A woman holding a little girl watches as a boy approaches Saffron City once more. She had seen the boy before, saw him enter the city before leaving again. There was something about the boy that she couldn't quite put a finger on, something different that she hadn't seen in any trainer who came to Saffron City before.
Her eyes shifted to her slumbering Pokemon. The Pokemon's eyes opened and it began to glow.
"Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town" Sabrina the Gym Leader mused with a smirk. It would be fun to battle this boy.
-x-
Ash stood before the gates to the Saffron gym, his heart racing from nerves. The last time he'd won because Haunter was able to make Sabrina laugh and by extension render her Kadabra unable to battle. Haunter was with him this time as well, and Gengar came with him. But as a trainer, he wanted to win this gym through battle and nothing else.
But Sabrina was terrifyingly strong. Should he swallow his pride and let Haunter and Gengar sweep it for him?
"Wait!"
Ash turned to see a man rushing towards him. Though before the man could reach Ash and say anything, the boy began to float.
And then he vanished.
The man stumbled to a stop and stared at the place where Ash was standing. His eyes shifted to the Gym, brows furrowed in worry.
"What are you planning Sabrina…"
-x-
Ash's knees buckled as he landed on solid ground. The boy steadied himself and looked around in confusion.
"You wished to challenge me" a girl spoke.
Ash saw a pair of reds glowing in the dark.
"I do" Ash nods.
The arena suddenly lit up, Ash shielding his eyes from the stab of brightness. When he lowered his hands, he saw a little girl with a Pokeball in her hands floating beside an older woman.
"There is something different about you Ash Ketchum" the older woman, Sabrina, said in a hollow tone. "I will figure it out."
The Pokeball in the girl's hands opened up and from it came out a Kadabra.
Wait… Kadabra?! It shouldn't have evolved yet! Something must be different…
Ash was many things, but a coward and overthinker he was not. So he pushed the thought aside and sent out his Pokemon to battle.
Gastly looked determined as he took the field against Kadabra. But the moment the battle began, Gastly vanished.
"Are you forfeiting already?" the little girl asked in a playful voice.
Ash smirked in reply.
A tongue lashed out from nowhere and licked Kadabra. The Psychic Pokemon shivered, but shook its head and looked around frantically.
"Gastly's a Pokemon made of gas and is almost invisible to anyone. You won't find it easy to use your Psychic powers with this one."
There was something in the way that Sabrina smiled. It was both happiness and at the same time predatory.
Kadabra closed its eyes, its whiskers shaking as if a gentle wind was blowing through. Suddenly it opened its eyes and Gastly materialized, unable to move.
"Psychic powers don't need the eyes to work," the woman said smugly.
Ash gritted his teeth at the failure of his plans. But he recovered quickly and had Gastly use Confuse Ray.
Kadabra's pupils shrunk as the flash from Confuse Ray hit it. The psychic hold on Gastly relented and Gastly fired a Night Shade immediately. Kadabra skidded back, shaking its head from confusion while Gastly vanished into thin air once more. Bolts of black energy hit Kadabra randomly from every direction as Gastly continued to attack Kadabra with Night Shade. Kadabra finally snapped out of its confusion and fired a Psybeam at the incoming Night Shade. The moves canceled each other out as if the impact created a small black hole that sucked in both attacks.
"More! Give me more!" Sabrina demanded with a grin.
Kadabra's body glowed for a moment as it healed itself. Then with Teleport it vanished, appearing on the opposite side of the arena. Kadabra used Psybeam and Gastly let out a cry as the move hit him even with him being invisible.
Kadabra had copied Gastly's tactic. Using Teleport it moved all across the arena, using Psybeam to compound damage on Gastly. Ash bit the inside of his cheeks as his nerves began to build. He needed to do something before Gastly got too badly hurt.
Pikachu's voice made him look down. His partner was crouched, spinning his sparking tail around.
Ash's eyes widened slightly. With a grin, he turned his attention back to Gastly.
"Gastly! Get close to the ground and spin while using Night Shade!"
