as it may seem to an outsider. I predict you have the makings of a psychic within you. How else would you have located me?"

My Pokemon hardly withhold their laughter at the sound of 'communing with Pokemon'. Oh, I do plenty of communing with Pokemon. It's getting them to shut up that's the hard part. Confused by his final question, I flip open my Pokedex. "You have your house listed as a tourist location on the map."

He squints. "So I do. Would you still be interested in my offer?"
"I'll have to pass. Have a nice day, sir." I say with a wave, and then leave.

Fang trots along, ears bouncing. The rest of the team, far less jovial, stares warily at the road ahead. That was our last stop before the challenge. Sabrina's gym isn't more than two blocks away.

"So, who's taking this one?" asks Ten, as if he doesn't already know the answer.

"Fang," I reply curtly. "Fang and Minerva, with Pisces in support in case we need her."

"Say, you wouldn't have room for one more Pokemon, would you..."

"With your condition? If you balk out in the middle of a fight and something happens to you, I won't be able to forgive myself." I say.

"Relax, you weren't going to fight to begin with." Pisces informs him with a soft chuckle, which only seems to upset Ten further.

"I can't hold the team down! I just can't!"
"And you won't. Whatever's wrong, we'll work it out. Right now, let's just focus on the gym battle, okay?"

Ten clicks his beak with distaste but gives no further complaint as we enter the gym. It appears to be just a small blue room with chipped paint, but as I observe the wall the whole thing begins to fold in on itself, revealing a much larger room in much brighter colors. Sabrina sits in the center, feet kicked back on a throne elevated high above the battlefield, and purple and green lights line the walls. It's elegant, and it's made even more impressive as Sabrina raises her hand. The walls fold in again to create a straight path between us and her.

"Well, this is creepy. Can we beat her and get out of here?" asks Reginae.

"You're still afraid of Psychic-types?" I ask.
Reginae gives me a sideways look that tells me everything I need to know.

"Afraid? Of me? How charming. Welcome to my gym, Ms. Hart and company. Pardon the mess- I haven't had a challenger in a while." Sabrina says. "Of course, you'd be no ordinary challenger, now would you? I know of your kind, and I know of your plight."

"Yeah? Surge had no idea." I say. "I'm guessing you're about to explain my whole mysterious backstory and then say something cryptic about my future. How about we cut straight to the chase instead?"
"I like that idea." Sabrina tosses a Poke Ball in the air, and then throws down an Espeon. Beneath its feet, the formal League battlefield emerges, spreading out until we're both standing on dusty ground instead of polished wood or metal. "Ness, why don't you start us off?"

Ness the Espeon and Fang the Umbreon round on each other, observing each other's movements and searching for an opening, but neither of them seem to like what they see.

"Make the first move, Fang!"

Fang darts forth with a Faint Attack and hits Ness on his side, which must be effective, because the Espeon crumbles back in pain. Invigorated, Fang strikes again, and the Espeon closes its eyes and teleports away.

"Is that all you have?" Fang asks, running up to the Espeon, which teleports again and uses Calm Mind.

Well, considering you're a Dark type, it might not be able to use anything, so its strategy will just be wearing you down. I tell him through telepathy.

Are we using this? asks Fang.

Sabrina hasn't called any attacks. She might be able to use telepathy too, and in that case, broadcasting our attacks verbally will put us as a disadvantage.

Ness isn't doing anything either, though. Fang squints at the Espeon, which is still stock still, staring at Fang with wide, unblinking eyes. She could just not be giving commands.

Risky, I tell him. Want to wrap this up, then?

Fang grins, You know it.

His ears tilt up and a great gold orb of energy fires from it, meandering through the air and tracking down the Espeon, who staggers sideways on impact. It gets back up, but its paws are trembling and its eyes have filled with a glassy, worrying sheen. Fang lunges towards it, and it just manages to move out of the way, but Fang pivots and charges again. This time it's a direct hit, and Fang's standing over it with fierce pride.

Ness teleports and struggles back onto its paws as if the simple effort was unbearable, and Fang makes the final move with Faint Attack. The Espeon goes limp beneath him.

"Figured I'd set up Last Resort while I was at it," he announces out loud, and Sabrina raises an eyebrow.

Thanks Fang.

"Very well," Sabrina says. "Alakazam, you're up!"
"Gotcha now." Fang laughs. A ring of stars materialize around him, swirling at an incredible velocity, and one by one he fires them all off at the new challenger.

The Alakazam deflects each one with insane agility, spoons moving so fast I can hardly see them. Fang ducks just in time before one of his own stars hits him in the face, and we both feel searing pain as it nicks his ear.

Even worse, though, is the fear and realization the follows. Fang's mouth is agape at he looks at his fierce challenger, who stands with spoons smoking in the center of the battlefield. "Last Resort... didn't do anything?"

