Saffron City.
The largest city in the Kanto region.
Unlike other places where a seven-story building already counted as "tall," the skyscrapers here started at thirty floors minimum.
The kind that really pierced the sky.
Even the exterior glass walls gleamed gold, dazzling enough to hurt the eyes.
"So… this is a big city," Ash murmured.
Ash and Pikachu tilted their heads back, staring at the towering buildings in shock. After a moment, Ash took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and look like someone who had seen the world.
"Pikachu, this would barely be mid-tier back in Pallet Town."
"Pika. (Totally.)"
Pikachu nodded seriously.
Misty and Brock were city kids too, but compared to Cerulean City and Pewter City, Saffron made those places look like sleepy little towns. They couldn't help clicking their tongues in amazement.
Yet something felt… off.
Either there was a chill crawling up their backs, or it felt like unseen eyes were constantly watching them.
The pressure was intense.
They glanced around, but nothing seemed obviously wrong.
The three exchanged looks and instinctively quickened their pace toward the Pokémon Center.
Saffron City Pokémon Center
Ash handed over all his Pokémon to Nurse Joy for healing.
Then he noticed Brock standing stiffly behind him, frozen like a statue, his gaze locked firmly on the counter.
Ash waved a hand in front of his face.
"Brock? Brock?"
Brock's dark face flushed faintly. His half-open eyes drooped even further, narrowing toward a slit. His expression grew chaotic before he suddenly inhaled deeply, as if struggling his way out of some mental abyss.
He immediately turned his head away from the counter, pressed his palms together, and muttered under his breath:
"Form is emptiness… emptiness is form…"
The yellow-hearted inner demon had come to haunt him again!
Nurse Joy, smiling sweetly: "?"
The other two had no idea what just happened. Given how strange this city felt already, they decided not to dwell on Brock's condition and instead took the opportunity to ask Nurse Joy about Saffron City.
"You're all from out of town, right?" she asked.
Ash and Misty nodded repeatedly. "Yeah, yeah—just passing through."
Nurse Joy's expression turned noticeably more serious.
"Saffron City isn't very peaceful right now. Outsiders need to be especially careful."
She pulled out a city map, drawing a small circle in the northeast and a large circle in the southwest, the two circles touching at one point.
"The small circle up here centers on the Saffron Gym. It used to be a normal Gym, but over the past two years, Gym Leader Sabrina seems to have… changed."
"Her personality has become extreme. When you enter this area—especially near the Gym—you must be very careful."
Ash waved dismissively.
"Hah, what's there to be afraid of?"
From the name alone, she sounded like an ordinary woman. What, was she going to pin him to the ground or something?
"Sabrina isn't someone you want to provoke," Nurse Joy said gravely.
"She's the strongest Psychic-type Trainer in Kanto. You can look up her background and nickname online."
She swallowed before adding:
"Human Weapon."
Five or six years ago, Saffron City actually had two Gyms. The other was a Fighting-type Gym, decent enough to rank mid-tier in Kanto.
But because it was "in the way," Sabrina crushed the entire Gym building into a ball and threw it out of the city.
To this day, the empty lot next to the Saffron Gym remains vacant.
Ash and Misty swallowed hard. Even Ash's expression grew strained.
Truthfully, even Nurse Joy didn't fully understand it herself.
She had worked in Saffron City for years and had met Sabrina often in the past. Back then, Sabrina was cold and distant—but not violent.
Now, she would unleash psychic powers at the slightest disagreement. Hardly anyone dared to provoke her.
Because of that, even the major power down below didn't dare take drastic action against that madwoman.
Nurse Joy shook her head and pointed to the large circle in the southwest.
"This area belongs to Silph Co. The center is Silph Tower—though it'll probably be renamed Rainbow Tower soon. Be careful when entering this district as well."
Ash and Misty nodded.
Silph Co., when you got right down to it, was basically Team Rocket in corporate clothing. Definitely not safe.
"And the point where the two circles meet—that's where we are now."
The two nodded again, silently marveling at how even the Pokémon Center's location seemed to embody yin-yang balance and strategic geomancy.
Whoever designed this city was clearly a master of geometry.
"Then what about these two remaining areas?" Misty asked, pointing to the northwest and southeast corners of the map.
"The northwest is the high-speed rail station, with direct access to Goldenrod City in Johto. The Pokémon League backs it, so neither faction dares touch it."
"The southeast is a newer force that moved in recently—Devon Corporation from the Hoenn region. They dominate Hoenn, but here in Kanto they keep their heads down."
This Nurse Joy was surprisingly well-informed.
Hearing "Hoenn," Ash's body trembled.
Hoenn—the place where Rayquaza (as Caterpie) supposedly roamed everywhere, where tossing a rock could knock one unconscious?
Looks like the outside world really was incredible.
Ash's eyes lit up—but for now, his priority was clear.
Defeating that woman named Sabrina.
"Nurse Joy," Ash asked seriously, "what type does the Saffron Gym specialize in?"
A Trainer capable of throwing half a city into fear wasn't ordinary. This time, Ash planned to fight using type matchups.
"Sabrina is a Psychic," Nurse Joy replied. "So naturally, she uses Psychic-type Pokémon."
She didn't add that Sabrina was arguably the strongest Psychic-type Trainer in Kanto.
Ash scratched his head, thinking hard.
"Psychic-type… I remember Psychic is weak to… Grass, right?"
Looks like this battle would rely on Bulbasaur to turn the tide!
Misty immediately snapped back:
"Idiot! Since when does Grass beat Psychic?!"
"Your Gengar, or those two mutated Pokémon, are the real counters."
And he still claimed he'd memorized the type chart?
Absolutely ridiculous.
Still, Psychic-types were notoriously troublesome.
If the eighteen types were divided into categories, Fire and Dragon were the most overwhelmingly powerful—
Then Psychic and Ghost were the most unpredictable and difficult to deal with.
In some ways, they were the hardest types of all.
Luckily, Ash had options.
Gengar.
The Ghost-type Cubone.
And Butterfree's Bug-type moves.
All effective against Psychic-types.
Thinking about it that way, things didn't look too bad.
Ash scratched his head again, puzzled.
"Wait… I thought I only had one mutated Pokémon. Since when did I have two?"
Misty: "..."
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