Chapter 124 Pokémon Food, A Different Sabrina
Two days later.
The incredibly prosperous Goldenrod City.
Starting from Vermilion City, Xia Mu and Sonia traveled north on foot without using any transportation, traversing mountains and valleys, only calling out Arcanine when they were tired.
Along the way, they passed many towns and villages, areas not seen in the original anime or games, which also showed Xia Mu how vast the world was, far more complex than he had initially thought.
Thanks to a map and the Rotom Pokédex for navigation, the two took the fastest shortcut; otherwise, it would have been impossible to reach Goldenrod City from Vermilion City in just two days.
In fact, the distance between the two major cities was only a little over a hundred kilometers, not too far.
"Finally, we've arrived in Goldenrod City. This is the great city known as the Golden Land of Kanto. It's indeed even more prosperous than Vermilion City," Sonia said.
Xia Mu nodded: "Golden City is indeed the largest and most prosperous city in the entire Kanto region. However, Vermilion City might not be any worse off now. After all, the port city has been developing rapidly in the past two years, connecting trade between various regions. It's just that those large corporations and financial industry chains have all taken root in Golden City, so its position is unshakeable. If I'm not mistaken, that building should be the headquarters of the famous Silver Corporation..."
"That's the Silver Corporation that manufactured so many advanced gadgets!" Sonia exclaimed, looking in the direction Xia Mu pointed.
"Yes," Xia Mu replied.
The two chatted as they walked.
Given the current situation, Xia Mu couldn't determine the status of the Silver Corporation.
It wasn't mentioned much in the original work, only in the game's plot.
Since it was approaching noon, Xia Mu took Sonia to a nearby restaurant for lunch.
They had spent most of the past two days in the wilderness, staying in hotels in small towns, but eating food they had prepared themselves.
Actually, if Xia Mu were alone, he would have stayed in the wilderness quite casually, but with Sonia, it was different.
Although they had established a basic boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, it wasn't appropriate for the girl, who had just started traveling with them, to immediately experience wilderness survival.
Despite having a tent, sufficient supplies, and the protection of Pokémon to avoid danger, various details were still considered. Therefore, Xia Mu would send out his Arcanine every night to travel to a town inhabited by humans.
Having eaten simple meals prepared by themselves for two days, both Xia Mu and Sonia had a great appetite.
The steak feast in the Pokémon world was far superior to the steak dishes in Xia Mu's previous life.
Of course, perhaps Xia Mu, as an ordinary person in his previous life, would never have been able to taste such exquisite steak.
But it must be said that the food in the Pokémon world was absolutely top-notch; even the ingredients were incomparable.
Although the sign didn't explicitly state it, Xia Mu could guess, after all, he had inherited the original owner's memories and had even seen farms raising Tauros online.
Not all food is from ordinary creatures.
As a Pokémon that doesn't produce fur, especially in this modern world where humans have long since escaped primitive society and no longer need Pokémon like Tauros to plow fields or pull carts, the only purpose of raising Tauros is for food.
Pokémon as food—this is something Xia Mu knew in both his past and present lives.
Cruel?
It certainly seems cruel, but this is the reality of the Pokémon world.
Leaving aside what he learned after transmigrating to this world, just considering what Xia Mu knew in his past life, Farfetch'd was often considered a delicacy in the early generations, as was Magikarp. Although it's all bones and has little meat, it has unique cooking methods. Besides that, there's Slowpoke's tail, Shellder's meat, and even Krabby and Exeggcute were served on the table.
In the early days, there were many quirky settings; not only humans ate them, but a food chain existed among Pokémon.
Later, in the eighth generation, some foods became more clearly defined, such as the Galar region's Iron-Armored Shrimp, the delicious Savannah Bass, and the Padina region's Garlic-Grilled Crab, etc…
…
After the meal, Xia Mu and Sonia emerged from the restaurant, full and satisfied.
With their stomachs full, the next step was to do the second thing upon arriving in Goldenrod City: obtain the third badge.
The only concern is arriving too late and wasting time. Anyway, once you get the badge, you'll have plenty of time to explore.
