The conditions required for Aura Fusion were extremely demanding.
Both the Trainer and the Pokémon needed to share a deep emotional bond, trust, recognition, and genuine affection.
On Ash's side, there was never an issue.
Whether it was his own Pokémon or one he'd just met, he would always risk his life to protect them. That was who Ash was, selfless to the core.
The real challenge lay with the Pokémon.
If their bond with Ash was only average, if they hadn't yet recognized him from the heart, Aura Fusion simply wouldn't work.
Pidgeotto and Butterfree were perfect examples. When they first joined Ash, they had failed the fusion process.
But after countless battles, shared dangers, and growing trust, they had eventually succeeded.
That's why, with Gengar, the newly caught, thousand-year-old Gastly, Ash hadn't even considered trying Aura Fusion.
They hadn't known each other for a full day, and compared to his earlier companions, their emotional link was almost nonexistent.
Yet, against all expectations, it worked. The fusion succeeded on the first attempt.
Although the fusion depth was still low, Gengar's enormous endurance allowed him to absorb far more Aura than usual, instantly boosting his power to the Elite Four peak level, equal to Alakazam's.
From here on, the battle would come down entirely to the Trainers.
Ash grinned. "Heh… guess catching you head-on was the right move after all."
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Gengar blinked, thoroughly puzzled.
"Nothing. Focus, it's coming!" Ash replied sharply, eyes narrowing as his Aura surged again.
On Sabrina's side, Alakazam vanished without a sound.
In the next instant, it reappeared behind Gengar, Psychic energy gathering like a storm, Psyshock!
A deep blue beam of psychic force tore toward Gengar's back, but Gengar reacted instantly, hurling a Shadow Ball behind him as if he had foreseen the attack.
Boom!!
The two moves collided midair, erupting in a blinding explosion.
The shockwave tore across the arena, scattering smoke and debris everywhere.
The battlefield filled with dust, light, and sound, each clash shaking the ground, each impact reverberating against the Aura barrier Ash had cast.
The barrier rippled but held strong.
Had Ash not reinforced the entire arena, the Saffron Gym would likely have been blown apart by now.
Misty shielded her face from the wind. "Wait, Ash and Sabrina aren't even giving commands! Why are Gengar and Alakazam fighting like that on their own?!"
It didn't look like a normal Pokémon battle anymore.
Both Pokémon were striking, dodging, and countering with uncanny timing, almost as if they shared their Trainers' minds.
Brock, watching intently, quickly caught on.
"They're using telepathy."
"Telepathy?" Misty repeated.
"It's a Psychic ability. Some Psychic Pokémon, and Trainers with Psychic powers, can communicate directly with their partners through thought.
Ash and Sabrina are both using it right now, giving commands mentally instead of out loud."
Brock's expression grew serious.
"That's why their Pokémon are reacting so fast. Thought commands are instant, no sound, no delay. If Sabrina's opponent wasn't Ash… or if Ash's opponent wasn't Sabrina… the battle would already be one-sided by now."
Misty was stunned silent.
Only another special ability user could fight a Psychic on equal footing. Otherwise, the opponent would hear every verbal command while hiding their own, an unfair advantage no ordinary Trainer could overcome.
But what really blew Brock's mind was Ash himself.
Using Aura for barriers, detection, healing, amplification, and now even telepathy?
"Man… you call it Aura, but at this point, it's practically a god-tier power system," Brock muttered under his breath.
On the field, the battle continued to escalate.
The collision between Aura and Psychic was no longer just between Gengar and Alakazam, it was between Ash and Sabrina themselves.
Unfortunately for Sabrina, this wasn't a true Trainer duel.
Because if Ash himself joined the fight directly, with that level of Aura power, she wouldn't even last a single exchange.
'Gengar, use Thunder Wave!'
Even with the battlefield covered in smoke, neither side relied on sight. Their energies, Aura and Psychic, painted a clear image of the field in their minds.
And both sides' telepathic coordination made their reaction speeds nearly superhuman.
But this time, that advantage actually hurt Sabrina.
Normally, she was the one with the unfair edge, reading her opponents' every word while concealing her own.
Now, she couldn't hear Ash's thoughts, and with the thick smoke obscuring the view, she couldn't even see what Gengar was preparing.
