Here it is, the tenth chapter in my latest Hearts Universe side story 'Problems of the Heart' released when I wanted it to be released within the Hearts timeline though a little earlier than I planned because I felt like it. This is the last of Angie's three chapters and follows only a few hours on from her last chapter so it is still the same day for her. For those curious, this still takes around the same time, Ash's gym battle with Korrina in Part CX of Winning but likely afterwards so between Parts CX and CXI though closer to right after Part CX as this takes place basically on the same day. The last thing to mention here is that this is the last Problems chapter for a while as the next one won't happen until near the Wallace Cup and that is in Snowbelle City if that gives y'all some context for when in Winning it will happen, though there will be 4-6 chapters released between the start of the Wallace Cup and the Master Class Showcase so there will be plenty to read then. Anyway, that is all I have for this note and as there were no questions or guest reviews to respond to please time to sit back and get ready for the tenth Problem of the Heart.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
Angie III
"So where shall we start?" Sabrina asked as she finished pouring the tea in her tea room and began adding the slightly too much sugar to her own cup the way she preferred it. "There's a fair bit to cover I feel."
Angie just thought for a moment as she looked at her tea letting it cool down a bit before drinking any. It was finally time for the talk that Sabrina had suggested, and she didn't know how to begin it. Then again, how did one begin these kinda things. This was a first for Angie, so she was completely lost with how to start the conversation.
It was several hours after Angie had earned her Marsh Badge on her second attempt and she'd spent it as expected back at the Pokémon Center. First she'd taken her three Pokémon to get healed up after the battle, they were all fully restored now, and then she'd taken the rest of the morning to decompress from the battle as it had been intense.
After that Angie had had a quick lunch at the Pokémon Center before heading out into the city for a few hours to get the supplies she needed for her trip to Celadon City and to think on how she'd face Erika in her next gym battle. She kept that in mind as she returned and collected her Pokémon before making sure everything was ready as she planned to head out in the morning.
Still, there had been the one nagging thing on her mind, her impending talk with Sabrina. She knew she had to figure out what she wanted to discuss but she just couldn't. In the end she decided that it would be best to just let the psychic lead the conversation as she seemed to have experience helping people like Angie who'd lost Ash to Dawn, so she'd trust Sabrina's expertise on the matter.
That was why she just pushed it to the back of her mind until she got the news from Nurse Joy that Sabrina was done for the day and would be free in about half an hour or so. As such, Angie made sure that she was ready and headed out to the Saffron Gym for a third time once she felt that Sabrina would be ready for her, nervous but knowing that this was needed.
When Angie got there, Sabrina had been waiting for her outside in the same outfit she'd worn at Ash's party, the one that Angie had first seen her in though she hadn't done her hair deciding to leave it down and untouched. After pleasantries and learning that the rest of the day had been standard for Sabrina, she led Angie down and into the residential part that was also underground for some reason.
Once there she took Angie to her 'Tea Room' that looked just like a little girl's play room only with a 4-person table in the middle. Angie had no idea why it was like that but figured that there was a reason for it, so she made herself comfortable while Sabrina got the tea ready. Now though, it was time to find everything out, so Angie decided that it was best to start from the beginning, which in this case meant Sabrina's beginning not hers.
"How about you're backstory first and what Ash did for you." Angie said before taking a sip of the tea finding it slightly sweet for her tastes but pleasant at the same time as it was one she'd never tried before. "That will give me some context for all this. I'll let you dictate how this goes; I'm not exactly used to this kinda thing."
"Probably for the best." Sabrina said sipping her own tea and enjoying the added sweetness though she'd noted the slightly scrunched look on Angie's face when she first drank some indicating she wasn't expecting the sweeter than normal tea. "By the way, the tea is a Kalos blend I am rather partial to after my time there. That is why it is probably a little sweet for you, the cuisine there favors sweetness when it comes to things like tea and pastries. A few years of it when you're reacquainting yourself with normalcy leaves a lasting impression."
"I see that does explain the taste." Angie said though she couldn't imagine adding more sugar to it the way Sabrina had. "It's nice, just a little sugary."
"Kalos is famous for its pastries which tend to be a little heavy on the sugar, but I digress." Sabrina said. "My story began shortly after I was born as that is when my powers manifested. You see, my father is a psychic and a good one at that and I inherited his powers."
"Psychic?" Angie asked a little confused. "Like the move? You've mentioned powers but I don't understand them."
"I barely do myself, a reason why I abused them I think, but I'll explain what I know." Sabrina said taking another sip of tea. "Psychic is a catchall term for people born with mental powers that are not normal for humans to have. It can be inherited as it was with me, or it can naturally manifest on its own. It's rare but it happens so we have to try and understand it. For the most part it's just one power, often telekinesis but telepathy, foresight, and empathy all occur as well."
"Empathy?" Angie asked still confused. "Isn't that just being in tune with someone else's feelings?"
"In the general sense yes." Sabrina said with a nod. "But in the psychic sense it is more. It is the ability to read emotions in people, Pokémon or both. Anabel is an empath."
"She is?" Angie asked. "I didn't speak with her that much on the Plateau, so I don't know her that well other than that she's a Frontier Brain and has a crush on Ash. She never really discussed her abilities."
"Ah that explains why you don't really know the term." Sabrina said. "Anabel's psychic ability allows her to read the emotions of Pokémon and through training she has been able to understand them so she can communicate with Pokémon on that level."
"Woah, that's impressive." Angie said her eyes wide; she didn't know this about Anabel. "Can she do it with humans as well?"
"She can but she needs direct physical contact as her powers seem to be more in tune with Pokémon emotions than human ones." Sabrina said. "Our friendship comes from her help with controlling my telepathy, or at least lessoning the damage I did to it so that it's just a mild nuisance to me these days. It has also resulted in Anabel feeling emotions on a much deeper level than most people do due to her understanding of them in a way few others can. It's why she never crushed on anyone until Ash and why she may never again though I think she's open if the right person again crosses her path like Ash did."
"I see, I guess if you really understand emotion on a deeper level it can lead to more nuanced understanding of your own feelings." Angie said. "Like the difference between attraction and something more."
"Precisely." Sabrina said with a nod. "Anabel is like that but again we've gotten a little off topic. This was all so that you had a broad understanding that there are people here with psychic powers and that they vary to some extent."
"Yes and for the most part people have one." Angie said starting to understand it more. "But I take it you're different."
"I am but I'll get to that in a moment." Sabrina said sipping her tea again. "Most psychics have one power, often but not exclusively that power is telekinesis, but a select few develop two and there is no clear reason why this happens. Lady Olympia, the Anistar Gym Leader in Kalos, is arguably the most famous psychic with two powers that she has full control of. She's a telekinetic and possesses foresight which is the ability to see the future."
