The taste of defeat was bitter, undeniably unpleasant. Yet it was precisely this unpleasant sting that stirred the frozen emotions buried deep within Sabrina's heart.
For the first time in years, the flawless mask on her face cracked ever so slightly, a faint trace of unwillingness appeared on that cold, beautiful face.
It was a phenomenon that had never occurred before.
The man in work clothes, stared at her in disbelief. Since the day Sabrina's Psychic powers had reached maturity, she had never shown any emotion, much less one so raw.
"I… I'm not reconciled!"
Sabrina's voice trembled faintly, but it was unmistakably alive.
"Since birth, my Psychic powers have been growing constantly, on their own," she said softly.
"When others saw me, whether peers or adults, they called me a prodigy among Psychics. But as time passed, my Psychic growth far outstripped their expectations… and they began to fear me.
Even my parents started to avoid me."
The Workman Uncle's lips parted, but he couldn't speak. He knew every word she said was true.
"At first," Sabrina continued, "I felt sad. But slowly, as my Psychic powers grew stronger, even that sadness faded. I began battling powerful Trainers, hoping to feel something… anything.
But none of them could challenge me.
Eventually, I drove my father away and inherited this Gym. Under my hands, Saffron Gym became famous across Kanto."
She lowered her head slightly, her crimson eyes dimming.
"I longed to face stronger opponents. Only by defeating powerful people could I prove my existence. But maybe, what I really wanted was to find others like me, other 'anomalies' in this world."
Her gaze rose, locking on Ash.
And in that moment, her calm, cold heart quivered.
She had found one. An anomaly, like herself.
Or perhaps… someone even more extraordinary.
That barrier that had covered the entire battlefield, even if she poured all her Psychic power into it, she couldn't have broken through it.
This young man wasn't just an anomaly. He was a freak among anomalies.
And yet… he wasn't feared.
He had friends, companions, who stood by him without hesitation, without fear. Why? Why was he accepted while her own parents had recoiled from her?
Ash's voice broke through her spiraling thoughts.
"Parents always love their children," he said plainly.
"If they distanced themselves, maybe it wasn't because they hated you. Maybe it was just that your powers grew too quickly, it scared them.
If you'd given them time, they probably would've come to understand. But instead, you lashed out and pushed them away. That's how things got worse, right?"
The Workman Uncle immediately waved his hands frantically behind Ash, his face turning pale.
He wanted to scream, "Stop! You're going to trigger her again!"
He had just seen a sliver of hope, a spark of emotion returning, and the last thing they needed was for Ash to undo it.
But Ash didn't even notice the man's silent pleas. To him, he was simply speaking honestly, straight from the heart.
Sabrina didn't respond.
Her expression remained blank, unreadable, but no one could guess what was churning beneath the surface.
Ash sighed inwardly. He didn't really know how to save her, or how to bring her back to normalcy. All he could do was speak from experience, say what he truly believed.
"Pokémon battles are really fun, aren't they?" he said suddenly.
Sabrina blinked. "What?"
"Using every move, every tactic, every ounce of your strength to outsmart your opponent. And when you finally win, that rush, that sense of achievement, it's the best feeling in the world."
"I've won many times," she replied quietly. "I never felt that."
Ash almost tripped over his own words. (Sis, don't shut me down like that!)
"Then maybe it's because you've never met a true rival!" he said quickly.
"Crushing opponents who can't fight back is boring, yeah. But battling someone evenly matched, someone who pushes you to your limits, that's when you feel it. The thrill. The fire."
He gestured wildly with his hands, trying to put the indescribable emotion into words.
"Like today's battle! Didn't you feel it? That excitement in your chest?"
Sabrina tilted her head slightly, her cool crimson eyes flickering with confusion. But as she watched him, his earnest expression, his unrelenting energy, his desperate attempt to make her feel something, a faint smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
It was so slight it was almost imperceptible. But it was there.
Her heart, frozen for so many years, melted just a little.
He was the first person, the first person who had ever faced her power without fear.
Who had stood before her after knowing what she could do. Who had spoken to her, not as a monster, not as an anomaly, but as a person.
Even her parents hadn't been able to do that.
The Workman Uncle's eyes widened. His mouth fell open in shock.
'Sabrina… smiled.'
For the first time since her powers had awakened, she smiled, and at this young man of all people.
Was it truly that simple? Was the wall of ice that had imprisoned her heart for so many years melted so easily?
