PARAGON

  Hisui Incursion Arc [31]

  Chapter 83 : Sabrina vs Palkia

  Realm of Space

  Sabrina blitzed through the amethyst void, towering arcs of pure destruction sailing past her with hellish screams. Palkia grunted as it launched wave after wave of attacks, its eyes flashing furiously with each volley. The pillars of light burned as they tore through Palkia’s personal dimension, each one emitting a scalding heat.

  Upon entering this realm, Palkia’s form had changed, shifting from a draconic colossus to an interdimensional equine, every curve on its majestic form seemingly tailored to deliver an instantaneous death to anything that deigned to trespass on these galactic grounds.

  So even after Palkia had forced her here, Sabrina was still on the run. When Riley had drawn Dialga and Palkia’s attention, it’d been easy to strike at their respective cores, but under a constant assault, Sabrina did not have the mental resources to attack and dodge.

  And even after narrowly dodging each of Palkia’s blades, they exploded behind her, searing her back and weakening her ability to react as time waned on.

  Each time Sabrina tried to teleport closer, she saw Palkia’s eyes dart toward her intended destination and it sealed it off with another blade of energy before she could move. Gradually, Palkia was choking off her escape path.

  To conserve energy, up until this point, she’d reached only into the shallows of her power to teleport around, indicated by the emerald green flash every time she disappeared and reappeared. However, it was swiftly becoming clear that this would not cut it.

  I need to attack it.

  Riley had forced the dragons back into their own domains for precisely that purpose, yet Sabrina still hadn’t gone on the offensive due to Palkia’s sheer aggression.

  As if it knows what I’m capable of.

  If that was the case, and Palkia was reacting to Sabrina’s power, then that meant its behavior was dependent on her. Which meant she could manipulate it.

  Manipulate it into giving me an opening.

  Ever since one of her limiters had been destroyed, Sabrina had to make a conscious effort to keep her power constrained. Before, she’d simply sworn off using it altogether, but when it was clear that would not be feasible, she’d devoted all of her down time toward suppressing her power and enhancing her control, shouldering the role her limiter once fulfilled.

  However, this battle against Palkia was the first time that the fruits of her training would truly be tested.

  Slowly, she eased the mental restrictions off her power. Immediately, her pupils dilated wildly and the light around her sputtered between green and purple. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself not to lose focus and zeroed in on Palkia.

  However, the dragon wasn’t taking the bait.

  Instead, Palkia maintained its incessant assault, leaving Sabrina to resume teleporting rapidly as before.

  It doesn’t even want to take advantage of the obvious instability of my power regulation. Just how wary of me is it?

  As she moved, she continued to delve deeper into her power, and as she did, the light around her began to stabilize, each flash from her teleporting morphing to a dark purple. Cracks began to split across her body, violet light leaking out from within.

  If it’s going to be so scared of me, I might as well fulfill those fears.

  As another volley of energy blades soared toward Sabrina, she raised two fingers.

  An invisible knife bisected every single attack, their faltering remnants sailing past her before exploding, whipping her hair around as magenta smoke bloomed behind her.

  No longer moving from where she was, suspended in this otherworldly realm, Sabrina flicked her wrist.

  Palkia responded accordingly, lurching to the side as its entire massive body was seized in Sabrina’s control, and finally, its assault abated. An unnerved grunt from Palkia echoed through the dimension.

  Not allowing Palkia to recover, Sabrina raised her hand toward the dragon. “Cerebral Maze!” Her voice echoed across the shining void.

  In spite of Sabrina’s now vast perception, the Realm of Space began to crumble around her, the Alpha Palkia before her and the many others impossibly far away all shredding like paper before her crystalline eyes. Before long, only a pitch-black void remained.

  However, just as the Realm of Space had crumbled away, a new reality trickled into place, fading into view slowly like a springtime wind. A draft blew past Sabrina and suddenly she felt something solid beneath her feet. A pastel sky of muted blue brightened overhead, gray clouds staining its surface.

