Note: This chapter obviously takes the place of episode 24 with Ash re-challenging Saffron Gym, but you can probably already tell from the last few chapters it's gonna play out differently.
28: Ash vs. Sabrina
Misty ran to the front of the pokemon center as soon as she heard Ash and Brock had come back, and were hanging out there. She found them in one of the battle arenas, all of their pokemon out, waiting as Brock brought out various types of pokemon food. "Nihao!" Misty greeted happily, waving as she approached.
"Hey, Misty!" Brock greeted. "Great to see you. Maybe I could feed your pokemon as well?"
"Gracias! I bet they missed your food," Misty said, sending out her three pokemon before sitting down on a bench next to Ash. "So? Is there anybody new on your team?" she asked.
"You don't see?" Ash said with a grin.
Misty looked at the group of pokemon in front of her, shaking her head as she couldn't spot the ghost type. "Is it invisible, since it's a ghost? I heard they could do that," she said.
"My pokemon are still alive!" Ash insisted. "They weren't that weak. They all won some battles."
"Free, free!" Butterfree agreed.
"I didn't say they were," Misty said crossly. "But didn't you go to Lavender Town to catch a ghost type?"
"No," Ash shook his head. "Why would I do that? I already have six pokemon for the league."
"Because ghost types are strong against psychic," Misty continued testily. "Wasn't that your reasoning for going there? You really didn't get one?"
"Na. I don't think they'd want to leave there, anyway," Ash said. "They were really fun to battle with. And since ghost types are strong against psychic, and I won against the ghost types, now I'll be strong against Sabrina too!"
"No one ever gave him the rock, paper, scissors talk I guess," Misty muttered, turning away with a sigh.
"Never mind that! Don't you see who's new?" Ash said.
Didn't he just say he hadn't caught any new pokemon? Misty scanned the pokemon present before catching sight of the difference. "Ah! There's a big one!" Misty pointed.
"Yeah! Charmander evolved!" Ash informed. "We've got a new evolved pokemon, so we're definitely going to win!"
"That's great, Ash," Misty said with a nervous giggle. Though it really was progress, she wasn't sure it was enough to get the badge. Even so, she wasn't about to say so. He didn't really listen to her much anyway. She turned her attention to feeding her pokemon as Brock got the food ready.
Ash did the same, eventually sitting back down when he was done. "I heard people saying Sabrina normally has three against one battles," he said.
"That's right, I watched a few, they were all three against one," Misty said. "With both of her pokemon. I guess the one you battled against is more evolved, but they both seemed just as strong as strong to me, so don't discount Kadabra. She picked which one randomly, it seemed."
"Randomly?" Ash scrunched up his face, folding his arms as he thought. "Maybe I can win that way, too," he eventually said.
"What? You mean, just throwing out a random pokeball when you battle?" Misty joked. However, Ash looked back at her and nodded. "No way! You call that a strategy?"
"I've been training everyone too," Ash said with a frown. "But Sabrina can just read minds. So if I think too much... She'll just know what I'm going to do anyway."
"Oh, so not thinking is your new strategy?" Misty rolled her eyes and looked away.
Ash didn't respond, smiling at his pokemon. "You've got it, right guys? Any of you can battle! So be ready!" he said.
"Pikachu?" Pikachu questioned.
"Oh, yeah," Ash frowned. "Pikachu doesn't have a pokeball... So I guess..." he paused, looking up in thought.
"Maybe just save Pikachu until the end," Misty suggested. "It's your most powerful pokemon, right? It'll jump in when you're in a pinch."
"Pikachu..." Pikachu looked down tentatively. Sabrina and her pokemon were pretty creepy. Then it looked up and nodded. "Pikachu!" Pikachu called in agreement. It had won Ash two badges already, why not a fourth? "Pika..." it added, supposing it had won all the badges, since he only had Misty's because her sister had assumed Pikachu would win for him.
"Pikachu's sure excited," Misty pointed out with a grin.
"Char!" Charmeleon called out loudly.
Pikachu fell down as the fire type roughly bumped against its side. "Pika..." it called, glaring at Charmeleon as it stood up. Was being larger after evolution making it clumsy?
"Char." Charmeleon looked away from Pikachu. It just didn't notice tiny pokemon. "Char, charmeleon." Charmeleon supposed it would make a better match for Sabrina's larger pokemon.
"Pikachu," Pikachu called, turning its back to Charmeleon as well. Charmander had also been bigger than Pikachu, but that hadn't seemed to make a difference.
