Pokemon trainer!Harry chapter 1. Written 12/29-15

"What do we have here?" an imperious voice called out, the sound echoing down the empty hall. "Has a brave trainer finally decided to visit this hallowed sanctum? It's been months since I've had a true challenge."

Harry strode through the doors, listening intently to the voice as he looked around. The gym was sparse, and could barely be called a gym. Everything was stainless steel and marble… clinical… and empty.

The Gym Leader was sitting in a throne-like chair at the end of the large room, her posture perfect. Harry had heard all the rumors about this particular gym. All Gyms varied in difficulty, depending on a trainer's own experience and arsenal, along with the very nature of the gym leader's specialty. Brock, for instance, was often one of the first gyms people tackled, for his rock type pokemon were quite weak with low-powered movesets when they were young. But, he did have a tough end-line for those truly looking for a challenge, or for when he was participating in Gym Leader exhibition matches.

Sabrina, on the other hand, was considered extremely difficult at every echelon. Psychic type attacks were quite singular, in that even lower-tier psychic pokemon were capable of devastating damage, and her fully evolved lineup was nigh unstoppable. Most trainers were not even deemed worthy of facing them. If rumors were true, her end-line hadn't lost a single match this season, which was a good part of the reason that many trainers opted to skip her gym in favor of one of the minor, easier ones in some of the smaller fringe towns, or even skipping over to Johto.

Some people liked the easy route, but Harry Potter wasn't just "some" person. He'd make it to the Indigo Plateau, and he'd do it proper, even if it meant beating gym leaders like Sabrina and Giovanni. His pride wouldn't let him do anything less.

Harry walked up and faced Sabrina, who was currently cloaked in the shadows of the dimly lit hall . "I, Harry Potter, demand a battle with the Saffron City Gym Leader for her badge!"

A soft laughing sound filled the room, sounding like it came from everywhere at once. The voice spoke directly into his mind, much to his annoyance. "Oh, is that why you are here? For a badge?"

Sabrina took that moment to get up off of her throne. She didn't bother walking down the stairs, instead levitating herself down in an impressive display of her power. It was clear that she was quite a strong psychic.

"Come then, Harry Potter. To make this official, you must register your pokemon for a three on three battle." Harry stared at her face as she talked, he he noticed a few things. Firstly, as she continued to talk, her lips did not move at all, yet he heard her words all the same. Secondly, she was astonishingly beautiful.

Sabrina was of a similar age to Harry, perhaps a few years older. Her hair was as black as his own, and appeared to be silky smooth, and her eyes... her eyes were a brilliant, piercing blue that captivated him. She wore fashionable clothes in the form of a halter top and hip hugging pants, showing off her nice curves, alluringly large chest, and astonishingly long legs… She was powerful, and hot; a tough combination to beat.

The Gym Leader floated over towards a standard issue battle console, and Harry followed her there. Every gym used more or less the same setup, and he'd gone through this process four times already.

While no one short of the Elite Four knew the full extent of every Gym Leader's pokemon arsenal, Harry had taken some time to plan out what pokemon he wanted to use to fight against a trio of psychic types. So, with careful deliberation, Harry put in his trainer ID, which popped up showing that he had four badges. Next, Harry withdrew three pokeballs and placed them onto the scanner. The computer would calculate the average combat skill of Harry's team, and compute an appropriate team for the Gym Leader would use in turn.

First, he put Arcanine in. It had no type advantage or disadvantage against pure psychics, but was just an overall strong pokemon. He expected its exceptional speed would help him in the fight, as well as its durability.

"A fine specimen," Sabrina complimented, again using her telepathy, much to Harry's annoyance. He didn't like people messing around in his head, and her presence was too strong to stop without giving away his own abilities. His Arcanine scored very highly in the internal database of registered pokemon for that season, and surprisingly, the Gym Leader seemed honest in her statement.

The second pokemon Harry put into the scanner was his Scyther. While it was the newest member of his team, the type advantage it had would come in handy, and like the Arcanine, it was very fast. Sabrina merely made a humming noise as the stats of the pokemon lit up the screen. She clearly wasn't as impressed with Harry's choice this time, as she was quite used to people trying to brute-force their way past her her with single-minded type-advantaged teams.

Lastly, was Harry's trump card. He hadn't actually used it yet in any Gym Leader battles, but he felt like this was a special occasion. With a small self-indulgent smirk, Harry set the gleaming pokeball containing his Zapdos onto the pedestal.