No.
It wasn't simple.
It was because it was Ash.
Sabrina's Psychic powers could sense the truth in people's hearts.
Even if someone smiled and acted kind, she could always feel the fear and distance beneath.
That was why she had believed everyone, even her parents, had abandoned her. Because deep down, they had feared her.
Her parents hadn't wanted their daughter to become the world's strongest Psychic. They had simply wanted her to grow up happily, to live a normal life, fall in love, have a family.
However, the growth rate of Sabrina's Psychic powers far exceeded their imagination, even having a considerable impact on Sabrina's personality, which is why they subconsciously felt fear.
But fear, true fear, was subconscious.
Her parents' conscious hearts still loved her, still wanted to accept her.
Yet when Sabrina's Psychic power had matured, she began to sense not what people said, but what they truly felt. And what she saw in her parents' subconscious terrified her.
That contradiction, between her parents' words of love and the hidden fear buried in their hearts, completely shattered her mind.
It was her first mental breakdown.
From that moment, the fragile connection between parent and child broke beyond repair. In her distortion, she turned her power against them.
Sabrina's mother, however, had still loved her deeply.
When Sabrina's father was preparing to escape, she could have gone with him, but she chose to stay.
Out of guilt for failing as a mother, and out of the simple, unyielding love that only a mother can give, she decided to remain by Sabrina's side, even if it meant being turned into a doll. If that was the only way to stay close to her daughter, then so be it.
Sabrina, in her mental disarray, never realized that the doll she carried every day, the one she kept so close, was her own mother, who had stayed willingly to watch over her.
When her father discovered his wife's decision, he was silent for a long time.
In the end, he accepted it, though the pain tore at his heart. He knew that to force her away would only make her hate him forever.
And as a father, he had to choose a different path, to leave and find a way to save Sabrina from the outside.
Back then, Sabrina hadn't always been cold. Before awakening her Psychic powers, she had been a bright, lively, and kind-hearted girl.
The root of her downfall lay in her power itself. Because she could hear the darkness in people's hearts, her once-pure mind became slowly stained.
What began as sensitivity turned into paranoia, and what began as empathy turned into pain.
Eventually, she shut herself off entirely, her mind twisting to protect itself from the endless flood of other people's emotions.
And from that deep repression, her second personality, the doll, was born.
Her father had searched for years for a cure, but all his efforts were in vain. The only thing he could do was spread terrifying rumors about the Saffron Gym, tales of challengers being turned into dolls,so that weak Trainers would stay away and no one else would suffer.
At the same time, he hoped that word of these stories might reach the ears of a true expert, someone strong enough to defeat Sabrina and perhaps, awaken her humanity again.
But then came the incident that crushed even that last sliver of hope.
The situation at Saffron Gym had drawn too much attention. Too many challengers had gone missing, too many rumors had spread about dolls and broken minds.
The Pokémon League could no longer ignore it. They sent investigators, and among them was one of the Kanto Elite Four:the Ice-type Master herself, Lorelei.
The Kanto Elite Four were unlike those of other regions. Each of them possessed true Champion-level power.
When Sabrina's father saw Lorelei arrive, his heart filled with relief. Surely, this was the one person who could finally defeat his daughter.If she could taste defeat, perhaps she could finally change.
And if Lorelei's power wasn't enough to harm Sabrina, then no one's was.
But the result plunged him into despair.
That day, the entire Saffron Gym was frozen solid. The battle between the Ice Queen and the Psychic Prodigy had shaken the very foundation of the city.
When it was over, Lorelei sought out Sabrina's father. Her expression was grim, her voice heavy.
"Her power… exceeds my expectations," she said quietly.
"If I used my full strength, I could defeat her, but the cost would be too high. The entire Gym would be destroyed, and even half of Saffron City could be caught in the blast.
Besides, with her mind linked to Alakazam's, striking her Pokémon would wound her very soul."
She paused for a long moment, the frost still glimmering in her hair.
"The combined Psychic power of her and Alakazam is comparable to a Champion-level fusion. Even if I defeat her, it won't bring her back. What she needs isn't power, it's something… human."
"Perhaps, one day," Lorelei said softly, "someone will appear who can make her smile. When that happens, she might finally return to her true self. Until then, we can only wait."
Those words, gentle, yet utterly hopeless, were the final blow to Sabrina's father's spirit.