It's worth mentioning that, unlike in the games, Saffron City only has one gym—the Psychic Gym where Sabrina is located.
The other gym, widely known as the "Fighting-type Gym," is called the Fighting Club.
While you can earn Fighting Badges for successfully challenging it, they don't help you participate in the League Tournament.
The gym owner who founded the Fighting Club is quite talented; he initially wanted to get a piece of the pie, since Saffron City is so large, and there really isn't a Fighting-type gym in the Kanto region, plus he has financial backing.
Unfortunately, the League doesn't approve, even with Fighting champion Shiba as their spokesperson.
The reason is simple: Sabrina's potential is too great, and the League needs a Psychic-type gym more.
In short, Fighting-type gyms can be built anytime, anywhere, because Fighting-type trainers are plentiful, if not everywhere.
However, trainers specializing in Psychic-type Pokémon are incredibly rare, let alone Sabrina, who is a human with Psychic powers. This makes her extremely special, and to the League officials, her value far exceeds that of ten Fighting-type Gym Leaders.
...
Traveling along, the two quickly found the Psychic Gym using the map.
It has to be said, it was completely different from what Xia Mu had imagined.
The original story's scenes were too desolate, even tinged with a sense of dread.
Now, however, it was different. Not only were there a constant stream of people coming and going from the Gym, but Xia Mu and Sonia even saw the Gym Leader, Sabrina, smiling and talking to someone.
[As expected, after Ash cured her psychological problems in the original story, Sabrina completely changed...] Xia Mu thought to himself.
This was indeed a long time after Ash challenged the Gym, so Sabrina's transformation was understandable.
To be honest, when Sabrina first appeared, the sense of oppression she brought was immense. Someone unfamiliar with the story might have thought it was an anime about a horror game, where even living people were turned into rag dolls.
How many boys who aspired to become trainers back then were so frightened by that episode that they had nightmares?
Later, because it was too terrifying, the content was forcibly cut and modified, and the complete version of the story was only released later.
"Is that Gym Leader Sabrina? I didn't expect her to be even prettier than in the photos," Sonia said with slight surprise.
Xia Mu sensed a trap in her words and decided not to comment. "Let's go, my only goal is the badge. Let's get it quickly. Let's have some fun in Goldenrod City today, and then we'll head to Celadon City."
With that, Xia Mu took the initiative to walk forward.
He didn't give Sonia a chance to react. Actually, Xia Mu did think Sabrina was very beautiful.
Since coming to this world, he had seen many beautiful women, but beauties like Sabrina were rare. What was most special was her aura—so pure and unique.
Entering the gym, Xia Mu and Sonia approached Sabrina one after the other.
Because of their abrupt approach, two staff members quickly appeared and blocked them.
After some discussion, Xia Mu and Sonia learned that a promotional shoot was underway to promote the Psychic Gym.
Following the staff's directions, Xia Mu and Sonia finally spotted the hidden camera.
Thankfully, they were stopped, otherwise they would have been considered to be intruding on the camera's view.
There was nothing they could do but wait for filming to finish.
After explaining their purpose to the two staff members, Xia Mu and Sonia were led to a rest area.
Fortunately, no challengers had arrived that afternoon; Xia Mu and Sonia were the first, so after things here were over, Gym Leader Sabrina would personally accept the challenge.
Sitting on the sofa in the rest area, Xia Mu and Sonia chatted casually.
"This woman is very special, very powerful, more than ten times stronger than your Aura!" Mewtwo suddenly spoke, almost startling Xia Mu.
It appeared because it sensed the powerful psychic abilities Sabrina possessed.
For a human to possess such powerful psychic abilities was practically a humanoid Pokémon.
However, Mewtwo was Mewtwo; even though Sabrina's power was immense, in its eyes, it was just average.
Xia Mu was initially surprised by Mewtwo's sudden statement, but otherwise showed little reaction.
If his Aura power could truly compare to Sabrina's, then Sabrina would be far too weak.
She's a genius among geniuses in the field of psychic abilities.
