IF YOU'RE READING THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME, PLEASE READ THE MESSAGE BELOW.

This arc is several years old and is my second attempt at writing fanfiction. Since then my writing style has changed and the direction I've taken this story has changed. Looking back on this arc and its prequel, I've always seen them as a bit of an eyesore as the characters don't sound or act like themselves. There are some glaring plotholes and scenarios that just weren't well thought out at the time. As such, I've made a new version of the first arc called the Lapidescence. I'm not telling you to not read this, if you can stomach the quality then by all means go ahead. I feel like you guys deserve a higher caliber of writing. Just know that this story is no longer canon with the rest of the series. Feel free to use it as a comparison to the revamped version.

Sequel to Poke Wars: the Subsistence

September 10

A single drop of dew clung desperately to the leaf that bent and threatened to buckle under its weight. Light that managed to filter through the droplet left a plethora of multicolored rainbows that shifted and dimly colored the dirt.

A gentle breeze severed the connection between the foliage and moisture, gravity pulling the droplet to the floor.

The semi reflective surface of the droplet caught the darting figures from a few meters away. Their movements were quick and nimble, not a single action was wasted. Three Pidgeottos pecked the grass for seeds; a fourth one perched atop the branch of a tree, overseeing their work.

The sudden rustle of the branch was their only warning.

A warm mist of red hung in the air from a spray of blood as cold steel bit into the feathery shoulder, going through muscle and bone. The other Pidgeottos began to retreat, but they were already dead.

Something skewered through one of the Pidgeotto's chest, its body violently convulsing until something sparked and set the body aflame from the inside. A plume of feathers fell like confetti from above when a thirteen-inch combat knife cut through the air, sheathing itself into the perched Pidgeotto's wing.

The last Pidgeotto had made it the farther than the others, spreading its wings to take to the air. A hulking shadow behind it had other plans. The bulky behemoth's arms wrapped around the Pidgeotto's frame, bones broke like they were made of toothpicks. The monstrous arms slid up the Pidgeotto's body, seizing its neck and swiftly snapping it.

The drop of dew hit the ground.

A soft thud came as the fourth Pidgeotto hit the ground, writhing in pain while wriggling across the ground to get away. A steel-toed boot slammed onto the Pidgeotto's tail, grabbing the hilt of the knife and pulling it out of the Pokemon's wing. The blade spun gracefully in the giant hands that briefly held them.

The motions were fluid, almost effortless but at the same time executed masterfully as the blade sunk into the Pidgeotto's brain. The body went limp instantly, warmth slowly beginning to recede from its body.

Surge pulled his knife out of the Pidgeotto, bringing the blade to his lips and tasting the blood. The scent brought memories to Surge, back to his old days when he was young. He would be lying if he had said that the war hadn't twisted him into an insane son of bitch. War had done that to many of his comrades, most of them were gone now. If the years hadn't killed them, then the Pokemon of this era had.

"Oi, Sam. Ya want in on this or what?" Surge invited, inspecting his red stained teeth on the now clean surface of his knife.

"It's Samurai…and no. I would rather not partake in that ritual" Samurai declined politely as he could.

"If war training has taught me anythin, it's when a person's lyin. Ya don't have ta act like someone yer not, I ain't. But suit yerself. It's odd though, I can tell just by looking ya in the eyes. You're the bloodthirsty type," Surge concluded as started to pick up the bodies of their next meal.

Samurai tried not to flinch at Surge's words, or at least let him know that he had flinched. He absentmindedly flicked his blade, the force wiping it of the blood that stained the surface of his katana. Samurai raised the weapon to his eyes as if to inspect if it was clean or not. In reality he used its surface to see his own reflective pools on the mirrored surface.

His lips pursed into a fine white line, his teeth gritted as his heartbeat started to accelerate. The smell of blood made his mind go blank with ecstasy, but he quickly barred the sensation from his mind. What surprised him was the pair of eyes that he looked at did not belong to him, or at least he didn't think they did at first.

The changes were subtle, but he noticed nonetheless that his own eyes were different. Thousands of questions buzzed through his mind like the endless drone of busy Beedrills, asking himself how his eyes had changed, whether it was an effect from battles or experience. He dared not ask anyone for an answer, risking that they did not know the answer and became too involved, eventually delving too deep.

His pupils seemed elongated and narrower, the color of his corneas getting slightly brighter. He suddenly felt that the amount of time that he was staring at his sword had been too long, smoothly sliding it back into the sheath and distracting himself with Surge as he approached his Raichu.

Surge held a Pidgeotto over each shoulder, one Pidgeotto's head hung at an unnatural angle with its tongue drooping out of its mouth.

"Raichu! Ya did it again! I told ya ta use half ya strength," Surge casually reprimanded.

Raichu pulled the edge of his lightning bolt tail out from the dead Pokemon's body before he spoke back in defense, Surge nodding as if he understood from Samurai's point of view.

