Chapter 69

Cheater

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Espeon.

Of course Sabrina would send out a psychic Pokémon, I knew this Gym Battle would probably be psychic themed anyway which was kind of a pain in the arse, seeing how the Type matchup doesn't favor me at all.

The odds were not in my favor but then again if they were it would not be as satisfying to win.

A familiar adrenaline rush flushed through my body and a smile made itself known on my face. It really does feel good to hold a battle with actual stakes again. My last defeat from Ash still made me feel sore and I was ready to give it my all. Sabrina made it personal, challenging my pride by blatantly cheating.

Contrary to what one may believe, the battle had begun long before Sabrina released Espeon. It was a battle of minds, which is quite ironic seeing Sabrina was a psychic.

She herself declared this was far more than just a battle and I'd like to agree. Sabrina was openly cheating and rigging the battle and now the question was, how would I react?

Well, I had something prepared.

I heaved a deep sigh and snapped my fingers. The sound rang out. I grinned at Sabrina and began speaking. "Through darkest nights and final lights, in diamond hearts and shattered cards."

"What are you doing?" Sabrina scowled.

I ignored her and continued the chant. "With a deathly heal and a sky of steel, I seal the deal!"

My eyes started to glow all of a sudden. It was like two miniature stars snapped into existence, the same glow also extended to my hands like Aura, submerging them in the ghostly flames. It was really annoying but I resisted the urge to look away, despite the pale light almost blinding me.

Sabrina took a step back, her eyes wide in shock and her mouth gaping.

"W-What, what was that?"

The glow vanished and I smirked. "Just a spell to make you second guess yourself."

I snapped my fingers and a brief explosion of light was set off. "You're not the only one with tricks."

"B-but wh-why, but how?" Sabrina struggled to find her words,

"I-impossible, but how?! You are not a psychic!"

"Magic," I smiled at Sabrina, immediately afterwards I shouted. "Luna, Meteor Smash!"

Luna teleported away from the pedestal and before Sabrina could realize what the fuck was happening she reappeared above Espeon.

She did not scream, nothing announced her teleport except for the brief flash. With great momentum, Kirlia's glowing fist pummeled into Espeon's head and an explosion of dust and sand followed.

I could not help but to smirk, being the challenger, Sabrina had granted me the right to attack first and since Sabrina said nothing about that rule being changed, I simply decided to use that rule to my advantage.

Before Espeon could even recover Luna had started a combo, she graciously stood still near the crash site and sent several stacked Confusion rays towards Espeon who hadn't moved yet.

Sabrina stood still, frozen in shock, her mind unable to catch up with the recent turn of events, just like I had hoped.

The pink feline tried to get up but a Disarming Voice from Luna launched it across the battlefield. However, despite her trainer still being frozen in shock it managed to catch its landing, Espeon's nails dug into the ground as it came to a halt.

"Mega Punch!"

Luna charged towards Espeon, her fist clenched and shining fiercely.

Espeon's eyes glowed and I shouted at Luna to dodge.

Just in time. Without a command being given Espeon decided to fire a multicolored laser in front of her. It was a desperate move and the laser missed Luna completely, even if she hadn't dodged.

"Espeon," Sabrina finally managed to get her shit together, "Use Hypnosis."

At the same time the girl spoke her command she shot me a venomous glare, her lips curled up in a snarl.

Espeon's blue eyes began to glow faintly and I immediately ordered Luna to counter it.

"Sand Attack."

Luna screamed.

The biggest problem with Hypnosis was its range which is basically one's entire field of view. Combine that with a sedating effect it was a terrifying combination considering almost every Pokémon required to see their opponent to attack.

So did Luna.

Just as she fired a psychic scream she abruptly stopped moving. Her body slumped and her eyes remained fixed on Espeon's blue ones.

It didn't matter though, before Espeon could inflict serious damage, the Disarming Voice stirred up sand plumes and they swept towards Espeon. With the line of sight broken, Luna regained her senses and prepared another Mega Punch since that was Luna's best shot during this typing matchup.

Espeon sneezed just before a fist blew into its face. A small shockwave followed from the impact and wind was stirred up into all directions.

I silently pressed the button on Fay's Pokéball and without exchanging any words between us, Fay withdrew into her Pokéball.

"Espeon, use Psychic!" Sabrina yelled angrily.

"Switch!" I yelled, "Luna get back!"

I threw Fay's Pokéball with a wide arc and it landed in front of Espeon.

"Esp?" A brief expression of surprise passed the pink psychic's face as the opponent it was fighting suddenly disappeared and there was no one to attack.

Sabrina said I could switch Pokémon anytime I wanted and switching Luna the way I had done was totally legal with her ruleset. Normally doing so would be impractical, but if Sabrina said I could, I had to do it of course.