"She can do that?" Angie said her eyes wide. "And not a scam like those fortune tellers you see in places."
"Foresight not like other powers." Sabrina said thinking on how Olympia had put it to her when she'd asked her mentor about the secondary power she possessed. "She needs to concentrate to activate it and it doesn't show her when something will happen, just flashes of what will happen and important players in it. I saw a few while I was with her but it's a fickle ability though certainly not a scam. Still, while we don't know why some of us have more than one power it is clear that only a psychic with tremendous psychic power can develop two. I'm different though, I developed 3 powers."
"Wait what!" Angie exclaimed shocked. "You have three powers?"
"Yes and actually I could kinda use a fourth back in the day, but it turned out to be me using the empathetic link that I had formed with Kadabra to activate his Teleport." Sabrina said with a slight shudder at the memory of that link. "After that cursed link was broken I can't do it anymore, not that I'd want to. However, I do posses three powers: telekinesis, telepathy, and transmutation. The last appears to be unique to me as I've never met anyone else with it, but I will get to that in time, it's not yet relevant."
"Oh ok." Angie said trying to fully understand everything. "So, you were born with 3 then?"
"It's safer to say I was born with the potential of 3." Sabrina said sipping her tea some more. "I am not bragging because I sincerely wish that I wasn't, but I am the strongest known psychic in the world."
"Woah, really?" Angie asked.
"Yes really." Sabrina said sadly surprising Angie with her tone. "My power is both a blessing and a curse. No child should be gifted what I was gifted with, the human brain is not equipped to handle it at that age and I sure as shit wasn't. You see, my powers manifested when I was still an infant, or at least when I was a toddler, according to my parents."
"That doesn't sound good." Angie said.
"It wasn't, not in the slightest." Sabrina said gripping her cup as she recalled her childhood and the mistakes she'd made back then. "At first it was seen as good; my father is a psychic so he could teach me, but I soon surpassed him in talent. That is how good I am. I was barely able to walk, and I was already a gifted telekinetic and my telepathy was coming in which gave me a huge advantage as I knew what my parents were now thinking. What did I do with that power? I decided that I wanted to become the best in the world."
"That's not a bad decision." Angie said. "At least it doesn't sound it."
"On paper it shouldn't be." Sabrina agreed looking at her hands as she spoke. "But having this power, I can't really describe it but it's intoxicating. The ability to move things at will, to have full control with no one able to stop you because even your own father's power can't compare, it's a child's dream. Add in the ability to read minds at will and know someone's darkest secrets and what they will do, well it that feeling be beat. I was soon craving it and had to do it daily to satisfy that urge, to get that feeling once again. I was just a little kid; I didn't know better. All I knew was that my power felt good, and I wanted more of it. I needed more of it."
"Sabrina." Angie began as she noticed tears in Sabrina's eyes.
"No, it's ok, I'm always like this when I talk about my power abuse." Sabrina said shaking her head and looking up at Angie smiling despite the tears in her eyes. "This helps me, if I own what I did then I control my past, I won't let it control me. I have to acknowledge what my powers are and the feelings they gave me were. So long as I remember what they are I can resist the temptation to feel them again because I know where it leads."
"That's a good way to look at them." Angie said seeing the logic in Sabrina's words as she started to understand more about what Sabrina had been saying in their past encounters. "Go on then, this is helping me understand a lot about our last two meetings."
"Thanks." Sabrina said wiping her eyes and continuing. "This addiction, it took hold of me before I was 10. I thought I was in control of it because I had mastered it, I was perfect in my mind. However, I was far from it. My mind wasn't mature enough to handle it and it snapped with the strain of my power on it."
"Snapped?" Angie asked shocked.
"Yup split clean in two." Sabrina said with a heavy sigh. "I'm not sure when it happened, my childhood and teenage years are a blur to me because I was in the thrall of my powers back then. Thinking back on them it's like watching a recording, I know what I did but I can't believe I actually did it. Anyway, by the time I was a teen I had a split personality. There was Sabrina the psychic, that was my physical body. I was a cold, detached, calculating, and I'm ashamed to admit it, cruel. All I wanted was to be the best. I stopped at nothing to be it and I didn't let anyone get in my way of my goal."
"That sounds awful." Angie said her eyes wide.
"It was." Sabrina said. "I hate myself for what I was, for the monster my powers made me, and I can never forgive myself for what I did in those days even if most of those I've hurt have forgiven me. I carry that burden to this day and will do so for the rest of my life as a penance for what I've done."
"Is that a healthy way to look at it?" Angie asked a little worried. "To not forgive yourself that is?"
"It's the right way to look at it." Sabrina said deflecting Angie's question as she honestly wasn't sure she knew the answer to it. "It keeps me honest because I know what my powers can do to me if they have sway over my mind, and I don't want them to ever do so again."
"I see." Angie said and she did, or at least she saw where Sabrina was coming from. "I guess that makes sense. So, what was the other personality?"
"The child I'd effectively killed." Sabrina said shocking Angie. "The part of me my subconscious wanted but could never have thanks to my power abuse."
"Killed?" Angie asked.
"Me." Sabrina clarified. "I killed my own childhood and innocence with my abuse at such a young age, because of my actions I never had one and the part of me that was still me realized that and sought it out I think. When my mind split, my third power manifested, and I transmuted the doll behind you. I turned it to life and used it to speak, to live the childhood I'd never had but deep down always wanted. The doll became a child with my powers."
"That is really creepy." Angie said looking over her shoulder to see a large girl's doll in a sun dress and bonnet and turning back, Sabrina had to choose the creepiest possible doll for it as well. "Like horror movie creepy."
"I've heard from those who saw it that words don't do it justice, so I guess it was really bad." Sabrina said. "Ask Ash, Misty or Brock one day, they saw it, but I am not sure how much they'd be willing to talk about it as it was one of my worst acts when they are around. Basically, transmutation allows me to turn inanimate objects into animate ones while doing so in reverse but with people I trap their minds in that object, which was always a doll for some reason."
"Wait you turned people into dolls?" Angie asked. "As in the ones you play with?"
"Only my mother, Misty, and Brock but yes I did that." Sabrina said her voice full of remorse. "I was stopped before it got worse, which is something that scares me because I have no idea how much worse I could get."
"That's still horrible." Angie said bluntly before realizing what she said. "Sorry."
"No, you're right, it was horrible." Sabrina agreed. "My broken mind saw it as them being able to play with me forever. It was really messed up and why I can't forgive myself because what I did to them was unforgivable. I was a monster and honestly I should have been too far gone. Every time I look back at how I was I just see myself as beyond the point of saving."
"But for Ash." Angie said seeing where this was going. "He managed to save you."