"Whaddya mean that was half ya strength? Ah hell, fine then. Just use an eighth. I mean look at this; ya charred him in an out. No one's gonna eat that. You ain't."

"Rai Rai Raichu"

"I ain't gonna eat that. You know how I like my meat, medium rare" Surge replied to Samurai's surprise.

Samurai was skeptical that Surge had actually understood his Pokemon at all, probably all responses were guesswork. Then again, he had watched Ash over the past couple of days when he and Pikachu were conversing, Ash seemingly understanding.

He was a little older than Ash; he'd had his Pokemon longer than Ash. So why could Ash seemingly understand his Pokemon's language, more specifically his Pikachu?

Did Ash have some ability that he did not posses?

"Let's start headin back," Surge said, breaking Samurai's train of thought. Samurai bent down and lifted the Pokemon's corpse over his shoulder, trudging back with Surge to their encampment a mile or two away.

Ash waited patiently for the others to arrive, along with Brock and Dawn who were helping to get the area ready for the food that everyone was out gathering. His role had been to stay and protect the encampment while he waited. Ash's stomach grumbled angrily, Dawn and Brock had chosen to ignore his stomach's complaints. While he waited, Ash had busied himself by thinking of how he was going to help the others, without the use of his Pokemon.

He envied Samurai, Tracy, and Surge for having the training to fight Pokemon toe to toe. Ash wished that he himself could fight like them, yet part of him did not want to emulate them entirely. He did not fancy himself using a katana, a pipe, or a combat knife. It would take him a long time to gain the experience and strength needed to join them.

The hairs on the back of his neck rose, his body tensed up when the bushes from across the clearing rustled. Ash noticed that Pikachu was not reacting to the approach of whatever came to them. Misty walked casually towards them, her Politoad behind her and carrying a dead Raticate.

Politoad dropped the Raticate near the makeshift outdoor kitchen. Dawn inspected the wound, seeing that a hole had been punched through its heart, probably from a Water Gun.

"I'm the first one here?" Misty exclaimed.

"Yes but you're the one to bring the least and venture the least amount of distance" Tracy said as he and his Scizor emerged from the forest, both of them carrying several Ratattas.

The exTeam Rocket members came next, carrying a large bundle of berries. AJ and his Sandslash came with a few Dugdrio skewered on Sandslash's claws. Samurai and Surge came last; their catches were by far the most amount of meat of the entire group.

Brock and Dawn went to work, Jessie and Misty were taking notes, and helping out around the kitchen while Brock and Dawn instructed them. Dawn smiled at the idea of being able to teach something to people older than her. She was nowhere near as skilled as Brock in cooking, but she knew enough to be able to teach something to the others. Misty and Jessie were not accustomed to cooking, usually surviving off of other people's cooking or packaged foods.

Samurai sat furthest from the group, every time that Ash or someone attempted to make eye contact with him, he turned away. Ash was curious to find out was up with Samurai but chose to press further. I Samurai didn't want to indulge on what was on his mind, he was at liberty to do so.

Ash turned his attention to the four cooks, Misty and Jessie busy working at skinning the Pokemon that they had brought. The both of them were disgusted, despite that they had all eat meat before. People had become so detached to preparing animals, when faced with having to do it themselves, they were disgusted and charged someone else to do it.

Misty and Jessie were now skinning the Pidgeottos that Samurai and Surge had caught. Ash felt somewhat disturbed at watching them do that to the Pokemon's body, seeing his old Pidgeotto in a similar situation. In a sense, he realized that was why so many people had become vegetarians in the world of Pokemon.

He himself had considered it, but he found the taste of burgers to be irresistible. Ash rationalized that since Pokemon ate other Pokemon, it was natural for him to want to eat meat. No matter how much he justified himself, he didn't feel inclined to eat the Pidgeottos, which had the most meat of all the things they had on hand.

Surge's supplies had run out in the several days that they had been traveling in the woods. When scouting for food, Ash occasionally accompanied them, in the process; his Staravia had evolved into a Staraptor. Turtwig, Chimchar, Buizel, and Croconaw had also evolved one level.

Ash was almost halfway done with his feast when Brock and Dawn had finished putting away all their supplies and reverting their kitchen back into a forest clearing. He felt a cold breeze pass over his shoulder. The breeze was colder than normal, it was noon now and sunny as ever, with no clouds in the sky.

At the edge of the forest stood a little girl dressed in white.

She wore a yellow sunhat wrapped with a scarlet ribbon; hair like Dawn's cascaded down her shoulders. Her dress billowed by a wind that did not seem to affect anything around but her. Every inch of her skin was bleached white, piercing lavender eyes stared back at Ash.

The little girl laughed, her sights set on Ash, pale fingers beckoned Ash into her direction. She turned and began to run, shimmering out of existence, a ghostly mist formed behind her, aiding in her dematerialization. Ash dropped his grilled Rattata shish kabob and began to run.