Now, everything came down to whose prediction was sharper, Ash's Aura or Sabrina's Psychic.
Gengar blurred forward at incredible speed, his movements leaving streaks of shadow behind. In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of Alakazam and thrust out his hand, crackling golden lightning burst from his palm, latching onto Alakazam's body like chains of electricity.
"Zzzzap!!"
Alakazam's body convulsed violently, arcs of lightning dancing across its golden fur. The paralysis took hold instantly.
Sabrina, connected to Alakazam through her psychic link, immediately felt the shock. Her expression twisted slightly as she focused, trying to drive out the foreign current with her mind.
But this time, it wasn't easy.
The earlier abnormal statuses, Taunt and Confusion, had attacked the mind. Those were within her area of expertise.
But paralysis was physical, attacking the body's nervous system.
To remove it, Sabrina had to use her Psychic power to forcibly expel the electric current pulsing through Alakazam's body, a process that couldn't be done instantly, even for her.
Ash's eyes flashed with determination. This was the chance he'd been waiting for.
'Gengar, Shadow Ball!'
Dark energy gathered in Gengar's hand, condensing into a massive orb of swirling black light. With a wicked grin, Gengar hurled it straight down at Alakazam's head!
"Boom!!"
The explosion rocked the arena. A wave of energy slammed into the barrier, sending shockwaves rolling through the Gym.
Sabrina's body trembled violently. A muffled cry escaped her lips, and she staggered backward, her face turning deathly pale. Her legs nearly gave out under her.
The reason was simple, Sabrina and Alakazam weren't just mentally linked anymore.
They were in full Psychic Fusion.
Unlike Ash's more stable Aura Fusion, which maintained separate consciousness while sharing energy, Sabrina's fusion blurred the line between Trainer and Pokémon completely.
Her mind was Alakazam's mind. Her strength was Alakazam's strength.
That was why she had been able to push Alakazam's power past its natural limit.
But it also meant that every attack Alakazam took… directly harmed her mind as well.
Since awakening her terrifying Psychic powers, Sabrina had never pushed herself this far. Nor had she ever been hurt so deeply.
When the smoke finally cleared, Misty and Brock could see the results.
Gengar still hovered in the air, grinning with boundless energy.
Alakazam, on the other hand, was half-kneeling on the ground, its spoons trembling, body swaying like a candle flame about to go out.
Ash let out a small breath, the tension in his shoulders easing.
"Alright, Gengar, finish it! Shadow Ball, end this!"
Gengar grinned wide, dark energy swirling in his palm once again.
"Heheh~ seems like my Trainer's power is stronger after all. Goodbye, golden fox!"
He raised his arm, ready to throw;
"Wait a minute!!"
The sudden shout froze everyone in place.
Gengar flinched mid-motion, almost losing his balance as the Shadow Ball fizzled out.
He turned irritably toward the voice, scowling. "Hey! Who the heck yells 'wait' at a time like this?!"
Standing at the edge of the arena was a man in a hat, who had appeared silently beside Sabrina at some unknown point.
Ash blinked, eyes widening in recognition.
"Wait, you're that guy! The one who told us not to challenge the Gym earlier!"
It was indeed the same man who had warned them outside Saffron Gym. Back then, he had been frightened off by Sabrina's appearance, but now, somehow, he had returned.
Ash frowned. "What's going on, mister? I'm literally about to win here!"
He wasn't particularly anxious, Alakazam was already at its limit. Even if Aura Fusion ended now, Gengar could easily finish the job.
The only reason he stopped was curiosity.
The man met Ash's gaze, his voice calm but earnest.
"Right now, Sabrina and Alakazam's minds are one. They've completely fused. If your Gengar lands that final Shadow Ball… Alakazam won't just faint. Sabrina will too, and her mind could suffer irreversible damage."
The man continued, eyes softening with a trace of sorrow.
"That's the price of forcing a Psychic fusion. The power may skyrocket, but if the Pokémon is hurt, the Trainer shares the same pain… and worse."
He looked at Sabrina, and under the brim of his hat, his eyes were filled with guilt and deep affection.
Ash followed his gaze.
Sabrina stood there, pale and trembling, her breathing unsteady. The cold mask she had worn all battle was beginning to crack.
