After seeing Ash and his friends off, Red embarked on his solo journey once more. He was now deep within a forest near Saffron City. The arrival of night cloaked the woods in an eerie, terrifying atmosphere, and the occasional cold wind rustling through the branches sent a shiver of dread down the spines of any passing travelers.

Red, however, was unfazed. He held a Pokémon Egg incubator in his arms, inside which rested the precious egg given to him by the Ancient Dragonite at Bill’s lighthouse. It faintly pulsed with a white light, a clear sign it was about to hatch.

“I’m really looking forward to your birth, little one,” Red chuckled. The egg in his arms seemed to understand, trembling slightly in response, bringing Red’s anticipation to its peak.

His arrival had not gone unnoticed. Sabrina, the Gym Leader of Saffron City, had been observing his journey through her immense psychic power. She sensed a subtle but powerful psychic presence on Red, one that seemed to suppress her own. It gave Sabrina, who had always felt utterly alone in her power, a strange sense of kinship.

“You’ve been observing for long enough. It’s time you showed yourself,” Red said calmly. His eyes glowed blue, and his psychic power seized a doll hidden in the shadows, pulling it into the air. But the doll showed no fear, its movements puppet-like and unnatural. It just gave Red a deep, empty look before vanishing.

“I look forward to your arrival…”

The eerie voice echoed through the forest. Red knew this was one of Sabrina’s tests. She often manipulated dolls to scare trainers traveling through the woods, a twisted way to add a bit of novelty to her lonely existence.

Red soon arrived at the main gate of Saffron City. As the largest and busiest metropolis in the Kanto region, its skyline was dominated by the massive Silph Co. headquarters. In the northeast corner of the city, two gyms stood in silent opposition: the Psychic-type Saffron Gym, and the famous Fighting Dojo.

Once, the two had disputed the right to be Saffron’s official Gym. However, due to a severe type disadvantage, the Fighting-type Gym was defeated, demoted to a simple Dojo, while the Saffron Gym claimed the official title. Although a victory at the Fighting Dojo no longer awarded a badge, challengers could choose to receive either a Hitmonlee or a Hitmonchan from the Karate Master, Kiyo, as a prize.

But in recent years, Sabrina’s psychic power had run wild. Fearing her unpredictable and dangerous nature, the Fighting Dojo had temporarily closed its doors. Now, Saffron City, which should have been the bustling commercial heart of Kanto, was eerily quiet at night, with not a single footprint visible on its empty streets.

Due to the late hour, Red decided to settle in at the Pokémon Center. After checking in and getting his key, he simply washed up and lay on the bed, gradually falling into a deep sleep. As he slept, the Pokémon Egg he had been carefully nurturing began to glow.

He woke promptly at six in the morning. Rubbing his blurry eyes, Red felt a light pressure on his chest. He opened them wide and saw a Shiny purple Dratini, drowsily lying on him, a small trail of drool on its cheek.

“Dra~”

Realizing Red was awake, the Dratini woke up too. It wriggled closer, sticking out its tongue to gently lick his cheek and rubbing its small body against his chest.

“Hold on a second, Dratini,” Red said gently, pushing the playful Pokémon away. He took his inspection equipment and Pokédex from his backpack and carefully scanned its body, wanting to ensure the newly hatched Pokémon had no hidden health issues.

“As expected of a Dratini that absorbed the bloodline of the Ancient Dragonite. Its physical data is far superior to that of a normal one,” Red exclaimed. The Dratini was currently 0.6 meters long, but with careful nurturing, it would grow incredibly strong.

Hearing Red’s praise, Dratini happily squinted its eyes, longing for another touch.

“This little one must have hatched in the middle of the night,” Red guessed, stroking the small, cute Pokémon. Its sudden birth had caught him off guard. After careful consideration, he decided to temporarily send Milotic to Professor Oak’s lab, so that Beedrill could train it and help its strength grow rapidly.

“Little one, would you like to become my companion?” Red took out a brand new Poké Ball and asked the Dratini.

“Dra?” Though it didn’t quite understand, it willingly entered the Poké Ball to be by Red’s side, not resisting at all as it was perfectly captured.

After a quick breakfast, Red left the Pokémon Center, heading toward the Saffron Gym. As he approached, a middle-aged man pretending to jog appeared in front of him, clearly intending to warn him away.

“Although I don’t know where your confidence comes from, I must kindly advise you that Gym Leader Sabrina’s strength is not to be underestimated,” the man said urgently. “She is far more formidable than any Gym Leader you’ve encountered before. There are other cities where you can get a badge. Why insist on Saffron?”

“Formidable?” Red looked at the man indifferently, his tone chillingly calm. “Are you referring to the Sabrina who can’t control her rampaging psychic power and casually turns defeated challengers into dolls to torment? Or the one who personally turned her own mother into a doll and drove away the father who tried to save them?”

“You?! Who exactly are you?!” the middle-aged man exclaimed in horror. This was Sabrina’s father.

“Just a passing Pokémon trainer,” Red said leisurely.

“Since you insist on challenging the Saffron Gym, then I’ll tell you Sabrina’s story.” The man walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. Red sat beside him, waiting.

“Sabrina wasn’t like this when she was little. By chance, she learned about the existence of psychic power—or perhaps she always had the talent, and it just hadn’t been unleashed.” The man’s expression turned sorrowful. “Children become obsessed with a beloved toy, and Sabrina, who had mastered psychic power, was even more severe. She was so engrossed in training her abilities that she refused to make friends, becoming lost in her own psychic world, unable to extricate herself.”

“Didn’t her parents stop her?” Red asked, feigning ignorance to avoid arousing suspicion.

“We… her parents tried to stop her, but she used her psychic power to drive us away. From that moment on, she developed a dual personality: the powerful, second-to-none Sabrina, and the lonely, mischievous Sabrina who yearned for friends.”

The man took out a faded family photo of a young Sabrina smiling happily with her parents. It was a memory from before she became obsessed with her power.

“The doll she always holds now… that’s what she looked like before she lost herself to her training.”

“What a tragic experience, Sabrina’s father,” Red said calmly.

“As expected…” The man pressed his hat down. “Even the most oblivious person would realize I’m her father after hearing this much.”

“…”

Red was about to agree, but the image of Ash’s silly smile appeared in his mind. He guessed his younger brother would probably think the man was just a nosy neighbor.

“Don’t worry,” Red said confidently, standing up. “Although I’ll use some cunning methods, I guarantee Sabrina will return to her original self. You can just act according to the situation then.” He turned and walked toward the gym.

(That confident expression… and that figure in red… could it be him?)

The man suddenly recalled a recent article in the League Weekly. It told the story of a ten-year-old boy who, by himself, led his Pokémon to defeat the super-giant Tentacruel and its swarm. The article began with a photo of Red waving goodbye to the colossal Pokémon.

“So that’s it. If it’s this young man, perhaps Sabrina can truly find her smile again. But… what exactly does he mean by ‘act according to the situation’?”

***

(End of Chapter)

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