  A grand castle stretched out before Sabrina, towering above a steep flight of granite stairs. The sun just barely peeked out from behind the castle, bathing the landscape in the colors of a midsummer afternoon. The entire view before her looked like some fantastical painting.

  Sabrina took a step forward, and glancing down, she saw a bridge of brown sandstone beneath her feet, leading toward the colossal flight of stairs and the castle beyond.

  “Welcome.”

  Sabrina’s gaze whipped up at the sound of the voice, and she saw a hooded figure pacing toward her slowly. Their cloak was a dirty tan, appearing almost like a burlap sack, but it wasn’t until they got close enough that Sabrina could tell who was under the hood.

  Despite walking like a human, with two normal arms and legs, Palkia’s draconic visage stared back at Sabrina from within the hood.

  “Palkia…” she said cautiously, stopping. “What did you do?”

  Palkia chuckled. “I haven’t done anything. You’re the one who did this.”

  Sabrina’s brows furrowed. “The attack worked? Then…”

  “Not to worry. Our bodies are still fighting fiercely beyond this place. But since you’ve given us an opportunity to, let us converse peacefully for a bit.”

  Sabrina frowned and looked around. I really did this…? Eventually her eyes fell back on the humanoid Palkia. “What is this place? And why do you look like that?”

  Again, Palkia laughed. “I couldn’t tell you. This place is your construction. A bridge between our souls. I am not responsible for its design. I simply await you at the end of the bridge. Isn’t that how this works?”

  Sabrina glanced around again as she swallowed Palkia’s reply. That was how this worked. But it’s supposed to be a maze, not a bridge. Nonetheless, this was her first time using Cerebral Maze on a non-dark-type. Was this what Palkia’s soul looked like?

  “What do you see?” the dragon asked.

  “I see…a castle.”

  Palkia nodded. “A palace, hm? Fit for a dragon, I’m sure. Something beyond your imagination, doubtless. I wonder, is that how you see me?”

  Maybe… Sabrina had listened to a not insignificant number of Zinnia’s rants over the years. Perhaps the Dragon Master’s veneration of the most ancient type had rubbed off on her a bit.

  “And you…” Sabrina continued. “You look like a human.”

  Palkia looked down at its own body. “Is that so? I wonder what that could mean?”

  “Any ideas?” This entire thing felt like a hallucination so Sabrina had no issue being a bit brusque.

  “Hmmm. This place is an observable manifestation of your target’s soul. Perhaps this is the truth of my soul as you perceive it. Or it may just be an ideal. All dragons struggle with that endless query.”

  Sabrina wrinkled her brows. “I don’t know what that means.”

  “If you view me as a human, does that mean you wish I was human? Or does it mean I am destined to grow closer to humanity? Is it just me, or is it all dragons? Or all pokémon?”

  Palkia’s riddles were starting to make her head hurt. So she ignored them. “Your face still looks like a dragon though.”

  “Interesting.”

  Palkia was making it difficult for her to latch onto anything substantive. It took everything she said in stride. Sabrina was starting to forget that they were currently trying to kill each other.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked. “Why are you helping Volo?”

  “Hmmm,” Palkia rumbled. “No particular reason.”

  Sabrina’s eyes went bloodshot. “What?”

  Palkia turned and began walking toward the mountain of stairs, inviting Sabrina to follow. “This is nothing more than a whim. This conversation, and indeed, this battle.”

  Sabrina could feel anger flooding her veins, but she suppressed it. This thing’s whim was putting Riley and Ash in untold danger.

  “If you were to ask Dialga, I’m sure he’d prattle out some such about Giratina and the order of existence, but the truth is, he and I are here for the same, inconsequential reason. ‘Tis naught but a whim, I assure you.”

  “Then—!” Sabrina stopped herself. “Wait, you said ‘he?’ Dialga is male?”