Pikachu was at his side without a single question. Whether Pikachu seen what Ash had seen or not, he ran without hesitation. The others began to cry out for Ash, running after him as they gathered their things. Samurai quickly outran the others and caught up with Ash.

Pikachu stopped, but Ash continued forward until Samurai grabbed him by the collar. Just a few inches more and Ash would've fallen over a cliff that spanned more than twenty meters down.

"Thanks" Ash said, looking down below to the ocean of woods that flooded the continent as far the eye could see. Ahead, there was a large clearing in the center of the woods, the place that Ash knew as Saffron City. Ash couldn't help but laugh at the fact that he had almost fallen down the same cliff he had years ago.

From what Ash could see, the city seemed desolate and abandoned like all the other cities they had encountered. Ash recognized the girl that he had just seen; it had been so many years since he had seen that girl. She had wanted him to follow her; she was leading him to the city. An abundance of hope took residence within his heart at the thought that she would be there, waiting for him…them.

The others quickly caught up with Ash as he stood outside of a massive structure in the desolate city that they entered. Surge instantly took notice of the fact that every window in the town was smashed. From Tracy's observations, he saw that they had been broken inwards, even the windows from the highest floors. Samurai saw that every window was perfectly broken, no jagged pieces of glass was left on the window.

Several buildings had toppled, all of them leaning in the same direction as if something had exploded and knocked them all down. There was no burns to show that any explosions had taken place, the only place left standing, was the gym that they stood in front of.

Ash motioned for the automatic doors, but they made no intention of moving. Pikachu easily slammed the doors down with an Iron Tail, doing so without Ash's consent. He had wanted to enter in a less brute manner, seeing as how they were entering her gym and damaging it.

"Next time, Pikachu, warn me before you do that" Ash advised, Pikachu nodded and apologized for going ahead and attacking without his orders.

A soft purple mist hugged the floor, carpeting most of it for as far as they could see. The interior reminded them of a cave, yellow catacomb fangs that sheathed into the foggy floor that flowed like a river. The lights that illuminated the way were from the candles that seemed to have been burning for days and were on their last ounces of wax.

The lights from certain hallways began to be blown out my some invisible wind; only one path remained untouched. The others watched Ash leading the way in front of them, suddenly jumping as if something had snuck up on him.

"Ash, are you okay?" Misty asked, recognizing the place easily, seeing as the last time she had been there, she had been a doll.

"You didn't hear that?" Ash said, turning in their direction and staring at them incredulously.

"Hear what?" Brock replied, Ash turning his back on them before looking like he was deep in thought.

"Nothing. Never mind" Ash said, walking forwards with gusto.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Dawn worked up the nerve to speak.

"Ash, do you even know where you're going?" Dawn asked.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah…" Ash replied absentmindedly.

"This way" the voice seemingly whispered into his ear and echoed through the depths of his mind. Ash followed where the voice told him to go, recognizing it somewhat. He knew he could trust the voice that spoke into his head, interested to know that she could do that now.

"I've been waiting so long for you," Her voice said once more, just before he reached the doors to her room. The doors opened inwardly by themselves just before something pounced on Ash. Oddly enough, Samurai did not draw his sword although part of his instincts told him to do so, yet another set of his instincts that he had recently gained made him feel calm. The others jumped at the sudden movement, Pikachu who had been walking beside Ash smiled.

"Ash, it's been so long," said the woman.

Ash's vision darkened in an instant, a wave of warmth embraced his face and body. Surge, Samurai, and Tracy were tempted to react to the sudden movement, but something made it so that they were incapable of moving. Their bodies were frozen; they found that they could not even blink anymore.

Dawn and Misty quickly became enraged at seeing Ash being buried in Sabrina's ample bosom. Sabrina's chin nuzzled into Ash's jet black hair, her arms wrapped around his head and pulling him as if she intended to physically meld with him. Ash's arms flailed at the lack of oxygen reaching his brain. It took Sabrina a few seconds before she realized this and let him go. The others suddenly felt the control of their body now relinquished back to them.

"It's nice to see you too, Sabrina" Ash gasped, making up for lost air. Sabrina's straight, violet hair flowed neatly behind her back. Her new outfit consisted of a bright red long sleeve top, skirt, and boots. The cuffs of her sleeves were golden; underneath the red ensemble she wore a thin black fabric that covered her seemingly bare stomach and legs.

Her piercing blue eyes rested on each person for several seconds, peeling away at the layers of their vessels and staring straight into their souls. Her eyes glowed red, her pupils became dark slits temporarily before reverting back to normal. Everyone but Ash felt on edge. In fact, Sabrina never once gazed in Ash's general direction with her glowing eyes.

Nice to see you again, Brock, Misty. I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting, Dawn, Tracy, AJ, Jessie, James, Meowth…and Lt Surge and Samurai" Sabrina toyed with the words, staring at the last two people she had named, knowing their real names full well.