"But for Ash." Sabrina confirmed with a genuine smile. "That stubborn, dense, kid from Pallet Town, and he was a kid as he was only 10 at the time, saved my life."
"How did he manage it?" Angie asked.
"Oh, you know Ash, by complete accident while trying to achieve his actual goal." Sabrina said with a light chuckle. "He arrived and challenged me to a gym battle. Back then I had a one-on-one system where people faced my Abra."
"Isn't Abra quite weak." Angie said.
"It is but with me it wasn't as I had an empathetic link with Abra due to our shared psychic powers and how I used my telepathy." Sabrina said. "And he evolved against Ash into the Kadabra you faced first in our matches, so he got even stronger."
"Oh." Angie said.
"Yeah we still have a close bond but back then my power made it deeper." Sabrina said. "Kadabra was basically an extension of me at the time which wasn't fair to him."
"I see and Ash lost I take it." Angie said. "That's not exactly a battle one is expecting to have."
"That he did." Sabrina said. "The price of losing to me was I'd turn him and his friends into dolls so I could play with them forever."
"Um what?" Angie asked, Sabrina had briefly mentioned that before but hearing it again jolted her.
"Yeah it's as bad as it sounds." Sabrina said with a sigh. "Thankfully, my dad intervened that time and got them out of the gym. He could hold me off long enough back then for them to escape and my transmutation wasn't strong enough to affect him. That was how he saved them after our first meeting."
"What happened next?" Angie asked curious to hear this story about Ash from long before she ever met him. "Between your father and Ash and his friends that is."
"Dad told Ash an abridged story of how I ended up that way, the whole addiction view came later when I was getting help and had a clearer understanding of what I had done to myself so that wasn't covered then." Sabrina said. "Anyway, he suggested Ash head to the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town to catch a ghost type. Back then, there were no known dark types in Kanto so only ghost and bug type attacks worked well against psychic Pokémon and ghost types had stronger moves back then."
"So, Ash went to Lavender Town to get one." Angie said understanding what Ash did. "I've been to the Tower to pay my respects. I spent the last week in Lavender Town, so I know what it is like."
"Good that saves describing a place I've never been." Sabrina said. "And Ash tried to do that but failed. Well, that time he failed, he went there last year to investigate a strange going on there at my request and came back with the Gengar responsible as his newest Pokémon but that's a story for him to tell. The first time he went he didn't get one but a wild Haunter he played with there liked him enough to travel with him back to Saffron City."
"So, he just showed up with a wild Pokémon?" Angie asked sticking to the story, Sabrina had confirmed her theory that Ash had been the one to sort out the problem in Lavender Town that she'd been told about while she was there. "That is odd even by Ash's high standards."
"Yeah it was strange, but he tried to use it against me in a rematch." Sabrina said with a little snort at the memory. "But Haunter was having none of it and vanished, so he had to use Pikachu again to avoid a forfeit and lost. This time I succeeded in trapping Misty and Brock but again dad managed to help Ash escape thankfully."
"That is good that Ash got out, so long as he's free he won't give up on a goal." Angie said. "Ash didn't give up, he's no quitter."
"No, he did not, and I am eternally grateful for that quality in him." Sabrina said. "He tried one more time with Haunter as Haunter had returned but the same thing happened where Haunter refused to fight. However, the third time was different."
"It was?" Angie asked.
"Yup because by then Haunter had figured me out." Sabrina said smiling as she spoke because she was getting to the point her mind was healed, or at least began to. "You see that particular Haunter is really playful beyond what you'd expect from his species. He saw me as some serious, quiet, no fun girl and decided I was a worthy challenge to cheer up and make me laugh. It took some silly faces and an explosion, but I suddenly broke and laughed. Not the doll, me in my physical body. There I am with soot all over my face laughing and Kadabra is laughing as well because of our mental link."
"I can't imagine that." Angie said shaking her head. "At all, like there is no way I can see that."
"As with many things Ash has done you have to see it to believe it." Sabrina said and Angie could understand that seeing as the moment she fell for Ash was one such incident that you had to witness to understand and even then you might not as she still didn't fully understand it. "However, what it did do was forcibly drag me out of my power fog and sobered me up from my addiction. I can't really describe it, but it was like I was breathing fresh air for the first time in years. My power's hold on me had been snapped in an instant by Ash and that Haunter."
"So, you came back too?" Angie asked a little confused.
"More I found my footing for the first time in my life because my mind was whole again." Sabrina said. "I had a foundation to build off. It also resulted in the doll returning to being a doll and my mother, Misty, and Brock returning to normal because it broke my power over them. After that I gave Ash the Marsh Badge for what he did and sent him on his way while Haunter stayed to keep an eye on me, and I was reunited with my family that I'd almost destroyed. It was a touching moment and the start of my recovery."
"What happened to that Haunter?" Angie asked.
Sabrina just grinned and sipped the last of her cup of tea as said Haunter suddenly appeared in front of Angie with a funny face, tongue out and hands waving in a 'boo' fashion. Angie yelped and fell back off her chair and onto the soft rug. Sabrina couldn't help but laugh as Haunter floated back to her pleased his human had laughed, he'd met his daily quota of a laugh a day for her.
"There you are, I knew you were in here and hiding." Sabrina said still chuckling as she rubbed Haunter's head affectionately as he nuzzled into her. "Still got that flair for dramatics and timing I see old friend."
"So, it's still here." Angie said getting up, righting the chair and sitting down again as she tried to process what she was seeing. "And is it still wild?"
"No, I caught him 4 years ago." Sabrina said as Haunter moved to play in the room while concocting his next prank to make Sabrina laugh. "Right after I resumed my duties here when I returned from my leave of absence. He followed me to Kalos and Cremini Town but always as a wild Pokémon. He kept me sane and laughing, still does as he makes it a point to make me laugh once a day."
"Really?" Angie asked. "Why."
"Because laughing reminds me I'm human and not what I was." Sabrina said. "To you it's a normal thing but to me, before Haunter first succeeded all those years ago, it was alien and somehow snapped me back to reality. Clearly he knows it works for me and has made it his mission to keep it up. It's why he stayed though he was waiting for me to be back where I belonged and was mentally better before joining me. He doesn't battle, well with the exception of my full battle with Ash as he was my last one in that battle, but he always travels with me in order to keep me grounded should I slip up."
"That's oddly sweet." Angie said looking over to Haunter admiring how loyal he was to Sabrina before looking back to Sabrina and continuing their talk. "So, you went to Kalos after Ash helped you."
"Pretty much." Sabrina said. "My journey to recovery isn't really worth talking about as Ash wasn't involved past the moment he brought me back to reality and gave me that foundation to build off, but I will skim over it."
"That would be helpful." Angie said. "At least in understanding how you got to this point."
