CHAPTER 59 – SABRINA

In the previous chapter we see how our heroes go through a kind of mine before reaching Lavender Town, there they meet again with Wendy, Erika's sister, who was here to capture a Snorlax that was causing problems in the mine, after receiving indirect help from Team Rocket, Wendy manages to catch the Snorlax and incorporate it into her team, while our heroes continue their way to Lavender Town.

With Ash.

We arrived in Lavender Town without any other incident and to be honest, it was a town I didn't like, not that it wasn't pretty or anything like that, but it was very gloomy.

Lavender Town was always known for being the place where the Pokémon Tower was located or in other words the cemetery for the Pokémon, therefore, this town did not have a very good reputation, but it was still not extremely small.

"Anyway, the referee said Sabrina was here, the question now is, where to look?" – asked Nancy.

"Now that you say it, we forgot to ask where She could be" - I nodded.

"Ugh, this is like the Safari Zone thing again, why do we always forget to ask?" – said Koharu.

"No idea, but for now, I suggest to ask at the Pokémon Center, maybe Nurse Joy has some clues" - I said.

Everyone nodded, so we headed to the Pokémon Center which was very close to our current position.

The Pokémon Center looked completely the same without any apparent changes, even Nurse Joy was in the same place and since she was not attending to anyone, we approached the counter.

"Good afternoon, do you want something?" - asked Nurse Joy.

"Yes, look, we came from Saffron City, we were told that Sabrina was here, so we came to look for her, do you know where she could be?" – I asked.

"Oh, I see, again" – said nurse Joy.

"Again?" - asked Verity confused.

"Well, it's like the third time this month that someone has come looking for her here, she's a problematic leader if you want my opinion" - She explained.

"I imagine" – I nodded.

"True, if you want to find it is always in the same place, in the Pokémon Tower, ask at the reception as soon as you enter and they will tell you where She is" – said nurse Joy.

After thanking Nurse Joy, we headed straight to the Pokémon Tower and when we entered... I honestly do not like this environment at all and it seemed that I was not the only one because everyone was the same, even Pikachu and Latias seemed uncomfortable in this place.

"We'd better find Sabrina and leave, I don't like this place" - Koharu said.

"Right, it's gloomy and depressing, why She come here?" – Nancy nodded.

"Let's ask, I don't like this place too" - I said.

We quickly made our way to the counter and as Nurse Joy told us we asked for Sabrina's location, however the answer was something we definitely none expected.

"I'm sorry to tell you that Sabrina was indeed here, but two days ago" - said the receptionist.

"Any idea where She can be?" – I asked politely.

"She said she would go back to the gym, she also told me that in the next few days some people would look for her, that's why she left me that message" - She explained.

And as it stands, Sabrina had returned to the gym two days ago, so we had literally come to this Town for literally nothing.

After thanking the receptionist, we decided to have a drink at the Pokémon Center while we thought about our next steps.

"What should we do now, should we go back?" – I asked.

"Yes, but I don't want to walk back, I mean, if we do it's possible that by the time we get there She'll be gone again" - Nancy said.

"I agree, I don't want to go through the same thing" - Verity nodded.

"I agree with them" - Koharu added.

Latias and Pikachu seemed to agree with them, so we unanimously decided to take a taxi back to Saffron City.

...

Once there.

After arriving in Saffron City we went straight to the gym with the intention of challenging Sabrina.

"Oh, it's you, you're in luck, Sabrina came back nothing ago" – said the referee.

"Yes, we know, we came from Lavender Town" - Nancy said.

"I see... I'm sorry" – said the referee.

"Nothing happens, sometimes these things happen, plus all we want now is to challenge Sabrina, so if you could tell her we would appreciate it" - I said.

"Of course, wait here a moment, right now I'll bring her" – nodded the referee.

After a few minutes of waiting, the referee appeared with Sabrina, who did not seem very happy.

"Are you the challengers?" - She asked.

"Yes, my name is Ash and this is Pikachu my best friend" – I nodded.

"I already know who they are, Ash, Pikachu, Nancy, Verity, Koharu and Latias" - She said undeterred.

Did Latias say? It's true that Latias is out of his Pokéball all the time, but I'd swear I've never seen Sabrina before.

"How do you know who She is?" – I asked something more serious.

"I saw it in one of my visions, but neglect, I will not reveal anything I saw, I will only say one thing, apart from you that you have some chance of winning, the two women behind you will lose no matter what strategy they use, so I suggest you train for a while and come back then" - She replied.

