Chapter 65, everyone! And a nice long one with a gym battle to boot!

So Sabrina here actually has more of her personality drawn from The Electric Tale of Pikachu, since that was the iteration of her I was most recently introduced to (it's been a while since I watched the pertinent episodes). Her Abra line is named after famous magicians, with Walter being named after Walter Gibson, who wrote for a lot of magicians and magic books in addition to his writing for The Shadow magazine. Meantime, her Mr. Mime is named after the famous mime Marcel Marceau.

The Shadow and the Nightmare is this world's version of The Shadow—since radios are in use more in the Pokémon world, I figure radio dramas probably kept their relevancy there. And seeing as how Alakazam are supposed to be fiercely intelligent, it makes sense that they'd learn human speak sooner or later. Also, I picture Lenny moving like how Gyarados is animated in the Pokémon Coliseum games.

And now for reviews: Cyan Quartz, Kayuri Igrimakeon Pax, Silverwing23, AverageHiveMind, Raj8, talesfanjmf, Johnny Spectre, epantoja521, Yeetumus prime, and Rylek196, thanks for the reviews! Shadows and Ash would like to thank you for your continued support, and we hope you enjoy today's chapter. :D

Cyan Quartz, thanks for the review! Let's see, for Ash's current team we have Pikachu and Gastly, and then Lenny the Gyarados, Patches the Nidorino, Vee the Eevee, and Frenzy the Paras—Lenny and Frenzy get some airtime this chapter too. :D

AverageHiveMind, thanks for the review! Apparently there's some moves that just about every 'mon can learn, and while some moves like Return or Confide make sense…some don't. I will!

Rylek196, thanks for taking time to leave a review! Although I am confused by it, as if you truly wanted to advertise your story, logging in so people could click on your name and find it easier would make more sense. I'm also unsure of the etiquette of advertising your story like that (I'm used to seeing people give more of a lead-in), or your wording, as it doesn't advertise your writing well. But eh, what do I know, I'm just out here to have a good time and write Pokémon stuff. *shrugs*

Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo

The Shadow © Conde-Nast

And now, for something completely different:

Tonight on The Distortion Zone—it happened one night. In a Kafka-esque turn of events, a gifted boy wakes up…as a Kadabra. Can he convince his family and friends of what has happened? Or will he forever find himself a resident of…The Distortion Zone?

Good news: the world as everyone knew it did not end the next day. Or the next, or anytime immediately after that, which left plenty of time for training. Gastly had learned Night Shade, which brought his total of offensive moves up to three, and had also picked up Will-O-Wisp from Darkrai, which meant that he could start fires for them now but also meant that said fires required a Burn Heal to put out. Of his other moves, Lick and Hypnosis were fairly good since they could cause status moves, Spite could reduce opportunities for the opponent to attack, and Curse was immediately banned after Ash saw what it did when a Ghost type used it.

To summarize: it was nightmare-inducing, and not really healthy for Gastly to be using.

Frenzy was taught Toxic as well, although it was questionable if he would even need Toxic, considering his current strategy of attack until it's out usually worked.

Vee, meanwhile, was making good progress on Refresh, was actually starting to learn Toxic, and was severely disappointed he couldn't learn Will-O-Wisp as well.

"I think he could learn it if he evolved into Flareon, but I don't think it's a move Eevee can learn," Brock said—which probably put some points towards Flareon in the what should Vee evolve into category in Vee's books.

In the meantime though, Ash was mildly confident and majorly jittery when they finally reached Saffron and asked for directions to the gym at the local Pokémon Center. It was with jangling nerves and fully-healed Pokémon that they embarked in that direction, confusion when they reached it.

"So this is the Saffron Gym," Ash observed, looking the building up and down. "It looks…normal."

"What do you mean, it looks normal?" Misty echoed.

"It's—I don't know, I was expecting some sort of awesome psychic dome-setup, or a fancy mansion. I thought that was the gym," Ash clarified, pointing to a large house next to the gym. The gym itself looked like a stereotypical stadium, and not at all like he had been hoping.

"Not all gym leaders live in their base of operations," Brock clarified.

