Although this situation made Brock feel a little disappointed, he was also secretly pleased with himself, which was quite contradictory.
He tried the back door.
Couldn't push it.
There's no way. I can't stay here as a night Pokémon forever, right?
Brock swallowed a mouthful of water and began to walk carefully into the room to gather information.
"No one?"
He waited for a long time before returning to the training ground.
But at this moment, there was nothing on the court except an empty, gorgeous chair.
Sabrina was nowhere to be found.
Seeing this, Brock became braver and threw out his own Pokémon.
"Come out, Zubat."
A red light flashed, and an eyeless Zubat stood on his shoulder.
"Please, use ultrasound to find the exit," Brock instructed in a low voice.
Upon hearing this, Zubat opened its mouth and emitted an invisible ultrasonic wave, exploring the terrain of the entire Saffron Gym.
"Hiss."
Soon, it responded by flapping its wings to indicate the direction.
Seeing this, Brock was delighted and blurted out the answer.
"Gkd, gkd."
As soon as he finished speaking, his expression froze slightly, looking a little confused.
You know, "gkd" isn't a polite term, but why did he, now a wise man, say it so easily?
"Sure enough, I must have some sealed memories from the past."
In recent days, Brock had felt vaguely that there seemed to be something wrong with his brain.
Then his eyes became deep, and his eyelids drooped down a few millimeters more.
But now was not the time to dwell on this. Brock could only suppress his curiosity and start moving in the direction indicated by Zubat.
The Saffron Gym was much more luxurious than the Pewter Gym. Basically, every corridor and room was magnificent, large, and spacious.
You should know that the city with the highest housing prices in the entire Kanto region is Saffron City. It is conceivable that Sabrina came from a wealthy family.
"Huh?"
At this time, a room caught his attention.
Brock walked in subconsciously.
It was a room similar to a toy storage room, filled with many Pokémon dolls.
Brock even saw a Pidgeot doll, with a Caterpie doll on the left and a Weedle doll on the right, looking very cozy.
"Ash's Pidgeot and Butterfree?"
Because there was a special pink Butterfree doll next to it, it was easy to identify.
However, among the many Pokémon dolls, there was also a human doll.
It looked like a middle-aged woman, with long hair tied up in a bun, a calm and generous face, and a gentle demeanor.
"It's really sad to be trapped as a trainer until becoming an adult."
Brock speculated.
But in the next second, the female doll suddenly moved, and its plush eyes looked at Brock, somewhat unsettling.
"Are you an outside trainer?"
It actually made a strange sound.
After a brief shock, Brock regained his composure.
In the state of a wise man, he was not particularly afraid of these bizarre occurrences.
And this voice was not scary; it was even full of motherly tenderness.
"Hello, I'm Brock. I just arrived."
The two had a conversation in dragon language.
"Please forgive my daughter, hey..."
After learning the whole story, the doll let out a helpless sigh.
Daughter?
Sabrina?
She actually turned her own mother into a doll?
This piqued Brock's interest. He picked up a small stool and signaled her to start telling the story.
As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy. Understanding Sabrina better might be the key for Ash to defeat her next time.
Seeing someone willing to listen, the middle-aged female doll began to chatter on and on about the past few years.
"In fact, two years ago, Sabrina was still a normal girl..."
Apart from her extraordinary superpowers, not liking to get close to outsiders, and having an extremely high IQ, she was no different from a normal person.
Brock: "."
He frowned, indicating to the middle-aged woman that she could continue her story.
"But everything changed two years ago."
Two years ago, an organization called the Rainbow Group entered Saffron City and took over the Silph Building by unknown means.
Their influence soon spread throughout the city.
As the gym leader of Saffron City, Sabrina naturally became their primary target.
Outsiders might not know what the Rainbow Group was, but those with some knowledge knew it was actually a subordinate organization of Team Rocket.
Sabrina had two choices: surrender or be expelled.
No matter how powerful her superpowers were, what use were they?
Could she compete with the might of Team Rocket?
It was like trying to stop a chariot with a mantis arm—only leading to one's destruction.
But given Sabrina's personality, she was obviously unwilling to submit to Team Rocket, so she chose a third path.
"Pretending to be crazy?" Brock guessed.
Indeed, if she appeared mad, Team Rocket would hesitate to deal with her.
But Sabrina's pretense of madness went so far that she began to lose herself.
Over time, a second personality was born—a cold and heartless persona that didn't recognize anyone, even her own family.
And though she wouldn't kill anyone, she turned defeated trainers into dolls.
"Then my husband would secretly teleport the defeated trainers away," the middle-aged woman doll explained.
Of course, Sabrina would show no mercy to Team Rocket's spies. For example, the nearby Fighting Dojo was used by Team Rocket to test her.
Brock nodded. So the man who used teleportation earlier was Sabrina's father?
"So the key to everything is the Rainbow Group?" Brock frowned, sensing that if they could resolve the Saffron City issue, it would be a good deed.
But before he could find a phone to contact Ash and the others, he suddenly heard a familiar and creepy voice behind him.
"Heehee."
Brock turned his head suddenly, and there it was—the doll in a dress, floating eerily in the air.
"Hehe. You are the companion of that handsome boy with the Pokédex, so stay and play with me~"
Blue light emerged from the doll's body as it let out a chilling laugh.
Brock threw the Pidgeot doll backhandedly.
"Buzz!"
The doll's telekinetic power easily imprisoned the Pidgeot doll mid-air.
Whoosh!
The doll in the dress moved instantly, its eyes flashing blue, locking gazes with Brock.
"Hehe. Stay and play with me~"
With a flash of light, Brock was turned into a lifeless doll.
But this time, his eyes finally narrowed into a slit, his expression resolute, standing still like a figure picking a flower.
In the Pokémon Center, Ash and Misty were pondering their next move.
"It would be better if Brock was here," Misty remarked.
Ash agreed, "Yeah, like how Red always knows what to do."
Just as they were about to give up, a Zubat flew in, hissing.
"Wow, is that Brock's Zubat?" Ash exclaimed.
"He must be in trouble and wants to send us a message!" Misty added.
But they couldn't understand the Zubat's hissing.
Zubat, growing frustrated, tapped Ash's waist.
Ash scratched his head, confused. "What's wrong? My waist is fine, unlike Gary's—it always hurts."
Zubat: "?"
(End of this chapter)