The door to Sabrina's room swung open violently. And there under the sill stood none other than Azure, sporting a sickening grin from ear to ear. The girl looked up from her book –a leather volume so old it was practically disintegrating– and her eyes narrowed with pure spite.

"Well?" Azure asked excitedly. "How'd it go, how'd it go?"

It'd been almost a week since that first battle. Multiple band-aids peppered the girl's face, a splint covered her left arm and –as Azure noticed when she rose to her feet– she had a limp as well.

"How the fuck do you think it went!?" she bellowed, clutching at the collar of his suit. "Of course I lost! What did you want me to do with a Pokemon that can't even attack? There were easier ways to kill me if that's what you wanted you cretin!"

Azure stared at her, his smile frozen in place.

"…But you didn't die," he whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Azure hummed, freeing himself from her grasp. "Anyway, it looks like you finally made this place your own, huh?"

In truth, the room looked just as dingy and dilapidated as before. Clearly, Sabrina had only cleaned up as necessary and hadn't touched anything otherwise, with the exception of the small mountain of books around the couch and the many vinyl records scattered everywhere.

"Oh, I just remembered. There's some… business I need to take care of, so I probably won't be back for a few weeks," said the man. "But before that… here you go."

Sabrina instinctively opened her palm as the man deposited something on it, small and metallic. The Marsh badge. It was almost identical to the one given by the original Sabrina, only the golden circle was inserted into a black triangle.

"I'd say you've earned it, wouldn't you?" smiled Azure. "And now… I must bid you adieu."

"W-wait!"

But Azure had already walked out of the room by the the time Sabrina came back to herself. She could do little but stand there, staring blankly ahead.

"What… what the hell!?"

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Had he really sent her to die with a smile on his face, or would he have stopped her opponent before it came to that? It was impossible to tell. She couldn't read him at all, which meant for now she couldn't trust him as far as she could throw him.

Azure… just what–?

But before she could finish the thought, the door opened once again. This time, it was that man with salt and pepper hair; one of the Gym's caretakers, she'd figured.

"Ah… there you are," he grumbled. "Master Azure said–"

"I know," Sabrina cut him off. "He'll be skipping town for a while."

"No, not that. He forgot to give this to you."

"Huh?"

The man gave her a folded-up piece of paper and left without another word. Sabrina opened and blinked down at the fancy writing. Azure's, no doubt.

'Dear Sabrina,

How are you? Have you been sleeping well? I sure hope so!

Like I said, I'll be absent for a while, so I wanted to inform you of a few things, just to avoid confusion.

First of all, the maintenance crew–'

Sabrina scoffed; as if there were such a thing in this shithole.

'–accidentally misplaced all the Pokeball boxes with the exception of the red one, so you'll have to make do with freshly-caught Pokemon until my return. Ah, how careless these brutes can be! I can't imagine who would've given them such an order. Oh, by the way, there's a good possibility the police will pass by for a routine raid today or tomorrow, or at least that's what people in the streets say. Still, I'm sure you'll be able to handle it without trouble.

Love: Azure.'

By the time she made it to the end, she'd practically crushed the note between her fingers, face red and shoulders shaking with fury.

"That… that son of a bitch…!"

An overwhelming desire to punch the wall washed over her, but after a few long, slow-breathing seconds, that fury was transformed into something more. A sudden determination flared up inside her.

"…Alright," she muttered. "It's alright. So that's how you wanna play, eh? That's fine by me. You can take away my Pokemon, you can throw me at every police officer and smelly punk in the city, it doesn't matter. I won't give you the satisfaction of seeing me fall. No matter how dirty you play, I'll play ten times as dirty! This is my Gym now, so give me your best shot you bastard!"

And that's how the weeks passed. The girl not only wore the title of Gym leader like a glove; she made a profession out of surviving, and an art out of playing dirty.

Little by little as the victories piled up, the rumors spread and both the girl's infamy and her number of challengers grew, bringing with them more and more spectators. The lowest and the highest in Saffron. All of them vile and corrupt, all of them coming to her Gym with the hope of seeing a violent, bloody spectacle.

And that is exactly what they were given, time and time again.

Without even realizing it, without it even bothering her, the girl's day to day became an endless parade of battles to the death.