Terrance won cleanly, which left Sabrina somewhat dazed.
Ever since she had developed a technique to amplify her Pokémon's strength through psychic power, Sabrina had never lost a serious battle.
But this time, she had the misfortune of running into Terrance, someone with the potential to become one of the new Elite Four and ascend to the very pinnacle of the Trainer world.
After the battle ended, the atmosphere suddenly turned strange. Even Sam, who had wanted to stir up Sabrina's competitive spirit, was taken aback when he saw her expressionless face.
"Did it… go a bit too far?" Sam coughed awkwardly to himself, rubbing the stubble on his face as he tried to clear his head.
Seeing that Sabrina showed no reaction at all, Terrance looked awkwardly toward Mr. Sam. What neither of them knew was that Sabrina was replaying the battle in her mind at that very moment.
Everything that had happened since Haunter and Kirlia's first clash… with her exceptionally powerful psychic power, Sabrina had memorized it all, intact, down to the last detail, and some aspects were even more vivid in her recollection.
As she slowly reviewed the battle, Sabrina finally understood where she had lost. From the very beginning, she had fallen into Terrance's guided trap…
Whoosh!
Just as Terrance noticed a change in Sabrina's expression, a packaged box suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of him and was hurled toward him with a bang.
"Pff."
Catching the box in one swift motion, Terrance felt as if his chest had been struck by a heavy hammer. After fumbling for a moment to steady it, he realized the thing was really quite heavy.
It definitely couldn't be because of the Float Stones' weight… cough, that unscrupulous store must have put all their effort into the packaging.
"I kept three Float Stones. You won the battle, so these are yours," Sabrina said, having returned to her usual expressionless demeanor.
"Then I'll take them," Terrance replied without any pretense. This had been agreed upon beforehand, and he truly was in dire need of Float Stones. With the channels available to him, it had already become extremely difficult to purchase them. Without some special opportunity, collecting enough Float Stones to raise Pupitar and Tyranitar would be very hard, and even if he could, it would take a long time.
Now, with these Float Stones, they would be enough for extended use during the Pupitar stage, as well as to stabilize and properly control the weight during Tyranitar's stage.
"Huh? Where's Sabrina?"
When Terrance glanced at the box and then looked up again, Sabrina had already vanished.
"She just left via Teleport," Mr. Sam said with a dry chuckle. "Still, Gym Leader Terrance, I really didn't expect you to defeat Sabrina so easily. Truly impressive for someone so young."
As Sabrina's father, Sam naturally knew her level of psychic power and strength as a Trainer. In that battle, the overwhelming power Terrance had displayed was terrifying. For a young Trainer to possess such strength was no small feat. There probably weren't many like him in the entire world. Faced with such a youth, Mr. Sam couldn't help but put aside the airs of a senior.
"Miss Sabrina's battle style is extremely special. If she hadn't been held back by Alakazam's relatively low base strength, I probably wouldn't have won so easily," Terrance said.
If Alakazam's base strength had been comparable to Gallade's before Mega Evolution, then after Sabrina's amplification, could Mega Gallade still have won so easily?
And if… Alakazam had Mega Evolved as well, then with Sabrina's amplification on top of that, just how powerful would it have been?
Sabrina's psychic power was clearly far more advanced than his Fairy Mark; even Albus's development of Aura did not reach the level of Sabrina's mastery over psychic power… If he himself could possess such an ability… After a moment of envy, Terrance quickly dispelled that dangerous thought. He was already fortunate enough, asking for more would be greed. Terrance had no intention of suffering the consequences of greed by wasting time studying psychic power, something he had little chance of ever truly mastering.
"After this battle, I believe Sabrina will definitely start taking Pokémon training seriously," Mr. Sam said with a smile as he looked in the direction Sabrina had left. Although Sabrina's own psychic power was extremely strong, this was, after all, an era that belonged to Trainers. As the Gym Leader of Saffron Gym, Mr. Sam hoped that while carrying forward the family's psychic power legacy, Sabrina would also become the greatest Psychic Master in history, or at the very least, surpass that Caitlin from Unova.
Being able to use an outstanding young Trainer like Terrance to motivate Sabrina made Sam feel even more confident that his decision had been a wise one.
After chatting with Terrance for a bit, Mr. Sam learned that Terrance had come to Saffron City to participate in a Pokémon Contest. As the host, he proactively invited Terrance to continue staying at Saffron Gym, saying that there were plenty of empty rooms.
Faced with Mr. Sam's invitation, Terrance flatly declined. Leaving aside the fact that he had already booked a room, living in a place filled with psychics also made him feel rather uneasy.
However… Terrance did say that he would drop by Saffron Gym from time to time.
"What are you up to?" Hearing that Terrance would still come to bother them, Mr. Sam's eyes immediately widened. He had only been making polite conversation. Now, he began to suspect that Terrance had ulterior motives. "You're not interested in my daughter, are you?"
Leaning close to Terrance's ear, Mr. Sam whispered in an odd expression, even covering his mouth with his hand, afraid his voice might be too loud.
Hey!
Terrance hurriedly slapped Mr. Sam's hand away and made a "shh" gesture, saying, "Mr. Sam, you're overthinking it. That's not something you can say casually, I don't want to die young."
"That's good then. I wouldn't want to see such a promising young Trainer die young either," Mr. Sam said with a sigh of relief. If Terrance were ever to stay at Saffron Gym and never make it back, turning into a doll, he could already imagine the massive upheaval that would cause.
Terrance wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as well. Mr. Sam had almost scared him to death. If Sabrina had heard that, wouldn't he have been unfairly targeted?
He was simply interested in Sabrina's theory about the true nature of Float Stones. If Sabrina had made progress in developing Float Stones, wouldn't that mean Pupitar could also gain a new direction for training? The key to deeply studying light and heavy mode, Terrance felt, lay right here with Sabrina.
Hearing Terrance's explanation, Mr. Sam finally smiled awkwardly. "I see. But this training method that relies on Float Stones… you're really quite extravagant. I imagine it must have cost a great deal to develop?"
"I'm not actually sure about that. The training method was given to me by a friend, I only spent resources on putting it into practice," Terrance said.
Terrance's words surprised Mr. Sam a little, but after that initial surprise, he didn't make much of it. A training method centered on controlling body weight was only useful for certain Rock-type Pokémon and had heavy limitations. As a psychic, although he was curious about the true nature of Float Stones, he simply didn't have the same level of talent as Sabrina, nor could he afford to divert his attention and time to researching new abilities.
After confirming a new time for his visit, Terrance asked Mr. Sam to speak with Sabrina in advance, so that he wouldn't be unwelcome when the time came.
"The two of you discussing the true nature of Float Stones together?! I can't say whether Sabrina will agree, but your research materials on Float Stones might indeed interest her," Mr. Sam considered for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
As for Terrance, he took the matter seriously. Though Sabrina was dangerous, rumored to have a split personality, as long as they communicated normally, there shouldn't be any danger… and besides, without entering the tiger's den, how could one become stronger?
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