  “Hm, did I? You’d have to tell me what I said. Contrary to how it may sound to you, I am not speaking with a human tongue. Your ears simply hear my words in a language you can understand.”

  That was going to be another one of Sabrina’s questions. Nice of it…or him, to get ahead of her.

  Sabrina scowled at Palkia from behind as they both began their ascent up the stairs. “If attacking us is just a whim, then stop attacking us on a whim too. Our enemy is Volo, not you.”

  “A tempting offer, but we dislike stopping when we’re in the middle of something. We’d like to see this through to completion, if possible.”

  Sabrina clenched her fists. What would happen if she smacked Old Man Palkia from behind? It was insulting how casually he talked about killing them.

  “How’s Ash’s fight with Volo going right now? And Riley’s with Dialga?”

  “That’s something you’ll have to determine yourself once you defeat me.”

  Sabrina stopped walking. “Then let’s keep fighting!”

  Palkia took a few more steps up before stopping and turning around. “We were fighting. This lapse is because of you. We can resume if you want. Have you found your way to the end of the Cerebral Maze?”

  That’s right. As different as it looked, this was still the Cerebral Maze. Sabrina was still within Palkia’s soul. She would only be withdrawn once she touched its deepest core.

  The color drained from her face as she raised her head, tracing the path ahead with her eyes. The stairs ascended so high it looked like clouds were drifting across them past a certain point. The palace beyond may have been heaven itself.

  “Is your soul all the way up there?” she groaned.

  Palkia followed her gaze up. “I don’t think so. I am right here.” He placed a hand on his chest, though his sleeve hid it.

  Sabrina’s eyes bored into Palkia. Right. That makes sense. Well, then. No need to keep this going longer than necessary. I need to get back to Ash…and Volo.

  She started up toward him. “Sorry about this.”

  Palkia took a step backward up the stairs and Sabrina stopped.

  “Where are you going?”

  Palkia let out an incredulous chuckle. “Did you think I would just let you defeat me? We’ve been cordial thus far, but we are attempting to kill each other, are we not? I’m not going to simply roll over and allow you to imprint your will upon me.”

  …

  Right.

  Sabrina started up again, this time faster, and Palkia kept the distance between them, his expression still unchanged.

  “Stop running away!” Sabrina demanded, panting as she chased him.

  “This isn’t exactly what I expected from you, given the power you possess…” Palkia said, deadpanning.

  Eventually Sabrina stopped, leaning forward on her knees to catch her breath. Palkia stopped too, the distance between them still the same.

  What am I doing? While Sabrina was busy getting her steps in, Ash and Riley were fighting for their lives. No, for all of Hisui. Palkia’s nonchalant demeanor was messing with her perception of him. She’d forgotten what she was capable of.

  Shaking her head, mentally berating herself, she straightened, glowering at Palkia.

  This time, Palkia flinched.

  I’ll just teleport to him and that’ll be the end.

  “Wait.”

  Palkia wrung his hands, taking one step down, back toward Sabrina. “I don’t want to lose. But I know that eventually, you will win.”

  Sabrina glared at him, but allowed him to continue.

  “Instead of desecrating me, let us come to an accord instead.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “In exchange for my surrender, I can give you something you want. I still have my pride. I cannot place victory into your lap, but it could be exchanged for something.”

  “What do you want?”

  Palkia shook his head. “Oh, no, accepting my surrender is your end of the bargain. Whether you know it or not, your victory is assured. I only ask that you spare me the agony and humiliation of such a defeat. In other words, I am asking you what you want.”

  Sabrina paused. “Just like that? You expect me to believe that?”

  “As arrogant as it may sound, deception is beneath me. I would not lie to you.”

  That…actually made sense. It certainly aligned with the image of a legendary dragon Zinnia had inadvertently drilled into her. But it just sounded too good to be true. And was that even right? Her victory was assured if they continued to battle as normal?