While Scyther was quite a rare pokemon, Zapdos was on a level quite beyond that, being a near-mythical pokemon. It wasn't the Zapdos of common bedtime stories, but it was still a legendary pokemon from that brood. It's mere status was such that rarely anyone saw one, and one actually being captured was pretty much unheard of.

"Well, that seems like an interesting story," Sabrina said telepathically, looking at the scanned stats of the pokemon. She raised a single eyebrow, her only showing of actual emotion so far.

"Perhaps after this match, I can tell you about it over a cup of tea," Harry suggested.

"Perhaps," Sabrina replied noncommittally. She pressed a few buttons on the computer, which then calculated what her team would be for the match. Her own pokemon were labeled in a code that Harry didn't understand, but Sabrina seemed satisfied with the choice. "Very well. We will begin shortly."

Harry took his position at one side of the designated arena while Sabrina used her telekinesis to retrieve her Pokemon from her vault. The power she casually displayed was quite surprising, and he hadn't seen anyone else come close to her in that regards. It was the closest thing he had seen to true magic yet, the magic the he remembered from his past.

"Go, Arcanine!" Harry called out, unleashing his first pokemon. It's form appeared in the arena in front of him, growling at the female Gym Leader as it did so.

Sabrina didn't say a word, instead, she used her psychic power to call forth her pokemon. Harry was slightly anxious as to what it would be. He knew the overall power level of his team was slightly skewed because of his Zapdos, while the Gym Leader's would be more balanced across the board.

Still, he was slightly surprised to see a Slowbro appear at the other end of the arena. Smart, and devious. Sabrina knew that trainers would do their best to get a type advantage, or on the other hand, a type resistance, on her psychics, so she'd used that against them.

Harry knew his Arcanine's potent fire attacks would be of little use against the Slowbro. He had never faced one before, but he knew enough about them. Psychic and water type, so he would have to rely on Arcanine's physical ability to take it out. He doubted the Slowbro's actual water skills would come into play, but there was always the possibility.

"Charge it and take it down!" Harry commanded. The Arcanine hunkered down and sprinted at the other pokemon, intending to slam it on the ground with its mass.

Sabrina wasted no time in commanding her Slowbro to counter attack. She didn't talk out loud, and was again using her telepathy to command it. That had the benefit of being instantaneous, and the Slowbro reacted to her command immediately. However, Harry had his own tricks in the form of legilimency. He couldn't get a direct read on Sabrina herself, she was far more powerful than him in the mental arts, but he could detect the command that the pokemon had received.

Water gun. Sabrina was well known for just brute forcing opponents with her pokemon's superior psychic power, so the fact that she was actually leading off with a non-psychic attack was a bit surprising, even if it was an obvious choice. And, it immediately went against his preliminary thought that she wouldn't go for water type moves against his nimble pokemon. Was she reading his thoughts?

"Use your agility!" Harry commanded, before the Slowbro could fully begin its attack. Slowbro weren't known for being quick pokemon, but they were quite powerful.

Again, Sabrina used her telepathy to command the Slowbro, but this time, there was little Harry could do about it. The Slowbro's water gun missed, but even as it did, it immediately followed up with a psychic hold, instantly halting the Arcanine in its place.

"Disrupt it! Use Flame Wheel!" Arcanine roared as he struggled against the psychic's power, and with one might howl, he created a massive wheel of flame that raced down the floor and towards the Slowbro.

Harry missed the command that Sabrina sent this time, but he saw the Slowbro reacting. It raised its hands, and as it did so, it began firing out bolts of water at the flame wheel. It was using its psychic power to aim the bolts, which made them very precise. The Flame wheel burst into a ball of steam, but the Slowbro's attention had diverted enough for the Arcanine to break free and charge at the Slowbro again.

"Do it Arcanine! Use Outrage!" It was the most powerful non-fire attack Harry's Arcanine knew, and he didn't want this battle to go on any longer than necessary.

The attack hit, much to both trainer's surprise, and the Slowbro was hurled backwards onto it's back. Arcanine did not let up with the attack as he smashed the other pokemon across the arena once more. However, while Arcanine was preparing to strike for a third time, Harry felt, rather than heard, another command sent to to the Slowbro.

