A.N. Hi! I had to edit this chapter some. You may have read "The World's in Your Hands", so I decided to write another Pokemon fanfiction! It will be told entirely from Sabrina's perspective. This story will take place all the way back in the good old late '90s; 1997, to be exact, because Japan released the episode "Abra and the Psychic Showdown" on August 26, 1997. And the days of the week are consistent with the calender of that year. In this story, Sabrina is 15 and her birthday is June 17th and her personality is similar to the manga chapter Haunting My Dreams and a bit of her canon personality, but mostly leaning more towards a caring person,so yes, it will be OC compared to the anime since it only showed her as cold, but this story is an AU of what happens after her "battle" with Ash. There will be shipping in later chapters. I hope you think it's okay...

Thursday, August 28, 1997

"Good-bye, Ash, and good luck on your journey!" I said as I waved farewell to him and his two friends with my mother and father by my side. The trainers walked down the street and they were gone.

"Sabrina," said my mother as she embranced me in a hug, "is the old you really back?"

"Yes, mother, I have regained my old self before I became obsessed with my powers," I said as I returned the hug. "And it is all thanks to Haunter, but more specifically Ash, since he brought this ghost here. It feels wonderful to have emotions again."

"Sabrina, why don't you come over to my house and have dinner, at, say, six?" asked her mother.

"Of course," I replied with a small smile. "We can recapture the memories that we shared and start over."

"Father, please join us for dinner," I said to the figure who stilled managed to believe that through the past years, I would someday pull through.

"Yes, I would love to reunite our family again with your beautiful mother and you, my gifted one," he said. He placed his arm on my shoulder and we both shared a smile. My parents both went their separate ways and I headed back into the gym.

These recent events ran through my mind as I was sitting upon my throne that overlooked the battle ground of the chamber-like Saffron City gym, with the crackling of the torches being the only sound and light said filling the room. I had just "lost" not more than an hour ago and was reflecting on what I had gained from my defeat, but I am not bitter about it. Not one bit. The memory of the faith-changing battle was still freshly embedded in my mind.

A trainer by the name Ash Ketchum was just inside this very room, stubbornly looking for his so-called secret weapon to defeat me: Haunter, who was also my saviour. I remember his first attempt to claim the marsh badge that he desired. He sent out his Pikachu and was utterly confused upon my Pokémon: Abra. He commanded his electric rodent to use a thunderbolt but was completely awestruck to see Abra using teleport. I then utilized my psychic powers to force Abra to evolve into Kadabra and from there, his chances of winning went down the drain. I beat him, and the punishment: play with "me", the doll that held all the emotions and personality of my former self before my powers developed. I transformed my very own mother, Ash, and his little friends into dolls and let them be "my" playmate. The next day he brought a Haunter with such a silly personality and the ghost just wanted to play with me. His antics actually succeeded and my two personalities were whole again.

I sighed as I thought back of the person I used to be and I did not wish to dwell on the past anymore. I needed a change in scenery and I left the arena. I walked past and saw the room where all my underlings were practicing their abilities. I needed a serious change in my life, and this is the place to start it. I walked into the room and everyone immediately bowed down to me.

"Please do not view me as our superior and bow to me each time I enter," I said with a gentle tone, earning a few people to murmur among themselves.

"Mistress Sabrina, I am terribly sorry for your loss," said a man with a heavy Russian accent as he bowed down with respect. He had on one of those masks that people used to prevent the spread of germs and had a long brunette ponytail. His name was Zakhar, and he was the highest ranking of my subordinates.

I had the urging desire to correct him that it wasn't a lost, per se, but I merely said, "Zakhar, this loss had a monumental impact on my life since it made me realize that...I know longer need to live with the obsession of honing my abilities. For the first time, I feel like a human again. And my first step to living life again...is leaving this gym. I am resigning my position as the gym leader and plan on going to the Pokemon League to make it official."

"Mistress, but who will run the gym?" he asked.

"Whoever is qualified for the position," I replied as I left the room.