"Charmeleon!" Charmeleon called loudly as it turned around, declaring it wasn't afraid of Sabrina or her pokemon, unlike Pikachu.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu spun back to face Charmeleon, its cheeks sparking. Charmander certainly had seemed very afraid during their last battle with that gym leader.
"Woah, Ash, are your pokemon fighting?" Brock said, raising an eyebrow as he put the leftover food in his bag.
"What's wrong with them?" Ash asked.
"Squirtle, squirtle," Squirtle approached, waving its arms tentatively to try and defuse the situation. They were all teammates, right? "Squirtle!" As long as one of them won, they were on the winning team, even without battling at all. "Squirt, squirtle." Squirtle pat Pikachu's arm and then Charmeleon's as it nodded reassuringly. They should be happy even without battling at all.
"Pi... pika," Pikachu called roughly, dashing a short distance from Charmeleon. It honestly didn't care about battling this gym leader or not, or even if Ash got the badge. Why was it being dragged into an argument like this?
"Charmeleon." Charmeleon practically strutted as it declared itself the best choice.
"Pikachu," Pikachu agreed, though it was unable to hide its annoyance.
"Maybe Charmander- Charmeleon's jealous," Misty suggested. "It really does seem different from Charmander. Are you sure it's the same pokemon? It didn't get swapped, did it?"
"Yeah, it's the same. Why would it be jealous? It got to evolve and Pikachu didn't," Ash said.
"Well, yeah, it evolved. But Pikachu's still your star, right?" Misty pointed out. "Maybe Charmeleon feels overlooked."
Ash approached the fire type, getting on his knees. He waved his hands over Charmeleon's tail. "Look at this," he said.
"Char?" Charmeleon turned to try and see, though that moved its tail as well.
Ash pushed the flame into the pokemon's sight. "See, Charmeleon? You're a shining star, too. The brightest of everyone." He stood up, looking in his pokemon's eyes. "You really trained hard, huh? How about you be my star at the end? If everyone else needs help, you'll be the one they count on! I know you won't let them down."
"Char!" Charmeleon called out, a tiny spark escaping its throat.
"Alright! I've got my strategy now," Ash said with a grin, clenching his fists. "Or wait... I don't... My strategy is to not have a strategy in my head for her to see. Um, I mean, I've just gotta go sign up."
"So just don't think and leave your best pokemon out of the running, right," Misty muttered.
Brock sighed, returning his pokemon to their pokeballs as they finished eating. "Ash, are you sure it's wise to base your decisions on Sabrina possibly being able to read your mind?"
"Yeah, since that's how she wins so much," Ash said.
"There are lots of tricks people use to try and convince you-" Brock began.
"Brock, it's fine," Misty interrupted, sighing herself as grabbed Brock's sleeve, directing his attention to her as Ash started to talk more to his pokemon. "Like you always say, he's going to do his own thing, right?"
"Yeah Misty, but I don't like sitting aside while Ash lets some sleight of hand drive his decisions," Brock said. "I know she did that telekinesis thing, but I don't know. There's lots of ways people might fake that too, along with the mind reading."
"Are you really sure it's all just a trick?" Misty said.
"You're not?" Brock said.
"Maybe it is," Misty said, though she smiled as she was leaning toward 'wasn't' at this point. "But even if it is, being a little random might surprise her, right?"
"Hmph." Brock smirked, shaking his head. "Yeah. We'll see."
Ash arrived at the gym which doubled as an institute for psychics only a little early for the time he'd signed up for. Misty and Brock followed behind him as he opened the large wooden doors. Pikachu dashed inside before he closed them, then up on Ash's shoulder, surprising him. He laughed. "You're ready to watch them win, right?" he said.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu called. Ash laughed and Pikachu responded with its own laughter. They both tensed and jumped back in surprise as they looked ahead and noticed the hooded figure.
"Welcome," the boy said.
"Hi," Ash replied. Pikachu hopped down, going behind Ash's leg.
"You're going to challenge the pokemon gym, right?" the boy said.
"Um... Yeah," Ash said, stepping to the side as the boy walked forward.
"Hi, Hart," Misty greeted with a wave.
"Hi, Misty," Hart greeted in response.
"Misty, you know him? Who is he?" Ash asked, trying to peek under the boy's hood.
"Sabrina's student, obviously," Misty said. "I visited while you were off chasing ghosts and met him."
Ash's eyes widened as he stared at Hart. "Can you read minds?" he asked.
Hart nodded. "Yeah, of course. I just did, didn't I?" he said. "I knew exactly why you came here."
"Yeah," Ash confirmed, his eyes widening as he realized as much. Misty and Brock exchanged glances, Misty hiding a giggle.