Sabrina watched with a frown as Gastly touched the ground and began to spin. The gas around its body gave the spinning Pokemon a small vortex-like appearance. And then came the Night Shade. Like black lightning is swirled around Gastly, both defending against the Psybeam and landing hit on Kadabra. Even with Teleport the Pokemon was being pushed and damaged.
Her eyes sparkled with a foreign light and her thin lips curved into a smile. She knew there was something different about this boy, something special.
Sabrina was truly enjoying this battle.
Gastly spun faster and faster and his Night Shade lashed around the entire arena. Kadabara was hit a few times by the lashes until finally, it stopped to catch its breath. Gastly vanished while he spun, before appearing right in Kadabra's face. Gastly's eyes glowed blue and Kadabra's eyes widened before they slowly shut. The Pokemon fell over asleep. Gastly blasted Kadabra with Night Shade over and over again until the Pokemon was no longer able to continue battling.
"We did it!" Ash cheered, Gastly floating over to his trainer and circling him happily. He had beaten Sabrina fair and square without any interventions!
"No!'
Ash, Pikachu, and Gastly both stopped their celebrations.
The little girl was glaring at Ash, her eyes glowing red.
"You'll stay and play!"
"I won the battle" Ash pointed out with a frown.
"I don't care! You're going to stay and play with me!"
Ash could feel his body become lighter before he was grounded again.
Gastly floated in between the girl and Ash, his eyes glowing blue.
The girl grits her teeth and pushes.
Gastly grits his teeth as his body slowly begins to become less and less visible.
"Gastly don't!" Ash exclaimed, not wanting his Pokemon to overexert himself.
But Gastly did not listen, intent on protecting his trainer, his friend. He would not allow this girl to have him.
Gastly's body became lighter and lighter until the Pokemon began to glow. His form changed, grew, and expanded. The glow died and in place of Gastly floated a Haunter.
Haunter shoved forward and the child was thrown off her feet. She sat on the ground, confused until her face morphed into anger.
"How dare you?!" she roared.
Just then two Pokemon came up from the ground. Haunter and Gengar stared at the girl for a moment, before turning to the woman.
And then they did a series of ridiculous skits that made Ash cringe.
But Sabrina laughed, and with her, chuckled her passed-out Kadabra.
The child's face smoothed and she slowly vanished.
"I have not seen Sabrina laugh like this before."
Ash jumped and turned to see the man from outside the gym standing behind him. Sabrina's father, that's who the man was.
"But even without that, you beat Sabrina in a battle. She has never been beaten before" the man added, his eyes taking Ash in closely. "Sabrina was very interested in you for her to pull you in for a battle. As you can guess, she never does that. You're special, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."
-x-
With the Marsh Badge in his possession, Ash now traveled to Celadon City, the site of his next Gym battle. Sabrina had outright told Ash after handing him the badge that there was something different about the boy, that while Ash did not have any talent for psychokinesis, he had a certain way about him that intrigued Sabrina, a mystery that she was very eager to solve.
Ash wasn't as curious. She probably sensed Ash being sent back in time. Or maybe she sensed his aura.
Ash wondered when the egg for his Riolu would come into being. It had remained unhatched for a while and Ash didn't know how long that while was.
But that was a thought for another time. Right now he was speaking to Professor Oak over a public phone."Gary and the other trainer from Pallet already have five badges and have passed through Celadon City" Professor Oak informed Ash. And while you have caught a few Pokemon, Gary has caught a lot more."
Ash sighed dramatically. He'd catch more Pokemon and whatever.
Ash asked about how his Pokemon were doing and Oak informed Ash that all his Pokemon were healthy and involved in training themselves. They were all ready to be called on if Ash needed.
And Ash would call on them sooner or later, the boy knew it.
Ash put the phone down just as something swiped his hat off his head. Ash looked up to see a Pokemon smiling down at him from the top of the phone booth.
"Mankey!" Ash grinned.
The Pig Monkey Pokemon jumped into Ash's arms and wailed as he hugged his trainer.