The original story even mentions that ordinary Pokémon can't even compare to Sabrina's power, making her a human weapon of mass destruction.
To put it simply, Sabrina's strength is comparable to a level 30 or 40 Psychic-type Pokémon.
...
After waiting for about half an hour, Sabrina, having finished her work, finally had a moment to catch her breath. However, instead of resting, she proactively came over to greet the challengers.
"I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting. I'm Sabrina, the Gym Leader of the Psychic-type Gym in Goldenrod City. Welcome to challenge the Gym." Sabrina's voice was very gentle, unlike the emotionless portrayal in the original story.
The cold, icy beauty had transformed into a gentle and cute girl.
"Hello, I'm Xia Mu."
"My name is Sonia. Hello, Gym Leader Sabrina."
Xia Mu and Sonia politely stood up and responded.
Sabrina nodded, then smiled and asked, "So, shall we start the gym challenge now? Will it be the two of you together?"
Sonia shook her head, saying, "I'm just accompanying her; he's the one challenging."
"If it's convenient, we can start now," Xia Mu said without hesitation.
Sabrina nodded again, then gave a brief instruction to a staff member before adding, "Then follow me. The gym match is three-on-three, is that alright?"
"Yes," Xia Mu nodded without hesitation.
And so, led by Sabrina, the group entered the large indoor battle arena.
Because it was a public gym challenge, there was no deliberate attempt to conceal their presence, and with many people in the gym, they all became spectators.
Although he didn't yet know how strong Sabrina was, Xia Mu began to worry about her. If he easily defeated her, would it cause her new psychological trauma?
After all, she was a genius; if she were easily defeated in front of so many people, she might lose all her prestige.
"The Gym Challenge between Gym Leader Sabrina and Challenger Xia Mu will now begin. The match will be a three-on-three contest. The match ends when either side's Pokémon is unable to battle... Gym Leader, please send out your first Pokémon." With the referee's announcement, the match officially began.
"My first Pokémon is this one, come out, Alakazam!" The Poké Ball was thrown from Sabrina's hand, a flash of white light, and Alakazam appeared on the stage.
[Alakazam]
[LV: 44]
[Gender: Female]
[Type: Psychic]
[Nature: Timid]
[Ability: Inner Focus (Possesses a trained spirit, will not flinch from an opponent's attack, and remains unmoved by intimidation)]
[Moves: Immobilize, Psychic, Teleport, Spoon Bending, Psychic Beam, Reflect, Switcheroo, Psychic Blade, Recover, Psychic Shock, Psychic Strike, Acting, Precognition...]
[Friendship: 20]
[Emotion: Glad (Finally, another challenger has come)]
...
The level 44 Alakazam truly shocked Xia Mu.
Immediately, Xia Mu guessed that this must be the Kadabra from the original story, which evolved quickly after overcoming its inner conflict.
No wonder the ending was so rushed; otherwise, Ash's chance to defeat Sabrina's Kadabra and obtain her badge would have been a pipe dream.
It's no wonder the gold badge is considered the second most difficult badge to obtain after the green badge.
"My first one is this one, go, Pikachu." Xia Mu smiled gently and patted Pikachu on his shoulder.
'Pikachu!' Pikachu, full of fighting spirit, leaped off Xia Mu's shoulder and onto the arena.
Before this, Xia Mu had always kept Pikachu outside, trying to emulate Ash and experience the feeling of having Pikachu by his side.
And it has to be said, Pikachu did bring him a lot of memories and a sense of accomplishment.
Using Pikachu to fight Alakazam...
to be honest, it felt a bit masochistic, but Xia Mu wasn't sending Pikachu to its death; he had a strategy.
Actually, the level difference isn't that big, because Pikachu's level reached 42 in just over two days.
A two-level difference isn't significant at the level 40. Not to mention, Pikachu's Individual Values (IVs) have been trained, and its Effort Values
(EVs) are maxed out—it's practically a mini-mega-machine!
________________________________________
Can't wait for the next chapter?
20+ advanced chapters are already available on Patreon!
👉 patreon.com/Tanji_Fanfics
________________________________________
(End of Chapter)