Sasha and Mewtwo entered the gym in a town neither of them could pronounce the name to and stared.
"Hello, Sasha," Arceus said cheerfully. A sullen Celebi peered over Arceus' shoulder and huffed.
"Don't mind Celebi. She's grumpy she didn't win our bet."
"There's eighteen gyms in Kanto and you found Sasha on your fifth whereas she didn't show up at the six I chose," Celebi grumbled.
"...A few months ago, I was irritated at other pokémon turning my life into a game. Now I'm not even that bothered by it," Sasha remarked. "Hello, Lord Arceus. How have you been?"
Arceus chuckled and got to its feet. "I have been well, thank you. You're here to challenge the gym, correct?"
Sasha nodded. Mewtwo gazed around at the decor and wrinkled his nose.
"I see Blaine's been redecorating. I don't like it."
"Bah!"
Startled, Mewtwo turned to see an older man standing behind him, leaning on a cane.
"You young'uns and your attitude! Nothing is ever good enough for you. Well, you may be a legendary on par with the creation trio and able to go toe-to-toe with Arceus itself, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna tolerate your sass or go easy on you!"
He walked past Mewtwo and offered a nod to Arceus.
"M'lord," he said politely. Reaching a set of doors, he unlocked them.
"Whenever you're ready, come on inside."
The doors closed behind him and silence reigned.
"Well, that was certainly something to see. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go pick out berries to give away," Celebi said.
"I like the spicy ones," Arceus said, getting to its feet.
"You'll take what I give you."
As the time traveling onion fairy left, Sasha shook her head.
"Well, hopefully Blaine won't sic a Magmorter on me. Actually, might be a good idea to tell him that I'm the one who's doing the challenge, don't you think?"
Mewtwo nodded. "Of course. Wouldn't want you to jump in over your head."
Bidding Arceus farewell, the duo followed Blaine.
"Not what I was expecting, to be honest," Sasha remarked as she and Mewtwo got a look at the gym.
"Agreed," Mewtwo said.
A simple field greeted them, like those found outside pokemon centers.
"Hmph," Blaine said, taking his place on the other side of the field. "Figures you wouldn't appreciate it. If it's not flashy, it's worthless, right?"
"Not...exactly," Mewtwo replied as Sasha took her place on the field. "I was expecting...more fire. A pit of lava, maybe."
Blaine laughed as he sent out his pokemon, a flareon, who shook out its fur and grinned at Sasha.
"All that does is drastically increase gym maintenance costs and I have to fill out reams of paperwork in the event of...accidents. No thanks. I'll stick with the simple approach," Blaine said, leaning on his cane.
The flareon opened the match with a flamethrower that Sasha met with a barrage of Swift stars.
"Never figured out why pokemon didn't just keep stream-based attacks going to push through single-hit or projectile attacks," Sasha said as she dodged a headbutt from the other pokemon before retaliating with a bite of her own.
The two eeveelutions rolled around for a bit, scratching and growling at one another before the flareon's body glowed red. Sasha's eyes went wide as the flareon's grip tightened on her and she grimaced as the flareon then unleashed an Overheat, sending the smaller pokemon flying.
Landing and rolling to smother the flames, Sasha got to her paws, fur smoking. "Well, that was enjoyable. My turn."
Tapping into her power, she then unleashed a row of blue-glowing rocks that slammed into the recovering flareon, who flipped over in midair, head back, mouth open as a ball of fire formed above its head.
Sasha grinned as her rings turned from blue to purple. Flareon yelped as its own fireball then dropped down on top of it, sending the eeveelution crashing into the ground.
"Gravity just doesn't seem to be your friend," Sasha said as she trotted over to the unconscious pokemon. She checked it carefully before stepping back and looked at Blaine, who threw up his hands.
"Fine, you win," he grumbled, tossing the badge to Mewtwo, who had teleported to Sasha's side. "Thanks for coming."
Mewtwo nodded at him before pinning the badge to Sasha's scarf and tied it back around her neck. Scopping her up in his arms, the duo then teleported away.
"You're staring."
Sasha blinked and shook her head before glancing at Mewtwo with a pout.
"Am not," she replied.
Mewtwo rolled his eyes. "Your eyes haven't left that espeon since we got here."
Sasha looked away before her eyes slid back to the espeon curled around Sabrina's neck, not unlike her own position around Mewtwo's.
The eeveelution turned his head and Sasha met his green-eyed stare and felt her ears warm up.
"You do realize you're probably gonna have to fight him, right?" Mewtwo pointed out wryly.