  “I can see you’re struggling to accept this. I suppose that’s not surprising. In that case, allow me to suggest an offering.” Palkia stepped aside and turned up the flight of stairs, glancing skyward toward its peak. “Just as my soul is bare to you, so too is your soul bare to me. And there is much discord within your soul, isn’t there?”

  Immediately, Sabrina’s heart hardened and she cast a suspicious and baleful glare at Palkia. The dragon bowed his head respectfully, but continued.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Space and time are not so different. With my power, I can give you an opportunity to confront a shard of your past. Your experience here can be a salve upon one such wound on your soul.”

  “What are you saying?” Sabrina demanded, not at all plussed about the current subject matter being discussed. These were secrets she’d kept beneath wraps for a long time, and had only recently begun to disclose to others. The thought that someone else knew of them was nauseating to Sabrina.

  Palkia pointed. “Ascend to the palace ahead. Your future awaits.”

  Sabrina stared up at the long flight of stairs. Honestly, she wanted to be rid of Palkia as soon as possible, better yet if she didn’t have to face any of her trauma again. But…if what he was saying was true, then it would be…indolent of her to let the opportunity slip through her fingers.

  She started walking again, slowly, each step up the granite stairs seemingly heavier than before.

  As she passed Palkia, he spoke up one last time. “For transparency’s sake, I’ll say that what you’re approaching is by no means safe. Despite being my end of the bargain, it is you who will shape the outcome of this memory. It will be dangerous. And if you should fail in your conquest, I will consider our agreement annulled."

  “And what then?” Sabrina asked, not looking back.

  Palkia’s voice echoed from behind her, already sounding long in the distance. Had she really come so far already?

  “Our battle will resume, of course. Though, you’ll likely be incapacitated after emerging from your defeat, so killing you then would be a simple task.”

  As she ascended, Sabrina could feel the ground beneath her getting more and more fragile; each step made the stone feel more and more fragile, and before long, it felt like she was walking on glass. She shuddered as fog and clouds rolled across the stairs before her, swirling around her and snuffing out the antiquated vista of the pastel sky and fantasy palace. Soon, only a void of gray remained, yet Sabrina kept walking.

  Space shifted around her.

  Somehow, it got even darker, though this was not a black darkness. The deep blue of an urban midnight rested itself onto reality, and a wind blew past her, sending the scent of leaves straight up Sabrina’s nostrils. The ground below her was hard again, but not stone. Each of her steps was silent. Blades of grass limned in twilight dew tickled her bare feet, and soft soil clung to her soles as she walked.

  Trees towered around her, the shadows between masking the wildness that slumbered just out of sight.

  Sabrina shivered and rubbed her arms, continuing to advance forward.

  I…can’t…I…can’t…I…can’t…Not…one…more…day…

  Two girls ran out from behind Sabrina, and her heart nearly leapt from her chest. One was tall, taller than her, with long, straight hair, dark and darker still beneath the night. The other was a child, perhaps toddler-aged, and dressed in a picturesque white dress and hat that made her look like a doll, also dark in the dead of night.

  Suddenly, the tall girl’s leg shot out, kicking the young girl back into a tree. Her mouth opened and her neck trembled, but no sound came out. A smear of blood followed the girl’s head down the tree’s bark as she slumped to the ground.

  The tall girl lunged, and her fingers curled around the other girl’s neck, strangling her.

  The young girl’s eyes were wide with fear, her face turning blue, but she seized forward into the tall girl. Opening her mouth as wide as she could, she forced her teeth into one of the tall girl’s eye sockets, and bit down as hard as she could.

  Sabrina screamed, searing agony assaulting her body like a mountain of bricks. Her skull throbbed, her neck crushed inward, choking off her breath, and fire streamed down her face as half of her vision went dark. Her feet fell out beneath her and then she was on the ground, her face pressed into the soil.

  A weight slammed into her stomach like she’d been punched, then her leg bent the wrong way, shattering her knee. Tears oozed down her cheeks, horrid whimpers escaping her lips, but the wind was her only audience.

  Please make it stop.