With the exception of Brock, Ash, and Misty, the others gasped in surprise, although Surge suppressed his and tried to withhold his shock.

"H-how did you know our names? We've never met before, have we?" Tracy asked.

"It was simple, I merely just read your minds. I've been waiting for all of you for quite some time now, but I must say, I had no idea that you had all gone through so much" She said with admiration, her eyes locked on Surge.

Surge and Samurai visibly stiffened, the very essence of their privacy was now stripped before the women in their midst. In the weeks that they had been struggling to survive, she had seen it all in a second. Every feeling, every thought, every emotion was now hers.

Surge had heard of a child prodigy becoming a gym leader in Kanto years back, it was becoming well known that she had been undefeated up until four years ago. He had never looked into the rumor, seeing no reason to since it didn't tickle his fancy. The way she looked at him, made him feel that she had seen more than just the journey that the others had went through.

His years of service, the horrors of war that made themselves into his perpetual nightmares, his lusts, his ideologies, the most sacred of rights to a human being that was the privacy of their own mind was now gone in one of her blinks. He felt utterly naked before her. Never before had he felt so humiliated, so exposed, so angry with someone that he knew that he couldn't and shouldn't touch.

Had he known, he would've set up a mental barrier, but it was now too late, she had gone in and taken what she had wanted, which was everything. There was nothing left hide except what went on from then, and even then that may have not have been safe as she could read his very soul again.

Samurai had brushed against death, went into the belly of the beast in a Beedrill hive, and seen a titan Pokemon, but nothing scared him more than what stood in front of him. He knew that his sudden restriction of movement came from her. She had learned more about his life than anyone he had ever known.

The very warmth of his blood fueled by anger felt stolen from him and replaced with a sense of caution. What gave her the right to prod into their minds and see everything that they had worked so hard to keep from conversation and the light of day? Yet, what overwhelmed all of his other senses was the fear that gripped his heart. He knew that had she wanted to, she could kill all of them on a whim.

"I noticed that you changed your hair" Brock pointed out, surprising Misty that he hadn't tried to flirt with her. Then again, he had also been turned into a doll along with her when they had first met Sabrina.

"Very astute of you, Brock" Sabrina smiled, running her fingers through the hair. "But yes, you're right. I dyed it this color a while back" She explained, Ash remembering that she had once had green hair.

"Wait, you said that you were expecting us?" James pointed out.

"Yes, I looked into the future and foresaw your arrival. I've been waiting here for twenty three days" Sabrina enlightened.

"Twenty three days, dats about da time dat all dis stuff started" Meowth pointed out.

"I believe that would explain how my psychic abilities have strengthened tremendously." Sabrina remarked, and for once, she was in the know.

"How can that be possible? I thought the removal of the dampeners could only affect Pokemon!" AJ retorted.

"The ability to have psychic abilities is the same for everyone, it's how in tune you are with it that shows how powerful your psychic ability is. Pokemon are more in tune with nature and psychic abilities, especially psychic Pokemon. Even Pokemon who aren't psychic, can learn psychic moves, humans are no different. Any human can learn to delve deep enough into their minds and bring out their ability to use their unconscious psychic powers. There are certain rare individuals that are born to be more in tune with their psychic abilities than others, like myself. To reach my level of power before the dampeners would require decades of training and meditation" Sabrina pointed out.

The idea of being eligible to use psychic powers was intriguing to Ash until he realized the dedication and time it would take to achieve such a goal. It was another option for fighting for him to take, but once again he felt that it wasn't what he was looking for. He knew that if he tried to learn that style, it wouldn't fit right, forcing it would only prove detrimental. Although no one was asking it of him, he still felt pressured to find a way to join the fight instead of watching by the sidelines.

"What happened to all the people to the city?" Brock asked.

"On the day that the Pokemon had their dampeners removed, the psychics of this gym also went into a frenzy, including me. We couldn't really control our powers and the people began to flee" Sabrina replied, making sure that the others could not tell that she had recited this answer before.

"That would explain why all the windows were broken and shattered towards the interior," Tracy mumbled. Tracy began to fumble with his Pokeglov, aiming it at Sabrina who made no attempt to dodge it. The screen on the Pokeglov spiked several times, Tracy trying to contain his surprise.

"She's telling the truth. The dampeners in her brain have been deactivated," Tracy whispered.

"Of course, why would I have any reason to lie" Sabrina replied smugly.

"We know you don't, but it's still hard to believe. I mean, we never thought that humans could have dampeners. On that day, none of us went crazy like our Pokemon did" Dawn said.

"Maybe the more in tune you are with an ability that Pokemon have, the more you're affected by the dampener removal" James suggested.

"That just might be the case," Tracy mumbled, turning off the Pokeglov.

"So Sabrina, what have you been doing all this time while you were waiting for us?" Ash inquired.

"I was cleaning the place up for when you guys came here," Sabrina answered. She began to head back into the fighting chamber where trainers would come to challenge her. Several holes were in the ceiling, sunlight poured through them and illuminated sections of the floor.