"I can do a reading for the upcoming battle," Hart offered, motioning toward the table with the stack of cards. "I'll let you know what will go on with you behind those doors today."
As the hooded boy went to the table and started shuffling the cards, Ash sat across from him. "How are you gonna know if I haven't even been there today?" he asked.
This time Brock couldn't help but laugh aloud, but Hart continued shuffling, unbothered. "That's what it means to be a psychic," he said. "We can figure it out with intuition." Hart then raised his palm, and a card floated in the air before flipping over.
"Wow!" Ash exclaimed.
Brock motioned toward the drowzee hiding next to him, glowing and seeming to be a source of the telekinetic skill. Misty raised her eyebrow before turning her attention to the card, which gave a definite sense of deja-vu. "The High Priestess," Hart declared. "I see you'll have a run in with the world's top psychic." The next card telekinetically flipped was also quite familiar. "Oh... The Tower. It will be a disaster for you."
Ash shook his head as he stood up. "You're wrong," he declared.
Hart's shoulders went up as he gathered the cards together. "Huh? Well... How do you know? You're not psychic, right?" he said, seemingly honestly perturbed that Ash had called him out.
"All that stuff already happened." Ash waved his hand back at the cards. "I met Sabrina when I battled her last time... And the tower, we went and beat all the pokemon there!" Ash clenched his fists as he looked down at Hart. "What's gonna happen next? I already know. We're gonna win. Look at your cards and see it for yourself!" As he made that declaration, the door to the gym area opened, a trainer leaving. Ash turned and went off to his challenge without waiting for Hart's response.
Once inside, Ash didn't even wait for the door to close before he took his spot in the challenger's area. "I'm Ash, from Pallet Town, and I'm here to challenge you! Hurry up, let's begin!" he said, pointing forward. Sabrina remained silent a moment as Brock shut the door in a thud behind him. "Come on! What are you waiting for? Aren't you ready?" Ash goaded as his friends walked to the spectator's area.
"I appreciate punctuality," Sabrina said. "Let's begin, then. One against five."
"Huh?" Misty interjected, raising an eyebrow. "Are you just picking him to win, now?"
"I make my choices based on time available and skill of the challenger. Rest assured anyone who has the marsh badge has earned it," Sabrina said, then stared Ash's way. "Your pikachu won't be battling, will it?" she said.
"Uh..." Ash stood up straighter, hands going to his side as he lost his previous bravado.
"Did you tell her?" Brock whispered to Misty on the side. Misty shook her head.
Sabrina smirked. "Then you'll need the leniency, won't you? And even with all of them, you'll still lose," she declared coldly.
Ash clenched his jaw as he reached in his pocket for the first pokeball, not even giving it a second look as he tossed it out. "Don't underestimate my other pokemon! Go!" As the pokemon appeared, Ash shouted its name to get its attention. "Bulbasaur!"
"Bulba!" Bulbasaur declared its readiness for battle.
"Kadabra." As Sabrina said her pokemon's name, it teleported onto the battlefield, seemingly from nowhere.
"Bulbasaur, leech seed!" Ash shouted as soon as it did.
"Bulba, saur!" Bulbasaur got its attack ready, the tip of its bulb starting to glow.
"Psychic." Sabrina followed with her own order as Bulbasaur shot the seed toward her pokemon.
Kadabra started to glow the eerie purple color just as Bulbasaur's seed hit. "Bulba!" Bulbasaur called as it started to glow itself, its eyes unfocusing as the psychic attack hit. As it finished, Kadabra flinched, batting at the leech seed to no affect. Bulbasaur stumbled, but then stood up steadily again, staring up at its opponent. "Bulbasaur, razor leaf!" Ash shouted.
"Psywave," Sabrina ordered her pokemon more quietly. Despite psywave's flashy show of circular psychic type energy, Kadabra took a pretty significant hit from the opponent's move, the torrent of leaves grazing it as the leech seed continued to sting it. However, Bulbasaur really stumbled afterward, so the move had done its job.
Ash returned his pokemon before it could fall. He took another pokeball out, again without bothering to look, and threw it out. "Go!" the light of the pokeball flashed, and the next pokemon appeared. "Pidgeotto! Quick attack!"
"Ah-" Sabrina paused briefly as her pokemon was quickly hit with the attack.
"Alright! Now, gust!" Ash said.
"Psywave," Sabrina followed. This time, the onslaught of the very visible purple circles of the psywave attack swirling through the air was able to distract the offending pokemon enough that the gust attack missed.
