In front of the armchair, Sabrina, holding the little girl doll, completely ignored the look Aomori had cast her way. She slowly floated up and settled beside him.
Aomori lowered his head, subtly shifted his stance, and stood one step behind her.
At that moment, Ash and his friends finished celebrating, recalled Charizard, and pointed a finger at Sabrina, declaring, "I defeated Aomori! Now it's your turn."
"Hmph!" Sabrina scoffed. "Don't mistake me for an opponent at his level, or you'll regret it. Come out, Kadabra!"
Kadabra appeared, holding its two spoons and looking at Ash with an insightful gaze.
"I will definitely defeat you. I choose you, Haunter!" Ash threw out a Poké Ball, sending out a purple, floating Pokémon.
"Oh?" This Pokémon surprised Aomori again. He had actually captured Haunter. Will I still get to see the famous scene, then? Aomori felt a sense of worry.
"A Ghost-type Pokémon?" Sabrina frowned, knowing that Ghost-type was super effective against Psychic-type.
"Ghehehehe!" Haunter laughed strangely. The moment it emerged from the Poké Ball, its body vanished.
"Where is it?" Sabrina and Kadabra looked left and right but couldn't locate Haunter.
"Heh heh heh." Ash scratched his nose, saying proudly, " Haunter, use Lick on Kadabra!"
Haunter appeared on Kadabra's right side, sticking out its large tongue.
"Kadabra, use Teleport to dodge!" Kadabra, whose guard was fully up, immediately used Teleport the instant it spotted Haunter, narrowly escaping the large tongue.
Seeing the attack miss, Haunter cackled and then retracted its form again.
A red light flashed in her eyes. Sabrina activated her psychic power and finally saw Haunter's silhouette—it was right in front of her.
Sure enough, the next second, Haunter materialized in front of her, pulling its own cheeks and making a scary face.
Sabrina remained unfazed, glancing at it calmly. "Pokémon are not allowed to attack the Trainer."
"I know that." Ash was also confused and quickly called out to Haunter, "Come back and attack Kadabra!"
Beside Ash, another Haunter manifested its body and held out its hands in a shrug.
"Huh? Why are there two Haunter?" Ash looked left and right before confirming that the one by his side was the one he had caught. "Is the Haunter over there the one I encountered initially? Did it follow me back?"
Sabrina looked expressionless: "Using two Pokémon is against the rules."
"It's not that! It's not my Pokémon," Ash explained.
While they were talking, the Haunter in front of Sabrina took a wire-fused bomb out of its mouth.
"Look out!" Ash and his friends immediately shouted.
Aomori, however, had already backed far away.
Before Sabrina could react, the bomb exploded with a loud bang.
The dust cleared, revealing Sabrina, the little girl doll, and Haunter, all dirty but unharmed.
The woman and the Ghost looked at each other for two seconds. Sabrina's lips suddenly curled upward slightly, and the curve grew wider and wider. Finally, she covered her stomach and burst into loud laughter.
"That's a weird sense of humor," Aomori shook his head, snapped his fingers, and Darkrai, who was in the shadow, understood. It drilled out, took the Portable Camcorder from his hand, found the perfect angle, and click, pressed the shutter.
In the resulting photo, a dirty but beautiful girl was smiling radiantly.
Afterward, Ash won without a fight, earning the Marsh Badge and simultaneously "saving" the "withdrawn girl" Sabrina and the "captured" Aomori.
The baseball cap-wearing man also appeared at the right time. He saw his smiling daughter and shed tears.
With his daughter's "heart closed," the three of them could live happily together again.
Ash invited Aomori to travel with him, but Aomori politely declined. Ash, Brock, and Misty had no choice but to continue their journey.
This part of the story concluded, and Aomori and his three little darlings threw themselves back into the tense and exciting move-learning regime.
Ten days later, in the training room, Pidgeot was frowning as if constipated, but nothing was happening around it.
"Pidgeot, still no progress?" Aomori asked.
"Bii." Pidgeot shook its head.
It was trying to learn Substitute but couldn't grasp the core principle.
Absol had long given up on this move, focusing instead on Future Sight, but it too had hit a bottleneck.
Meanwhile, Darkrai was sparring with an identical Pokémon, which was actually a Substitute clone condensed from its own Dark-type energy.
'It seems there are differences in natural talent among Pokémon as well,' Aomori mused inwardly.
Darkrai found every move easy to pick up. In this short time, it had learned five moves, more than Absol and Pidgeot combined.
Is that the power of a Legendary Pokémon?
However, Aomori believed that Absol and Pidgeot's talents were also high. Perhaps their levels weren't high enough, or the learning method wasn't suitable.