"True so here is the short version." Sabrina said. "I spent 2 years in Anistar City in where Olympia is the gym leader. She helped me regain control and I sought help for my mental problems. It was Olympia who realized I had acted like a drug addict, that the way my power affected me was similar to how narcotics help people, so she sent me to a narcotics anonymous meeting. It was there that I realized just how I'd treated my powers and I began to go weekly to meetings, I still do so to this day. Now I readily acknowledge that I am an addict only mine was born of an obsession and my drug isn't a normal one."
"I don't know that kinda thing so I can't comment." Angie said. "I've never experienced anything like that so I can't truly understand it."
"And pray that you never do." Sabrina said. "It's hell, trust me. I am just glad that I got the help I needed and now I pay it back as much as possible. It took 3 years, 2 in Kalos and a final one in Cremini Town with Anabel to fully get back and I'm never going to be 100% but I'm as close to it as I can possibly be at the moment."
"What do you mean not going to be 100%?" Angie asked confused. "You seem it to me."
"I am in control but that is a lot different to 100%." Sabrina said shaking her head. "I can use my telekinesis, in fact if I don't the cravings could make me relapse fully because the pressure of my power builds up and I might lose control. However, I can't use my powers to their fullest because I can't be trusted to control them, and frankly I don't want to use them like that ever again. I don't use transmutation at all, it's too dangerous and just plain wrong. As for telepathy, well having it on for years really fucked me up."
"Huh?" Angie asked confused. "It did?"
"Oh yeah, I can't turn it off now." Sabrina said with a sigh. "Unlike my other powers, telepathy is passive and not active, so I just left it on all the time and only actively used it when I wanted to learn more. Keeping it on for years and then shutting it off proved impossible as my mind wasn't used to it."
"You kinda mentioned it before." Angie said recalling that Sabrina had touched on this in their past talks that brought up her condition. "But I'm a little hazy on it. You can't turn it off?"
"No, I can't but I can suppress it for a while, like I am doing now, but it will come back with a vengeance." Sabrina confirmed. "For the most part it's fine, just a low-level buzz in my head with only strong surface thoughts getting through, nowhere near enough to prevent me from functioning but it is annoying."
"Does anything help?" Angie asked. "Ignore it that is."
"There are some things that I can do that help." Sabrina said with a nod. "Battling and talking help as well as my mind is focused, same with martial arts which is why Gallade, and I train together at the dojo. Keeping busy also helps as my mind is often on the task at hand, hence why I have such a rigid schedule, but it does mean I need a break because too much work could cause me to snap as well because of the stress."
"That is good I guess." Angie said trying to get where Sabrina was coming from and sorta understanding it as she knew how when your mind was focused on a task everything else fell away. "But there is a limit I take it."
"Correct, I can't handle crowds because if it." Sabrina said. "Ash's party was basically the limit to the number of people I can be in in a small area with, but excitement makes minds more active and me hear them clearer. When the battles started to intensify, around the end of Dawn's battle with Lucy, my mind started to hurt so I used that to have my first talk with May."
"As with the other things I don't get it." Angie said before remembering that Sabrina had been out of town for the last week during something else in Saffron so decided to confirm a sudden theory she had. "But that does mean you can't attend things like Contests, right?"
"Correct." Sabrina said sadly. "Found that out the hard way when I went to a Showcase in Kalos with Olympia. I was so excited to see one live but the moment all those mental voices hit me, my fragile barrier failed, and I was bombarded by more thoughts then I could handle. I had a full-blown seizure in Olympia's box, a saving grace that I was away from people, and had to be dragged out of the box and helped away from the Showcase hall."
"That doesn't sound good." Angie said.
"Seeing as I was on the brink of losing control, no it wasn't." Sabrina said. "It was a close call, one of many in the early days of my recovery, but in the end it taught me that I couldn't be at those things. It's why the Saffron Contest is always during my week off so that I can be out of town for it."
"That makes sense." Angie said. "And you seem good now."
"I am as good as I can be." Sabrina admitted. "My rigid structure helps. Morning battles, afternoon classes, evenings for me and my family or meetings or giving talks about mental health awareness. I am very open about my struggles since getting back, caused quite a stir in fact when I returned and said that I'd been gone for 3 years because I was in effect in rehab and recovery during that time. I feel it helps and I do everything I can to prevent people from becoming like me."
"That is very noble of you." Angie said. "I am sure that it helps."
"Oh, it does." Sabrina said seeing an opening to shift the conversation in the direction she wanted it to go. "About a year ago now I was on a week off and giving a talk in Cerulean City about my struggles. Misty had to be there for it but what I was saying made her realize her own issues and seek help for them. She reached out to me and that is where all this started. I'm more a sounding board for her than actual help as her issues are out of my understanding so I do what I can. That and I owed her big amends for turning her into a doll. I finally made it when met up and it helped mend our relationship."
"Misty has spoken of her struggles in veiled tones." Angie said recalling what the redhead had said while they were on the Plateau. "And I know Dawn has mentioned that their friendship didn't start well."
"That is an understatement but that is their story not yours, which is what we are here for." Sabrina said finally getting to where she wanted to be with Angie and knowing that Angie would be open and honest with her after heard Sabrina's own story. "Which means that it is time for your Ash related story Angie."
"Oh yeah, I guess it is." Angie said knowing that it was time for her own tale as Sabrina refilled her tea. "So where should I begin?"
"How about this." Sabrina said thinking while refiling her own cup as well. "I have had experience with 3 other girls who've fallen for Ash but I can tell you are different from them so our talk will be as well. However, for me to fully understand it why don't you tell me how you met Ash, what happened there, how your friendship developed, how you fell for him when he did something patently Ash, and how finding out about his relationship with Dawn affected you. Go in order and then we can go from there once I understand the full picture."
"You can tell I'm different from the others?" Angie asked confused. "How?"
"Misty and May traveled with Ash for 3 and 2 years, respectively." Sabrina said simply as she added more sugar to her tea. "You never did. That leaves a distinctive impression on someone, and they fell in love with him because of it, though May's feelings are much more complex, and I need another session to get into that with her but all in good time."
"True they are certainly different in that regard; I couldn't imagine where I'd be feeling wise if I traveled with Ash." Angie said though if she was honest she'd probably be madly in love with him if she had traveled with Ash. "But what about Anabel. She never traveled with Ash."
"True she didn't but Anabel, as I said, feels emotions on a deeper level so she's different in that sense." Sabrina said taking a sip of her tea and adding one more sugar cube to bring it up to her level. "And I get the feeling that with you it's a first crush, a deep one because of the impression Ash leaves on people, but a crush which is different to being so deep in love that the idea of being with anyone else feels like your cheating on him."
