'Murica

Chapter 11: Cascade

Here it is

Sabrina was still feeling rather unsettling coming all this way. She knew she ought to be though. Sometimes, you just cannot take back the things you never said. The distance she traveled was not significant by any means, but she simply did not want it to end just yet. It was the confrontation that she was worried about. She could feel herself sweating. It didn't help that she was wearing full suit, gloves and boots in the middle of the day. Nevertheless, she had come too far to turn back now. If she did not go through with this; there shall be no other chances. Gulping, Sabrina reached for the door handle.

It twisted.

Stepping inside the vicinity of the Celadon Gym, she felt nothing alike what she did before. There was no hard truth, no pressure, and no stigma, just what the place was meant to represent: nature. It looked like the scene from her old days of exploring caves and mountains. She had not seen any of it for a while though, and this was such a refreshing change of scenery. It was more "outdoor" than outdoor, what's with the busy city life and all. At the end of the day though, she could not just stand there and admire the scene. She came with a mission, and she would not leave without completing it.

Oddly enough, she never really liked solving puzzles so much, despite any challenger ascending on her gym platform would disagree. It was all fun and games until it was her turn to solve them herself. A good thing this was not League season, or coming here with her casual clothes might lead the understudies to believe she was a challenger. This was her very first time arriving here though, and it seemed rather unnecessary complicated. Of course she noted that she was not really in a position to talk, given her own gym's track record on cruel and unusual floor plans.

Bushes and leaves really did not make much for a puzzle however, as it took no longer than a few minutes for her to navigate through the tree tracks. She encountered nothing out of the ordinary on her way towards her destination, and Sabrina had no idea what to expect. She was moving towards a hypothetical goal, and there was actually nothing guaranteeing she could even achieve what she came here to do. This entire course of action was of her own volition, and if it did not work she had no one else to blame it on.

Keeping a mental map, the psychic knew that she was moving towards a clearing at the back of the gym, and most logically the end, meaning the gym leader's position. She felt her mood tensing up, her fists clenched and her sweat started dropping. It was not a particularly dangerous revelation should she meet who she wanted to, but the pressure she put on herself was rather unrealistic to begin with. Then it dawned on her, as she reached her destination.

There was no one here.

Sabrina grunted. There was absolutely no reason why she did not think of this possibility before. In fact, it was becoming jarringly obvious that it was highly unlikely she would have been able to find what she had been looking for here at all. It was, after all, far past the League season, so of course the gyms would be defunct. Just because the psychic decided to live in her gym made no difference on whether the others leaders would do the same, and the assumption was hopeful at best. There was a huge sense of disappointment falling upon her, and for good reasons. Profanity would have been preferred in this situation, if only Sabrina had not already preemptively tired out herself by dragging herself here under so much pressure. She slumped instantly on the spot, feeling absolutely no drive to move on. Gradually surrendering to a lying position, the psychic had nowhere else to look but up, towards the blank wooden ceiling over her head.

Without much else, her mind slowly drifted to that strange encounter she had with Erika's subconscious. Being an accomplished psychic for as long as he had, for being as young as she was; it was both a truly terrifying as well as amazing experience she had ever had inserting herself into someone's mind. The fact that she was almost trapped within that layer of subconscious made her wonder how aware Erika was of the true turnabout and intention of that experiment. The psychic went through a lot in order to carry it out, and at some point, regardless of how trusting the botanist might had been; there had to have been suspicion at some point on the legitimacy of what Sabrina had been doing. Furthermore, there had been no questions of the implications of the actions that followed. There was not much in both of their minds at that moment to make what happened less or more intentional.

"Damn it!"

Sabrina, deciding it was time to lay this to rest, had made up her mind. She was going to go all the way in order to settle this matter once and for all. It would do no one good should she simply lying around all day and contemplate the existence of the universe. Minded, she did enjoy doing such a thing a lot as part of her philosophy practice, but then such a thing was neither here nor there at the moment. It was time for her to leave this half-abandoned facility and start thinking more logically on how to deal with this situation. She had already tried calling numerous times, to no positive effect, on her mood nor her situation. Forcing herself upright, Sabrina had this one final thought crossing her mind.

Why is this place open if there is no running gym operations?

There had to be something, at the very least accidentally unbeneficial, going on with this gym. She would not imagine someone just leaving here a whole facility full of expensive equipment for pedestrians to access at any given time. Suppose this was also one of those subconscious reason why Sabrina was so hell bent that there was, at the very least, someone somewhere inside this place. She was wrong of course, but that did not at all answer the questions, not even beginning to. Looking around, it was clear that there was little room for another completely unrelated open space. There was nothing better for her to do at the moment, so she might as well put that unchallenged mind to work. It was not hard to note the positions of the checkpoints, also known as the standings of the understudies, and how everything was supposed to work. There was one particular thing standing out though. The gym itself was relatively symmetrical, so there was one window on the side that did not really make much sense to her. It was facing directly into the gym with an unobstructed view of the inner happenings of the facility. It was not facing any checkpoints, however, thus likely few really paid too much attention to it. Approaching the shut opening, Sabrina pushed open the cover, only to find a back alley right next to the gym that she never knew existed. There was something worth mentioning going on, and she intended to get to the bottom of it.