Fay popped out of her Pokéball in front of the surprised Espeon. Before it could recover, Fay lunged forward and unleashed a fury of swipes and slashes. Every strike was placed so it could combo into the next swipe.

Sabrina yelled an order but it was already over. Espeon dropped to the ground with a final cry, its eyes closed and the pink fur roughed up and dirty.

A silence followed.

Fay walked away from Espeon's unconscious body and joined my side of the field, not looking tired or damaged in the slightest.

The psychic stared aghast at the destruction that had taken place underneath us. Wordlessly, her eyes raised up to meet mine.

Huh, I could actually see the friendship meter drop in front of my eyes. Still, I did not give in to her venomous glare. Instead, I smiled at her with defiance, "If your Gym is about cheating then you shouldn't be surprised when someone outsmarts you."

I did not mention I had already planned on cheating anyway, just in a less obvious way.

A long stare down followed but I refused to look away even as her eyes started to glow creepily again. Trying to get Sabrina frustrated was part of the strategy after all.

"Nine?" Ninetales barked something that sounded vaguely like a question.

It managed to shake Sabrina out of her rage. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, she straightened her dress and finally looked at me again.

"I see what you did," Sabrina said with a surprisingly calm voice. "You are trying to unbalance me and I have to admit you’ve taken me by surprise."

The way she talked and looked at me, it's almost like she had taken a week to progress everything, numbed her emotions and drank a full cup of coffee.

Then it struck me.

"Calm Mind, eh?" I taunted, "Cool trick."

"I won't be taken by surprise a second time," Sabrina declared calmly.

A Pokéball flew over towards Espeon and it vanished into the light. Sabrina waved her hand and a second Pokéball flew over towards the battlefield and deployed the next Pokémon.

When I saw her next Pokémon I could not help but curse.

Did I ever mention that clowns can be fucking scary? Maybe it's just me but the entire idea of a painted smile freaks me out more than it should. The only clowns I can stand were Harley Quinn and the Joker. Mr. Mime was not on the list.

Without giving any command, Mr. Mime slapped his two big hands together and generated a swelling orb between his two hands.

The orb was released and launched towards Fay, crackling with energy. It hit her square on the chest and before Fay could even realize what was heading her way she fell on her butt.

Sabrina wasn't going to wait.

Mr. Mime bowed his knees and retracted his fist that began surging with power. He leaped forward and accelerated until it looked like he held a lightning bolt in his fist.

"Counter!" I yelled. already imagining the damage it would do to Mr. Mime.

To my surprise, Mr. Mime shot straight past Fay and landed behind her.

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The energy that crackled around his fist vanished, instead he reoriented himself and once again clapped his two overly large hands together.

Another orb started to generate.

"Fay, use Quick Attack to dodge it!"

Mr. Mime canceled the orb and instead retreated his fist again, the same power that had been put into the orb now transferred to his fist.

"Pullback!" I cried out as I saw Mr. Mime's smile. Fay briefly appeared in front of him but quickly retreated.

Fay patiently stood in front of the clowns, her claws pointed towards the ground.

All the while, Sabrina had not even spoken a single word.

"Telepathy," I grimaced, "She's communicating with Mr. Mime telepathically."

Of course she would, she was a psychic after all and it was her trademark battle style.

Most of the time, Pokémon battles are a game of perfect information, theoretically both parties know what's happening on the battlefield, what command his opponents give and the state of a Pokémon.

Hypothetically, both players should be on equal terms with the only limit being their own knowledge of the moves being used, strategies they thought up and the Pokémon they could use.

Of course in real battles, this isn't always the case but most of the time it does work on some basic level.

Knowing what your opponent is going to do allows you to counter it and vice versa.

Right now, Sabrina dictated the flow of the battle with her little trick. I could only guess what her orders were while she could hear all mine.

Of course two can play that game.

"Fay, we're going dark!" I yelled.

"Seriously?" Fay sighed, "We are doing this?"

I ignored the fact that she rolled her eyes and instead prepared my next order. "Fay whiff a Metal Claw!"

A look of confusion crossed Sabrina's face, she shot me a short glare before looking down at the main event.

Fay zipped towards Mr. Mime in a Zigzag formation, using a combination of Quick Attack and Agility to adjust her speed.

Mr. Mime took a defensive pose and carefully eyed the scenery in front of him, uncertainty was creeping into his stance. Fay suddenly appeared in front of the clown and slashed her claws down on him. The attack didn't connect, instead it bounced off against an invisible barrier that had popped up.

Mr. Mime grinned and stretched his hands out towards Fay.

Too bad.

Fay smiled with anticipation and made a spinning kick. Silver streaks were left in the air and Mr. Mime let out a silent scream.

