Chapter 27:  Mind and Muscle (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

In the morning, Abby and I ate in the Pokémon Centre with the Pokémon.  
I had already traded my Pidgeotto for my reliable Electabuzz.  
Since Abby didn’t seem to have a sponsor, I never saw her switching Pokémon but 
she had a balanced team:  A Pikachu, a Vulpix, a Clefairy, a Rhyhorn and a 
Hypno to my knowledge.  
She had decided to join me on my journey, and I could use a friend, she wasn’t 
the most talkative nor excited people but I didn’t mind.  
I used to think of her as cold and dark but she showed on many occasions that 
she was capable of good and of helping others, that made her different from 
cold-hearted people.  
Suddenly I heard a familiar shouting from outside.  
“Excuse me Abby.” I said.  
I ran outside and as I thought, Chad was there, shouting at a new Pokémon.  
“Chad!” I shouted.  
“Hey Tet’, just the person, I need someone to battle.” he replied.  
“Whoa whoa whoa Partner, how are you? What have you been doing?” I asked 
eagerly.  
“Training my Pokémon and I’d be glad to show you how much I’ve learned.” he 
said confidently reaching out with a firm grip on his Pokéball.  
“Sure thing.” I replied, “A three-on-three warm up before I take on the Gym 
Leader.”  

“GO HYDRO!”  
“Go Spectre!”  
“Wartortle!”  
“Hau ha ha ha!”  
“Hey your Squirtle evolved!” I cheered.  
“And you’ve got yourself a cool Ghost Pokémon.” he congratulated.  
“Spectre, use your Night Shade!”  
“WITHDRAW AND USE YOUR BUBBLE ATTACK!”  
The blast of dark matter hit the shell, then Chad’s Wartortle shot forward and 
unleashed a flurry of powerful bubbles.  
Spectre floated back shielding its face.  
“Lick!” I ordered.  
“WASH ITS MOUTH OUT WITH WATER GUN!” shouted Chad in his usual fashion.  
Spectre was treated to a large drink, and in true comedy style, his cheeks 
expanded, but it soon became too much and he started to choke.  
It was funny, I was sure Chad would try to use Normal-type moves, he must have 
studied.  
“Return Spectre.  So...  You’ve been studying...” I said proudly.  
“You didn’t think I would?” laughed Chad.  
“Go Shockwave! Thunderbolt attack!” I said throwing his ball.  
“Bllaaabbbuzzzz!!!” he yelled, shocking the Water Pokémon.  
“An Electric-type, eh?...  For that I’ll use Boulder!” said Chad switching 
Pokémon quickly.  
“GRAVELER!”  
I was impressed, Chad was also training hard enough for his Pokémon to evolve, 
Boulder looked really impressive now.  
“BOULDER! HARDEN AND THEN USE ROCK THROW!”  
“Shockwave! Screech and then use Mega Punch!”  
His screeching lowered the defense more than Boulder could raise it, he leapt 
onto the rock that came at him and leapt at Boulder, then he jabbed the 
Graveler many times before punching it back.  
I couldn’t use Electric attacks and unfortunately, Boulder’s Rock side gave it 
extra defense against Normal attacks.  
“Seismic Toss!” I shouted, and Chad grinned.  
“FINISH IT UP WITH YOUR EXPLOSION!”  
“Oh... no.” I groaned.  
A huge explosion surrounded the two and both fell unconscious.  
The noise alerted Abby and she ran out expecting danger, she relaxed upon 
seeing us battle and sat down to watch.  
“You managed to teach him its most powerful attack.  Good work Chad.” I 
congratulated.  
“Glad to hear you of all people saying that.” grinned Chad confidently.  
“Choose your last Pokémon well Chad, cos I’ve got another Pokémon you haven’t 
seen.” I said confidently drawing the last ball.  
“Me too.” he replied.  
“Freefreeee!!!” shouted Flutter.  
“Psyduck.” said Chad’s new Pokémon.  
It wasn’t a very smart looking Psyduck, it was locked in a strange stare and it 
was holding its head.  
“Chad, is this some sort of joke?” I asked.  
“Of course not! Headache’s gonna beat you and evolve!”  
“O-Kay...  Flutter, start off with your Tackle!”  
He dived down and smacked the Psyduck on the way.  
“Yeah...  Yeah...  Just a little more...” muttered Chad.  
“Huh?” I questioned, he Wanted me to hit it, I looked at it and it looked like 
its head hurt.  
Just to be safe, I wouldn’t damage it until it was restrained.  
“Flutter, Sleep Powder attack!”  
“No! No! No! You’ll never win like that!” shouted Chad.  
His outburst made it clear that his Psyduck had something shady about it.  
“Finish it off, Psybeam!”  
“Freeee!!!”  
The beam shot from his antennas and blasted the Psyduck with the Psychic-type 
attack.  