"You guys can stay here for the night. I'll get my things ready so that we can leave in the morning. Feel free to stock up on the supplies that I have" Sabrina offered.

"I can patch up those holes on the roof no problem," Brock recommended.

"There's no need since we'll be leaving tomorrow" Sabrina responded.

"Well until then let's patch up the holes with something temporary so that the heat doesn't escape and we don't sleep in the cold" Ash advised, summoning Mr. Mime with the flick of a finger. Mr. Mime was quick to start placing barriers over the holes.

"Where are the others? Where are your parents?" Brock asked, one of the few people in the group that had known anything about Sabrina from their previous visit.

The haughty smile that she wore suddenly shattered; her eyes were cast down to the ground with a frown on her lips.

"When the dampeners were removed, the psychic trainers in here went into a frenzy, much like the Pokemon did from what I could tell in your memories. On top of the fact that their own psychic Pokemon were released and frenzied, everyone was firing their psychic attacks randomly. In the craziness, a lot of people and Pokemon died, I myself also launched a few attacks, but I couldn't control myself. I think there may have been several psychic trainers that might've accidentally attacked me without knowing, I don't know if they did, I can't remember anything other than the vision that I got during my dampener removal. The past few days I've been removing the bodies and the smell of the blood from this place" Sabrina said under her breath before walking away into a dark hallway.

Brock decided not to press further, going the opposite direction in hopes that it would take him to the kitchen. Mr. Mime eyed the hallway where Sabrina had been only seconds ago. He shuddered, Sabrina's voice echoing through his mind over and over again, and there was nothing that he could do to stop her if she so ever wanted to speak.

"You don't think anyone knows what you did…but I do."

Samurai and Surge refused to venture further into the house, deciding to stay outside and guard the gym. Sabrina passed by them, telling them that the act was pointless, since there were no Pokemon for miles. The two of them ignored her, knowing full well that she could possibly be reading their minds at the moment and seeing how much they disapproved of her. Whether or not she knew, she showed no sign of caring whatsoever.

Night quickly came over Saffron, stars seemed to come from the earth; the thousands of glass shards reflected the stars in the night sky. Surge pulled out a cigarette, pressing it against Raichu's sparking cheek and lighting it up. He silently lifted the box and aimed it at Samurai. Samurai shook his head; Surge shrugged his shoulders and slipped the pack of cigarettes back into one of his many pockets.

Had Sabrina been any other person, he would've asked her if she had a beer, whiskey, vodka, or scotch. For the time being, he would suffice with cigarettes he had. After a few minutes, he dropped the cigarette onto the floor, stomping it out the tip of his boot, the tobacco and ashes fusing into the rest of the pile at Surge's feet.

Samurai wrinkled his nose at the lingering smell of tobacco, trying to ignore the hunger that silently growled at him. He couldn't help but think about how he might end up sleeping against the wall while still standing up. The doorway between the two warriors opened up.

Samurai and Surge tried not to jump and lunge at the sudden break in the calm and starry night. The cigarette stench was suddenly lifted from the area the instant that Sabrina left the gym.

"You don't have to wait out here. You're wasting your time. Come inside and sleep, stop being so stubborn" Sabrina urged.

"No thanks, we're fine out here" Surge spoke for the both of them.

"Suit yourselves" Sabrina relented, walking past them into the open air and staring at the night sky.

Samurai unsheathed his sword, charging towards her at full speed, as silently as he could while her back was still facing him. He leapt, bringing the blade over his head and swinging it with the utmost accuracy and precision. His blade never connected with Sabrina's skull, merely an inch or two away the immaculate river of hair.

Samurai floated in the air, unable to move a single muscle no matter how much he willed himself to. Sabrina continued to have his back towards him for several seconds before finally turning to meet him.

"You know, there are better ways to gauge your strength against me, but then again you wanted to see how far you could get. Just so you know, I was aware of your intention to attack me before I even exited the room. I wasn't sure why, but I wanted to know if the end result would be the same. I said nothing to provoke you, I've been nothing but polite towards all of you, seeing that we will be working together in the foreseeable future and you are allied to Ash. Do you know how easy it would be for me to crush your heart from inside your body or make your head explode? Or maybe I could crumple you and your armor into a little ball" Sabrina whispered testily, her eyes glowing red and her pupils turning back into slits.

Samurai's eyes widened in horror at the suggestion.

"Oh, but I know all about that armor, how important it is to you, how its been passed on from generation to generation" Sabrina smiled.

"You have no right to know that!" Samurai barked, neither the saliva that flew from his mouth nor the scent of his breath even managed to touch Sabrina, psychically moving them away from her.

"I apologize for reading your mind. I find it a lot easier to do that than go through the torturous process of getting to know you the long and boring way. If it means so much to you, then I can just forget what I know about you and remember never to read your mind" Sabrina offered.