  I’ll do anything.

  Anything. Just please…

  From the twisted heap where the two girls had been ripping each other apart, they both suddenly froze, their heads whipping toward Sabrina.

  Their faces were gone, replaced by empty skin, but blood dripped down their ruined heads into the shape of soulless eyes and malevolent smiles.

  Anything?

  Anything?

  Then why don’t you kill yourself?

  Yeah! You should kill yourself!

  You’ll never be strong enough to control your power.

  You’ll never be like the others.

  It’s only a matter of time before you die anyway.

  You’ll be alone for the rest of your life!

  Make sure you don’t wake up tomorrow.

  End your life right now!

  Eventually, Sabrina found herself on her feet again, stumbling through the shadowed forest. Pain wracked her body but the tormenting voices bouncing around like cannonballs within her head were far worse. The longer she ran, the less certain she was of what was real. The darkness around her blinked in and out as if she was losing consciousness, and even her pain started to become less of a sensation constrained to her own body, but an omnipresent force of nature like sound or touch. However, the voices of the two girls continued to berate her.

  No, encourage her.

  Encourage her to end her agonizing existence.

  Blurred lights of blue and orange and gold danced like flares in the distance and Sabrina lurched toward them, pawing out with her prone hands, desperately grasping for an interruption to her torment.

  Leaves brushed her face as she broke out of the forest and she suddenly found herself on concrete. She slammed into a waist-high iron railing and grabbed it before she fell over, gasping.

  Saffron City lay before her, dark skyscrapers towering beyond a sparkling tapestry of urban light. A bridge spanned the bay that lay between Sabrina’s outlook and the city proper. Despite the hour, cars and people filled the streets in the distance, but from here, Sabrina could hear naught but the gentle wind.

  So serene it was, she’d almost forgotten why she’d come here.

  It’s so pretty… Was it always like this?

  At the gym, the voices in her head never ceased. She could only quiet them by embodying one or the other. But to be outside at such a late hour… To Sabrina, it felt like she’d stepped into a world of fantasy, and for just a moment, she and the two girls stared silently in awe.

  A gale of wind blew past Sabrina, and she wrinkled her nose, shivering.

  It’s cold. I should hurry up and do it.

  The metal was cold as she pulled herself up onto the railing. Her heart hammered in her chest, but strangely, her body wasn’t shaking. She swung her legs over and sat down atop the railing. Casting a glance down, her feet tingled as she saw the drop. The railing she was currently perched on sat atop a sheer retaining wall, but far below lay a concrete platform filled with an array of shipping containers. Cargo ships cruised from the bay south into an artificial river where they were eventually deposited out into the open sea.

  In other words, there was solid ground beneath her right now. If she fell, death was certain.

  It occurred to her now that each unsteady breath she took could be among her last. The metal of the railing felt as cold as ice as she gripped it.

  It’s good for everyone. Even me.

  No one will even notice. Not for a while, at least.

  I can end the pain…right now.

  Slowly, she loosened her fingers, sticky with sweat, from the railing.

  Her heart turned weightless just before she let go. That was how she knew she’d made the right decision.

  Cold air billowed around her as she fell and she closed her eyes. Just a few seconds more.

  Her body stopped abruptly in midair. Her eyes shot open and she coughed at her sudden inertia, her limbs flailing as she remained suspended, still far above the concrete below.

  Without warning, her body spun through the air and rose. It wasn’t long before the iron railing and the forest came back into view. Slowly, she floated toward it.

  But, just before her foot touched back down on the ground, there was a flash, and the scenery around her vanished, replaced by the forest once again. Though this time, she found herself in a small clearing. Moonlight shone through the trees, banishing the darkness.

  Gently, the light enveloping her placed her down.

  “What were you doing just now?”

  Something zipped across Sabrina’s vision, but when she tried to follow it, it darted just out of her sight again. She spun around in place trying to catch the thing until she got dizzy, finally falling on her rear. It was then that she felt something tap her shoulder, and she whipped around.