"Why not?"

"I don't—hi there."

Ash looked to see Brock addressing a young woman with waist-length dark hair, carrying an Abra like a stuffed animal.

"Hi," the girl returned, eyeing them. "Let me guess, you're here to challenge the gym."

"Is it that obvious?" Ash asked, looking her over. She was maybe Misty's age. Maybe.

"It's that obvious," Misty said. "You're standing in front of the gym with a Pokémon on your shoulder."

"Or," Brock posed, holding a finger up. "You're Sabrina, the gym leader here—and a psychic, so you could read our minds."

"Is it that obvious?" the girl asked, mimicking Ash's tone.

"You have an Abra and you match the photo of the Saffron gym leader that I got in the gym booklet last year—and I don't forget a pretty face."

"Wait—psychic?" Ash echoed. "Like Lamont Cranston off of The Shadow and the Nightmare? That kind of psychic?"

"Kind of," the girl—Sabrina—said. "Except I can't turn myself invisible. Not for lack of trying. But I can read people's thoughts, yes. And I can bend spoons with my mind, but that's more of a party-favor thing."

Ash gave that some thought. "Well gee, I could do that."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah—I'd just need a spoon."

Sabrina looked to her Abra, which looked at her before producing a spoon out of thin air.

"Show me," Sabrina ordered as her Abra held the spoon out.

Ash accepted the spoon, considered it—

Before gripping it in both hands and bending it.

"Hey, that's cheating," Sabrina declared as he handed it back to the Abra.

"No it isn't," Ash countered. "You said you can bend a spoon with your mind—a person's mind controls all motor functions, right? So my mind told my arms to bend the spoon."

Sabrina gave that some thought as the Abra psychically straightened the spoon. "Okay, I'll give you that one. So you want to challenge the gym?"

"Wow," Ash said, blinking. "You can read minds."

"That one was actually obvious." She tipped her head at him. "Funny. I can usually read people easy—you're…different."

"Thank you?" Ash noised, unsure if that was a good thing.

"Don't mention it. Houdini, get us in."

The Abra clasped its front paws together, focused—

And they were suddenly inside the gym.

"Wow," Brock noised, looking around the dark and empty and echoing gym. "Teleport?"

"Yeah," Sabrina said. "You did good that time, Houdini—got everyone and their stuff in on the first try. Do you have any Dark types?" she asked Ash suddenly.

"Uh, no?" Ash said, unsure where that came from.

"Huh. Usually when I can't read someone it's because they've had a Dark type for a while. Anyway, there's the guest box. Houdini, get me to the gym leader box."

And with that, she vanished.

"I need a Pokémon who can do that, methinks," Ash said, waving a hand through where she had been.

"You don't think she was sensing Darkrai, do you?" Misty asked. "If we want to be technical, he is a Dark type you've had for a while."

Ash gave that some thought. "Hey wait!" he noised suddenly. "That means she can't read my mind! I have a shot at this!"

And with that, he bolted for the gym box.

"You know, she might not be able to read his mind because he doesn't have one," he heard Misty say.

"Ha! Not funny," Brock said; Ash glanced back to see him ushering her towards the stands. "Come on, let's get some good seats."

Ash rolled his eyes as he faced forward again.

"Pika pi," Pikachu noised from his perch on Ash's head.

"Let me guess," Ash said, rolling his eyes to look at his starter. "You know, Misty does have a point."

"Pika!" Pikachu said brightly, smiling.

Sabrina finally appeared in the leader box, this time accompanied by an Alakazam in addition to the Abra.

"Sorry," she called over. "Houdini's still working on finesse. Walter here is going to be the referee. Are you all right with that?"

"The Alakazam? I guess so," Ash said, never having had a battle reffed by a Pokémon before.

"Great. Get in place, Walter."

The Alakazam nodded before disappearing and reappearing in the ref box. Its whiskers floated as its eyes glowed.

"This will be a three on three battle," echoed through the gym. "The challenger is allowed to make substitutions. Any questions?"

Sabrina looked at Ash pointedly.

"Um…one," Ash said, pointing. "Where did he learn how to talk?"