Samurai remained silent, staring at her with an apathetic mask but knew that he could hide nothing from her.

"I don't care if you don't believe me, I don't need you to" Samurai heard Sabrina say inside his own mind.

"I know all about you, what you are, what you're going to become. It is out of kindness alone that I've felt that I don't need to share with the others what's happening to you."

The news made Samurai gasp, the idea that what was plaguing him would change him. She knew something that he didn't, something that had been bothering him for some time now.

"Tell me! Please!" Samurai almost begging, just the knowledge of what was to happen to him would suffice for the moment. Knowing would end his suffering as to whether he became a monster and died of a sickness.

"I don't think so" Sabrina spat.

"You!-" was all Samurai could manage to say before Sabrina sent him flying into the wall where he had once leaned against. It crumbled behind upon collision; Samurai's crumpled form lied there as he had passed out.

Sabrina easily stopped the combat knife that was thrown at her, holding it in mid air. Surge's feet scrapped along the ground, invisible hooks dragged him towards where Sabrina stood. He could do nothing to stop himself from sliding along the pavement, he couldn't even struggle.

The tip of his blade was now aimed at his throat, getting closer and closer to tasting the skin, muscle, and blood of its wielder. Just before it got too close, it dropped onto the ground at Surge's feet.

"Pick it up" Sabrina ordered.

Surge felt Sabrina's hold on him temporarily leave, every aspect of his instinct told him to lunge at her and attack, but he knew better than that, she probably already knew as well. When it became apparent that Surge had refused to do what Sabrina had asked by just standing there and staring at her, Sabrina took matters back into her hands.

Surge suddenly felt like a puppet, feeling something now move his body, making him bend down and grab his own knife. He lifted it and pointed it at his throat, in a sense; she could make Surge kill himself.

"I could be a real asset or a real pain in the ass for you. I'm on this team whether you like it or not, so you'd better get used to me, or leave. So when he wakes up over there, tell him and remember this yourself. Don't fuck with me," Sabrina hissed, walking past him and entered the gym.

Raichu fired one of his strongest lightning attacks, only to have it deflected into the sky without so much as even a look in his general direction or the lifting of her hand. No more attacks came from Raichu, backing away from her before looking at his friend and master. Surge stood silently, holding the knife against his skin briefly before letting his hand go limp at his side and let the knife fall to the ground.

Ash, Tracy, Brock, James, Meowth, Jessie, and AJ had fallen asleep, making the vacant rooms of use and sleeping in them individually instead of sleeping in close proximity of each other like the nights before. Sabrina strolled silently towards the direction of Ash's room, gradually slipping out of her outfit as she walked.

"Where do you thinks you're headed?" Misty asked, unable to hear Sabrina softly swear under her breath. She had been so distracted that she hadn't noticed Misty's presence there, expecting everyone to be asleep already, considering it was already so late and she figured they must have been tired of sleeping on the ground and traveling while trying to survive.

"I know for a fact that all the rooms over there are already filled" Dawn pointed out.

Sabrina closed her eyes and smiled, opening them once more, "I could ask you all the same thing, but there's no reason for me to lie. I was just planning to slip into Ash's bed and sleep," Sabrina said nonchalantly.

Both Misty and Dawn blushed and glared, they hadn't expected her to be so open about her intentions.

"How cute that the two girls that love Ash are trying so hard to keep him away from any possible options" Sabrina cooed.

Dawn's eyes widened, Misty's shocked gaze turning to Dawn who was now flabbergasted.

"Dawn…you lo-" Misty began.

"Oh, I don't think it's love. I think it's merely an infatuation she has for him. You know she watched you when you were about to kiss him and when you talked with him. She even tried to kiss him herself but couldn't bring herself to do it" Sabrina sneered.

Dawn had turned redder than before, wanting nothing more than the earth to swallow her up and hide her underground for eternity. She covered her eyes with her hands, she felt like her face was on fire. She never thought anyone would've learned what she had done, the last people she wanted for them to know was Misty and Ash.

"You yourself aren't as pure as you let everyone think you are. Oh, those lonely nights when your sisters were out having fun, leaving poor little you all alone to fend for yourself and take care of the gym. It must've been boring, being all by your lonesome. But then again you had so much privacy, so much freedom to do what you wanted, when you wanted. Those nights when you thought of Ash…calling out his name…" Sabrina teased.

Misty turned pink, a mixture of rage and embarrassment, but also beginning to turn pale. Dawn didn't fully understand, one look at her and Sabrina could already tell that Dawn was still unaware of these kinds of things.

"I've seen into the future several times and for all you two know, I could be his lover. His wife? Or I might not. One of you could take that place; I'm not sure whether or not the future is set in stone" Sabrina giggled; clearly enjoying every ounce of despair she managed to wring out of each girl.

Every single word was like a harsh blow, the girls could say nothing in the midst of the onslaught. How could they, Sabrina was holding all the cards, whereas their hands were full of jokers in plain sight.