  A pokémon about her size…no, a bit smaller, floated just in front of her. Its thin, pink tail slithered off her shoulder and it offered a cheeky smile, tilting its feline head.

  “What…What are you?” Sabrina breathed.

  “I’m Mew!” the pokémon said proudly, thumbing itself.

  Mew… Sure… Sabrina had heard of the mythical pokémon before, but obviously this creature could not be it.

  “Hey! You don’t believe me, do you?” Mew pouted, curling through the air. Stardust fell from its body as it glided through the air, and it snorted haughtily.

  Well, it's a pretty convincing illusion, whatever it is, Sabrina thought. “What do you want from me?” she asked.

  She’d gathered all her determination for this day, yet this mischievous pokémon had knocked all the wind from her sails. She couldn’t go through with it now. Maybe not ever anymore.

  Mew scowled as she flitted about the clearing, but then, her head perked up. “Oh, right! I was asking what you were doing just now! So, what were you doing?”

  Mew’s eyes shined as she stared at Sabrina. The longer their gazes lingered on each other, the more Sabrina started to think the question was serious, as if “Mew” actually didn’t know what Sabrina had been about to do. Her eyes were that of an innocent child. She tilted her head, prodding for an answer.

  “Hmmm, I guess you were having fun!” Mew declared. “Do you like to fly, Sabrina?”

  Sabrina frowned.

  “That is your name, right?” Mew said, retreating slightly. She looked at Sabrina warily, as if concerned she was talking to the wrong person.

  “How do you know my name?”

  Mew closed her eyes and raised a tiny paw to her head. “Ha ha ha. I know everything, young lady.” Her high-pitched voice sounded ridiculous, even through telepathy.

  “Then, you already know I’m Sabrina, right?”

  “So I was right! You are Sabrina! Yay!” Mew giggled as she swam through the air, pumping tiny, celebratory fists out.

  Sabrina watched Mew fly around, seemingly forgotten as she flit through the air. If this was Mew, wasn’t she supposed to be some kind of legendary pokémon? She was behaving like a child even younger than the nine-year-old Sabrina. It almost made Sabrina want to lay an authoritative hand down.

  “H-Hey!” Sabrina said, raising her voice.

  Mew zipped around and stopped in front of Sabrina. “Hm? What’s up, Sabrina?”

  Sabrina’s eye twitched in annoyance. “What’s up? That’s what I want to ask. What do you want with me?”

  “Hmmm? Hmmm!” Mew nodded furiously. “I want to play with you for a bit. I was passing by and it looked like fun, what you were doing! Jumping off from that high… Most humans can’t do that, right? But you can! You’re special!”

  Special…

  That was what her mother had called her at one point.

  And I wasn’t going to catch myself… Doesn’t she know that?

  “I’m not special at all,” Sabrina mumbled. “Just special at causing problems?”

  Mew spun around and she winked curiously. “Of course you’re special! Everyone is special! Trust me, I would know! Oh, one time, I saw a human end a battle between the two great Paragons! That was pretty special! And another time, I saw another human eat his own boogers! Hahaha! That was pretty special too!” Mew giggled to herself as she recalled each memory. “So don’t say you aren’t special, Sabrina! Everyone is special in their own special way, right?”

  Sabrina was left speechless. Her argument wasn’t compelling at all. The first example she didn’t even understand, and the second was just gross. Yeah, this wasn’t Mew. This was just some naughty, other pokémon.

  “Please stop talking to me,” Sabrina said flatly.

  She was feeling hopelessly dejected. She would return to the gym now. Back to her prison, mental and physical.

  “Wait, wait, wait! I wasn’t done talking to you yet!” Mew darted in front of Sabrina, blocking her path. “You didn’t answer my question. You like to fly, don’t you?”

  Sabrina’s fist tightened. “No. I don’t like to fly at all.” She sidestepped and walked past the feline pokémon.

  “Hm. I thought you might.”