"What the…"

A sound came from the gate of the gym. She immediately turned around. From the position she was standing at, it was not possible for whoever entering the place to know that she was here. It would be best not letting others knew she was here, although the fact that the door was opened kind of gave that away already. Not really caring about that for the moment, Sabrina hid herself regardless, awaiting someone to show up in the line of sight first. It did not take long before she spotted a hunched figure approaching the mentioned window. It was an older male, bearded to the chin and glasses blocking his eyelids. It would seem he was wearing traditional clothing, not that it really was what drawing attention.

"I probably should have locked."

Said the man, and things were pretty clear at this point. His relation to the gym administrator was still yet unknown, but it could be inferred that it was him who was supposed to be taking care of the lockdown of the facility. Sabrina's position was not really conspicuous, but it seemed that the man was convinced that whoever was in here had already left through the window. She had no quarrels with that, of course, as it would only help her sparked curiosity further. As the man was shutting the window, Sabrina felt a bit inclined to know what he was doing here in the first place. She snuck out the back first, awaiting his leave. As soon as he did; the man had no idea he was being followed. The gym was at the corner of the city itself, guarded behind an array of trees, with only a few other buildings within the proximity. The man stopped in front of an older-typed house, in which the psychic could no longer follow. Keeping herself on the opposite side, she was ready to give up. Still, she felt like she had to do something before the opportunity slip away. This man was at least someone that had connections to the gym, having unlimited access to all of the equipment like that. He might had a clue of where she could find what she came for. With that, and a bit of her inherent work ethics problem, she decided to act. Sabrina quickly approached the man from behind and, without giving him chance of retaliation, knocking him out cold by a simple pinch in the neck. It was one of the easier things she learned to do from her mother, whose profession was a mystery to this day. She only knew that Penny refused to disclose any information regarding occupation, especially how she was able to afford such an expensive condo despite her child not seeing her working at all. That was a matter for another day, as Sabrina knew that she had to do this quick. Her finger to the unconscious man's forehead, she was able to speedily insert herself into his subconscious for some investigation.

Funnily enough, she ended up about the same place as she was before. However, it was obviously another season altogether, as if he was thinking of somewhere in the past. It would not surprise her at all, of course, as she looked around. Today was the first time she came to Celadon gym, so there was not really any risk of her running into the man's own subconscious interpretation of her. Walking around a bit, Sabrina ended back at the gym. It seemed like quite the busy day for the gym, as sounds of battles could be heard from afar. She felt like she needed a good place to observe what might be happening inside, and she was reminded of the back alley before. With that in mind, she turned to the side lanes leading to the end of the gym. Surprisingly enough, the man was there, staring rather fervently straight into the happenings within the gym itself. At this point, it was rather clear to her what exactly the guy's "role" was at this facility. He was someone who held the key and also, apparently, a peeping tom. It really did not bother her that much; but the more Sabrina thought about this guy who, more than likely, watched Erika everyday gave Sabrina a bit of frustration, and then some.

She decided not to make too much of a fuss about something so trivial during times like this, and focused on the plan. She still had to get inside the gym, and since this was the old man's memory, she could only knew as much as he got through observing from the window. There was no way she could be from there looking in anymore, however, thus it was mandatory for her to find sneak in. Most of the trainers within the building was fixed on the battle at hand, though, so not many really cared for her. Then again, as this was only her penetrating reactive memory, there was a significantly less number of trainers within that building, restricted the amount that could be observed through the window. As she entered the vicinity, it became apparent to her that this was the most relevant battle that day. It was between Erika and the League champion, Red. Fierce was an understatement of the actions, as Sabrina herself was drawn into the clash. She had already known of Red's ability and performance when the two met, but this was before that, and it was also very intriguing. She had, however, never seen Erika battle. It was with grace and elegance, as the botanist's personality would suggest, and no one seemed to be able to take their eyes off of her.

The dream sequence abruptly cut forward without warning, and Sabrina found herself left alone inside the building. She could see the sun barely visible outside, and a lack of lively activity within the building. She could hear a conversation going on outside, however, and that was precisely where she was heading. She did not really need to go outside, however, as pressing herself up against the gate was enough to pick up the sound on the other side. Knowing who they were, it was easy enough to pin point who was talking at the time.

"You're taking a vacation after this?"

"The season ends in 3 days. I would not reckon there's anyone else too worth looking at this point. It's barely possible to make it to the Indigo Plateau from this point on."

"I suppose that's true."

"I'm trusting you with the maintenance of this place. The next season is not until another 4 months, so please make sure the plants stay up good."

"Yes, of course."

"Where are you going for that vacation miss?"

"Wherever mother nature takes me."

Sabrina felt her cheeks heating up a bit.

"Where can I contact you then?"

"Unfortunately there is really no way. I don't expect anyone to want to contact me any time soon, either way. If you were to report in though, you could always mail something to my manor."

"Of course miss."

…

A manor?

The gym leaders usually do not have a public address anywhere. If anything, Sabrina needed more time dig through the man's memories in order to find the relevant information. However, she was short on time, if the woman running out the house screaming as she saw the old man lying unconscious on the ground was of any indication. Right now, the psychic was really not in the mood to do any more snooping around. As easy as that was, an extended period of using her powers would tire anyone out. Either way, at least she had a lead. Whatever manor was mentioned, that was where she needed to go. She could try the old man again, but it would be too risky if his subconscious becoming adaptive to her presence. Knowing herself, even the League would not know where Erika lived at. There was still one person she could turn to, however.

"Mom?"