"Well, that was fun. I needed a laugh, but I'm not in the mood anymore. I guess I'll call it a night. You two can do what you want with Ash if that's what you two were planning tonight. Might as well do what you can with him for the time being, until I start. You know, I thought that after all this time you would've put out a little more Misty, but you're still as flat as a ten year old boy. Dawn still has a lot of growing to do, but you might surpass Misty in that aspect from what your mom's genes are like, but I doubt that you'll pass me. Oh well, it was nice talk- wait; I was doing all the talking. Anyway, sleep well you two" Sabrina snickered and walked in the other direction and headed to her own room.

Dawn and Misty stood silently, staring down at their feet for a few moments. Their vision eventually fell onto their chests, both of them cupping it for emphasis before sighing in defeat. In reality they had been planning to go to Ash's room, as to what they were going to do, they themselves were not sure yet.

They silently walked back to their rooms in the darkness, shutting the doors behind them and waiting for sleep to take them as they lied in their beds, staring at the ceiling, blushes remained unerased from their faces.

The door to Sabrina's room slid open and shut behind her, locking with a click. All of this without a single lift of a finger.

Sabrina's back pressed up against the wall, sighing somberly for a few moments. Gengar phased through the wall, checking up on her periodically like he usually did.

"I bet you've noticed that they arrived like I said they would" Sabrina said to him. Gengar nodded when Alakazam teleported into the room.

"Thanks for patrolling all those days and nights, go to sleep you two, we'll be leaving in the morning," she said. Alakazam and Gengar approached her and returned themselves to their Poke balls.

Once they had returned, she lifted her fist, punching herself on the cheek with a good amount of strength. Sabrina was angry, not at the others, but at herself.

"Why? Why do I… have to be such a bitch?" She asked herself, slumping down onto the ground and hugging her knees to her chest. She had counted the days to their arrival; it was one of the only thoughts that cheered her up. The twenty-three days she had spent alone were even darker than before she met Ash.

Ash's Haunter that had evolved into a Gengar tried his best to cheer her up, but none of his antics seemed to get through to her. After Ash had left she began to interact with people more. She began to spend more time with her parent, have family outings, dinner, laugh, and tell jokes of her own.

She began to befriend the people in her gym and the people in her town.

Then that voice appeared inside her head.

Her brain felt like it was on fire, the blinding pain made her lash out at everything, her powers on a rampage. She could hear it tell her to reclaim the world, to no longer let humans enslave them. The language was translated for her because of her psychic ability, but she could tell the voice was not human.

When the pain ended, she saw the dead bodies of former friends and the destruction of her gym. Blood coated the walls, she ran to escape the smell and found herself outside of her gym, only to see that the city was now also in shambles. Everyone in the town was dead, their brains had been crushed from inside their own skulls, including her parents.

At first, she thought that she had killed everyone in the city, but it was her Alakazam and Gengar that told it was not her fault. The damages and death had come mostly from the brainwaves of the psychics that trained in her gym, their powers running rampant, destroying and killing everything at random, including themselves.

Her psychic defense had protected her against most of the attacks, but upon learning that everyone that had once been dear to her was now dead, she wished it hadn't. During the first week she discovered the boost in her psychic abilities, allowing her to read her Pokemon's mind.

She began to experiment with moving heavy objects, moving them faster, doing things with more precision. Over the next several days, she buried every single person who had died, finding a suitable resting place for all of them, but unable to make gravestones for all of them as most of them were strangers to her.

She cleaned up the destruction that had laid waste to her gym, but she could not repair the damages done on it. After burying so many people, the smell of blood and the sight of death no longer made her gag, she was accustomed to it, numb to the effects it used to give her.

She eventually used Future Sight, allowing her to temporarily see into the future. She saw Ash's arrival just before she was deciding to leave Saffron and find another town. Although Alakazam and Gengar kept her company, she felt utterly alone, trying to be happy around them since they were trying so hard to be there for her, especially Haunter. Haunter had become a loyal companion that had won her many battles in the past few years ever since she got him from Ash.

To keep herself entertained, she continued to use Future Sight, seeing further and further into the future. What she saw made her fall in love with Ash, despite the age difference. The sensation of love began to heal her wounds, erase her nightmares when she slept coldly each night. If she focused on that, she did not have to think about the pain she had gone through.

It made sense to her, the man who had beaten her, who had saved her from herself, and gave her a way to attain happiness through humor, which was Haunter. She looked forward to the company of the others that Ash was bringing with him.

She would often talk to Alakazam, he was more collected that Haunter, a well of wisdom. If he talked, her psychic abilities could easily translate his words to match her language, but with her ability to read minds and to project her dialogue into others, she and Alakazam never needed to physically speak to each other, constantly reading each other's mind for conversations.

It had been her mistake to read everyone's mind upon contact; she had grown so accustomed to reading minds. So much so that she actually had to practice physically talking before they got there since they wouldn't be able to read their mind.

