Saffron was a… odd place to say the least. It was suburban, for the most part, but random skyscrapers were placed in the middle of neighborhoods. In what was obviously the downtown area, the Silph Co tower loomed over regular, common place shops. Andy expanded his Aura in wonder, but sensed something off.
"Is something wrong?" Gardevoir asked when she noticed Andy's slightly cloudy look.
"There's a psychic around here. They've been following us from Cerulean." Andy said, and expanded his Aura further, and examined the psychic that was spying on them. All he could sense was a general female shape, but a psychic barrier blocked out most other things.
"Well?" Gardevoir asked impatiently. She had an idea on who it was.
"They're blocking most of my power." Andy groaned. He retracted his Aura and headed to the north-east of the city.
"Let me guess; gym battle?" Gardevoir asked, and received a nod from her Aura wielding trainer.
()
"God damn it." Andy heard a familiar voice say. The owner of said voice walked away from the gym in frustration.
"Something wrong Fred?" Andy asked tauntingly. When the purple haired trainer didn't respond, Andy sent a small Aura Sphere at him, and gained his attention. "I think I asked you a question." Andy deadpanned.
"You did, and I chose to ignore it." Fred replied, and then reached for a Poke ball. "But since you feel like being a prick, I guess a battle will do you good."
Andy cracked his knuckles and neck with a grin. "Now there's the Fred we all know and hate." Andy said with an amused tone. What he was planning was making him think he had no sanity left in him. 'Never had any to begin with.' Andy thought sarcastically.
"Go, Parasect!" Fred exclaimed, and tossed the Poke ball that contained said Parasect.
When Gardevoir stepped on the field, Andy held her back. "Gardevoir, I need to test something. Stay back." And with that, he stepped on the field. Fred looked at him with suspicion.
"I know you can fight people, but what in Arceus' name makes you think you can fight Pokémon?" Fred asked. Andy shrugged.
"A few friends called the Old Gods told me I'm powerful." Andy said, and received a finger from Fred (Congrats if you guess which one).
"Whatever, you delusional shit. Parasect, use toxic!" The parasite Pokémon launched a deep purple orb at Andy, but the Aura didn't dodge or block.
"You are predictable." Andy said, turning purple in colour. "Teaching your Parasect toxic is such a you thing." Andy used his Aura to leech out all of the toxins in his body, and combined them with an Aura Sphere. He fired the orb of bronze and purple straight at the Parasect, knocking it out in a single hit.
"Parasect, return." Fred grumbled. He then grabbed another Poke ball, and sent the pseudo-dragon whose bloodlust rivaled Raichu's own. "Wipe the bastard out with hyper beam!" Fred ordered intent on hospitalizing Andy.
Andy had his legs coiled in preparation to jump, but his reaction time was dimed. The hyper beam hit him directly in the chest, but it didn't hurt as much as it should have. Then Andy remembered from his Aura books; Aura gives its wielders advantage against normal and ghost is what the book said. Apparently, it was true.
"That hurt, but not enough to take me down." Andy said with a grin. His mind referred back to the Aura techniques that were listed in his Aura books. "Aura technique: Dragon might!" Andy yelled, giving Fred a (not so) fair warning. Andy rushed his Aura to his arms and legs, and jumped towards the Gyarados and punched it with his Aura powered fist.
"Gyarados, use dragon rage!" Fred ordered, trying to fend off the powered-up Aura wielder, but to little avail.
"Aura technique: Blood hammer!" Andy yelled, and made a Warhammer that was quite visibly blood red, even to the average person. He ran towards the Gyarados, but the large Pokémon dodged the weapon. A large crowd of onlookers were placing bets; mostly for the Gyarados, and cheering for their favourite fighter.
"Gyarados, use water pulse!" Fred commanded. The Gyarados fired a large ball of energized water at Andy, who barely dodged.
'How was Raichu able to avoid these damn things?' Andy wondered to himself. He concentrated his Aura range on Gyarados. "Aura technique: Draconic power!" Andy didn't know why he didn't use this before. With draconic power, opponents that are dragon type, or have draconic skills, are severally harmed by this attack. An Aura Sphere charged in his hand, and Gyarados was exerting fear.
"Counter it with dragon rage!" Fred ordered as soon as the draconic Aura Sphere started to barrel away from Andy and towards his precious Gyarados. The wave of energy that Gyarados shot out was enough to weaken the Aura Sphere, but it was still a knockout. The crowd roared its applause, but Andy's 'Dead Stare' stopped them… dead. (Sorry, that was terrible).
"Before you send out your Wartortle, I advise you back out now." Andy warned. In truth, he didn't want to be responsible for the death of his starter Pokémon. "If you don't stand down, I will use Raichu." Andy threatened.
"No matter, I forfeit." Fred said reluctantly. He remembered how powerful and bloodthirsty the orange rat was. Fred walked away with his dignity intact.
