A battle was starting inside Saffron Gym right now.
However, the battle was not taking place on the battlefield. It was happening in Sabrina's room.
In this battle, Natsui fought very bravely. After more than an hour, he completely defeated Sabrina. He won so thoroughly that, in the end, she could only beg him to stop.
In a short time, the two of them went through three rounds. They only rested a few minutes between each one. The whole fight was intense from beginning to end.
By the end of it, Sabrina was flushed all over. She could only lie there weakly, unable to get up, while her breathing stayed uneven.
Natsui's Pokémon were powerful, but he himself was strong too in this kind of contest. That was enough to make anyone admire him.
Natsui lay on the bed and looked at the ceiling. He stretched his body and felt all kinds of emotions.
Being young really was a wonderful thing.
He truly had a lot of energy.
He pulled Sabrina into his arms. She was completely worn out now. As he breathed in the scent of her hair, he felt deeply satisfied.
At this point, his mind had already calmed down. The strong passion from before had faded.
Still, he had one concern in the back of his mind. Things had gotten too heated, and in the moment, he had forgotten to ask Sabrina whether it was a safe time for her. He also had not prepared any protection beforehand.
But when he looked at Sabrina, she was lying quietly in his arms like a docile cat. Natsui did not want to ruin the mood by bringing it up now.
He decided he would ask her later.
Even if something did happen, it would not really matter.
He had chosen Sabrina, and Sabrina had chosen him. They were still a little young, so perhaps it was somewhat early.
But right now, the most important thing was simply enjoying this warmth.
...
In the afternoon, Natsui took a shower and finally walked out of Sabrina's room. He felt refreshed, and even the world looked better to him.
His legs and waist felt a little tired. For the moment, he definitely did not want another fight.
At times like this, he was glad he had sent Misty and May off before entering Saffron City. He had told them to walk around nearby first. Those two would only have been in the way. If they had stayed with him, there would have been no chance to spend time alone with Sabrina.
He checked the time.
He had already agreed to meet Misty and May back here, but they still had not arrived. Since he had nothing better to do, Natsui started wandering through the gym.
Sabrina had used up a lot of strength and was covered in sweat. She still needed time to wash up and get dressed properly before coming out.
Natsui walked slowly through Saffron Gym.
He had never really explored this place carefully before.
The gym was not only a place where trainers came to challenge Sabrina. It also worked as a school for psychic powers. That side business brought in extra income for both Sabrina and the gym.
It was similar to Erika running her flower shop or Roxanne working as a teacher. The basic idea was the same. These were side jobs for Gym Leaders.
Some Gym Leaders just preferred to enjoy life in their own way. For example, Brawly from Dewford Gym spent a huge part of every day surfing.
There were several rooms on the first floor.
Inside, men and women dressed in white sat at tables. Each of them had a spoon in front of them. They were trying to use psychic powers to bend the spoons, and some of them were also attempting card-guessing exercises.
But most people simply do not have psychic talent.
Their eyes were practically straining, yet the spoons did not move at all. And when they guessed cards correctly, it was mostly just luck.
Natsui had nothing to do, so he casually walked into one of the rooms.
At first, no one noticed him. He went over to a table and picked up a spoon. Only then did a man spot him.
"Who are you?" the man asked as he looked at Natsui. "I haven't seen you here before. You're not one of us, are you?"
"No." Natsui shook his head. "I'm just here to visit the Gym Leader. I don't have anything to do at the moment, so I'm just walking around."
"To visit Sabrina?" The man looked surprised, then shook his head. He clearly did not believe that an ordinary person could meet that cold psychic girl. "If you're only wandering around, that's fine. But don't touch the training tools here at random."
Natsui looked at the table.
"You mean these spoons?"
"Of course." The man nodded. "Psychic power is something you're born with. If you don't have talent, you'll never reach that level no matter what."
Natsui glanced around the room. The people here were all beginners. None of them were strong at all.
So he asked casually, "Then you must have trained here for a long time. What level can you reach now?"
He was only asking out of curiosity, but the man smiled proudly.
"Since you want to know so badly, I'll show you myself!"
The man picked up a spoon and stared at it with all his focus. It looked like he was using strength from his entire body.
Veins stood out on his forehead.
Then, under the force of his psychic power, the spoon finally moved. It slowly bent until it reached a perfect right angle.
The man let out a breath and looked at Natsui with pride.
"You see? This is my psychic power. Someone without talent could never do this!"
The gap between people like this and Sabrina was enormous. Even Tate and Liza from Mossdeep Gym were far stronger than these students.
Psychic power is the kind of thing you either have or you don't. Training can help, but it does not change the core quality that much.
Natsui clapped politely. The man smiled even wider.