"The Abra line are just as smart if not smarter than humans," Sabrina said. "And Walter's been with me since forever. It was child's play for him, honestly."

Ah. And from this distance, Ash could see the glint of a gold medal around the Alakazam's neck.

"Okay," Ash said. "No more questions."

The Alakazam nodded. "Wonderful. Then begin!" it declared, holding both spoons up.

"Go, Maxwell!" Sabrina called, a Pokéball flying out without her touching it. It opened with a flash, disgorging a yellow fox somewhere between the Abra and Alakazam's size—a Kadabra. It flourished its spoon before assuming a battle pose.

Okay, Ash thought. Frenzy and Gastly, definitely…third Pokémon….

Glance at Pikachu, who dropped to his shoulder and pointed at his belt.

"Ah," Ash noised, looking where Pikachu indicated. "Go, Lenny!"

The Gyarados appeared in a flash of light and with a triumphant roar.

"Compensating for something?" Sabrina asked mildly.

"I…don't think so," Ash said, feeling that that one had gone way over his head—although Misty and Brock were spluttering.

"Right. Maxwell! Start off with Kinesis!"

The Kadabra held up both hands, waving to attract Lenny's attention before waggling the fingers of its free hand at its spoon, which suddenly bent. Lenny made an amused noise at that.

Ash glanced at Sabrina, noting her expression. "Uh, Lenny…."

"Telekinesis!" Sabrina ordered.

The Kadabra straightened its spoon, twirled it around—

And Lenny was suddenly floating.

"Use Future Sight!" Sabrina ordered.

Oop—Future Sight was a delayed move. And Lenny was flailing around, looking back at him in confusion—

"Think of it like swimming in the air," Ash ordered. "Now use Dragon Rage!"

Lenny nodded, positioned himself so he could aim at the Kadabra, and fired a shot of pure draconic rage—

And in doing so, shot himself backwards, only a quick Teleport by the Alakazam referee keeping Lenny from slamming into Ash.

"Consider your physics classes, Ash!" Brock called. "Every action has a reaction! Projectile attacks will cause a recoil while Lenny's floating!"

Right. "Lenny! Are you okay?" Ash called, before being disorientated once again by being teleported back into the box.

Lenny shook himself before swimming back through the air to the battlefield.

"Are your friends in the habit of kibitzing?" Sabrina asked.

"Generally only when I do something that makes them question my logic," Ash said.

"So all the time."

"Nice backhand."

"I do try. Maxwell, Confusion."

Okay, Confusion was a move that could suck immediately. "Dodge it Lenny! Swim! Swim harder!"

Lenny struggled, but apparently swimming through air was much more difficult than water, and it probably didn't help that Confusion was kind of hard to dodge anyway—the attack hit him full on. Pokédex started pinging in Ash's pocket, prompting him to fish it out—

Lenny is confused! it read.

Oh. Okay, this was about to majorly suck.

Lenny roared, thrashing about and tying himself in knots and biting himself—

"Lenny! Snap out of it!" Ash yelled—

Ash once again found himself several feet away from where he was originally standing, a blue light partially obscuring his vision of Lenny's tail crashing into the spot where he had been standing mere seconds ago.

"Watch yourself, kid," the Alakazam said, eyes glowing as he pointed a spoon at him. "You were almost Gyarados-tail-jam."

Ulk.

"Lenny! Come on! Snap out of it!" Ash yelled—no good, Lenny was thrashing and flailing—

Flailing—

"Lenny!" Ash bellowed, feeling like his throat was about to tear. "Use Flail!"

If it worked or not, Ash couldn't tell—

But by some lucky fluke—or rather, Gyarados fluke—Lenny's tail connected with the Kadabra and sent it flying. It glowed blue and stopped before it hit the far wall.

"Kadabra is unable to battle, having been knocked out of bounds," Alakazam said, eyes still glowing as it pointed its spoon at the Kadabra. "And was probably knocked silly for good measure. The winner of the round is therefore Gyarados."

"Did you hear that Lenny!" Ash called. "You won!"

Lenny's response was to glow purple and twist in pain before collapsing on the ground.