Pidgeotto called out as it was hit, then falling in the air. "Pidgeotto!" Ash called in surprise. He lifted his pokeball. "Return!" Ash grabbed the next pokeball before Pidgeotto had even returned completely. "Go!" he shouted, throwing it out. Another pokemon appeared in the air. "Butterfree! Stun spore!"
"Free!" Butterfree called. It was already close enough to Kadabra, and able to float about it as it completed the technique, scattering the powdery mist right by it.
"Tch." Sabrina scowled.
"Alright! Tackle!" Ash ordered.
"Psychic," Sabrina followed with her own order. Butterfree slammed against Kadabra in the tackle attack before Kadabra was able to complete the psychic attack, then fell from the air once the psychic energy attack hit, almost as if it had hit a bug zapper.
"Butterfree, return!" Butterfree disappeared into the pokeball, and Ash quickly grabbed his next one. "Alright, you're up! Squirtle!" he sent out the last of his 'random' pokemon.
"Squirtle, squirtle," Squirtle briefly commented as it looked up at its intimidating opponent.
"Water gun, now!" Ash ordered.
"Recover."
As Sabrina gave her order, Ash only smirked back at her. "You're worried?" he asked as Kadabra was pummeled by the water gun attack while glowering brightly, sparkling as it recovered some health. "Squirtle, skull bash!" Ash ordered after they both finished.
"Psychic. To the left," Sabrina directed.
Squirtle threw itself upward, managing to graze Kadabra with the skull bash attack before being hit midair with the psychic attack. The water type fell to the ground, landing on its shell which spun around quickly. "Squirtle..." Squirtle called in its daze as the spinning slightly slowed, retracting itself into its shell.
"Squirtle, return!" Ash paused slightly as he took out the only pokeball he'd kept in a separate place, to recall what pokemon it was. "Go! Charmeleon!" he said as he threw it out.
"Char!" Charmeleon called as it appeared, taking a fighting stance as it glared up at its levitating opponent.
"Charmeleon, flamethrower!" Ash ordered.
"Move back," Sabrina directed as Charmeleon spat its flame upward. Kadabra moved backward, not affected at all by the attack. "Psychic," Sabrina said before her gaze moved to Ash. "Last one," she informed blankly as Kadabra and Charmeleon both glowed in the psychic attack. "You can't win. I know you're the stubborn type, so I gave you all leeway you might accept so you'd understand your sure loss. Keep away when you lose this time."
"I haven't lost!" Ash shouted, still keeping his attention on the pokemon in front of him. "Charmeleon, fire spin!"
Instead of the steady stream of fire, flames swirled in front of Charmeleon, dancing unpredictably toward Kadabra, who was unable to avoid them. It winced again, still affected by the leech seed.
"Sorry," Sabrina muttered. This battle really was irritating for her old friend.
"You've got it, Charmeleon! Go all out, now! Flamethrower," Ash directed, smiling as he stared out at the battle.
"Psywave."
Charmeleon began the flamethrower attack, flames from the fire spin still around it, hitting Kadabra head on with the attack. Though able to perform its own attack, most of the psychic waves of Kadabra's attack missed Charmeleon.
"Flamethrower! Now, Charmeleon!" Ash didn't hesitate at all before directing his pokemon to the next attack.
"Move up." Sabrina still spoke calmly, though starting to sweat, both from the nearby flames and noticing her pokemon's pain. This battle was giving her more trouble than anticipated. "Psywave." As Kadabra levitated upward, Charmeleon's attack had much less of an effect, meanwhile, Kadabra's psychic waves were easier to aim, hitting the fire type one after another. "Hmph." Sabrina smirked, both her and Kadabra breathing easier now that they'd turned the battle to their advantage.
"It's up too high!" Ash noted.
"Within regulation," Sabrina informed. "One of your flying types might have gotten to it."
"Charmeleon, forget it! You can still hit it! Flamethrower!" Ash encouraged.
"Psychic."
"Char!" Charmeleon called, putting all of its energy into the attack. As the flame stopped, it started to glow purple as Kadabra hit it yet again.
"Once more should do it. Psychic," Sabrina ordered.
"Charmeleon, you can still win," Ash insisted. "Come on! Flamethrower! Jump up, get closer!"
Though increasingly fatigued by the successive attacks, Charmeleon stood firm, staring up at Kadabra, which was still within reach of its attacks. Hearing Ash's advice, it started to run as it built up the energy required for the flamethrower attack. As it jumped, it started to glow purple with the start of the psychic attack that the gym leader thought would finish it off. Could it go faster? Charmeleon remained focused on its target.