Sasha flicked her ears and tore her gaze away. "It won't be a problem," she replied before glancing at Mewtwo shrewdly. "Meanwhile, I could've sworn you were avoiding Sabrina. Yet here you are following her without a care in the world."
"I wasn't avoiding her. There simply wasn't a time where our schedules coincided," Mewtwo said stiffly.
"...Boy, she's got you whipped good."
"Only if I ask nicely."
Sasha pawed at the floor of the gym arena and frowned.
"What happens if you get an opponent who uses earth or rock moves?" she asked, shivering at the cold feel of tile.
The green-eyed Espeon shrugged. "Usually they're defeated before they can tear it up and use it as a weapon. I trust you won't go down so easily?"
"We'll see," Sasha replied lightly.
"I'm not gonna go easy on you just because you're cute," Espeon warned.
Sasha blinked and the Espeon slammed into her, sending her skidding and stumbling backwards.
"Focus, Sasha. I thought you had your head out of the clouds," Mewtwo chided her.
"Oh, put a sock in it," Sasha growled, scrambling to her paws. She dodged Espeon's next quick attack and fired off a salvo of stars at the eeveelution, who deflected them with a light screen.
Espeon's body glowed and Sasha suddenly found herself facing a wall of stars.
"I hate mirror coat," Sasha said, then ducked as the stars whirled around her. Firing off another salvo, she created a smokescreen.
Espeon peered through the cloud warily. Stepping forward, he found himself standing over a limp bundle of fur. Rolling it over, he found himself facing a substitute doll that then emitted a blinding flash of light, followed by an explosion.
"Interesting use of your powers," Mewtwo mused.
From her new vantage point, Sasha grinned before launching herself downwards.
Espeon looked up just in time to meet an iron tail to the face and he collapsed in a heap.
"I got the idea from Vaporeon," Sasha admitted, shifting from her umbreon form.
"Using a substitute in lieu of water," Mewtwo nodded in approval. "Nicely done."
Sabrina knelt beside her espeon who gave her a rueful grin and gave him a full restore. "Hm…judging by your performance, I suspect Sasha wasn't the only one holding back," the psychic leader teased.
"You call blowing up your opponent holding back?" Espeon asked, rubbing his head. Sabrina glanced at Mewtwo, who wore an innocent look and chuckled.
"In all honesty, yes," she said. Standing up and brushing herself off, she strode toward Mewtwo. "It was nice to see you again. Visit more often, eh?"
"I will try to do so," Mewtwo replied, taking the badge from her. He pinned it to Sasha's scarf and tied it back around the eevee's neck. Sasha settled on his shoulder and Mewtwo inclined his head to Sabrina. "Take care of yourself."
Sabrina watched the duo leave before she turned and walked back into her gym arena. Pausing by one doorway, she spoke.
"Did you enjoy the match?"
Giovanni stepped from the shadows and clasped his hands behind his back.
"It was short and sweet. Most of that eevee's matches follow that trend."
"Are you satisfied?"
Giovanni narrowed his eyes. "I was completely honest when I said I want nothing more to do with those two. At this point, it's simply keeping an eye on them and keeping my people out of their way."
Sabrina crossed her arms and stared at him. "If that's all, I'd like you out of my gym. Conduct whatever business you're here for and leave my city."
"If that is what you wish. I bid you a good day."
Sasha peeled herself off the wall she'd been slammed into with a woozy groan before falling to the ground, staggering forward a few steps and collapsed in a heap.
"The challenger is unable to battle. The match goes to Koichi!"
Mewtwo knelt by Sasha and gave her a once-over before gingerly picking her up and teleported to the Saffron pokémon center. Turning her over to the care of the nurses, Mewtwo followed them as they wheeled her inside.
"Well, that was certainly a painful reminder of the power of the fighting type," Sasha said a few hours later, tucked comfortably into a bed.
"You had just fought four other fighting-type trainers without a break before taking on two simultaneously," Mewtwo replied. "An impressive feat in its own right, especially with a type disadvantage."
"You make it sound like I won," Sasha said bitterly. Glancing at Mewtwo, she saw him toying with something in his hand and she narrowed her eyes.
"Well..." Mewtwo said, lifting up a badge to admire it. "Technically, you had already won the badge after going through the gauntlet."
Sasha stared at him before shaking her head. "Well, either way, that's another badge down. Brock, Misty, Surge, Blaine, Sabrina, Koichi...only two more then it's time for the League. Any other prospective gyms?"
"Well...I was thinking maybe Ice or Dark."
"What about Normal?" Sasha asked.
"If that is what you wish."