Even Lorelei, the Ice Elite herself, had said it: Sabrina could not be defeated by strength alone. Even victory would destroy her. And as for changing her heart…
'Someone who could make her smile?'
Would such a person truly exist in this world?
And now, yes, such a person truly existed.
And that person… was a young man.
The one who could make Sabrina smile, after years of icy detachment, isolation, and despair, was none other than Ash.
The reason she could smile in front of him was simple yet profound. Because in Ash's heart, there was no fear of her. Not even a trace.
What she sensed from him instead was pure goodwill, the open, unfiltered sincerity that only someone like Ash possessed.
And this time, when her Psychic powers reached out instinctively to probe his emotions, what returned to her was not fear, disgust, or doubt, but warmth.
Understanding.
And recognition.
Moreover, Ash was not just kind, he was powerful.
He possessed strength akin to her own, though his was born of Aura, not Psychic power. And for the first time in her life, Sabrina looked at someone and saw… a kindred spirit.
Under these combined influences, his honesty, his power, his fearlessness, the ice around Sabrina's heart finally began to thaw.And so, she smiled.
A small, fleeting smile, faint as the edge of dawn.
But real.
And that alone was enough to make her father's eyes widen with disbelief.
He then noticed something else, the doll, the one that had always symbolized Sabrina's second personality, was gone.
That alone spoke volumes. Her fractured mind had finally begun to mend.
"It's truly a miracle…" the man murmured, his voice trembling slightly.
"A young man, not only possessing such overwhelming strength but also having honed his mind to rival Sabrina's… It seems even Heaven itself is lending a hand to save her."
The Workman Uncle, Sabrina's father, looked at Ash with deep gratitude and awe in his eyes.
Before he could say more, two familiar voices cut in.
"Ash is only ten this year, and he's only been traveling for about a month and a half! Don't make him sound so old!"
"Yeah, and his ability isn't Psychic, it's called Aura."
Misty and Brock stepped forward in unison, almost defensively, as if proud guardians of their friend's reputation.
Sabrina's father blinked in disbelief.
He turned toward Ash again, completely dumbfounded.
A ten -year-old who could battle on par with his daughter, a true Elite Four-level Psychic? Impossible!
"How can a ten-year-old have Elite Four-level Pokémon?!" he demanded.
"Did he, like Sabrina, start training before becoming a registered Trainer?"
Sabrina had been bonded with Abra since childhood.
As her powers grew, so too had Abra's, until it evolved into her now formidable Alakazam, her one and only Pokémon.
So how could this boy, in barely over a month of travel, have an Elite Four-level partner?
Misty sighed, rubbing her temples.
"Ash caught that Gengar," she said wryly. "And not in the normal way."
Brock nodded gravely. "He fought it. With his bare hands."
Sabrina's father froze.
"He what?"
"He went hand-to-hand with a Gastly," Misty said flatly, "and caught it."
The older man just stood there, eyes wide, his brain struggling to process what he had just heard.
Hand-to-hand combat… with a wild Elite Four-level Pokémon?Was this boy even human?!
Meanwhile, Sabrina herself had turned her gaze back to Ash. Her lips were still faintly curved, her crimson eyes softer now, almost warm.
"You're right," she said quietly. "Battling you gave me a feeling of… something burning inside. Something no one else has ever made me feel."
But then, her tone shifted slightly, a faint glint of amusement, or challenge, lighting her eyes.
"However, you were wrong about one thing."
Ash blinked. "Oh?"
"I have faced an evenly matched opponent before," she said.
"Not long ago, I battled someone named Lorelei. Although she isn't a special ability user, her Pokémon were extraordinarily strong. Even when I fought alongside Alakazam, it was difficult to deal with her."
Ash's eyes went wide.
"Wait, Lorelei?! You mean the Lorelei of the Kanto Elite Four?!"
Sabrina blinked, momentarily startled by his sudden intensity.
"I suppose so," she said after a moment, her tone as calm as ever.
"She introduced herself as an Elite Four member. I didn't win, but I didn't lose either. She seemed to be holding back, perhaps because she couldn't unleash her full power inside the city."
Ash could only stare, astonished. That meant the rumors were true, Sabrina had fought Lorelei to a standstill!
Sabrina continued softly, her eyes reflecting something complicated. "Perhaps that's why I didn't feel the passion you spoke of earlier. The most exhilarating battles are those where both sides can give their all.
But if the other party has to restrain themselves, if they can't fight freely, then it's impossible to truly feel the other's heart."
...
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