"And Gyarados is now out due to Future Sight," Alakazam observed. "Next victim."

Ash blinked—at both the comment and Lenny's sudden faint. He shook his head, returned to the challenger box—which now had a sizeable chunk knocked out of it that was glossed over with some sort of shiny look. Reflect, maybe.

"Whatever you do, don't stomp down," the Alakazam cautioned. "All right, so we technically have a tie. New Pokémon, the both of you."

Ash nodded, already reaching for his next Pokéball as Sabrina closed her eyes.

When she opened them, they were glowing, and a similarly glowing Pokéball suddenly flew out.

"Go! Marcel!" she called.

A Mr. Mime appeared on the field.

"Okay, that's cooler than the spoon trick," Ash called.

"Thank you, I'm glad you approve," she said, flicking her hair.

Ash nodded, threw his 'mon out. "Go, Gastly! Plan B!"

Gastly appeared on the field and immediately dove into his own shadow.

'Plan B' was one of the two plans they had cooked up when discussing the potential Pokémon Sabrina might be using.

"She has to prioritize Pokémon from the Kanto Region—it's part of the League rules for Gym leaders," Brock said. "So the Abra line, Drowzee line, Jynx…Mr. Mime—"

"Blech, Fairies," Darkrai noised.

"Huh?" came from at least three different sources.

"Wait, I heard of this," Brock said, pulling some papers out of his bag. "That research coming out of Kalos—I think…yes, Mr. Mime is on the list of Pokémon they've assigned the typing to."

"Meaning?" Misty asked.

"Meaning that most plans for dealing with Psychics don't work on Fairies," Darkrai said. "But—Fairies are weak to Poison."

Hence Gastly's 'Plan B' order. 'Plan A' was for against pure Psychics.

'Plan B' was for Fairy types.

'Plan B' basically consisted of "Use Toxic and then all your other moves until it drops."

And while Sabrina may not be able to read his mind, she was most likely able to guess the broad strokes.

"Start setting up shields, Marcel," she ordered, scanning the field, eyes occasionally flicking over Ash to check for tells.

Ash simply smirked—Gastly would attack on his own time, without Ash needing to say anything.

Hence why he was as surprised as Sabrina at Gastly's sudden reappearance, sinking his teeth into the Mr. Mime's shoulder and sending purple poison jetting out. Ash glanced at Sabrina—

She was smirking.

"Let it fall, Marcel!" she ordered.

Ash blinked as the Mr. Mime disappeared—

And a shield refracted, revealing another Mr. Mime.

Substitute, it had used.

"Don't let it nail you, Gastly!" Ash ordered, sending Gastly dodging into his shadow again as Psybeam shot across. Okay, while Substitute had taken the Toxic attack, it had also required a chunk of health in order to make. Sabrina wouldn't risk using it again.

Not that she needed to—the Mr. Mime had its guards up now, and Gastly's second attempt at poisoning it was batted away effectively.

"Sorry, Ash, but you're not the first one to try that," Sabrina said, smiling as Gastly dodged into the shadows again. "Keep whaling away, but Gastly will wear out first."

Ash gritted his teeth; yes, he could see that. They needed a new plan—to get in under the defenses when they failed and before the Mr. Mime set them back up—

Gastly, meanwhile, seemed to be getting more and more frustrated—

And then suddenly screamed his anger—

And then the room darkened, spikes appeared above Gastly and the Mr. Mime, and drove into them both.

Ash flinched, appalled—Gastly had run out of patience and used Curse on Mr. Mime.

"Ghk—Gastly, get out of there!" Ash yelled—Curse took out half of Gastly's health, meaning he'd be easy pickings if he tarried.

Mr. Mime shot out a psychic attack that Gastly barely dodged, winced as Curse started taking effect—

Dodge, attack, dodge, attack, over and over again, with the Mr. Mime building up its defenses again when they failed—the battle was dragging, Ash's nerves were fraying—

And then the Mr. Mime was just a mite too slow in raising Safeguard again—

And Gastly got in with Toxic.

It was Sabrina's turn to wince at that, recalling Mr. Mime without comment.