"Take your time, Pidgeot, don't rush," Aomori comforted the dejected bird. "Do you remember when I first met you, you were fighting a fierce storm? You must really enjoy the wind's embrace, right?"
Pidgeot thought for a moment and nodded.
Aomori was also studying Substitute, but because his control over Thunder and Holy Light energy was insufficient, he couldn't create a complete clone.
Based on his and Darkrai's experience, Pidgeot likely lacked control over the energy within its body.
"Then why don't you try flying in the sky now, to feel the power of the wind more deeply? This might help you master Flying-type energy," Aomori suggested.
"Bii!" With a concrete plan, Pidgeot's fighting spirit returned. It nodded at Aomori, expressing its willingness to try outside.
Aomori recalled it to its Poké Ball, intending to release it once they were outside.
Pidgeot perked up, spread its wings, and flew into the sky. It closed its eyes, concentrating on feeling the resonance between the wind and the energy within itself.
Watching it get on track, Aomori breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the training room.
Next, he needed to ask Sabrina for tips on learning Future Sight.
Being a good Trainer is really not easy.
Aomori was simultaneously pained and happy.
Another month passed in the blink of an eye.
During this month, Aomori remained at the Saffron Gym. Besides handling a few challenges from novice Trainers, he was immersed in special training.
He and his three Pokémon had made significant progress.
Aomori mastered Confusion, Reflect, and Hypnosis.
Absol mastered Reflect, Rain Dance, Sunny Day, and Protect. As Sabrina had mentioned, its mental power was not yet sufficient to learn Future Sight.
Pidgeot learned Steel Wing, Brave Bird, Substitute, and Agility.
Darkrai learned Reflect, Hyper Beam, Substitute, Psychic, Dream Eater, Teleport, Meditate, and Rest.
Now, Aomori, having initially met his expectations, prepared to tender his resignation to Sabrina. The search for the pseudo-Legendary Pokémon had been fruitless, and after deducting the reserved 50,000 Points, his remaining Points were only enough for him to stay in the dungeon for ten more days.
He wanted to spend these ten days finding his fourth partner.
With the help of Kayaba Akihiko, Aomori had tentatively identified a few targets and was waiting to check them out one by one.
Having made up his mind, he went to Sabrina's office and knocked on the door.
A moment later, the door opened, and two men in sharp suits walked out. Aomori and the men discreetly glanced at each other.
As they passed, Aomori lightly stomped his foot, and the shadow behind him quietly attached itself to the shadow of one of the men.
Chuckling softly, he stepped into the office and saw Sabrina in deep thought, a noticeable air of conflict around her brow.
"Who were those two?" he asked casually.
"Team Rocket members. They wanted to invite me to join them," Sabrina answered without concealment.
"Oh?" Aomori pulled up a chair and sat down, looking directly into her bright eyes. "Team Rocket has deep pockets, and they have people in the League. It would be easier to acquire resources if you joined them. What are you conflicted about?"
"My psychic power tells me that Team Rocket is not simple and has grander ambitions. I don't want to get involved." Sabrina was not overly competitive; she just wanted to protect her Saffron Gym and enhance her psychic abilities.
"Then just refuse. Don't tell me you're afraid of them."
"I'm not afraid of anyone, but it will be troublesome. In Saffron City, it's very easy for them to cause problems for me."
"What do you intend to do?"
"Falsely agree to join them, maintain distance, destroy any cooperation documents when necessary, and get out in time."
"That's a very good plan." Anyone who can manage a Gym of this size is certainly not simple. Aomori sincerely praised her in his heart and offered a small suggestion: "I know there are forces within the League who want to overthrow the behemoth that is Team Rocket. You might want to hold onto any criminal evidence you collect from Team Rocket and report it when the time is right."
"I understand."
Their eyes met, and a feeling of mutual respect arose between them.
"Oh, right. I'm leaving here," Aomori said, turning his head to look at a large vase in the room.
"Hmm?"
"I plan to travel elsewhere and catch powerful Pokémon."
"Oh."
"Keep looking for those three Pokémon. I might be back to claim them soon."
"Don't worry, I won't forget my promise."
After a moment of silence, Aomori stood up, walked to the door, twisted the handle, and stepped out, leaving one final word.
"Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
Looking at the empty room, Sabrina touched her cheek, then flashed to the rooftop. She saw Pidgeot spreading its wings and flying away, along with the gradually disappearing figure of the man on its back.
"Tell me, you won't forget your promise either, will you?"
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You can read the ahead chapter on Patr-eon if you're interested: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]