This was a threat it had never felt since following Sabrina!!
As the light of the Key Stone flickered and faded on Gallade's head, marking the completion of Gallade's evolution, a rare smile curved at the corner of Sabrina's mouth in response to Gallade's transformation.
"Sabrina… is excited?!"
Mr. Sam was extremely surprised to see the expression on Sabrina's face. Other than psychic power, could there actually be something else that excited her?
"It looks like this battle was absolutely the right choice. Sabrina really should've been exposed to things other than psychic power a long time ago."
Sabrina's specially crafted devices, which amplified her Alakazam, and the newly Mega-Evolved Gallade, both stood where they were, awaiting their Trainers' commands.
From the blade-like arms of Gallade alone, it was clear what its fighting style was.
On Gallade, Sabrina couldn't sense the overwhelming psychic energy like with Kirlia. Gallade's psychic power… didn't fit the definition of a Psychic-type Pokémon.
"Close combat, huh?" Sabrina judged inwardly, just as Terrance broke into a grin.
At that moment, Sabrina suddenly felt a jolt in her heart. There was something she'd overlooked. The instant the battle began, Gallade was already exuding a mysterious aura, fighting power unleashed to the max!!
From the start, Terrance hadn't intended this to be a drawn-out fight. He wanted to go on the offensive, giving Sabrina no time to think, no chance to react!
From the previous match, he had already figured out Sabrina's method for countering Teleport. So this time, he was going to use that very knowledge to launch his assault!
"Gallade!!"
With a snap of his fingers, Terrance sent out a command packed with countless layers of information, which only his Pokémon could understand. The next instant, Sabrina's pupils shrank. She hadn't expected Gallade's Teleport to be even more unpredictable than Kirlia. Whether it was the execution speed or the speed of the spatial jump speed, both were fast to the extreme, theoretically achieving true "instantaneity"!
"This Teleport…" Mr. Sam frowned deeply, feeling at a loss. Even Sabrina's Alakazam didn't have this level of Teleport technique, did it?
"There!!"
Faced with her opponent's surprise assault, Sabrina's psychic power had already locked onto Gallade's emergence point before it even appeared; high above Alakazam's right side, not exactly close, leaving an opportunity to counterattack.
Just as this thought surfaced, Alakazam, who could connect with Sabrina telepathically, immediately understood her intent. It suddenly turned its head and crossed its spoons, ready to unleash a Psybeam, while—
—also leaving itself a way out.
Sabrina's arrangement could be called flawless. From that angle, even if Gallade managed to dodge Alakazam's attack, there was no way it could avoid Alakazam's second strike. And even if Gallade attacked from that position, Alakazam could escape unscathed.
In an instant, Sabrina had completed a complex prediction.
By all appearances, Sabrina was in an invincible position. However, just as Alakazam's spoons successfully crossed and Gallade's figure began to materialize, Sabrina suddenly snapped back to her senses.
She'd been tricked.
A Gallade that specializes in physical strength, how could it possibly attack from such a distance?
If Kirlia could use Synchronoise, why save it for the very end?
"So you figured it out." Seeing Sabrina's expression change, Mr. Sam thought to himself. If there was a move like Synchronoise, yet Terrance saved it for the final moment, then Sam was now certain Terrance had wanted to use the earlier battle to observe Sabrina's style. Otherwise, with Terrance and Kirlia's abilities, they could have ended the fight with Haunter at the very beginning. Although Terrance was clearly scheming, Sam did not reveal anything unusual, showing no outward sign at all. In fact, he was rather pleased to see his daughter, who relied so much on psychic power, get a taste of defeat.
Focused solely on controlling her Pokémon with her own psychic power, Sabrina clearly hadn't anticipated Terrance's little scheme.
Now, as Alakazam was about to attack, Sabrina finally snapped out of it. She quickly ordered Alakazam to cancel the attack and Teleport away immediately, but… Gallade was even faster!
Just as its body started to appear, Gallade vanished again, a second Teleport, with almost zero interval, as if it were literally jumping through space!
"How is this possible? Teleport can actually…" As a master of psychic power and an expert in training Psychic-type Pokémon, Mr. Sam himself had trained in Teleport, with a proficiency surpassing even some Pokémon. But this kind of Teleport, he had never seen before!
Not only did it consume almost no energy, it also contained astonishing technique. Like this back-to-back Teleport, something he had never witnessed. Did this Gallade not even need to prepare beforehand to use Teleport?
Seeing this seemingly instinctual Teleport, even Sabrina panicked for a moment.
"Of course, with Mega Evolution, totem aura, and Gallade's own mastery of Teleport… when all miracles come together, victory is mine."
Terrance calmly watched as Alakazam gathered massive energy on its spoons. If that Psybeam had been unleashed, Terrance believed it would have been a terrifying strike. It contained not only Alakazam's power but was also boosted by Sabrina's psychic power and the special device she had created. Only Sabrina herself probably knew how powerful that amplification was.
But Alakazam had no chance.
Gallade's speed surpassed even the speed at which Alakazam could cancel its move. Even as Gallade's sword-drawing technique swung out, Alakazam was still dissipating its gathered power.
"Nice reaction."
As Gallade's Night Slash swept out in a burst of black light, it wasn't the instant knockout Terrance expected. Thanks to Sabrina's intervention, Alakazam managed at the last possible moment to channel its remaining energy into its spoons and block the attack.
At this moment, Sabrina's eyes were filled with vast and incomparably deep psychic energy. Her hair began to float as well. Her intervention was even stronger than before to block this strike!
"Although you reacted well and actually managed to block Mega Gallade's finishing blow, it would have been better to just teleport Alakazam away, because this attack isn't over yet." Terrance seemed to have anticipated this. In the next instant, Gallade's black blade faded, replaced by a surge of yellow light.
The Dark-type Night Slash move was instantly converted into the Bug-type Fury Cutter!!
With its energy-switching technique and Splitting Waterfall technique unleashed, in the next moment, Sabrina and Alakazam both felt an endless pressure coming from Gallade's blade!
Boom!!!
Under the combined force of Fury Cutter and Splitting Waterfall, Alakazam's spoons were sent flying, and Gallade's blade continued on to strike Alakazam directly, effortlessly shattering the Confusion shield protecting it!!!
"I… lost?"
Staring at her Alakazam flying backward and losing consciousness, Sabrina returned to normal, her expression dazed.
"That's right, you lost." Mr. Sam spoke slowly, announcing the result of the battle, then walked over and said, "You lost because of your psychic power. Relying too much on it led to your defeat. If you had carefully observed the situation, the outcome might have been different."
Terrance recalled Gallade and looked at Sabrina. Sabrina's Alakazam wasn't that strong, just entry-level for the Champion League, but with Sabrina's amplification, it had Elite Four-level destructive power. That alone was proof of Sabrina's strength, but… it didn't guarantee victory in every battle she participated in.
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