"Oh yeah, it's not that deep but it's still there because of what Ash did to make me fall for him." Angie said with a sigh. "It, it was something that leaves a lasting impression, and the feelings still burn to this day because of it, because I saw just how amazing Ash was that night. I've only talked about this once and it was with Dawn who can't see this through a neutral lens like you can, so I think this is for the best. It's time I finally spoke about my feelings for Ash."
"Good then start at the beginning." Sabrina said taking another sip of tea and nodding at getting the sweetness just to her liking. "How did Ash meet you and probably piss you off at the same time?"
"You know him well." Angie said with a chuckle. "We met at a summer camp in Sinnoh that Professor Rowan was running and that I had been to a few times, but that Ash was attending for the first time. We were on the same team in fact and the first activity was using a temporary Pokémon and bonding with it. Ash and I chose the same Poke Ball and we ended up fighting over it. I revealed I was a girl and said I should have had first pick, a revelation that shocked him. In the end we sorted it out and decided to compete to see who could do better, Ash with the Raichu he got or me with the Monferno I ended up with."
"Oh, I see, that does sound like Ash." Sabrina said with a slight shake of her head. "Though I can see him making that mistake. I can tell you're a girl but, well, Ash is pretty dense, and it gets worse when he's focused on something apparently."
"Yeah, I was actually thinking on that." Angie said uncomfortably. "I am a tomboy through and through, but I do like men. I am still a girl and thanks to Ash I know that I am straight despite what it may appear to others who think I'm gay when they realize that I'm female."
"Hmm, that is something else." Sabrina said thinking on what Angie said. "I can help there as well but I think that is rooted in other issues. Let's address it as it comes up though, it may help. However just know this, who you are attracted to and how you present yourself are different and personal to you. Always remember that. Just because you're a tomboy who likes more traditionally masculine things, that doesn't make you any less straight or any less of a girl, that just makes you Angie."
"Thank you." Angie said with a smile unsure why what Sabrina said made her feel so happy, but it was as if for the first time someone had made it clear that she could be who she was and like what she liked without others forcing their views or their own interpretations of what they saw on her. "That means a lot and helps. I'll admit the issue there is that I am a tomboy and I like doing things the boys like, I always have, but I am still straight."
Angie paused to take a breath, but Sabrina didn't speak, just took a sip of tea. Angie was on a roll and clearly wanted to finish what she was saying so Sabrina decided to not interrupt her and just let the Sinnoh girl say her peace.
"It's hard because guys just see me as one of them and not a girl as well while girls see me as gay or weird because I'm not feminine." Angie continued after a sip of tea. "Then there are other nutcases who try to say I'm something I'm not just because I am not what society expects a woman to be."
"Fuck them." Sabrina said bluntly shocking Angie with the vulgar comment before she took another sip of tea as if it was nothing. "Let them think what they want but only you know your own truth and that is all that should be important to you."
"Come again." Angie said looking at the gym leader still trying to process Sabrina's words.
"I said fuck them." Sabrina repeated. "It's blunt and I don't swear in public, but I mean it. Fuck what others think of you Angie. You are you and you know who you are. Don't let anyone confuse you into thinking your something else because of how you present yourself or into conforming to what society expects from our gender."
"I…" Angie said but Sabrina continued speaking cutting her off.
"You are different and that's perfectly fine, embrace it as it is your identity not theirs." Sabrina said ignoring Angie's attempt to speak so that she could tell Angie this. "Guys won't mind, in fact many would like that you're a girl they can talk to and relate to. Sure, it may make it hard for them to see you as a girl into men but that will come in time, most men are a little bad at that kinda thing. First own who you are and do what makes you feel confident. Then worry about other things."
"That is a really healthy way to look at it." Angie said a little taken aback by how good Sabrina's advice was as she parsed it. "I will keep that in mind, though I may need to message you for some reassurance from time to time. I am confident in who I am but I do have my insecurities on that front, but this perspective could be really helpful to me."
"I'll give you my email and will help whenever I can." Sabrina said with a smile. "I am always willing to do that for anyone who needs it."
"How are you this good?" Angie asked. "At helping and understanding people."
"My past is my teacher so that I can better educate those going forward so that they don't go down a dark path like I and many others have." Sabrina said. "In my mental health work, I've come across people who have been like you, non-traditional girls or guys who are still straight or traditionalist that are gay and some bad actors have messed them up to fit their agendas. It can really mess with a person's mind and lead to problems with substances or other things but when they hear of my past and how I got back they come to me. I advise as best I can to help them get back on track. You are clearly strong Angie, and understand yourself well, which is good so I know you will be alright."
"Thank you but honestly this may have something to do with falling for Ash." Angie admitted. "As I may have mentioned, I, er, realized I was straight when I fell for him. It wasn't that I was questioning my sexuality, I just never gave it a thought as I was still a young teen, only 14 at the time so only just starting puberty, and now that I'm 17 so I understand more. That and how Ash treated me as a friend and clearly accepted me for who I was made me feel like I could be like that regardless of what others thought."
"That is Ash for you." Sabrina said with a smile and a shake of her head. "I bet he had no idea he was doing any of that."
"Ash? Of course not." Angie said with a laugh as well. "He was focused on beating me and I was focused on beating him that neither of us really noticed, though our rental battle ended in a tie. It led to us developing a fast rivalry where we pushed each other to get better as we tried to outdo each other in all the activities at the camp. By the end of the day, we were firm friends and kept competing in everything to see who was better. It really worked even if we did push it too far and got punished for it. Then we competed in the punishment as well."
"That sounds just like the thing Ash would do, he is really competitive, it's one of his good but annoying qualities." Sabrina said laughing at the idea of Ash and Angie competing in who could do their punishment better. "I can see how you fell for him if you are similar to him."
"Oh, that isn't what made me fall for him." Angie said blushing. "Well, I guess I had formed a crush on him before the incident without realizing it, it was just the incident that sent my feelings over the edge, and I was suddenly crushing on him hard, and I knew it."
"There's often an incident." Sabrina said recalling Dawn's story she'd told when the couple had stayed with her after her full battle with Ash. "I guess it's time to hear what this one was."
"Yes that was an adventure on the level you'd expect with Ash." Angie said with a sad smile. "There was a challenge one night at camp where we had to pair up with someone in our team and go to a ruined temple thing to retrieve something and the fastest pair to complete the task won. It was night so the ghost types were out in force. I asked Ash to be my partner because we had bonded over our rivalry and figured our joint competitiveness would ensure that we won."
"You and Ash on a team in a competition." Sabrina said with a smile. "Pretty much unbeatable from the sounds of it."
"That was my thought." Angie said. "Add in Pikachu and my Shinx, Luxray hadn't evolved yet, and we knew that we were going to win. However, there was a slight problem."