"What did you say?" - asked Nancy, frowning.

"Don't take it as an insult, but as reality, except for Ash, who has a chance of winning me, you two haven't trained enough, so I won't waste my time, come back when you've trained enough" - She said.

"Aren't you being a little rude?" - asked Verity, frowning.

"No, I'm just telling the truth, now if you excuse me..." – She said calmly.

And without saying a word, he left the place.

"I-I'm so sorry!" – the referee apologized right after.

The girls were already starting to say unpleasant words, so I decided to intervene.

"Girls, we'd better talk about this in the Pokémon Center" - I said, trying to calm them down.

"Good!" – they nodded.

"I'm so sorry, I'll try to convince her to fight with you, if I get it I'll send a message to the Pokémon Center right away!" – the referee apologized again.

...

Already in the Pokémon Center.

"Did you hear what he said? he called us weak!" – exclaimed Nancy as soon as she entered the room.

"Who do you think She is?" – Verity nodded.

"Wait, is it possible that a gym leader can reject a challenge? I thought that couldn't be done" - Koharu said.

"Koharu is right, I will look at the rules of the Indigo League if that is allowed, if not, we will return to the gym and everything will be settled" – I nodded.

The girls nodded so I quickly set out to investigate if there was anything in the rules of the Indigo League related to the Gym Leaders, to see if I could find anything that prohibited them from refusing a challenge.

The truth is that I am also angry and not only for me, but for them, after all there were many ways to say what he said and yet he said it with an arrogant and proud tone, as if he did not care at all about our opinions about it, unfortunately someone must keep his composure and act politely even if i'm furious too.

I quickly got into the official website of the Indigo League and downloaded the rules, the good thing is that they were available to all those who wanted to know the rules, so it was easy to find them, then I downloaded them.

When I opened the file and started reading, I realized the large number of rules that existed, but right now I don't care, the important thing is to find the section of gym leaders.

"Here it is, let's see... The gym leaders must deliver their respective medal after their defeat, in case of a tie, the same gym leader will decide whether or not he wants to deliver the medal, if the challenger loses, he can try again at any time, without limit of times" – that's what I read.

"And it doesn't say anything related about whether a gym leader is allowed to turn down a challenge?" – Nancy asked immediately.

I continued reading, but the next thing talked about where to go after getting the 8 medals, but nothing else related to gym leaders.

"No... nothing" – I denied.

"Great, all perfect!" – Nancy said angrily.

"What should we do now?" - asked Verity.

"Should we go back and try to convince her?" asked Koharu.

Latias and Pikachu waved their fists in the air in the air that they agreed with Koharu, although I don't know how they would convince her...

"Girls, although what Sabrina said is misplaced, she is right about something" - I said.

"What do you mean?" - they asked.

Latias and Pikachu also stared at me.

"Don't get me wrong, but it's only been two weeks since we challenged Koga, I think we should take some time to train, not because Sabrina says so, but because we need to improve" - I explained.

"You're right, but I don't like the way he spoke to us" - Nancy nodded.

"We may not be ready, but that's not a reason to talk to other people like that" - Verity said.

"There are ways to say it" – Koharu nodded.

"You are absolutely right, look, in a few days, it will be our trip to Paldea, I think it will be better that we relax there, train these last days and see new things, maybe even train there, I think after relaxing in Paldea, we will see things differently, what do you think?" – I suggested.

"Well... But it doesn't end here, when I come back... I'll humiliate her in a Pokémon battle" - Nancy said unconvinced.

"Nancy is right, we will beat her up, it will be the easiest badge to get" - Verity agreed.

I could only give them the reason to this, after all they were right, I do not even remember ever in the anime that a gym leader did not accept the challenge of a challenger, so I did not know very well what to do next, but I remember wrong, in the anime, Ash had to go to the Pokémon tower and bring a Haunter with him to be able to challenge Sabrina, But in this world, she wasn't so scary, or so I think.

Anyway, now we only had to do one thing, train until the day comes to go to Paldea, once there, we will relax and when we return he will surely accept our challenge ... I'm not sure about that statement either, but I have no choice but to believe it, after all, when does she determine whether we are ready or not? At the moment we will try to challenge her again when coming from Paldea and see if she leaves us, otherwise, we will have no choice but to challenge Blaine first, although I hope not to reach that, the road to Cinnabar Island is not exactly short.

That said, we went straight to bed, I have to say that the girls were quite aggressive in bed today, not that I disliked it, but I'm sure my hip couldn't handle this every day, luckily, I don't think this kind of situation happens very often.