“You’ve gotten better Chad, but keep working.  What’s with that Psyduck 
anyway?” 
I asked after the battle.  
“Its a rare one, until its headache grows strong its really pathetic, but when 
it does, it gets amazing psychic powers and a whole new personality.  I was 
hoping it’d win and evolve so I could use it in the Fighting Championship.” 
explained Chad.  
“Fighting Championship?” I questioned.  
“Its a cool event, you pick out your strongest Pokémon, then have it battle in 
four rounds, if you win all of them, then you get a mystery prize.  You’ll 
compete won’t you?”  
“Um, sure, sounds like fun, but first I’ve got a Gym Battle to win.” I 
replied.  
“Here? Do yourself a favour, don’t think any shady thoughts while in there.  
The Fighting Championship begins tonight at five.  Don’t be late.”  
He recalled his Psyduck and went towards a solitary area to train.  

“Abby...” I said simply as I returned to her.  
“Won another battle? You never lose do you?” said Abby.  
“Well, I try not to.” I replied, “Is it okay if I take the Gym Challenge first? 
I promised my friend Chad that I’d compete in the Fighting Championship 
tonight.”  
“The loudmouth with the ditsy Psyduck? I’m sure you’ll win that as well.”  
It sounded like an annoyed tone but perhaps it was her way of complimenting 
me.  
“So, I’ll go now and then you go afterwards and maybe you can come watch me?” I 
asked feeling hopeful.  
“Just try to stop me.”  
A strange reply, perhaps what Emily once told me was true, that I brought out 
the best in people...  But I really messed things up with her, I wondered where 
she was now...  

I reached the Gym and the door opened immediately, swinging outwards, 
surprising me and making me fall to the floor.  
“Scott!” I shouted.  
“Huh? Oh, you again.” he replied simply, not stopping his walk from the Gym.  
“Had a Gym Battle, huh? Did you win?”  
He smirked, chuckled and then just walked away without saying a word.  
“I hate him...” I said moments later.  

I entered the strange looking Gym, the interior seemed liked a palace, but it 
was a haunting atmosphere.  
“Vot do you vant?” asked a man with spiky auburn hair in a white scientist-like 
suit and wearing a cloth around his mouth.  
“I’m here to challenge the Saffron City Gym Leader.” I replied.  
“Come vith me...” he said and walked towards a long large hall.  
On the way we passed several rooms, people were playing with strange cards and 
holding spoons.  
“There haff been a lot of people vinning badges here surprisingly, and there 
haff been some people saying that Mistress Sabrina has lost her edge.  Don’t 
you dare judge her, she is by far the most powerful Gym Leader and those people 
just got lucky, okay?”  
“Sure, whatever you say.” I said a little nervously.  
The doors opened and I stepped through, the doors shut behind me with a hollow 
clang.  
I looked ahead at the opposite side of the arena and a dark figure sat on a 
throne, she had long green hair and wore a smart red uniform and skirt, she 
also had black gloves and boots and her eyes seemingly glowed in the darkness 
at the end of the room.  
“Hmmmm, your ex was here a couple of days ago, you really shouldn’t have lied 
to her.” she said.  
“How dare you! I see you two have had a good long talk...” I said annoyed.  
“No, no.  She didn’t say a thing.” replied Sabrina.  
The only explanation was that she read my mind.  
“Stop that! I’m-”  
“Tetsubo Capture of Fuchsia City, I know.” she interrupted.  
“Stop reading my mind, that’s cheating!” I shouted.  
“I never look into my opponent’s minds during a battle, I have to concentrate 
on my Pokémon, high level Psychic Pokémon require a good mind to control them.” 
Sabrina explained calmly.  
“That’s good.” I said thinking of my advantages.  