"What?" Sabrina softly whispered and spoke for the first time in a while.

Whiffing, a technique in fighting games in which you pretend to miss an attack so you can bait your opponent into counter-attacking.

Fay found her opening and lunged forward, two claws dug into Mr. Mime, shoving him backwards.

"Nice, now use your new move!" I said, once again not giving Sabrina a single clue about my next attack.

From her stressed expression, I could see she realized the same thing a second later.

She must have ordered Mr. Mime to keep her distance because the clown did a few somersaults backwards to get away from Fay.

Wrong guess, Fay jumped up and a small blue sphere appeared between her palms.

"Take this!" Fay yelled as she released the small orb.

It traveled towards him, flaring with energy that was all released once it hit Mr. Mime in a small explosion of sand and blue smoke.

The clouds of dust and blue smoke parted, revealing a heavily damaged clown. "Mover into Blaster into Brute!" I countered.

Fay gave me an understanding nod, of course she would, I made sure both my Pokémon understood the class system.

Mr. Mime clawed to his feet while Sabrina clenched her fist.

Multiple barriers appeared around Mr. Mime, hanging in the air like a shield, the only way you could see them was by the light that was reflected.

Fay started with a mover type of attack. A combination of Agility and Quick Attack allowed her to dance around Mr. Mime's fort of invisible shields. She kept zipping around it, following no apparent pattern. She appeared above Mr. Mime but landed onto a barrier, she hit it once and drew his attention upwards. Immediately after that she disengaged with Quick Attack and shot out of it behind him. She leaped into the air but didn't disappear like before. Instead, she used her one and only Blaster type move.

A small aura orb sizzled towards Mr. Mime, leaving a blue afterglow in the air, and slid between the gaps of his invisible fort and exploded. A shockwave of lingering dust clouded our vision once again.

With the sound of shattering glass, the barriers disappeared.

For the final phase, Fay switched to Brute and approached Mr. Mime with a melee attack.

She charged straight towards Mr. Mime and with a spinning kick she hit him in the face. He was thrashed around the battlefield and came to a screeching halt, his body barely able to move.

"Fay aggro him!" I yelled, keeping up the code.

"Not yet!" Sabrina warned me. At the same time, Mr. Mime pulled himself up and disappeared with a flash.

The clown appeared behind Fay and did some weird movements with his hands at an amazing speed. He tapped Fay on the shoulder who only had time to turn around.

A purple smoke began to cover both Pokémon, their bodies encased in this weird dark purple smoke that lingered around them. Fay whimpered as the purple smoke hurt her.

Mr. Mime was also in great pain but only wailed in pain.

Once the smoke vanished, Mr. Mime sucker-punched Fay in the stomach with a glowing fist. She let out a cry as she was hurled away but instead of hitting the ground, she crashed into an invisible barrier.

Her body slumped as she bounced off the barrier and hit the ground. She was no longer moving.

"What the fuck?" I resisted the urge to kick the ugly clown in the face, instead, I recalled Fay, making myself a promise to heal her quickly.

"Pain Split," Sabrina replied smugly.

{That bitch!} Luna cursed, {Let me finish it for you!}

"Go!" I said as I pocketed Fay's Pokéball.

Luna walked towards the battlefield, her eyes glowing with power.

Mr. Mime lunged forward the moment Luna crossed the white line on the ground.

"Screamer!" I simply said.

Mr. Mime stopped dead in his tracks. He fearfully started to look around, confusion visible in his face but with an odd mix of horror.

His body started to tremble and his eyes widened as if looking at a demon,

"What?!" Sabrina cried out undignified when she saw her Pokémon had stopped fighting altogether.

Kirlia slowly walked towards Mr. Mime, every step graceful and with purpose.

Mr. Mime pressed his hands against his ears as if trying to keep out a sound only he could hear. He did not even give Luna a second look as she approached, his body was shaking and his expression frozen in an agonizing scream.

"Come on, snap out of it!" Sabrina gritted her teeth, "She is right in front of you!"

Mr. Mime ignored his trainer completely and kept his ears covered. He was curled up in a ball now, wordlessly screaming in agony.

Luna gave him a disgusted look, her eyes glowing fiercely as she retracted her fist.

{Pathethic.}

Mr. Mime was swept away by the blow that followed, leaving a trail of shattered earth behind him.

Welp, the circus is over.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Sabrina's voice boomed through the room. And someone is pissed.

I shrugged. "A move I invented, now please, your next Pokémon."

Sabrina widely shook her head, "No, I want to know what you just did!"

"Already told you, new move." I insisted.

The friendship meter went from red to black. Maybe I was taking this too seriously but hey, she started it.

Sabrina reluctantly fished a Pokéball out of her dress and returned the creepy clown. With a snarl, she drew another Pokéball and threw it onto the battlefield.

