The remaining men took a step back without realizing it. Though they’d never been friends with the Gym leader nor exchanged more than a hello or a superfluous chat, they’d worked together for over three years. They’d sat on the same table, drunk the same drinks.

  Even then, they had no qualms about killing her if ordered to, but they’d never expected to see…

  The girl, eyes still ablaze with unbridled psychic energy, pointed at one of them. The man shot like a bullet toward a nearby lamp post, his body bending unnaturally, the sound of the impact wet and visceral.

  Various clicks were heard. The sound of Pokeballs opening; the flashes of light, and the figures they released onto the cold night, finally brought Sabrina back to reality. Her eyes returned to normal, and the blue flames surrounding her body disappeared.

  “It’s… you,” she whispered in awe. “A-agh!” A pain like a nail driving into her skull assaulted her all at once, the recoil from her reckless use of her own powers. “Ghh…”

  The remaining men had freed half a dozen Pokemon around her. There was a proud, serious Noctowl, an old, wise Hypno, a Haunter, a Starmie, a hefty-looking Slowbro, and a Kadabra.

  All of them… hers. The Gym’s Pokemon, the ones that had fought countless battles and survived countless dangers alongside her.

  This… this is a miracle, the Gym leader thought, unable to believe it. She wasn’t used to such brimming, unbridled hope. Only seconds ago we had no chance of escaping, but with them… Forget escaping, we could take the whole fucking city if we wanted to!

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  Without hesitation, she started walking toward the Kadabra -the first Pokemon she’d ever fought alongside in the Gym- and tried to speak to him telepathically. The beast’s narrow, indolent eyes followed her every movement without blinking.

  ‘First we have to teleport somewhere his wounds can be treated-’

  “Psybeam.”

  The multi-colored beam of light hit Sabrina full on in the stomach, sending her tumbling a few desperate steps back. In her shock, her exhausted brain came to a realization. That flash, that feeling… It was the same attack that had caught her from behind only minutes ago.

  “W… What?”

  Slowly, coughing along the way, she raised her head to look at her Pokemon again.

  “This is a joke, right?”

  “Psycho Cut.”

  Her shoulder burst with a sudden spray of blood, violent enough to stain her neck and cheek. Sabrina stumbled back, dizzy, pained beyond belief.

  “Wh…”

  She knew them, better than anyone else. Knew every one of their scars, their quirks, every fighting style, every talent and weakness… The Noctowl’s blind eye, Kadabra’s surprisingly fast Teleport, Starmie’s reflexes, Slowbro’s bad leg… Every battle fought shoulder to shoulder, every brush with death… All that trust in one another, as blind as could be…

  She tried to rise again, eyes still wide from shock.

  That purple, glowing edge materialized from Kadabra’s spoon again, and she swore she could feel it upon her skin-

  Something jumped in between them. The man with the cross, more dead than alive, rose to shield her from the attack, and the spray of blood that burst from his chest filled Sabrina’s vision in its entirety.