Chapter 125 Sabrina's Psychic Power: Psychological Warfare
. Pikachu versus Alakazam—such a match is truly rare.
Not only had the spectating trainers never seen anything like it, but Sabrina herself was also somewhat surprised.
However, through Pikachu, Sabrina involuntarily recalled that boy from the past.
"It's really nostalgic, isn't it? You must feel the same way, right, Alakazam?" Because of the connection of their psychic powers, Sabrina and Alakazam were connected in spirit.
'Hoo~ Alakazam~~!' (Yes, Master, so much time has passed without me realizing it. How is Ash doing now? Has he collected all eight badges?)
Alakazam's words were heard not only by Sabrina, but also by Natsume and Pikachu, though none of them responded with "uh-huh."
As a clone of Pikachu, although the memories weren't shared, there was still some influence.
Pikachu had already guessed that the original had challenged this gym in the past and had also fought against Alakazam.
'Pika~ Pikachu!' "(This isn't the time for nostalgia, let's fight!)"
Pikachu's fighting spirit was high, clearly eager to show off.
Sensing Pikachu's fighting spirit, Sabrina and Alakazam became serious: "Then let's go, show us what you've got!"
With that, Natsume smiled slightly and said, "Exactly! Strike first, Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"
"Pikachu!!!!" A powerful surge of electricity accompanied by a loud cry was released.
Golden lightning, like a thunder dragon, rushed towards Alakazam with astonishing power.
This move was a direct attack.
Sabrina remained calm, and Alakazam was even more composed.
"Teleport." The moment Thunderbolt was close, Sabrina gave the command.
In an instant, Alakazam's two spoons emitted a flash of light and vanished before Thunderbolt struck.
"Boom!!!" Thunderbolt struck the ground, creating a powerful explosion.
"That's some strength? That's quite an impressive Pikachu," Sabrina praised, then gave a command to the air, "Alakazam, use Psychic!"
'Alakazam!' Alakazam hovered in the sky.
With its two spoons crossed, a beam of Psychic energy shot out.
"Just Psychic! Dodge with High Speed Shift," Xia Mu said with a light smile, easily giving the order.
Pikachu suddenly emitted a dazzling white light, then darted out like a phantom.
Having dodged the Psychic, Xia Mu shouted again, "Use Electric Terrain to cover the entire arena!"
'Pikachu!!' Pikachu stopped and let out a fierce cry.
Then, dense electricity emanated from Pikachu, quickly covering the entire arena in an electric field.
This Electric Terrain move can keep ground-based Pokémon awake for five turns—a basic feature of the game. Most importantly, within Electric Terrain, the power of Electric-type moves is increased.
"Unfortunately, even with the ground covered by Electric Field, Alakazam can stay in the sky indefinitely."
Sabrina's words quickly brought a peculiar smile to Xia Mu's lips.
"My goal was simply to prevent your Alakazam from returning to the ground. I thought it would take some effort, but your Alakazam just went straight into the sky. Pikachu, use Electric Shock!"
In the game, Electric Terrain amplifies the power of Electric Discharge.
The same applies in the real world, only the effect is far more absurd, especially in terms of attack range.
For example, Pikachu's Electric Discharge, which normally only causes damage to a small area, now affects everyone within the Electric Terrain range, whether on the ground or in the air.
"What?!" Sabrina exclaimed, feeling the power of the Electric Discharge.
She never expected Pikachu to use Electric-type moves like that.
Alakazam in the sky, having underestimated Pikachu and thinking it was safe in the air, was hit hard.
"If it were an outdoor arena, at a higher distance, Electric Discharge wouldn't be effective," Xia Mu casually explained, also to warn the spectators not to copy everything
he said. After all, this was indoors, with limited height, which is why it had such an unexpected effect.
Outdoors, Flying-type Pokémon could react quickly and climb higher to avoid it.