“Three-on-three battle, Go Kadabra.”  
“I choose you Flutter!”  
“Freee! Freee!!!”  
“Ku-dabra!”  
“Flutter, start off with your Stun Spore!”  
“Confusion.”  
The dust hit a barrier and subsided.  
“Dive down and Tackle it!”  
“Another Confusion.” said Sabrina calmly.  
“Counter it with your Confusion!” I intervened.  
The blasts coincided but the Kadabra’s was bigger and shot through, Flutter 
spun constantly and fell back a little.  
“Okay, she’s got the better Psychic specialist, we’ll need to use your speed to 
win.”  
“Disable.”  
“Dive under and use your Poison Powder!”  
He spun down and the area above him rippled a little with energy, he charged 
forward and shook a fair amount of dust on the hapless Pokémon.  
“Ku...” he spluttered.  
“Go Supersonic!”  
“Freeee!!!” screamed Flutter and waves shot at the Kadabra, shaking it up a 
little.  
Sabrina held her head, being connected to it like she said, she was probably 
experiencing some feedback.  
“Now the Whirlwind!”  
“Free!” he shouted and he violently flapped his wings, forcing the Kadabra into 
the wall.  
“Now-”  
He went ahead and used a big Psybeam on the Kadabra, just to show that he 
could.  
“Recover.”  
It was still dizzy and then it looked sick from poison, Flutter was digging 
into the Kadabra with its many kinds of attacks.  
“Finish it before it recovers! String Shot then Gust attack!”  
“Freeeeee!!!” he yelled spitting a spiral of sticky string which surrounded the 
Kadabra and tightened, binding its arms so that it couldn’t perform another 
attack.  
“Freeee!!!”  
He flapped his wings and large bursts of air were created, which gave the 
Kadabra major jumps from each impact.  
He was overly tired and fainted, surrounded in the white glue-like string.  
“Your knowledge of type advantages does you well, but it will not win you all 
your matches without wisdom and strength.  Go... Hypno.” said Sabrina darkly.  
“Flutter, use Stun Spore!”  
“Confusion, Hypnosis.” listed Sabrina.  
A barrier deflected the dust and Flutter was then staring at a Hypno swinging 
its pendulum.  
“Dream Eater.”  
No sooner had Flutter fallen asleep did purple globes shoot out of him with a 
pinging sound, and returned to the Hypno.  
Flutter was down.  
“Its powerful in the special department.” I muttered, “I guess I should match 
his specials with my power, Go Inferno!”  
“CHAR!!!” he yelled breathing flames, he saw the calm expression on the Hypno 
and lay on the floor to take a nap.  
“Inferno!” I shouted slapping a hand on my face.  
“If your Pokémon shall not battle than I shan’t either.” threatened Sabrina 
calmly.  
Though she didn’t know it, she was wise to do so, if anyone got Inferno mad, he 
really went for them, even if they didn’t meet his standards, still, I had no 
choice but to recall him.  
“I guess I’ll go with the only other advantage, Spectre! Go!”  
“Hau ha ha ha!”  
I looked at my opposition, then quickly looked at Sabrina, I could have sworn I 
saw her smiling for a second.  
“You have no advantage.” said Sabrina calmly but menacingly, “I detect a Poison 
side.”  
“Spectre, use your Confuse Ray!” I shouted.  
“Hypno, Confusion.”  
They stared each other down and quickly drew out their attacks, Spectre was 
flung back by the Psychic attack and Hypno looked a little strangely.  
Sabrina held her head and that confirmed that Confuse Ray had worked.  
“Poison Gas.”  
“Night Shade!”  
The Ghost attack tore through the gas and exploded on the Hypno leaving a cloud 
of darkness.  
“Good work Spectre.”  
“Haunter! Haunter! Hau ha ha ha!”  
Two pairs of eyes glowed and could be seen through the smoke.  
“Psychic.” muttered Sabrina.  
“Dive!” I shouted.  
“Haunt-”  
He fell down into a dive and the attack invisibly cracked the floor and left a 
tiny crater.  
“Hypnosis!”  
“You too.”  
Both Pokémon initiated the attack in their different ways, Hypno swung his 
pendulum while Spectre waved his hands in a circular motion.  
Both fell asleep.  
“Come on Spectre! You have to wake up! Or else she’ll bombard you with Psychic 
attacks!”  
No change.  
Sabrina was concentrating, mentally trying to reach the Hypno.  
“I have no choice.” I said, and recalled him, better to let him sleep in safety 
and bring him out later, if I could just drag this next battle on a bit.  
“Inferno!”  
He looked up in a sleeping position, snorted then lay down again.  
The Hypno’s eyes shot open and it blasted Inferno into the wall with a 
Confusion attack.  
“Char Char Char Meleon!!!” he screamed beating his chest.  
He dived forward and slashed the opponent who soon fainted afterwards.  
“I did not wish to anger your Charmeleon, I simply ordered Hypno to awaken and 
attack but by the time he did that, you had traded.  Still, this will be more 
than a match, even if your Pokémon listens to you.” explained Sabrina calmly.  
“Alakazam!”  
Uh oh, this was the mother of Psychic Pokémon (in a manner of speaking) as far 
as I knew.  

“Alakazam, the Psi Pokémon.  One of the smartest Pokémon around, it outperforms 
any supercomputer in the world, has an I.Q of well over 5, 000 and it never 
forgets anything it learns.”  

I was in for a very tough battle.  
“Char?...  Char...” grinned Inferno.  
“Alright Inferno, so you’ll battle with me?” I pleaded.  
“Char...” he said shrugging his shoulders, I sighed.  
“Let’s start with your Dragon Rage!”  
“CHAR!!!” he screamed breathing a spinning array of blue flames that grew in 
height.  
“Ala!”  
It teleported to the side, a command given by Sabrina’s telekinetic link it 
seemed.  
“Char?”  
“Psychic attack.”  
Inferno was lifted into the air and crushed inside.  
“Char!”  
“Inferno, use your Ember!”  
His long tail was able to move and he flickered ashes into the opponent.  
The Alakazam was distracted from the pain and lost its concentration.  
“Now! Flamethrower!”  
“Psychic.”  
“Oh no!” I gasped.  
The two elements hit and magnified, causing a huge explosion, the light was too 
much and I fell back, when I looked again, the explosion had consumed the area 
Alakazam and Inferno were in.  
The two Pokémon were strong in their separate ways, but their power combined 
had clashed and consumed them, I just hoped Inferno could survive such a 
blast...  

End of Chapter 27A  

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Chapter 27B
Back to Story List #21 - #40
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