"This is the result of three full years of training. So? Do you want to try it too?"
"I think I'll pass." Natsui shook his head. "I know myself. I don't have any talent in this area. I've never even tried it before."
He was about to leave.
But at that moment, his shadow stirred slightly. A few strands of his hair also shifted, almost as if some invisible force had brushed past him.
Two seconds later, Natsui shook his head and looked back at the man.
"Alright then. I'll give it a try."
"You really want to try?"
The man looked surprised. He had only wanted this young man to witness his ability. He never expected Natsui to actually step up.
That was fine too.
If Natsui tried, then he would understand the gap between them.
The man placed a fresh spoon on the table in front of Natsui, ready to watch him fail.
Natsui looked at the spoon and reached out.
He did not even make a motion like he was using force.
But in the very next second, the spoon flew straight into his hand!
"What!?"
The man's eyes widened so much it looked as though they might fall out. He shouted before he could stop himself.
But that was only the beginning.
Natsui still did not move. Yet the spoon in his hand began twisting on its own. In moments, it had curled into a spiral.
"I... I... I..."
The man could not even finish a sentence.
Other people in the room had already rushed over after hearing the commotion. Once they learned this was Natsui's first time even trying it, they were completely stunned by the sight of the twisted spoon.
"How is that possible!?"
"You have to be joking! We've trained for so long..."
"A genius!"
The room broke into noisy discussion as everyone crowded around Natsui.
Then Sabrina's voice sounded from outside.
"I was wondering why I couldn't find you. So you were hiding here."
Natsui waved casually to the people around him, then turned to Sabrina with a smile and walked out of the room with her.
The people inside were even more shocked now than they had been by the spoon trick.
"Am I seeing things?" one of them muttered.
"Sabrina actually talked to that man! And they walked out together!?"
The man who had spoken to Natsui earlier suddenly remembered that Natsui had said from the beginning that he was there to visit the Gym Leader.
So he had not been bluffing at all.
But who exactly was he?
And why was Sabrina treating him so gently?
This whole day had completely overturned the man's view of the world.
After they left the room, Sabrina smiled faintly.
"I didn't expect you to be in the mood to play a joke on them."
"It wasn't me," Natsui said. "It was this guy, Gengar."
Gengar floated out beside Natsui with a smug grin.
It had been the one moving the spoon and twisting it the whole time.
"Heh, I just wanted to tease them a little," Gengar said. "What's that saying again? If you want to hit the dog, look at the master first. He questioned my trainer, so I had to show them what real power looks like!"
"That's not showing them real power. That's just messing with them."
Natsui sighed.
Then he suddenly remembered something else.
"By the way, I remember I caught that Jigglypuff that could use Hypnosis. Didn't I leave it with you? How's it doing now?"
"It's a miracle you still remember it," Sabrina said with a smile. "When you contacted me before, you never once asked about it. I thought you had completely forgotten it existed."
Natsui really had not asked about Jigglypuff a single time.
That was a little irresponsible of him. Still, he had only caught that thing to remove a walking disaster from the world.
A Jigglypuff carrying a microphone really was a dangerous creature.
"I left it with you because I hoped you could keep it under control. So where is it now?"
"It's probably wandering somewhere around the city," Sabrina replied. "After I hid its microphone, I stopped worrying much about it and let it move freely. Before, it still tried sneaking around at night to steal it back. But after I turned it into a doll a few times, it started behaving."
Natsui nodded.
Sabrina had taken away its weapon while still letting it move around. That really would keep it quiet for a while.
After all, there was no way Jigglypuff could steal its microphone back from Sabrina.
"Still, it's better to be careful," Natsui said. "Just make sure it doesn't find another one somewhere."
At that moment, the door of Saffron Gym opened and Misty and May walked in.
"Good, so it wasn't completely closed," Misty said. "I saw a notice saying it was closed today, so I thought no one would be here. I'm glad we came in anyway."
Closed?
Sabrina was slightly confused. Then she guessed that her father had probably done that, so she said nothing.
"Hello, Sabrina. We meet again." Misty introduced May. "This is someone we met in Hoenn. She came with us to look around here."
May had already heard plenty about Sabrina from Misty. She knew Sabrina was important to Natsui.
So she greeted her a little stiffly.
"Hello, Sabrina."
Sabrina greeted them back. Then Natsui looked at the two girls.
"Where have you two been wandering for so long?"
Misty held up a flyer.
"Natsui! We found this! Saffron City is holding a Pokémon Contest in a few days! We have to go!"
"Oh?" Natsui turned to May. "Are you planning to enter it?"
"Yes." May nodded, looking hopeful. "I want to see what the Pokémon Contests in Kanto are like compared to the ones in Ever Grande."