Once Fred disappeared from everyone's view (excluding Andy; he could still sense him), Andy had people asking him how he got his powers, for his autograph, etc. When one girl around Andy's age asked if he was single, Gardevoir lifted her up with her psychic powers, and threw her into a pond.
"Alright, ENOUGH!" Andy roared, his voice amplified by his powers. "I AM NOT A CELEBRITY! BACK OFF!" But the crowd didn't part. "Annoying brats." Andy muttered to himself.
"Show us your skills!" Some random man yelled from the middle of the crowd.
"You want to see skills?" The crowd nodded vigorously. "Aura technique: Aura wings!" Andy sprouted angel-like wings, grabbed Gardevoir, and flew to the edge of the crowd where the gym was. "So long, idiots!" Andy yelled, and gave a salute. He headed into the gym, but it was only one room with two teleportation panels.
Andy expanded his Aura, and sensed three other rooms. And the contents of two rooms were dangerous. The room just in front of them had a woman sitting on what appeared to be an ornate throne.
"Gardevoir, teleport us ten feet in that direction." Andy said, and pointed to the wall in front of him.
"Got it." Gardevoir simply stated, and teleported Andy and herself in the room where the gym leader sat.
"Welcome to the psychic type gym. My name is Sabrina, and yours is Andrew Ketchum." Sabrina stated. She motioned to a girl with black hair that ran a foot from her shoulders and dull red eyes. "This is my daughter, Katherine." The girl looked up at Andy, and her melancholy expression stared into Andy's soul.
"Her Aura is familiar." Andy stated dryly, while Gardevoir stared at the girl. She was wearing a white tank-top covered by a purple V-neck t-shirt, and dull green cargo shorts.
"She's been following you for some days." Sabrina said, and then reached for a Poke ball. "You came here for a gym battle, not to talk. Kadabra, wipe him out." Sabrina said, and summoned a Kadabra that bent its spoon repeatedly.
"Raichu, bring it!" Andy called out the bloodthirsty Pokémon he had for a Raichu. Raichu did his usual bit; slam his tail onto the ground and violently spark from the cheeks. "Thunder on yourself, then iron tail!" Andy ordered. Raichu shocked himself full of electricity, and flowed it to his metallically charged tail.
"Kadabra, use psybeam." Sabrina ordered from her gilded throne. Kadabra hit Raichu mid-air, forcing it to weaken its attack. When Raichu made contact with Kadabra, the psychic type was still heavily smashed.
"You underestimate my Raichu's power. Raichu, use thunder." Andy said, trying to read Sabrina's Aura.
"It seems so." Wait, was that emotion in Sabrina's voice? "Kadabra, use confusion." Kadabra launched its psychic wave of energy right before getting hit by Raichu's powerful thunder attack and fainting from the powerful blow that Raichu delivered.
"Raichu, return." Andy said, and recalled Raichu to his Great ball. He grabbed another Poke ball, Onix's, but Sabrina stopped him.
"I do not need to battle you anymore. If it came down to Raichu, I would have lost miserably." She said dryly. "Katherine, present the Aura wielder with the Marsh Badge and go with him." Katherine did as she was told, and Andy looked as confused as a Psyduck that was hit with numerous confuse rays.
"Wait, what? Why would I take your kid with me? Why would you even want me to?" Andy asked, but was stopped when Gardevoir put her hand in front of his mouth.
"Don't piss off a psychic." Gardevoir said in an annoyed tone. Andy knew she was referring to the gym leader, and reluctantly agreed.
"Fine, but we leave now." Andy said, and was teleported outside of the gym by Katherine.
()
Andy rested on one of the beds that the room at the Poke centre had to offer. Never had he run from people so annoying. The people who watched him beat the Gyarados and Parasect were worshipping him like a celebrity.
'Why in Mew's name did I want to be famous as a kid?' Andy asked himself, to which he got an answer from… Katherine?
"You were a child and didn't know better." She stated.
'Finally, a travelling companion that isn't retarded.' Andy thought to himself, or so he thought.
"I HEARD THAT YOU BASTARD!" Gardevoir roared, bringing a barely noticeable smile to Katherine's lips.
"I meant human…" Andy said, recovering from a shadow ball from Gardevoir.
'Those two are bearable.' Katherine thought to herself.
/AUTHOR'S NOTE/ So how did you like this chapter? Over the fact that I killed off that uncharacteristic idiot I deemed Samantha? Yes? GOOD, I planned her death from the start! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!
So another gym leader's daughter is travelling with Andy… This could end badly, or it could end with children… So, badly. I already told my good friend Dr. Video Game who the next love interest was going to be, and now you, my people, know as well! Wait, DAMN! 10th CHAPPIE ALREADY! Umm… Here's some cake! NOW CELEBRATE MY ACHIEVEMENT!
Exeunt