"Amazing, I learned something too, even though I'm not an Electric-type Pokémon Trainer." Sabrina smiled gently, then relaxed and said to Alakazam, who had shaken off the electric shock, "We can't be too passive. Alakazam, since our opponent is so strong, we should show our true strength."
'Alakazam!!' Alakazam let out a defiant cry.
Seeing this, Sabrina smiled and commanded, "Psychic!"
'Alakazam!!' A dazzling white light flashed in Alakazam's eyes, its powerful psychic ability erupting, and its spoons bent and changed shape.
"I've been waiting for you, Pikachu, Light Screen!" Xia Mu commanded at the same time.
Almost instantly, Pikachu on the ground, having just completed the Light Screen, was swept away by a powerful pressure, its entire body losing control and being forcibly squeezed, causing it to cry out in pain.
Under Alakazam's control, Pikachu was propelled into the air and then crashed heavily to the ground.
Even with Light Screen reducing the damage, it will still cause significant trauma. Psychic attacks are difficult to defend against unless you can't catch it. Xia Mu thought to himself.
The idea was simple and effective, but given Pikachu's level and speed, without skill enhancements, it's still quite different from Alakazam. Even though their speeds differ, with Pikachu having an advantage in agile movement, Xia Mu felt that unless it was a Pikachu with high-speed movement, it wouldn't be able to evade Psychic.
Many thoughts arose in his mind, and Xia Mu quickly came up with a new idea.
"Your Pikachu is really well-trained, but that's enough for now, Alakazam, Psychic Blade." Sabrina gave a compliment before issuing another command.
Seemingly gentle and quiet on the surface, she actually revealed a competitive spirit hidden deep within Xia Mu.
"You think you can just finish off Pikachu like that? Not yet! Shadow Clone!" Seeing the materialized psychic blade sweeping down, Xia Mu immediately commanded Pikachu to dodge.
Unlike turn-based battles in games, Shadow Clone is far more effective in actual combat.
In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen Pikachu figures appeared on the field. Even though nearly ten of them were breached by Psychic Blade, Pikachu evaded the attack.
"Thunderbolt!" Without hesitation, Pikachu continued its attack, giving another command in its mind.
It was all about psychological warfare; he didn't believe Sabrina wouldn't secretly give Alakazam commands.
"Pikachu!!" Pikachu let out a powerful, defiant shout.
A powerful Thunderbolt swept out, shooting straight into the sky.
"Useless. Attacks at that speed can't hit my Alakazam," Sabrina said with a smile.
While she was speaking, Alakazam used Instant Transmission to dodge the Thunderbolt attack.
This move, which was only used outside of combat in the game, became an absolute cheat code for Psychic-type characters in the real world.
Honestly, this move is extremely rare in the game; who would waste a slot setting it up? Very few.
However, Xia Mu already has a strategy.
Since Sabrina is so confident, let her be even more confident.
The key to victory often lies in the final moment.
When Alakazam appeared, Xia Mu's eyes narrowed, and he feigned a shout: "Now! Another Electric Shock!"
With a shout, Pikachu responded swiftly.
Sabrina seemed to have anticipated this: "This move is indeed troublesome. Even though you've told me how to counter it, the indoor space is still insufficient. However, Alakazam, use Protect!"
As her voice fell, Xia Mu saw Alakazam use Protect.
He had seen Alakazam's move list before, so this move wasn't surprising at all.
Electric Shock was blocked by Protect, and Xia Mu's eyes narrowed slightly, a smirk playing on his lips.
It was just a feint. While everyone was blinded by the electric shock and unable to look directly at it, Pikachu had already begun its high-speed movement, escaping everyone's sight.
Sabrina had been subtly directing from the shadows, so Xia Mu also used Aura to give ambiguous commands.
Quick Attack!
This wasn't an ordinary Quick Attack, but a Quick Attack imbued with electricity, possessing immense power.
During their journey, Xia Mu experimented with Pikachu, discovering many complementary moves.
For example, after using Agility to increase speed, a sudden, preemptive Quick Attack could be used.
This was definitely feasible and very powerful.