Slowbro's eyes glowed briefly before they emitted a bright flash of purple energy, lighting up the whole room with raw, psychic energy. Arcanine crumpled instantly from the psychic attack, knocking out in one hit. Confusion was a very powerful attack, and was the type of move that Arcanine had very little chance of dodging, not from point blank range.

Harry waited a second to see if his Arcanine would get up, but it didn't, so Harry begrudgingly withdrew it. With a sigh, Harry pulled out his next pokemon. He didn't want to use his Zapdos next, but it had a type advantage over the Slowbro, so it made more sense then Scyther. Harry briefly wondered if that was Sabrina's plan, for him to called out his heavy-hitter on the mid-card.

Zapdos appeared in a flash of lightning, flying over the battleground and giving out a tremendous thunderous screech. Slowbro blinked twice and hunkered down away from the legendary creature, while Sabrina looked on in fascination. It was surprising to see real emotion from someone whom he had heard was completely stony.

"Zapdos, use thunderbolt!" Harry commanded.

The Zapdos screeched and flapped its brilliant yellow and black plumage. Harry could feel the electricity building up in the room, and in a flash, a bolt of lightning struck the Slowbro, smashing through the psychic shield it had erected in response to the attack and knocking it out instantly. Harry could faintly see a thin wisp of smoke wafting off of it.

Sabrina nonchalantly returned the Slowbro back to its pokeball, unsurprised at that outcome. Then, her second pokemon was released, and Harry was unsurprised to see an Alakazam. Harry wasn't sure if she owned multiple ones, but Alakazam was her trademark pokemon, and it was almost always the anchor on her team. The fact that she's sending it out now either meant that she needed her big guns to deal with the Zapdos, or that somehow, her third pokemon was even more powerful.

Harry severely doubted the last option. Her Alakazam was the reason many trainers couldn't get past her. Even her Kadabras were quite tough.

"Zapdos, shockwave!"

The legendary pokemon seemed to vibrate in midair as it locked onto the Alakazam on the ground, Then, with a screech, it sent out a vibrating electric pulse at the Alakazam. The psychic pokemon erected a powerful barrier, but the electric attack smashed right through it and knocked it onto the ground.

Alakazam quickly floated itself off of the ground and back onto it's feet, and with a quick flash of energy, it fully healed itself using Recover.

"Zapdos, again! Shockwave again!"

Again, the Alakazam tried to absorb as much of the damage as it could with its barrier, only to repeatedly get knocked down by the powerful attack. This happened six or seven times, with each time the Alakazam using its immense psychic reserves to revert itself back to its fully healed state.

Harry wasn't making much progress, so he'd have to amp it up a bit. Literally. "Go for it Zapdos, use Thunder!"

Zapdos cawed in confirmation, having heard the command. It flew up high against the ceiling and stretched its wings out wide, using its electrical ability to manipulate polarity to seemingly float in the air. Then, in a blinding flash of light, a massive thunderbolt spanned from it's body to where the Alakazam was standing.

Harry shut his eyes tightly as soon as Zapdos prepared the attack. But, when he opened them again and blinked away the spots, the Alakazam was still standing, although on the opposite side of the arena.

"Again!" Harry commanded. Once more, it discharged the bolt of lightning at the Alakazam, only for the psychic creature to appear and disappear away from it. Then, he saw the Alakazam lift up its two metal spoons, and a purple aura appeared around the the Alakazam.

No even a second later, the aura flash and it looked like Zapdos had been physically struck, and it faltered in the air for a second, It had been a powerful psychic hit, but it would take more than that to take out a legendary bird.

"Go for it Zapdos, use your Lightning Fury!"

Zapdos screeched again, still recovering from the massive psychic strike. It began to beat its wings furiously, and a low buzzing sound slowly started to fill the room. Then, all at ones, small bolts of lightning began to rain down from it's wings, arcing everywhere in the room and leaving no cranny untouched.

Harry, for his part, shielded himself with a quick, subtle spell while it looked like Sabrine merely used her immense psychic power to stops the jolts in mid air in front of her. The Alakazam, however, fared a lot worse with nowhere to teleport with the whole room being lit up, it relied on its own barrier spell to protect itself, but once it fell, it couldn't concentrate enough to form a second one.

"Zapdos, finish it off! Use charged strike!"