A spoon wielding creature popped out of the Pokéball.

"Alakazam!" it announced violently.

"Watch out Alakazam, she has a weird stunning move," Sabrina hissed. "And keep an eye out for the blue-haired boy, he is an uncertainty."

"Luna Screamer!"

"Detect!" Sabrina furiously yelled.

Alakazam's eyes started to glow at the same time Luna's did.

You can understand my loud groaning when Alakazam didn't drop to the ground screaming his lungs out. Instead, he just stared at Luna with an intense gaze.

Sabrina gasped, "You weaponized telepathy?! That's how you took out Mr. Mime!"

Oohhh fuck, she saw through our trick. Luna grimaced but did not falter, instead she just took a gracious stance and waited for my command.

"Now I understand," Sabrina hissed, "But that won't work anymore. Alakazam cut the telepathic link off!"

"Kazam!" The yellow Pokémon obeyed.

Welp, now that plan could be thrown out of the window, although this battle did help me see the flaws of our new move.

It was a relatively simple technique, establishing a mental link with the target and screaming like a Banshee. It would be the mental equivalent of screaming into someone's ear and since Kirlia didn't use her vocal cords to do it she could theoretically keep it up as long as she wanted if it was not for the fact it drained energy like crazy.

Sabrina grinned victoriously. "Now Alakazam use Telekinesis!"

"Psybeam!"

Alakazam stretched its left hand out towards Luna and she was lifted into the air, force-choke style. Her Psybeam shot into the roof as her balance suddenly shifted.

"Kirlia!" She cried out in surprise.

Without a verbal command, Alakazam slammed Luna into the ground. The sound of the earth shattering underneath her ringed in my ear.

Before Luna could properly regain her senses after hitting the ground she was already lifted up into the air again,

"Disarming Voice!" I cried out.

Luna screeched but it completely missed.

"Do it again." Sabrina said, "One more time and she should be out."

I groaned and cursed as I tried to come up with something that would allow her to escape the Telekinesis.

In my head, I combined attacks and techniques but there was no way Luna could escape her prison, unless...

"Teleport," I said desperately.

Luna winced and twisted her body but she didn't disappear with the usual bright flash, Alakazam's grasp extended to Luna's teleport too.

It was such a bullshit move. Telekinesis had a huge range, too big to get close but Luna could also not even use long ranged attacks because her aim was shit while she was being tossed around like a doll.

Alakazam raised his hand higher and Luna started to rise again, Double Team wouldn't work, Psybeam and Confusion won't hit and Mega Punch couldn't reach Alakazam and the new move Luna had obtained was also completely worthless in this situation.

I sighed.

Even Screamer doesn't work anymore, in every conceivable way we were stuck.

We were checkmated.

{Let me go!} A girl's voice shouted with despair.

Luna's eyes swelled and became red while her two red horns also started to glow as well.

"Now!" Sabrina yelled impatiently.

Alakazam trashed his hand downwards, ready for the finishing blow.

A shouting cry accompanied the motion, Luna screamed from atop of her lungs. Both physically and mentally.

The cry of despair.

Around Alakazam the air began to ripple, like I was looking at the surface of the highway on a hot day. The air around him began to warp and fold like everything was just a mere illusion, and then all the shenanigans stopped.

No longer was Alakazam standing on the shattered surface of the battlefield.

He was surrounded by an endless field that stretched out to all sides, tall lustrous grass reached to his knees and a soft wind whistled a song around him as it swept over the grass.

In the far distance behind Alakazam, I saw even more grassy hills despite the fact that I could clearly see he was still standing in the same room as I was.

Alakazam suspiciously eyed its newly summoned surroundings while Luna still hung suspended in the air. Her eyes and horns were crackling with energy and I had to admit it was almost demonic-looking.

"Alakazam?"

Looking at Alakazam made my entire vision turn haywire, it was like seeing two versions of reality trying to exist in the same space. I saw distant hills but if I focused my eyes a little higher I saw Sabrina.

And as quickly as the landscape had appeared it vanished. A new image surrounded Alakazam, a void so black it was impossible to see depth.

Colorful clouds swirled around him, either far away or extremely small. Tiny specks of light filled the endless darkness like they were stars in a night sky.

It took me a full second to realize what I was seeing; space. It looked like space.

Alakazam's eyes widened and it opened its mouth to scream but no sound came. Instead, he fell forward, a layer of ice creeping onto its yellow skin as its face plunged into the dry earth in front of him.

Luna dropped too, an explosion of sand plumes stirred up and blinded me.

I coughed and squinted my eyes, trying to pierce through the lingering dust.

Once the clouds parted, the void or the grass hills were nowhere to be seen.

I only saw two Pokémon lying on the ground.

Neither got up.