Then, they experimented further. Since single-move switching was fundamental, Xia Mu had Pikachu move at high speed while its body was covered in electricity, followed by Quick Attack.
This created a true Quick Attack! It
resembled the Electric-type's powerful Volt Attack, except this move didn't damage the user, and its power level didn't reach 120.
It could be considered a prototype.
Of course, with the added boost from Electric Terrain, this move's power level would definitely exceed 100.
In an instant, to everyone's astonishment, Pikachu shot into the sky like a bolt of lightning, giving no one a chance to react.
Under Sabrina's shocked gaze and Alakazam
's astonished stare, a deafening explosion resounded.
Pikachu slammed into Alakazam, sending it flying several meters before finally collapsing from the sky, exhausted.
While Pikachu was somewhat injured upon landing, Alakazam was completely knocked to the ground, its body crackling with electricity. It
was not only unable to battle but also paralyzed.
"Alakazam is unable to battle, Pikachu wins. Gym Leader Sabrina, please switch to your second Pokémon," the referee announced, declaring the winner of the first round. A gasp swept through
the arena.
Sabrina had initially held the advantage, but the tide had turned dramatically.
Sonia, initially worried for Xia Mu that he might lose, was also amazed by the outcome.
In truth, the audience was largely confused.
Only Xia Mu and Sabrina understood that both had been taking advantage of each other.
At this moment, Sabrina's smile brightened: "Xia Mu, you also have psychic powers, can you communicate telepathically with Pokémon?"
As she spoke, Sabrina recalled Alakazam into its Poké Ball.
Xia Mu smiled slightly and said, "My ability isn't a psychic power, but it's similar; you could call it Aura."
"Aura? I seem to have heard of it. So it seems you saw through my telepathic communication with Alakazam all along and secretly gave me commands." Sabrina said, taking out a second Poké Ball.
Xia Mu didn't hide anything and nodded directly: "Before challenging you, I heard a bit about you. To deal with a psychic gym leader like you, I naturally need to use some special methods, to fight fire with fire. Otherwise, winning this battle will indeed require a lot of effort."
"I see. I was careless. But not in the second match. My second one is this: Go, Mr. Mime!"
With a burst of white light, Mr. Mime appeared on the arena.
As a domesticated Pokémon in the Kanto region, it's rare to find one trained to be used in battle.
Mr. Mime's base stats aren't actually low, at 460 points, and with its Psychic and Fairy type, it has extremely high training value.
[Mr. Mime]
[LV: 42]
[Gender: Female]
[Type: Psychic, Fairy]
[Nature: Modest]
[Ability: Filter (reduces the power of an effective attack)]
[Moves: Slap, Encore, Wide Guard, Power Swap, Guard Swap, Mimic, Quick Guard, Baton Pass, Psychic, Role Play, Protect, Recycle, Psychic Beam, Mimic, Light Screen, Reflect, Safeguard, Sucker Punch, Psychic…]
[Friendship: 20]
[Mood: Serious (It's my turn, which means Alakazam lost)]
…
Looking closely at Mr. Mime's level stats, especially the move list, Xia Mu was somewhat shocked.
A bunch of support and status moves—she really didn't know how Sabrina had trained it.
The only strange thing is that she doesn't know a single Fairy-type move.
This is probably because the power of Fairy-type moves isn't widely known, so even a genius like Sabrina doesn't know how to develop it.
Even if the Pokémon themselves know they possess that power, they probably don't know how to channel and utilize it.
Speaking of which, Xia Mu remembers that Mr. Mime has a powerful move called Dazzling Gleam.
"Are you going to switch Pokémon next?" Sabrina didn't rush to attack but instead asked Xia Mu.
Very polite, very ladylike. "Of course, Pikachu is no l
onger suitable for battle
." Xia Mu nodded, called Pikachu back, and told it to go rest with Sonia.
This was essentially telling Sabrina that Pikachu wouldn't be used anymore; one battle at a time.
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(End of Chapter)