Zapdos beat its wings and suddenly divebombed the Alakazam, electricity sparking off its wings as it did so. It slammed right into the Alakazam, emitting a massive burst of electricity and knocking the psychic pokemon across the room and out cold. Victorious, Zapdos began to preen itself, screeching as it did so.

Reluctantly, Sabrina recalled her Alakazam. It had been months since the last time it had been defeated, and it was the first loss it had this season. It was her signature pokemon after all, but it wasn't her most powerful.

This wasn't the first time she had to face down an extremely powerful pokemon in a gym battle. There was always the occasional report of some trainer showing up at a gym with a Dragonite or Snorlax, and on more than one occasion, she's had to face down a trainer who used a team of Gengars, thinking she'd roll over easy to such tactics.

One of Sabrina's greatest desires was to capture a legendary psychic pokemon. Unfortunately, there were none known to the Kanto region, but there were several

known to the other regions. And, to see a legendary used against her… it fueled her desire once more.

Sabrina rarely smiled, but as she released her most powerful pokemon, the one she had raised in hopes of one day completing her dream, a smile almost crossed her face.

It was a massive pokemon, nearly as tall as its trainer, and very wide. It was the color of steel, and sat one four squat legs, supporting its middle section which had armor in the shape of an 'X', and two large, intelligent eyes.

Harry, having never seen such a pokemon, quickly flipped open his pokedex and scanned it. "Metagross. A dual psychic and steel type pokemon native to the Hoenn region. Further information is unavailable at this time."

Frustrated by the lack of helpful information, Harry snapped the cover of his pokedex shut and slid it back into his pocket. He had a very bad feeling about the Metagross though, as it looked extremely durable. "Zapdos, use thunder!"

Zapdos, not one to be intimidated by the bulky land pokemon, screeched furiously before unleashing a massive burst of electricity down towards the Metagross.

Whereas the Thunder would have decimated the Alakazam, had it hit it, the Metagross's immense psychic barrier actually withstood the blast, and it didn't even look like it had trouble doing it. It was clear that it had extremely powerful psychic moves, presumably to make up for its lack of mobility.

Harry was at a loss for what to do. Thunder was it's most powerful attack, and it had been negated easily. Zapdos was a legendary pokemon for crying out loud! Perhaps he'd have to rely on one of Zapdos's non-electrical attacks, of which a scant few were actually useful. Wearing the Metagross down didn't really seem like a viable option.

"Drill peck!" Harry commanded. Harry had little hope for it actually doing any damage, and he was proven right when the Metagross didn't even bother blocking, just taking the attack right on the chin and without flinching. Zapdos flew away angrily, and the Metagross was completely unscratched.

As Zapdos was flying away and in the process of turning around, an aura appeared around Metagross, but like the one that had appeared around the Alakazam when it readied an attack.

"Agility!" Harry quickly shouted, but he was too late. Zapdos was rocked as a wave of psychic energy nearly sent it plummeting to the ground. Zapdos was strong and wasn't knocked out yet, but Harry wasn't sure how much more it could take, so he decided to withdraw it before it got knocked unconscious.

Sighing, Harry reached for his third pokeball. Inside it, Scyther waited. Scyther was a very powerful, very quick, pokemon. He had chosen it because he thought it would have been able to take out Sabrina's Alakazam. It was strong, but if Zapdos could not even scratch the Metagross, what chance would Scyther have?

None, he decided. He wouldn't put the pokemon through a lopsided, unfair battle. That seemed like untoward cruelness, and if there was one thing Harry wasn't, cruel was it.

"I forfeit," Harry said, sighing as he did so. Immediately, the ambient battle lights switched off, and the normal lighting inside the room turned back on. Needless to say, it was still quite gloomy.

"Well fought," Sabrina said, using her mouth to speak for the first time that day. Her voice was soft spoken, yet nice, which surprised Harry.

"Thank you," Harry said awkwardly. "I guess I'll be coming back once I've trained my team some more…"

"There's a cafe over on Ocean street." Sabrina said.

"What?"

"I want to hear your story." Sabrina replied simply. "You're Zapdos is quite exceptional, if a bit young."

"Oh, uh, okay. Sure." Harry shrugged. He wouldn't say no to a casual tea-date with a hot gym leader, even if that gym leader just kicked his ass. Harry wasn't one to lose often, and he just got rolled. He didn't want to get on her bad side, either, and at worst, perhaps telling her his story would get him a powerful ally. It was worth the risk, at any rate.