"As Sabrina recalled Mr. Mime, that means she forfeits the round," the Alakazam said. "This round goes to Ash and Gastly."

"All right!" Ash cheered, a sentiment shared by Gastly.

"There was no point in dragging it on with both Curse and Toxic in effect," Sabrina said, sending another floating Pokéball out. "Go, Aria!"

Something resembling a squat woman appeared, wasting no time in blasting Gastly with a psychic attack—he went down without a fuss.

"Ouch," Ash muttered, recalling Gastly. "You did good out there," he whispered to the ball, before throwing out his final 'mon. "Go, Frenzy! Use Toxic and get that—that Jynx!" he yelled, finally connecting the appearance with the Pokémon.

Frenzy appeared in a flash, ramped up with his usual war cry, and charged right for the Jynx.

"Ash!" Brock yelled, when Sabrina didn't seem too startled after the initial cry. "Jynx are part Ice!"

Ice? What did—

Uh-oh.

Paras were part Grass.

Which was about the time the Jynx blasted Frenzy across the way and into the wall.

"No! Frenzy!" Ash yelped—there was no way—did Frenzy just lose?

"Sorry pal, but you tried," Sabrina said, getting ready to recall Jynx—

"Hold it," the Alakazam said, pointing a spoon at her.

Ash and Sabrina stared at the Alakazam blankly before a cracking sound became evident. They looked—

The ice coating the wall and pinning Frenzy was shifting, cracking—

And then something big and half-frozen blasted out, screaming a wild war cry as it barreled straight for the Jynx—legs going clink-clink-CLUNK-clink-clink-CLUNK as it went—

And then it hit the startled Jynx and sent it down for the count underneath a vicious barrage of slashing pincers, still screaming the whole while—

Sabrina snapped out of it first, returning the Jynx, hand shaking as she gripped the Pokéball—the half-frozen thing clambered in a circle, slowed by the ice, before apparently realizing that the red beam had gone to Sabrina—

"Frenzy, STOP!" Ash hollered, finally figuring out just what he was seeing.

Frenzy stopped, allowing Ash to see that two of his back legs were frozen together, that he was entirely covered in a rime of frost, that chunks of ice were still sticking to his…mushroom….

Frenzy had evolved into Parasect.

"Uh, wow," Ash noised.

"Yeah," Sabrina said, edging away from Frenzy. "You can return that thing anytime now…."

Oh right—return Frenzy, look through the top, wondering if he was all right—he wasn't really reacting any differently—

"Ahem," the Alakazam noised. "Since all three Pokémon are unable to battle and the challenger still has Pokémon remaining, the match goes to Challenger Ash Ketchum." Snap its fingers, summoning a different Abra. "Go get a Marsh Badge."

Ash blinked. "Wait, I won? I won I won YES!"

"Remember what I said about not stomping down hard on that floor?" the Alakazam asked, sounding amused as Ash scraped himself off from where he bounced.

"Mighta slipped my mind," Ash groaned, staggering back upright. "I…meant to do that."

"Sure you did," Sabrina said, accepting the badge from an Abra and handing it to Ash as Misty and Brock came down. "So. Congratulations, Ash Ketchum, you have officially won the Marsh Badge."

"All right!" Ash cheered—arrested his planned jump and simply accepted the badge. "Thank you!"

"That makes five," Brock observed.

"Guess that makes Celadon the next one," Misty said.

"Very nice," Sabrina said. Glanced at the Alakazam, who had tapped her on the arm with a spoon. "Ah, right—you guys want to stay for dinner? Walter keeps telling me I need friends my age. Human friends."

"I'll go ahead and say yes," Misty said. "Because I travel with boys who never turn down a free meal."

"Sounds about right."

"So…question," Ash noised, staring at the badge. "Why is your badge the Marsh Badge and Koga's badge is the Soul Badge? I mean he technically is the one who lives next to a marsh."

"Well, it went like this," Sabrina said. "We were both at a gym leader meeting, got to talking, and we said you know what would really tick people off?"

"Sounds legit," Brock said.

"I have a proposition for you later," Misty told him.