Alakazam and Gengar did not mind having their minds read, so she had assumed that the others would not either, another mistake on her part. She still had trouble making new friends, finding it easier to lash out at them. It was an unconscious action on her part, and when she realized what she had done, she knew by then that she could not take back the words she had said, nor would her victim be probably willing to accept her apology.

She could fall back and give the appearance of being superior after she had hurt someone. It allowed her to get away with many things considering others would be frightened of her powers, powers that she never stopped cursing ever since her mother and father had died.

Gengar and Alakazam would patrol the city for when Ash and co would come since she didn't know the exact day. She had gathered enough food from the entire city to last her for several years. Sometimes, she would send out the astral projection of herself in the form a little girl to help them patrol.

It was something to do; it got her outside of the gym without actually having to leave. In a way, it kept her Pokemon and herself company. She insisted on staying in the house so that in case the patrols missed Ash, she knew for certain that Ash would come to the gym. She did everything psychically, never having to worry about gaining weight since the constant use of her psychic abilities used up a lot of energy. The stockpiled glucose in her body was the main source of energy in her brain, and with psychic abilities to top it off; she needed a lot of glucose.

She became depressed often; she no longer wanted to view into the future. Not because she had seen all of it, but what she saw ahead was also depressing. Her abilities did not allow her to view into the past. She could easily relive movements in her life that she spent with her parents, but even then she knew in the back of her mind that she would be living a lie.

When it became too painful for her, she decided to use Amnesia. It made her forget something temporarily to strengthen her defense temporarily, but there was another way she could use it. She could forget something permanently and strengthen her special defense permanently as a result.

She forgot a majority of the things that pained her to the point where she knew that something pained her, but she did not know what it was. Sabrina was tempted to forgetting everything about her previous life to escape the pain, but felt that she needed to hold onto something. She knew where her parents were buried, if she came close to their burial sight, all her memories would return, but her special defense would decrease as a result.

It had come to the point where she was no longer saddened by what happened, knowing full well what had conspired. The very thing she would hold onto would be the thought of Ash; she would belong to him and him alone. If he needed her to die for him than she would, there was no hesitation for her on the account of taking a bullet for him if needed. She would do anything he needed her to do.

There was suddenly a knock on the door, part of Sabrina was surprised, the other side of her wasn't, knowing that it was Misty. Sabrina lifted herself up psychically, turning around and opening the door.

Misty stood meekly beyond the doorway, shrouded in darkness, the only light coming from Sabrina's simple room consisting of a bed and a lamp that illuminated the plain colored sheets, the closet for all her clothing and accessories, the nightstand it was on, and the bland walls of the room.

"I'm sorry for coming here so late," Misty mumbled

Sabrina was surprised at why Misty, after she had been repeatedly teased and insulted, was being so formal and polite in front of her.

"No, no it's fine. I wasn't sleeping. I'm honestly happy that there are people here now," Sabrina admitted, being completely honest.

Misty could tell that the comment was genuine and from the heart, despite all the hurt her words had caused, Misty knew that Sabrina was good deep down inside.

"What is it that you wanted?" Sabrina asked.

"I…actually…I wanted to know…what will I be to Ash?" Misty hastily said.

Sabrina closed her eyes, and shook her head, "I'm sorry Misty. I can't tell you that."

"What! Why the hell not?" Misty snapped back, forgetting that standing in front of her was a woman capable to killing her with a blink.

"I was told not to" Sabrina replied shortly.

"By who" Misty yelled angrily.

"By you, in the future. You and Ash made me swear never to reveal anything of the future to you that might change what happens in the future. They wanted things to go the way they did because it was natural. What happens from her on is up to us; I won't be interfering with what happens so it might change our future entirely. I hope you understand. Had the situation been different, I would've gladly told you, but I can't. You and Ash made me take an oath, a vow that I never intend to break. I promised" Sabrina explained.

Misty calmed down considerably at the news, backing away before looking at Sabrina again.

"You're still going to go after Ash?" Misty inquired.

"It doesn't seem to be anything that would affect the future. If it did, then the future would've changed the second I fell in love with him" Sabrina pointed out.

"Oh, I see" Misty replied, walking back to her room in defeat. Sabrina was just about to close the door when Misty called out to her again from the distance in the darkness.

"Sabrina, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Why did you fall in love with Ash?"

Sabrina paused for a moment before answering back.

"I fell in love with him because he was the first person to beat me in a battle"

"Wait! You mean from when he gave you Haunter and you gave him the gym badge?" Misty cried out incredulously, finding it hard to believe that she had fallen in love with a ten year old in a battle that technically didn't count as a gym battle.

"No, I don't mean the Pokemon battle I had with him. In the future, we fought each other, one on one with no Pokemon, and he beat me, with sheer skill, strength, and intelligence" Sabrina concluded and closed the door, leaving Misty to stand in the darkness of the hallway, completely amazed at what she was just told.