When Ash and his Pokémon performed Aura Fusion, he too shared a portion of the pain and damage his Pokémon sustained.
However, thanks to his extraordinary physique, such feedback hardly affected him at all.
Sabrina, however, was a different story.
Her Psychic ability, while monstrous among humans, arguably among the most powerful on record, was still ultimately human.
Compared to the vast, instinctual power of a high-tier Pokémon, even an Elite Four-level Psychic like her had limits.
She could temporarily boost her Pokémon's strength through Psychic Fusion, yes, but the price was heavy: as the battle escalated, her body and mind lagged behind, her endurance collapsing faster than her Pokémon's.
Her Alakazam was a typical one, immensely powerful in attack and speed but frail in stamina and defense.
A classic glass cannon.
Ash's Gengar, on the other hand, was an entirely different kind of monster.
A ghost who had lived for over a thousand years, his endurance was terrifying. Both his stamina aptitude and his trained stamina stat were S-rank, making him a nightmare in prolonged battles.
Even among Pokémon of the same level, Gengar could outlast almost anyone.
That was why, after several intense exchanges, Sabrina and Alakazam were already panting heavily, drenched in sweat and straining to stay upright, while Ash and Gengar still looked as calm and composed as they had at the start.
In sheer power, the two sides had been evenly matched. But when it came to endurance and recovery, the gap was insurmountable.
Sabrina was exhausted, her Psychic reserves nearly spent, her body trembling just to stand.
Had Gengar released that final Shadow Ball, both Alakazam and Sabrina would have collapsed instantly.
Seeing her condition, Ash exhaled softly and withdrew his Aura.
The shimmering blue barrier surrounding the field faded away like mist.
"Sabrina," Ash said quietly, "the result's already clear. There's no need to keep fighting."
At those words, Sabrina's tense body finally gave out.
Her legs trembled, then folded beneath her, and she sank to the floor.
Alakazam's strength also receded, its power returning to its base state before it slumped to the ground beside her, breathing weakly.
"I lost."
Her voice was still cold, as if carved from ice, but there was a faint tremor in it, a tone that didn't quite match the emotionless mask she wore.
The man in the work clothes, the same one who had stopped Ash earlier, took a hesitant step forward.
His expression softened, and for a moment, it looked like he wanted to rush to her side. But when Sabrina's scarlet eyes flicked toward him, her gaze still sharp and cold, he froze where he stood, guilt flickering in his eyes.
Ash, meanwhile, stood silently for a few moments, his mind replaying something the others in the group had once told him.
Then he walked closer to Sabrina.
"You lost, Sabrina," he repeated softly.
"I know," she replied flatly, her crimson eyes dull as she looked up at him.
She didn't understand why he was repeating it, was he mocking her?
"Do you feel… unwilling?" Ash asked.
"Unwilling?" she echoed blankly.
Ash met her gaze. "Yeah. You gave everything in that battle, your focus, your power, your entire heart. And yet, you still lost. Even knowing your opponent was strong, you can't help feeling it, right?
That unwillingness. That ache in your chest, like your heart's being squeezed. That feeling that you need to challenge again, to prove you can do better next time… don't you feel that?"
Sabrina stared at him in silence.
Unwilling… did she?
For as long as she could remember, emotions like that had been distant, muted, meaningless.
From childhood, she had possessed Psychic power, an overwhelming, unnatural gift. And as her Psychic ability grew, her emotions began to fade.
Little by little, her heart had been replaced by cold logic and distortion.
She became detached from others, from her family, from the world.
Her mother, the only person who had tried to guide her, had eventually been turned into a doll, frozen eternally at her side.
Her father, who had also been Psychic, fled from her grasp long ago.
After driving away everyone who loved her, her heart had twisted further and further until a second personality was born, the "doll" she once always held in her arms.
That doll wasn't just a toy; it was the embodiment of her buried emotions, the warmth, the fear, the sadness she had locked away.
But during the battle…that doll had vanished.
Unknowingly, through her fight with Ash, the barrier she had built within herself had cracked open.
Her emotions, suppressed for so many years, had begun to stir.
And now, as she sat defeated on the floor, breath trembling, the strange ache in her chest spread and tightened, unfamiliar and raw.
Her lips parted slightly. That bitterness welling up from her heart to her throat, what was it?
This feeling…It was defeat.