"This is Ash, that should be a motto for him whenever he does something." Sabrina said. "He can't seem to do things without at least something going wrong for him."
"In Ash's defense it wasn't his fault." Angie said. "It was some scientists who were excavating the ruins fault."
"Sometimes it's not Ash's fault, I should know as the problem when he met me was that he met me at my worst." Sabrina said. "But he's likely present. Anyway, go on."
"Oh, he was definitely present." Angie said. "Anyway, the scientists unearthed an earthen tunnel that they didn't know what it was and couldn't see the end of from the outside. Turns out it was a portal to the ghost world."
"Because of course it was." Sabrina said with a sigh completely believing it as if Ash was evolved it was just best to assume that whatever happened was true and leave it at that. "And it caused problems."
"Major ones." Angie said. "Some dead ghost girl got out and was trying to take kids back with her. There was this wild Dusknoir around trying to find her and stop her, but we thought it was evil."
"Yeah I'd classify that as a major problem." Sabrina said. "And just the kinda thing Ash would stumble across."
"I've learned that this wasn't even close to the oddest thing Ash has experienced." Angie said. "In this instance, though, Ash and I ended up being the only team to reach the temple and the girl decided to try and suck us into the ghost world through the portal after failing to get another camper because of Dusknoir. Ash, Pikachu, and Shinx found holds but I didn't. I thought I was a goner, but Ash grabbed my hand and tried to save me. I told him to let go, that we barely knew each other, and I couldn't take him with me, so he had better save himself, but Ash said if I went so did he, that's what friends did."
"Oh shit." Sabrina said her eyes wide, an incident like that was almost guaranteed to cause a crush, especially if one had already been building prior to it. "He was willing to sacrifice his life to save yours."
"Yeah and he saved me for sure." Angie said. "Because Ash was able to hold me in place, Dusknoir came and was able to send the girl back to the ghost world where she belonged before closing the portal thing. Ash and I won the activity as we were the only ones to complete it and celebrated our win together. However, the next day it all hit me and when Ash tried to shake my hand I suddenly blushed and ran away because I realized I liked him, like like liked him."
"Well yeah, he saved your life at the risk of his own." Sabrina said taking a sip of tea now that the intense part was over. "That will do it. It's what he did with Dawn, May, and I think Misty that made them all fall, or at least notice their feelings, though there were other factors unique to all three of them."
"I've heard Dawn's tale of what happened in Alamos Town where the seed of feelings was planted and how they grew slowly for her." Angie said pain in her voice at her loss but knowing that she had to push through it. "When I found out that Dawn and Ash were dating, when she kissed him in front of everyone at his first party right after they arrived, I was broken hearted. I hadn't seen Ash since Sinnoh when he came to my family's daycare and helped me out with a problem I'd stupidly caused, so I was excited to see him, but that new development was hard. I hadn't expected to be with him, just wasn't expecting Dawn."
"I bet." Sabrina said understanding what it must have been like for Angie to see that, she'd heard how Misty had reacted when she learned, and the pain Anabel had when she found out, so Sabrina knew it even if she'd never experienced it herself. "And did Dawn talk to you?"
"Yeah she saw me leave after the kiss and while Ash was catching up with all his friends from over the years she came to find me because she was confused as to why I'd suddenly left the main party area." Angie said. "That's when she found me crying on a bench and realized the truth. I confirmed it and told her how Ash saved my life twice which was how I fell for him. She also told me her full story, so I knew her feelings were genuine and deeper than mine."
"Twice?" Sabrina asked a little surprised by that. "He saved you again while in Sinnoh?"
"Yup, during the camp on the last day." Angie said with a smile at the memory. "There was a triathlon that involved rental Pokémon and Ash and I were racing to win it. We could only use our own Pokémon during the third leg. During that leg Ash and I were first and second, but something happened, and I almost fell down a cliff. Ash again saved me and pulled me to safety. It solidified my crush and I blushed again, but he reminded me we were in a race and that reignited my competitive spirit against him. We continued and he came first barely ahead of me."
"That does sound a lot like Ash." Sabrina said. "And you had this talk with Dawn, about both of your feelings for Ash."
"Yeah it really helped and was away from the party, so we didn't ruin anything." Angie said. "I was the second she talked to and the first that was civil apparently."
"Dawn and Misty's first chat was a battle." Sabrina said. "A proper gym battle in fact that ended when Dawn's Togekiss threw Misty's Gyarados into the ceiling. Still not sure how that happened."
"I heard and I don't know either." Angie said shaking her head in disbelief as to how Dawn had managed such a feet. "But Dawn and I had a healthy chat and then the next day a simple one on one battle to kinda end any residual issues that may have existed between us, not that there were but the battle did help. She used Mamoswine, I used Luxio and lost. It was fun and sorta closure, but I still have feelings for Ash. I know I can't have him but it's hard to not have them given who Ash is."
"It is and will be, but you have had the right talks." Sabrina said sipping more of her tea. "And I know that you and Dawn are good. I saw the Indigo Finals on TV; Anabel told me of her plan when we met before the party and that you were one of the girls in the cheer section."
"Yeah that was fun, and Dawn helped all of us so that we could cheer for Ash properly even if that was the most feminine outfit I ever wore." Angie said with a smile and then a shudder. "Though I will never not see Cilan in that outfit."
"Yeah that was a surprise, but Anabel explained him and Iris to me and how she made sure he wore a girls' cheerleader outfit." Sabrina said. "I don't think Cilan will ever live that down."
"Ah Iris, the girl all of us want to slap." Angie said. "The only one to travel with Ash to somehow not fall for him and the only one to get through to him about his feelings for Dawn due to her bluntness and complete lack of tact."
"I am interested in meeting this Iris one day." Sabrina said. "She was at the party but spent most of it arguing with that Georgia girl or running in fear from Ash's Mr. Mime."
"Iris is an odd child with an extreme fear of anything that is super effective against dragon types, so the new fairy types are her worst nightmare come to life." Angie said remembering the scream Iris had let out when Ash revealed fairy types to the world by showing off their immunity to dragon type moves. "Sweet and fun but odd. I will never not hear that scream of terror she let out when Ash used Mr. Mime to win that quarterfinal match."
"I was watching it on TV and heard it through the TV." Sabrina said. "I can't imagine hearing it in real life."
"My ears were ringing for a week." Angie said. "But that isn't relevant to this conversation. This conversation was about letting out my feelings for Ash and finally talking about them."
"Yes and that is the first thing on this road that you are on." Sabrina said. "The question is what now?"
"Honestly, I don't know but I feel like a weight has been lifted from my chest." Angie said as she realized just how light her heart felt now that she'd opened up to Sabrina about her feelings for Ash. "I still like Ash; he'll always be my first crush and it will always be there because of who he is and what he did for me but at the same time I know it is a crush. I have seen how much Dawn loves him, and how much Misty and May do as well, and I know I can't meet that without traveling with him and that won't happen. I guess I just needed to say it out loud and be confronted with everything to understand it."