  No, stupid. I was trying to kill myself.

  “You want to touch the sun, don’t you?”

  Sabrina stopped in her tracks and spun around. “How do you know that?”

  Mew snickered, clapping her hands over her mouth. “I told you. I know everything.”

  As Mew opened her eyes from a blink, Sabrina felt a psychic hold close around her, many multiples stronger than hers. The ground beneath them cracked and Mew’s eyes flared, the light within trembling as it fought to contain its power.

  All of a sudden, everything around them vanished, leaving only an empty void of blackness. A low roar echoed through the void, like some far off volcano erupting ceaselessly.

  Sabrina turned her gaze up, blinding light burning her from above.

  The orange sun blazed before her. Solar flares burst like blisters across its fiery surface, dark spots ebbing and waning with every passing millisecond.

  Before Sabrina could open her mouth, the ball of fire vanished, and she was back on the forest floor. She sank to her knees, panting.

  “T-That…w-was…”

  “Yeah!” Mew cheered. “The sun! Pretty cool, huh!”

  The sun…

  Sabrina swallowed and got back on her feet. “How did you do that? Was that real? What…What even are you?”

  “Kukuku,” Mew laughed, trying her best to sound evil and failing miserably. “I told you. I’m Mew!”

  “Then…take me back there!” Sabrina blurted. “I want to see it again! Y-You…You’re right! I want to touch the sun! That’s the last thing I need to do before—“

  “Tsktsktsk.” Mew waggled her tiny finger. “That was just a sneak peek. You’re not ready to touch it yet. The only reason you survived that was because of me. But that’s a dream you need to fulfill on your own. It’s something you have to do yourself!”

  Sabrina almost protested but Mew suddenly swam toward her and clasped her head in both hands.

  “Your life isn’t over! It hasn’t even started yet! If you have the strength to end it, that’s more than enough strength to keep it going! You have to stay alive at all costs, no matter how rotten you feel! Or the things that make you special will die with you! And that’s something you can never let happen! It’s far worse than death!”

  Sabrina shuddered as Mew’s words pierced her like a volley of arrows. Far worse than death… For a child as young as Sabrina, it was difficult to imagine something worse than her life, much less worse than her death.

  “Make me a promise, Sabrina.”

  Sabrina looked up, meeting Mew’s mythical gaze, now saturated with age and wisdom.

  “What is it?”

  “Promise to keep playing with me, and I promise you that one day, your dream will come true.”

  Sabrina’s brows furrowed. “How can you promise something like that?”

  Mew giggled, and suddenly, she was back to being a child. “I told you. I know everything.” She held out her hand.

  Tiny as it was, Sabrina couldn’t shake it properly, so she stuck out her pinky instead. Mew beamed and shook it.

  “A pinky promise! I like it!”

  Sabrina exhaled, simultaneously exhausted and invigorated. “So what do you mean by play anyway?”

  As it turned out, what that meant was Mew conjuring up a purple pokéball emblazoned with an M, handing it to Sabrina, and joining her roster of pokémon. Though “roster” in this case had only referred to one pokémon prior to Mew’s joining, and two pokémon after it. Sabrina let her out as much as she could, but even in her circumstances, it was difficult to find times where they wouldn’t be interrupted, since Mew was adamant about not being seen by others (“I’m only friends with you!” Mew had pouted.).

  As Sabrina tread through the forest, back home toward the Saffron Gym, she heard Mew’s voice again from within her Master Ball.

  “I wonder if this will suffice for Palkia.”

  “What did you say?” Sabrina asked.

  “Oh, nothing. This isn’t for you. This is for your future self. You’re there, right, Sabrina?”

  “Huh? What are you saying?”

  With each step, the forest around her began to collapse, melting into a void of pure white. When Sabrina came to a stop, only the purple Master Ball remained, sitting motionless on the ground.

  The eighteen-year-old Sabrina stared down at it.

