76 Chapter 76:

Cain spoke with care, his words a delicate dance. "I'm carrying out a mission for Mr Umbra." Even in his former life, he lacked the ability to resist someone as formidable as Sabrina, and now, he was but a mere shadow of his former self. He showed her the respect she commanded, not from fear, but from a deep understanding of power.

Sabrina was silent, but her eyes, once alight with a mischievous cyan glow, now flickered and dimmed. She was no longer amused. "That Umbra guy, it seems like his last mission was a failure. He's relying on weak kids like you now. The longer he lives, the more he regresses," she mused, descending from the sky like a falling star.

Sabrina cast a disdainful gaze upon Cain, her full lips curling into a sneer. "How boring. It's hard to find a toy worth playing with," she pouted, her demeanor shifting from that of a powerful Team Rocket executive to a petulant child.

She approached Cain, tilting her head as she sized him up. With a smile that was both sweet and sinister, she offered him a deal. "How about this? I'll ask Slowpoke again. If it agrees to follow me, I'll compensate you. Sound good?"

Before Cain could respond, Sabrina made her decision. "That's it!" she declared, crouching down to address Slowpoke with a coaxing smile. "Little guy, I'm giving you another chance. Follow me and I'll make you stronger. Your current trainer can't unlock your full potential, but I can. How about it? Do you want to become even more powerful?"

Sabrina appeared like a sinister sister, lollipop in hand, ready to abduct a child. Her words, like poison on the tongue, made Cain's heart race with fear. But Slowpoke was uninterested, shaking its head in silence as blue light shone from its eyes.

In response, cyan light flared in Sabrina's eyes as the two psychic users communicated telepathically. Cain could only guess at the conversation, but soon enough, Sabrina stood with a pout, jealousy flickering in her gaze as if her favorite toy had been taken.

She muttered a string of curses under her breath and turned to leave, a disappointment evident in her step.

As Sabrina walked away, Cain let out a sigh of relief. Umbra's name had proven useful, and Sabrina's relationship with him was clearly strong. Otherwise, Sabrina's temperamental personality would never have allowed her to give up so easily.

Just as Cain relaxed, Sabrina spun around with a mischievous smile. "Hmph, it's not that simple!" she said, cyan psychic energy crackling in her hand. Before Cain and Slowpoke could react, she struck Cain's chest with a powerful palm, sending a scorching energy surging through his body and sending him flying backwards to the ground.

Slowpoke and Murkrow were frozen in place, unable to move a muscle, rendering them helpless. Gastly, already weakened, stood no chance either.

Sabrina clapped her hands in satisfaction, having used just enough psychic energy to render Cain immobile for half a day, a small release for her frustration.

But what she didn't expect was the faint cyan energy wave that rippled across Cain's fallen form. It was a psychic wave, and Sabrina, an incredibly talented psychic, recognized it immediately.

With a look of disbelief, Sabrina flew to Cain's side, rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. But the wave was real, and Sabrina muttered in disbelief, "He... awakened just like that?"

Sabrina closed her eyes and fully activated her psychic energy. When she opened them again, she was stunned. "What... what a lucky kid. His mental strength is five times that of an ordinary person, and it just so happens that he meets the requirements to become a psychic user. He was awakened by my slap."

Sabrina was at a loss for words. She only meant to punish Cain, but instead, she had helped awaken his psychic ability. Though his talent was average, with hard work and training, he would be able to fend off Pokemon in the future.

Psychics were a rare breed in the Pokemon World. Only a select few, one in hundreds of thousands, had the mental strength to awaken their psychic ability.

Cain, with his three lives of experience, may have had a slight advantage in mental fortitude, but it would have been a monumental feat for him to awaken his psychic ability. Yet, under Sabrina's unintentional attack, a spark from the outside world ignited within him, and his psychic ability was awakened.

From that moment on, Cain was a member of the Pokemon World with unique abilities, a member of a minority with a rare gift.

The unwritten rule among psychics was to support each other whenever possible, for it was the only way to gain a foothold in the Pokemon World. This was a lesson learned from the past, where a nation of psychics once existed. Their arrogance caused a great war that swept across the world, and the nation was lost to history.

In the wake of this tragedy, psychics chose to keep a low profile, and the elders taught their juniors to offer aid to other psychic users.

Although Sabrina had a quirky personality, she adhered to those teachings, even though Cain wasn't particularly talented.

"Hmph!" Sabrina huffed, still a little angry. She tossed a simple training manual down and teleported away, afraid that she would add a few more "puppets" to her collection today.