"Sometimes that is how it has to be." Sabrina said with a nod. "I had to verbally say I was an addict at the end of my first meeting to accept that I am one just as you have to talk about your crush to understand it and move forward."
"And I think I can." Angie said looking at Sabrina. "And it's because of what you said earlier about embracing what makes me me and being happy with who I am, not what others think I am or should be. I am a tomboy, I am straight, and I am a girl. I will continue being just that and doing what I love to do which is help Pokémon, battle, travel, and get stronger. Yes I have a crush on Ash, I always will, but he taught me that I can have these feelings for a guy and in time I think I can again for someone else. Ash may be unique but there will be other good guys out there, right?"
"Of course, there will always be those like Ash who are good a pure no matter what." Sabrina said with a smile, surprised that Angie had come to this conclusion and shown an openness to move on, the first of the four to do so but the others Sabrina knew had deeper feelings that were a lot harder to move on from. "And if you keep traveling I am sure that you will find him."
"Oh, I intend to, traveling that is." Angie said. "Romance is secondary to that, and I will let that happen naturally. This year in Kanto has made me want to travel more and go to new places. I'm not sure where yet but I want to travel, grow more, continue to mature, catch Pokémon and keep doing what I love doing."
"That you can do and you're already pretty strong as it is." Sabrina said. "Few earn my best Pokémon in a battle, only a few did last year and all of them reached the final battles of the Indigo Conference, the ones who won first time all reached the semifinals at least in fact. Ash, Lucas and Brendan all faced one of my top tier Pokémon, Brendan faced two in fact, and won first time. Several others, including Lyra, Cameron, Trip, Bianca, and Conway all faced one but took two goes like you and all of them reached the last 16 at least."
"Really, that gives me confidence." Angie said with a smile at Sabrina's praise and the group she was in because of facing Sabrina's Gallade. "I've faced yours, Forrest's and Misty's best, or a top tier one at least, so I'll keep trying to push the other leaders though I don't understand how gym leaders choose their Pokémon."
"It's different for each region, though I can only really speak to here and Kalos." Sabrina said thinking on it. "And even then, I only know how Olympia operates her gym in Anistar City. There she challenges trainers to a double battle where she uses her two Meowstics, one male and one female, against two of the challenger's Pokémon. That has always been her style and she doesn't intend on changing it."
"Huh, I'd never heard of a double battle in a gym before." Angie said surprised. "Let alone a trainer using two of the same Pokémon but explicitly one of each gender. How can she tell?"
"Oh, that is easy, Meowstic is a Pokémon with a clear gender difference, like in your face clear and not subtle like Kadabra's is." Sabrina said surprising Angie that Kadabra had a gender difference between males and females. "Simply put, the males have a blue coat with white accents while the females have white coats with blue accents. There is apparently a clear difference between them when it comes to stats and something called a hidden ability, but Olympia never elaborated on that to me."
"I see well that is different to say the least." Angie said. "Anyone could tell that if they saw it."
"Psychic type leaders are a little strange." Sabrina admitted. "Well, I was bad, but my case is different. From what I've heard, the Mossdeep Gym out in Hoenn is a psychic one and has twin leaders who use a Lunatone and a Solrock as their Pokémon in a double battle against a challenger. Then there's Opal, the ancient leader in Ballonlea City in Galar, the fourth of the four psychic gyms. She has an unhealthy obsession with pink and likes to try and make challengers wear it if they answer her questions wrong I think, I'm not really sure on that front though as I've only heard rumors."
"She sounds eccentric." Angie said.
"She's been a gym leader for about 50 years, so it makes sense that she'd become a little eccentric after all that time." Sabrina said. "Apparently she's also trying to change the gym to a fair type, but I don't know the status of that."
"I see, all gyms are different in the end." Angie said. "Though I'm surprised a gym is already changing to fairy type, it seems too soon after the discovery of the sudden change to have one."
"Oh, there already is one." Sabrina said surprising Angie though in the back of her mind she was pretty sure she'd once heard of a gym changing its type, but she couldn't remember where. "The Laverre Gym in Kalos. Its leader was a normal specialist called Valarie who had all her Pokémon either become pure fairy types or added one when the announcement of the type and the changed Pokémon became official. As a result, her gym and specialty status were automatically changed as she no longer had any normal types."
"Ah that would do it." Angie said knowing that she'd heard of this change before but not where. "It's confusing trying to keep up with all this stuff."
"I'm a leader and I get confused at times." Sabrina admitted. "We have a set of rules we have to follow but we get leeway in our battles so long as they are fair. In Kanto, all leaders use either two or three Pokémon with the exception of Viridian which is one and only when that guy is around. They are going to change it soon I think as that dude is notoriously unreliable."
"Yeah he wasn't in both times I tried to face the gym." Angie said with a sigh. "I basically decided to leave it for last."
"Probably best." Sabrina said. "And do Cinnabar right before then after you reach 6 badges. Blaine can be rather eccentric and annoying, so you'll need time with him."
"I've heard that he has some system to determine between true challengers and tourists, but I guess I'll find out more when I get there." Angie said. "I intend on going to Celadon next though and then Fuchsia afterwards so Cinnabar will be 7th regardless. Any help will be nice."
"Naturally, I won't give away any secrets of my fellow gym leaders." Sabrina said with a grin. "Or types, you will find that those out on your own. I don't go to Celadon because of the casino there and my aversion to being near gambling in any capacity but Erika is a friend. She's a rose of a woman complete with her thorns so be careful with her, her motherly attitude can break easily and she's a cunning battler. As with all, expect to face at least one standard Pokémon, one mid-level one, and one that could be top tier though of all of us Erika has never confirmed what Pokémon are in her top tier."
"Helpful." Angie said and she meant it, she wasn't expecting full secrets, but this information was still useful. "So, like how Misty uses Staryu to start, a Pokémon like Whiscash second and her Gyarados last."
"Only to those who earn it with her." Sabrina said. "Is that what you faced when you were in Cerulean?"
"Yes." Angie confirmed. "The Whiscash was because I used Luxray too much, it was to humble me, and it worked."
"Misty likes to do that though it looks like she's caught her own part ground type." Sabrina said. "She used to use Ash's Seismitoad when she was training it for him. I saw her use it when I went to Cerulean to make amends to her and chat, it was an impressive Pokémon."
"She mentioned in our battle that she'd used one of Ash's in the past, but now that the Barboach she caught on a trip to Hoenn last year has evolved she's using it more." Angie said. "Still, earning her Gyarados was big apparently."