  “I hope this is what he wanted,” she said. “I don’t know what else he’d have me do.”

  Once upon a time, she had succumbed to the horrors of the Cerebral Maze, when AZ’s squid pokémon had used Mirror Coat on its own soul, reflecting her mental assault back at her. It’d left her a sitting duck on the battlefield, but since she was still conscious now, it seemed that hadn’t happened this time.

  Mew chittered from within the ball. “I’m sure he meant for this to be some sort of mental trial. Dialga put that boy Riley through something similar. Bah, I say! He’s just trying to save face! He knows he’d never beat you in a drawn out fight! He already gave up anyway!”

  Sabrina’s eyes narrowed. “Are you actually here, Mew? I’ve been calling for you, you know?”

  “I know! But it’s hard to talk to you across spacetime, you know? Even for me! Good thing Palkia made a bridge for us, huh? Hahaha!”

  Even after all these years, Mew still sounded just as ridiculous when she tried to sound evil. Sabrina’s lips couldn’t help but curl into a smile. “So, can you help us out?”

  “Ah, sorry, no can do.”

  “Why not?”

  “Things are getting pretty hectic over here. You picked a bad time to go on vacation, Sabrina. With the Tree of Beginning gone, everyone is moving forward with their war plans. They know the end is coming soon. Your friends are pretty tied up.”

  “Wait, wait, wait, what?! What’s going on in the present?”

  “Don’t worry about that right now. You’re on vacation.”

  “I am not on vacation!”

  “No? Didn’t you get a date lined up for when you get back?”

  Sabrina blushed. “T-That’s not… No… T-That doesn’t mean anything! This still isn’t a vacation! We didn’t come here on purpose…”

  “Ahhh, what a fuzzy feeling. That little girl is finally talking to boys her age. I didn’t know if it was possible.”

  “I thought you knew everything!” Sabrina cursed silently and grabbed fistfuls of her hair in frustration. “It’s not that serious to begin with… I…I don't know if I’m ready for all that…”

  “No? You seemed happy enough to me.”

  Sabrina winced. “That was in the moment. But Ash…he’s so far ahead of me right now, and I’m just…me. He’ll be disappointed with me the way I am now. I have to catch up to him first… Then—“

  “Ah, that all sounds like nonsense to me. Maybe this was Palkia’s true trial. Sabrina! It’s time to accept it! You are in love with—“

  Sabrina dashed forward and grasped the pokéball on the ground, effectively shutting it up, somehow.

  Mew sighed. “Fine, fine. But seriously, can you hurry up and get back. I’m getting lonely out here.”

  “We’re working on that,” Sabrina grumbled.

  “Well, as long as you’re working on it.”

  Yes. As long as she was working on it, it meant Sabrina was still trying to live. For her own sake, for others, for the world. It didn’t matter which it was just yet. As long as she continued to persevere, she was keeping her promise to Mew.

  The white vista around her began to fade.

  “Oh, yeah, I just remembered! It’ll actually be a bit longer before we can see each other again! I have a bit of work to do!”

  “What?” Sabrina yelped, pawing at the fading scenery. “What work?”

  Mew’s voice echoed from somewhere far away. “Don’t worry about it! I’ll meet you in the city at the bottom of the universe! Don’t be late!”

  Sabrina tried to reply but her voice was gone. As was her body.

  As her essence whipped away, torn from the reverie, Sabrina pledged everything she’d just experienced to memory. Her conversation with Palkia, her meeting with Mew, and now this.

  It was as the dragon had said. Confronting her past, and the one who had wretched her back from the darkness, had indeed laid a salve upon her wounded soul. Slowly but surely, she was repairing herself.

  At the speed of light, Sabrina Natsume rocketed back toward reality.

  Next — Chapter 84 : Bearer Ash vs Wielder Volo

  Random thought- Imagine the subjects of this battle, Sabrina—a girl—and Origin Palkia—a horse—fused together into an umamusume. I don’t know anything about that stuff, but just imagine it.