"See me in my office."
The words danced in Leaf's head as she showered and dressed following the match. After Ivysaur and Gastly were whisked away to the infirmary, Leaf had some time to herself to think.
"You're so stupid," she whispered to herself, her voice disappearing in the cavernous locker room. "You're so stupid. Why did you even try?"
Her body was covered in cuts and scrapes, bruises and bumps, half inflicted by her opponent and the others a typical consequence of battling her way. The pain helped her fight, she reasoned. It made her want to win. But she was only human, with human skin - and thorns were thorns. They did not see friend or foe.
Time passed as Leaf sat with her head in her hands, sobbing quietly. Sabrina was pissed. She knew it. In some way, she could feel it. What was going to happen to her?
Would she be fired? Was it too much to hope that maybe she would be...promoted? Surely their battle had been a smash hit. If there was one thing the psychic femme fatale understood besides combat, it was the ratings - always the ratings.
The clock ticked over to 4:00pm as Leaf finished applying antiseptic ointment to her legs. She could hear the distant ringing of church bells throughout the city marking the time. Grandma would be waiting for her outside Sabrina's office.
As the young girl made her way through the tunnels beneath the convention center, hidden away from the throngs of fans still loitering in the halls above, she started to feel uneasy.
She didn't know why Sabrina always had this effect on her. Sure, she was a little scary looking, with her milky eyes and witchlike black hair, but she had always been so nice to Leaf. So why are you so scared of her?
It was her fame, probably. Or just her gravitas. She really was a sweet lady. So, so sweet.
"Sit, please," the gym leader said tersely, now dressed in a freshly pressed suit identical to the one she'd worn in battle.
Leaf started to shake, but she obeyed. Sabrina loomed impossibly tall over Leaf as she lifted herself into a black leather chair and sat. Once the young girl had gotten comfortable, Sabrina finally sat in her own chair, and flashed Leaf a smile. Though her cataracted eyes were hidden behind the deep black lenses of her glasses, Leaf felt soft warmth coming from them.
"That was a really really fun battle, Leaf! It's just so great as your mentor, and as your friend, to see you blossoming into such a wonderful young battler!" Sabrina lauded the little girl, her voice almost singsong. Strangely, Leaf felt no relief.
Remembering her manners, Leaf swallowed the lump in her throat and smiled. "You were amazing, too! I always feel so blessed to get to see you in action, and also, I just wanted to thank you again fo-"
"Put your hand on the table," the gym leader cut the little girl off.
Leaf hesitated.
"Sweetie," Sabrina cooed, "Please do as Sabrina asks,"
Leaf's shaking intensified as she set one gloved hand on the desk before her.
Sabrina took Leaf's hand in both of her own. Her fingers were icy to the touch, and not simply because the room was cold. A chill shot up Leaf's arm and deep into her core.
"You went off-book," Sabrina explained, her grip tightening on Leaf's wrist. The chill reached now to her toes. "Flipped the script. I need to know why."
The lights in the office flickered overhead.
"Um...I don't know, I just...got caught up in the fight and, the audience really seemed to enj-"
"LIE," Sabrina hissed, her deep maroon nails digging into the skin of Leaf's arm. She yelped, as much out of shock as pain. "Lies, little girl. Why did you rebel?"
"You're hurting me! Stop, please!" Leaf cried out in fear. Sabrina's strawlike hair began to levitate to her sides.
"You raise a hand in defiance of me, I take a hand, that you shall never raise it in defiance again," the gym leader growled. Keeping Leaf's wrist squeezed tight in one hand, she reached into her desk drawer with the other and produced a 12-inch serrated knife.
Leaf screamed in pain as the teeth of the knife sawed into her flesh, the jagged edges catching on the bones in her arm. Blood spurted forth, shooting onto the walls, ceiling, floor and Sabrina's maniacal expression, and Leaf tried to pull away. When she did, she tumbled backward in her chair and then onto the floor like yesterday's trash, leaving her arm behind.
"Help me, somebody, please!" Leaf cried out, as her adrenal glands engaged and she began to run. With her remaining arm, she threw open the office door, leaving a thick trail of blood behind her. Sabrina cackled from the office, the sound of it following Leaf as her feet pounded the concrete floor of the convention center.
She rounded the corner and cried for help once again, but there was no one to be found on the main concourse. As she ran, clenching her bleeding stump, she noticed that the sunlight streaming through the windows had turned black.
"Help me, anybody! Help me! Help me!" she wailed. Her voice echoed, becoming fainter, more distant as she felt herself growing tired and oh so cold.
She fell to her knees and squeezed her bleeding arm above the jagged cut, trying to stem the flow. Suddenly, she realized she was no longer inside the convention center.
Surrounding her were rows upon rows upon rows of cells, their iron bars reaching as tall as the tallest buildings in Saffron.
"Hey. Hey! Hey, you! Girl! Help me, please! Let me out!"
Leaf could make out the faint shape of a little boy standing on the other side of the nearest bars.
"Help me, please! I can't get out!"
"I need a doctor!" Leaf spoke through sobs, "Where am I? Is there a doctor here?"
"Help us! Please!"
Leaf collapsed to the floor and began to vomit. She had no strength left to run.
Around her, hundreds of young boys and girls began to beat on the iron bars. Begging. Pleading.
As her heart slowed, with no blood left to pump, this horrible, dark world faded away.
"That was a really really fun battle, Leaf! It's just so great as your mentor, and as your friend, to see you blossoming into such a wonderful young battler!" Sabrina lauded the little girl, her voice almost singsong.
Remembering her manners, Leaf swallowed the lump in her throat and smiled. "You were amazing, too! I always feel so blessed to get to see you in action, and also, I just wanted to thank you again for giving me this opportunity, it really does mean a lot!"
The door to the office opened and a slight old woman with a fiery gaze entered, leading herself with a cane.
"Grandma!" Leaf shouted exuberantly, rushing over to embrace her famous elder. Agatha pat her granddaughter on the head and met eyes with Sabrina.
"I trust my granddaughter hasn't caused you any trouble, dearie?" Agatha queried. Sabrina stood and bowed to the Madama Banshee.
"No trouble, whatsoever, Ma'am. In fact - she really is causing quite a stir on social media! Our engagements are absolutely through the roof after our last match!"
"Oh, you know me, I never had the stomach for the social media, but that's so wonderful to hear!" Agatha said with a knowing glance. "Now, Leaf - let's head down to the park, and get us some ice cream, how about that?"
Leaf agreed enthusiastically, and with respectful goodbyes, she left holding her grandma's hand.
She didn't know why she was always so scared of Sabrina. How could she be? The gym leader was always so nice to her.
Taking huge bites of her strawberry ice cream cone, Leaf walked quietly with her grandmother as they reached the south end of the park and stepped onto the sidewalk. Rounding the corner, she crashed right into a big, bulky gray mass of muscles leaning up against the brick barricades.
"Oof! I'm sorry!" she said through a mouth full of ice cream.
"Oh, that's all right, love, he don't bite," came Looker's unmistakable baritone.