"It had to." I say. "That's a huge attack move."

The Alakazam brushes itself off and raises its spoons again. Light bounces between both of them, and the Alakazam draws it in close to itself, as if readying itself to strike-

"That's Focus Blast! Fang, out!"

Fang just jumps out of the way and Pisces takes it to the stomach. The HP bar drops at once, but Pisces just grits her teeth. The Alakazam readies another Focus Blast, but Pisces flicks her tongue and shoots just a small bolt of lightning at it. One spoon flies out of its grasp, and as it raises its hand to recover it, she slithers around and buries it beneath her bulk. The Alakazam glows with pink energy, trying to lift her up, but Pisces swings her tail around and hits it on the side of the head, breaking its focus.

She inhales, opening her mouth wide, and then begins to exhale a storm of ice. Blizzard.

It's grown even more powerful since it's use in the Elite Four, when she could even take down Lance's Dragonites, and the Alakazam doesn't stand a chance.

Pisces begins dialing up the intensity, and the blizzard's roar is so loud I can hardly feel myself think. There's an elation, a dangerous excitement, building within me, and it takes me a few seconds to remember that it's hers, not mine.

Ashley. I want more power. She's extending a mental link, reaching out for me, and though I can almost feel the rush of energy we'd gain together I have to push her away.

Ooooooh no. Not today.

With a furious exhale, she breathes out the last of the frost and stares down at her victim.

The Alakazam is frozen, spoons still extended upwards the blast as if it could ever have hoped to block it. Pisces swings her tail downwards, but Sabrina withdraws Alakazam first.

"No need," she tells me. "I surrender. Now, Mr. Mime, it's up to you."

Fang jumps over Pisces's huge midsection, tail wagging. "I didn't take any damage from the Focus Blast. I've got this."

I'm about to ask Pisces what she thinks when she just nods and moves out of the way.

Sabrina frowns.

"Was Focus Blast your only counter for Dark types? You should consider adding some type diversity, jeez."

"Don't tell me how to run my gym."

The Mr. Mime puts up a barrier just in time for Fang to slam through it, shards of opalescent energy flying into the air and disappearing as Fang careens right into the Mr. Mime's stomach. It tries to draw Fang away with a Psychic counterattack, but Fang's psychic immunity prevents it from getting a grip on the slippery Umbreon, who uses his vicinity to launch a final barrage of stars right into its exposed chest area. The Mr. Mime's eyes roll up in its head and it crumbles to the ground, fingers still twitching.

Sabrina reluctantly withdraws her final Pokemon and with a sigh, steps forwards onto the field. She drops the Marsh badge into my hand. "I have no desire to pretend to know anything about your future, Ms. Hart. The timelines you could go down are as fractured as the memories I've attempted to sort through during our battle."

"Okay, no one gave you permission to do that!" I yell, both incredulous and highly frazzled.

"Ha! Sucks, doesn't it?" Reginae asks. "Seriously please let's get out of here."

"I was, however, going to mention that there's only one other trainer I've met with such overwhelming might. Unlike you, he was not fighting with his Pokemon. He had near no will whatsoever, indeed, it was as if he himself was a puppet... yet he harnessed such relentless power. I felt as if I was fighting something far more sinister than the team of a novice." She folds her hands. "As you can guess, this trainer, known as 'Red' poses a serious threat to not only our world but all potential ones. I see a great darkness looming over Kanto, not far off... however, this threat does not come merely from your failure. One amongst your number is dangerous, though for reasons you might not expect." Her eyes narrow. "Be careful."

"I'll do my best." I reply.

"I should hope so. This world depends on it." Sabrina says.

The room shifts and clatters as we more towards the exit, and as we reach the poles indicating the entrance, I turn to see only the small, empty blue room behind me.

Reginae shivers, but he's not the only one who's more than a little scared right now. I give him a pat on the head.

"You should have let me fight," insists Minerva, who has nothing to hide and no reason whatsoever to be afraid of psychics. "I thought Pisces was in reserves."

"Fang was in danger," Pisces replies. "You weren't going to step in for him, so I did. Is that an issue?"

"Not at all," Minerva mutters, but the venom in her eyes as she looks at Pisces is unmistakeable.

"Ladies, ladies, there's plenty of me to save. I'm a regular damsel in distress, wouldn't you know it? See, though, the only thing that's distressing me right now is you two fighting. Well, that and the general lack of ice cream in this area. Can we march back to Vermillion and-"

"Vetoed." I stop him before his wild fantasies can march us back into Vermillion.

"Darnit, there has to be something else we can do for fun around here, preferably with a meal included. Amiright?" Fang asks. "Right?"