At the sound of the bell, the little girl exploded forth with impossible speed, her lightning-fast movements wrapped in the red light of her bursting Poké Ball. She inhaled a deep breath of the stadium's cold air and closed the gap between herself and the psychic femme fatale with breathtaking quickness.
The bespectacled woman remained unmoving, balanced atop her tiptoes. As if emerging from a black hole, two creatures appeared at her sides. The first, to her left, was a small and delicate Pokémon, standing at about two feet tall. Its body was covered in short, fine, yellow fur that felt soft to the touch. It had a vaguely feline appearance, with a rounded head adorned with large, saucer-like eyes that shined with an intense blue gaze. A pair of long, pointed ears stood upright on top of its head, adding to its alert and attentive expression. Despite its unassuming size, the creature possessed a mysterious and alluring charm, captivating both trainers and Pokémon enthusiasts alike.
The other creature was much larger than the first, though still dwarfed in size by its hulking psychic trainer. It shared clear characteristics with the first, obviously of the same genus, but much more humanoid; indeed, the legends said that it once was a human. It stood at around four feet tall, covered in reddish blonde fur that flowed like a robe around its neck. Its brilliant eyes gave it an air of mystique and intelligence. But where the first creature looked like it might make a good pet, this one looked like the last thing you'd see before you died.
Looker heard Bad Cop whimper. He knew these cats were bad news.
"You can go wait in the hall if you want," Looker said with understanding. "Always go with your gut. I won't be upset."
Now beside Leaf, sprinting with murderous intent, hopped a stalwart, toadlike creature with a massive red tulip growing on its back.
Leaf leapt into the air in complete sync with her Ivysaur and twisted, directing all of her inhuman momentum into her heel and moved to decapitate her opponent. Predictably, the psychic and her Abra glitched out of existence, before reappearing in the center of the ring. Thunderous applause surrounded the two as they engaged once more.
Roots began to creep up from the ground, encircling Leaf's feet and climbing her legs, forming a natural armor of living vegetation. With a fierce expression, she stretched her arms out, commanding the plants to respond to her will.
The air crackled with psychic energy as Sabrina launched a powerful attack, sending waves of invisible force hurtling towards Leaf. But she was prepared. With a swift gesture, Leaf summoned the thick vines to rise before her, forming a protective barrier that absorbed the psychic onslaught.
"Impressive, little one," Sabrina said with a hint of surprise. "But let's see how you handle this!"
Sabrina's dead eyes glowed brighter behind her Black Glasses as she unleashed a torrent of telekinetic fury. Huge chunks of the clay pitch shot through the air toward Leaf with deadly precision. But she wasn't alone in this battle. Ivysaur and her were as one, and the toad shot forth roots like witch's fingers from below to intercept the hurtling projectiles.
As the dust settled, Leaf sprang into action. She focused on her armored vines, guiding them like an extension of her own limbs. The thorned tendrils lashed out at Sabrina. The psychic warrior danced between the strikes, her telepathy giving her a heightened sense of the impending attacks.
Leaf's face beamed with determination as she kept up the assault. The pitch became a battlefield of whirling leaves, snapping branches, and psychic waves clashing against improbably thick, tree-trunk like tentacles.
Sabrina's eyes narrowed as she intensified her psychic onslaught, forcing Leaf to dig deeper into her reserves of power. The young girl's clothes were now adorned with glowing patterns of green energy as she tapped into the primal essence at the core of her bond with Ivysaur.
As the battle raged on, Leaf's heart pounded in her chest, her body trembling from the strain. But she wouldn't give up. She had never felt more alive.
In a final surge of power, Leaf raised her hand skyward, and the sun itself appeared to blink. And then, in a brilliant flash of kaleidoscopic pink light, Leaf and her partner unleashed their most powerful attack. The beam sprayed out of Ivysaur's flower and blasted through Sabrina and her companions, ripping a massive gouge in the ground below.
As the sunlight returned to normal and Leaf took a defensive stance, Sabrina, Abra and Kadabra appeared behind her, close enough for the little girl to feel their breaths.
"Psywave," Sabrina thought to herself. Her thought carried outward like a radio transmission and entered the minds of every person present at the stadium, unleashing an orgasmic cry of elation from the spectators, many of whom came to the show specifically for the chance to hear Sabrina's voice in their own brains. A special little message for each and every fan, for nothing but the price of admission.
A sense of impending doom, a sure sign of a psychic imprint, filled the stadium and the hearts of the thrillseekers in the audience. Like shimmers of intense heat, with the sound of a million nails on a millions chalkboards, the psychic blasts rippled from both Abra's and Kadabra's outstretched hands, and Leaf for a split-second appeared dumbstruck; only to shock everyone in the room when she and Ivysaur vanished in a puff of purple smoke, leaving behind an explosion of yellow powder that sent searing pain into Sabrina's deadened eyes.
Harsh cackling infected the stadium's speaker systems as the monitors all turned to static and Leaf reappeared in the air above her opponents. In the blink of an eye, she whipped forth a thick root into the air and brought it down like the Sword of Damocles on her opponents, crushing them to the floor.
"I can't believe it, folks! Leaf has lulled Sabrina into a false sense of security and Paralyzed her with Stun Spore! How did she do it? What sorcery at play has granted this young warrior the ability to phase in and out of existence?!"
Leaf's face appeared, featureless, on every monitor before an oozing purple emerged from where her eyes once were. A black orb with devilish gaze and razor sharp teeth made itself known as poison cloaked Ivysaur and Leaf.
"Fuckin' brilliant!" Looker exclaimed, looking to the spot where Bad Cop previously stood. "She brought herself a ghost along!"
Sabrina fell to her knees, coughing intensely as Abra's and Kadabra's muscles seized, the overpowering scent of the Stun Spore flooding their brains, breaking the psychic links in their synapses. As she did, Leaf, Ivysaur and the cackling spectre of a Gastly reappeared at the end of the pitch, precisely where they'd begun the match.
"Do you yield?!" Leaf yowled to deafening applause. Sabrina spit a mouthful of acrid dust to the floor and turned her dead eyes to the little girl.
"You're a little spitfire, aren't you?!" the psychic bellowed. "You're going to regret that!"