"It is just as it is with me and my Alakazam, Gallade or Delphox." Sabrina said. "Last year Ash and Lucas beat Alakazam while Brendan beat Alakazam and Gallade, though I only used Gallade to counter his Shiftry. The others were mixed depending on their Pokémon."
"Delphox?" Angie asked. "I've never heard of that Pokémon."
"It's the final stage of Fennekin, the Kalos fire type starter option." Sabrina said surprising Angie that she had a fire type. "And I know that look, yes I caught him as a Fennekin in Kalos but when Braixen, Fennekin's evolution, evolves into Delphox it adds a psychic type. It's the only starter option that adds that a psychic type. I also caught an Inkay and Gothita there, the latter is now a fully evolved Gothitelle. Olympia gave me an egg before I left that turned out to be an Espurr, Meowstic's pre-evolved form, but my Espurr is not a battle but more like Haunter in the sense that it helps as a comfort Pokémon."
"I see, looks like you found some Pokémon in Kalos." Angie said. "Though it makes sense that you'd catch some while there, you are a gym leader."
"I did, catching them helped me get back into it as it felt normal to catch Pokémon again." Sabrina said with a smile. "I also got some when I was in Cremini Town. That was where I caught an Eevee, Beldom and a Ralts. All are fully evolved with Eevee opting for Espeon by evolving during the day. That said, I seldom use my Metagross, it's a little too unpredictable. Gallade on the other hand, well you've seen him in action and know how good he is."
"Metagross is a really strong Pokémon though." Angie pointed out. "I'm surprised you don't use it that often."
"I save Metagross for when someone really pisses me off." Sabrina said. "It's not for the truly skilled, those face Alakazam for the most part unless they show proficiency with dark types in which its Gallade or bug types in which it is Delphox to challenge them."
"I guess that makes sense." Angie said thinking on it. "It is your gym and your choice how to test us after all."
"Precisely and I have worked out a good system for that." Sabrina said. "I always start with Kadabra or a similar Pokémon like Drowzee or Inkay to gage a trainer's skill. Then I use one of my mid-tier Pokémon and usually a dual type like Slowbro, Jynx, Exeggutor or Mr. Mime now that it if part fairy type to test them against something less predictable. Then if I feel like the challenger is good but hasn't earned a top tier I use a stronger pure psychic type like Gothitelle, Hypno, Espeon, or Wobbuffet depending on who I have on me at the time. I switch it up so I'm never predictable, but I always use the same Pokémon in a rematch."
"That makes a lot of sense." Angie said getting where Sabrina was coming from and realizing that she had no way of predicting her the first time against the psychic specialist given the options that Sabrina had to go with. "And it often has to do with what the challenger uses as well I take it."
"Precisely." Sabrina said with a nod. "Erika should be similar in her approach. Janine, she's a little harder to say."
"Why?" Angie asked.
"Mainly because I don't know her well." Sabrina said simply. "Her type doesn't have a cross with mine that I know of, and she has a liking for part bug or dark types which are problems for psychic specialists line me. In fact, her top two are one of each and if it's the dark type you have really impressed her. That Pokémon is a tough one to face, took out 3 of Ash's Pokémon before he beat it apparently and only he and Brendan faced it last year."
"Damn so she's going to be tough." Angie said thinking on it. "And Blaine, what about him?"
"Unpredictable though there is one I know he will use; he always uses that one and it's his best as far as I know." Sabrina said. "He is extremely eccentric, hell his gym is the oddest I know off and he had to retrofit it for health and safety and even then Ash destroyed part of it and tested the net at the end of their full battle."
"Net?" Angie asked confused, what the hell was this Blaine guy like.
"You'll see, I won't ruin Blaine's fun." Sabrina said with a grin. "He likes it too much. As for Silver, that dude is all over the place. Expect one Pokémon of the gym's type and that is it. It could be any Pokémon of that type from any region I believe, he's traveled all over apparently."
"I see, well thank you." Angie said finishing her tea and noticing the time as she did. "Wow, it's pretty late. I should probably head back to the Pokémon Center."
"Why don't you stay for dinner." Sabrina said getting up and beginning to clear up the tea. "Usually, it's just me and my parents, so this will be a nice change for us. You can see how much I've repaired my relationship with them, and dad has some Ash stories I don't have if you're interested."
"Are you sure?" Angie asked. "I don't want to impose."
"I insist." Sabrina said dismissively. "Ash and Dawn stayed here last year; you can have dinner at least. I know you'll be off soon so let's enjoy this. Plus, mom and Delphox are really good cooks."
"Ok, I'll do that." Angie said getting up. "And Sabrina, thank you for everything. This has been really useful."
"I'm just doing what I can to help, and I will always be here if you need me Angie." Sabrina said smiling at her as she led her out of the room. "I'm glad you found some closure regarding your feelings for Ash. The rest I know you will find on your own."
Angie just nodded knowing that it was all true. She did have that closure she hadn't realized she needed. She hadn't known that just talking about Ash to someone who understood Ash on his level because of what he did for her, that context and Sabrina's past had really helped Angie see that Sabrina knew Ash in a similar way to how she knew him but was also not crushing on him had been beneficial.
She could finally accept her loss entirely and understand that her feelings, while deep, weren't love the way Dawn or Misty or May had for Ash. That allowed Angie to always remember Ash as her first crush, which meant that he'd have a special place in her heart forever, and a close friend she'd hold dear for her entire life, and she intended to be part of his life in some way, but it would be as a close friend. The feelings would always be there but there was space for another like Ash but on that Angie would let it find her, she had to focus on herself first.
That focus started on continuing her Kanto journey and entering the Indigo Conference at the end of the year, she was halfway there now so she knew she could do it. Of course, that itself could wait for tomorrow. Tonight, she was just going to enjoy dinner with her new friend Sabrina and her family. The future was bright though and Angie couldn't wait to embrace it as her own journey continued.
I know that was heavy, the deepest dive into Sabrina's psyche since the 9th Supplement to Dreams when I first explored this, but it was necessary both for context for Angie so that Angie would understand that Sabrina could help her and for understanding Sabrina herself down the road. There will be a much heavier one that I am sure those of you who follow Winning will be able to guess which chapter that is, but I will address that nearer the time. However, all this was good for Angie as she has become the first of the Ash girls to find a complete closure and be able to move on in time, though she is unlike the others hence why she can do this, and Misty or May cannot while Anabel has her own thing. That is all I have to say on the chapter, but I will take this moment to not announce who the next chapter will focus on, that will be a surprise, but it will be in Kalos so that will narrow the list down I think. However, that is all I have for this post chapter note so I will end it there. As always, given the content all I will do is ask that if you want to read more that you favorite or follow it and let me know what you think of it in your reviews or PMs to me. Until next time.
Stringdog