"Charmeleon?" Ash blinked as he noticed the eerie purple light of the psychic attack change to a bright white. He blinked again, then cheered loudly at what he saw in the battle ahead.
Charmeleon, now evolved as Charizard, let out a roar as it flew up, spitting its flamethrower directly in Kadabra's face, interrupting its attack. Enveloped in flame, Kadabra eventually fell down. Sabrina took out her pokeball and returned her pokemon before it hit the ground. Charizard itself spun around, hitting the ground with a thump in the middle of the battlefield, letting out a roar as it spit remnants of its attack out into the air with little bursts of flame.
"You did it! You did! Charm- Charizard! We won!" Ash ran out to celebrate with his pokemon.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu followed, also congratulating its teammate.
"Wow," Misty said as she and Brock walked up to join them, looking up at the large charizard. "Little charmander really grew up..." she said with a nervous laugh. "I know pokemon is short for pocket monster, but this really is a monster."
"Congratulations, Ash. And Charizard, too," Brock said.
Sabrina approached Ash, badge in hand. "I underestimated you," she said.
"You really did give him all leeway," Misty pointed out.
"I don't make excuses. There's no saying he wouldn't have won if it were one on three, or even one on one. Here." Sabrina held out her hand, and Ash took the badge.
"We got a badge! The fourth one, halfway there!" Ash leapt in the air.
"What do you think, Sabrina?" Brock asked. "Will he get all his badges? Maybe win the league? What's in his future?"
"You want me to tell the future?" Sabrina said, turning away. "The present is already challenging enough to read. Especially with this boy. He's quite erratic."
"I'm what?" Ash asked.
"It means unpredictable, or random," Misty said.
"See! I told you! I just needed to not think so much," Ash said.
"Are you really saying Ash was too impulsive for you? I thought you didn't make excuses," Misty teased. Sabrina grimaced, resting her chin on her hand as she sat on her throne. "Just joking," Misty said, turning away. "Come on." She tugged Ash's arm. "Let's go. Sabrina has other challengers today, let's not get in their way."
After the win, Ash was even more eager to move on, spending only one more night in Saffron City before they packed up and left in the direction of the next gym. The first night camping, Pikachu jumped by the fire, sniffing at what the humans were cooking over the fire before it noticed another flame at a short distance. Dashing over to see the source, Pikachu found Charizard, curled up on its own. "Pika, pika," Pikachu called, warming its arms by the flame on Charizard's tail. The large pokemon just turned around, removing its tail from Pikachu's sight.
Pikachu dashed around to the other side of the resting pokemon, observing it further. "Pikachu..." it called mournfully, hurt at just being ignored. Maybe Pikachu hadn't really given Charizard that much attention as Charmander, and it had gotten hurt then. "Pikachu!" Pikachu called out happily, expressing how impressed it was with Charizard's current amazing evolution. "Pika, pika." Evolving had been enough to defeat that powerful gym leader, and would make it more than a match in other battles as well.
Even with the well wishes, Charizard didn't respond. "Pika..." Pikachu choked. Did Charizard hate it? Pikachu didn't hate Charizard in return, and didn't want to be hated, either. Maybe it had ignored Charmander, even avoided it. Then Pikachu had gotten the attention while Charmander had just been another of Ash's pokemon. Perhaps Pikachu even assumed the fire type was weak while Pikachu itself was strong, even though Charmander had certainly been strong as well. Maybe that Charmander's former trainer had said it was weak had influenced Pikachu's thinking, though such a person's statements shouldn't have been considered. "Pikachu!" Pikachu called, trying to put strength into its voice. No one could deny Charizard was strong now. Not a single person or pokemon could stand in front of it and say so without sweating.
Charizard opened one eye, peering at Pikachu briefly, still not responding otherwise. Did Charizard already know what its teammate had declared? "Pikachu?" Pikachu questioned. Did being this large, fully evolved pokemon that couldn't be questioned make up for before? "Pika?" Did knowing how powerful it was make up for any previous doubts? "Pika..." Maybe painful thoughts from before had dissipated now. "Pikachu!" Pikachu called, trying to look happy for the other pokemon while holding back tears. Pikachu really hoped Charizard was completely happy now.
Charizard picked up its head. Instead of responding, it reached out its claw, gently goading Pikachu toward it. Once Pikachu was next to the large pokemon, it put its head down again, curling its tail toward the electric type. Charizard's innate fire rested just close enough to be comfy, providing a warm glow and radiating warmth. Pikachu watched the flame dancing around before it closed its eyes, curling up and falling asleep.
Next chapter: Pikachu vs. Sparky