Another reason why I wanted to leave the gym was because I had gained the infamous title of "most difficult gym in Kanto", and it was not something I was proud of now that I thought about it. Over an hour ago, I did not care one bit how many lost to me, as long as I continued to enhance my abilities. How hard of a gym leader was I? I had become gym leader when I was 11 and in my four years, I had exactly 5,827 victories on a trainer's first attempt and only 813 losses on challenger's first try, with the lowest odds of being beaten on the average trainer's first attempt of just 12.24%, which was ridiculously low since I was the fourth gym leader. The average odds for the other 7 gym leaders was a lot higher at 36%, Brock having the highest odds of being beaten of 65%, down to Giovanni at 18%. I remember seeing trainers appear multiple times, and the number of times it took them to beat me after their first lost ranged greatly; some were able to defeat me on their second time, and some even took as many as 10 times! But the average was about four tries total.

I finally left the building and was greeted by the sunshine. Other than when I gave Ash my farewell, I can't remember the last time my pale skin absorbed the sun's rays. I saw several people walking down the street and when they turned to see me, they immediately started running. I sighed; it was something I unfortunately was used to since many people of this city feared me. I...didn't want people to see me as a monster, but it wasn't like I could just walk up to them and tell them I suddenly turned a new leaf. I figured one way to at least make it seem I was trying to integrate into society was to show that I had good intentions and pray that it would help gradually reduce the notorious reputation I upheld.

I looked up at the large clock in the city square that was right across the gym and saw that it was three in the afternoon. I was having trouble deciding what to do in the three hours before having our first reunited dinner as a family until I heard a brown-haired girl talking to another girl with orange hair on the streets. They both must have been about my age.

"Your outfit is sooo cute!" said the brown-haired female to her friend. "You are soo gonna get the attention of many boys at school!" The girl whom she was complementing was wearing a rather...unattractive outfit that consisted of a skirt that was very short-not that I could judge since my dress was about the same length-and red halter top. I looked down at my dress and looked at it thoroughly; I had been wearing this dress for about a year now, but I never really thought twice about it. It was red with black on the sides of my abdomen and the sleeves were black as well, and there were gold buttons. I actually thought it looked nice, but apparently it was hideous to most since I would get insults from the spoiled fashionistas who lost the battle that my outfit looked like something a concubine of a military tyrant would wear, plus the fact that my boots I wore were thigh-high, it was a bit obsolete since they were more of the early '90s. Of course, back then, I couldn't care less, but now was a different issue. I casually walked over to the girls and gave them a warm smile. They did not run away upon seeing me, so they must not have been trainers and were probably from a different region of Kanto.

"Your outfit is indeed..." I started, trying to think of the proper words to say without creating an embarrassing moment. "Cute." I sighed in relief, since I stopped myself from saying "trashy", which was my initial thought.

"You really think so?" said the orange-haired girl.

"Yes," I said with a slight nod and smile. Now that I kept looking at it, it actually did start to look cute. "Where did you get it?"

"There is a sell at the Celadon Department Store on the third store," she answered. "I think you should go there and take a look around. You're bound to find something to replace that dress you have on, which is soo out of style." She started walking away with her friend and she waved behind her back at me. "Have a nice day!"

"Same to you," I said in a neutral tone. I was not pleased with what she had just said, but I knew that readjusting to society meant putting up with criticism and learning to control the cold side of me. I wish this hateful side would go away, but I knew that I would have to live with it the rest of my life, and self-control was the key to earn everyone's approval of me in this world.

I took the girl's advice and decided to go to Celadon City, but I did not want to teleport right out in the open where everyone would see me. I stepped back into the gym and went behind a corridor where nobody saw me and envisioned the store in my mind. The molecules of my entire entity got transported all the way in front of the store; unfortunately, there were spectators and they began to murmur to themselves, but I had to shrug it off. I know I easily could have just teleported to the third floor, but I did not want to bring any more attention to myself than was necessary.

I headed to the stairs and climbed to the third floor. Most of the shoppers were females who discussed about school and boys, so I knew I could ask somebody for an opinion if necessary. I went over to the shirts and rummaged through the selection until I found something that looked nice; it was a light pink halter top (like from HG/SS) that went down to the waist with really thin straps. I looked at the tag and read the price: ¥28,500! Not that the price bothered me since I had a lot of money in my wallet from the very large number of victories I had, but I needed to get someone else's opinion. I went up to a clerk and asked her a question.

"Miss, do you think that this would look...'cool' on me?" I asked with a wavering voice but still managed to display a smile. I clearly had no experience whatsoever when it came to fashion and I wasn't exactly a social butterfly, but I was hoping to change that.

"That top is cute, but you need a pair of pants to accompany it," she suggested as she told me to follow her to a line of popular jeans. "Ahh, yes, here is something that I think would look good on you; it's from a company in the United States called Abercrombie & Fitch. They are becoming quite popular in this area." She took a pair and showed it to me. I looked at the jeans and held them to my waist and saw that they fit just slightly below the navel (typical '90s jeans). She pointed to the dressing room and I went inside, taking off my boots then my dress. I slipped on the jeans and put on the shirt and I looked in the mirror. I looked surprisingly good! I couldn't believe that was me in the reflection! I stepped out and the clerk smiled.

"Now all ou need are some shoes to match it. What type of shoe person are you: sandal, high-heels, runners?"

I thought about that question for a second and said, "What is the 'cool' thing, as well as most comfortable?"

"Well, seeing that summer here still lasts about another month, I recommend the sandals, but you are more than welcome to try on several pairs," she suggested. I did as she suggested and tried on various pairs of sandals, high-heels, and runners. I did not particularly like the runners since I did not like tying shoes, and the sandals gave me the feeling that my feet were bare, but the high-heels had a nice look to it.

"I'll take this model in a different color," I said as she showed me different colors. I liked the ruby style so she handed me a pair of them. I went up to the counter and asked if could wear them while checking out and she said yes. It was a large sum: ¥87,200 to be exact, but I had far more than that in my wallet so I happily gave her the money. She handed me a bag to put my old dress and boots in and volunteered to cut off the price tags, which I happily accepted. I easily could have snapped them off with my powers, but I did not want to create a scene. To thank her for being such a kind-hearted and generous assistant, I left her a ¥1000 bill which she declined, but I finally managed to persaude her and she thanked me and wished me a good day. I wanted to tell her something to see how she would react.

"By the way, my name is Sabrina, and I am the soon-to-be-ex gym leader of Saffron."

"Nice to meet you and-Did you just say Sabrina...and soon-to-be-ex gym leader?" she said, obviously not believing me.

"Yes, I'm changing my life around for the better," I said with a nod of the head as I started to head out of the small store.

"I wish you the best of luck!" she replied.

I walked to find a bench to sit down; using my legs as a motive of transportation was exhausting! I heard the panting of a girl with about three bags in each hand and she sat down next to me, totally wiped out with exhaustion from her shopping.

"Boy, what a day!" she said as she wiped her brow with her hand. "I'm so glad that's over with." I was staring straight into nothing and my peripheral vision noticed that she was looking at me. I gave a small awkward smile to her.

"Sabrina?" she said.

I gasped. "Y-yes?" I said almost a bit nervous.

"I've never seen you out here before, and I'm a regular," she said.

I turned to look at her and noticed who she was.

"Erika, I presume?" I said with an almost stand-offish tone.

"That's right, this city's gym leader, but you knew that already," she responded. "Although why you are here is none of my business, it's nice to see that you are out."

I couldn't believe that she was talking so casually to me! Most would be very nervous and even pleading for me not to hurt them, but she had no fear in regard of who I was!

"A battle that I had earlier today showed me that I no longer need to live a life motivated by obsession. I am turning my life around and want to fit into society," I said. "And one of the first step is leaving the gym. I quit."

"Wow, sounds like you are very determined in your ambition," she said with a smile. "That outfit you got on really brings out your true self, if you don't mind my saying."

"Thank you for the compliment," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"Why don't you tell me?" she asked with a chuckle. "I know you want to use your powers to read my mind. Please, go ahead and don't be shy."

I was taken back that she actually wanted me to use my powers, plus, she even said please. I was starting to like her. "If you insist," I said. My eyes widened and I implored my powers, picking up the signals that were going through her brain. I smiled at what I found out.

"You are buying clothes for the upcoming school year and now you want to take time to go to the salon and then the spa to relax your tense muscles. And..." She nodded and I resumed analyzing. "You want to invite me?" I was almost stunned when she nodded several times. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely! Now let's go! It's just down this way!" said Erika as she almost pulled me up. I felt something joyful in my heart. I couldn't remember the exact word for it. Was it...friendship?

Preview for next chapter: Sabrina forms a friendship with Erika and she informs her about attending high school this upcoming year. Sabrina becomes curious and wishes to partake in school.

A.N. Please offer me your opinions! I haven't seen a lot of fanfics with either one of those characters, let alone together. They will be friends Bye!