Chapter 28
"Interview with a Psychic"
With Giovanni's fellow leaders already questioned for their crimes, the time had now come for Amanda to cross examine the Executive and the Scientists defendants who aided and provided the leaders with the power they needed to carry out their attacks. For her moment with the defendants, Amanda decided to wear the same green skirt suit that Jodi Foster wore in the movie version of "Silence of the Lambs," to show her true power on the stand. Of course, she wasn't meeting Hannibal Lecter, but when we looked into her eyes, we could see that she was to an extent. She looked at her first defendant, Sabrina Saffron, the former Saffron City gym leader who specialized in psychic Pokemon and who had a very checkered past before Ash made her see the era of her ways.
"Miss Saffron," she began. "From 1998 until 2001, you were head of the Saffron City gym in the Indigo region, is that correct?"
"Yes," she said. "I specialized in Psychic Pokemon although many of my fellow Pokemon Gym Colleagues later questioned my skills that I used on the trainers who battled me."
"And what were the skills you used on the trainers who battled you?" Amanda asked.
"I used skills that would create illusions around them and that it would make them seem like they were battling a different opponent aside from me."
Just then, Amanda stepped forward with the sounds of her high heels being heard throughout the courtroom as I admired her delicacy as both an attorney and as a woman in large.
"Sabrina," she said looking towards her. "We have eyewitness testimony that Ash Ketchum was one of your opponents and that in addition that it took two times for him to beat you, he confessed that you seemed to do away with your parents, is that true?"
"Yes," replied Sabrina. "It was a mistake that I regretted every day for the rest of my life and that when Ash finally did defeat me, it wasn't by force, it was by making me realize that life can be enjoyable and when he brought Haunter into my life and made me laugh, I gave him the Saffron Badge as a way of not just defeating me, but as a way of saying thank you for bringing my life back together."
"But, it was sometime after Ash left Saffron City," continued Amanda. "That we learned that you had a personal tragedy happen to you, is that right?"
Sabrina felt a tear trickle down her cheek and took out the handkerchief in her suit pocket to dab her eyes.
"Yes," she replied sadly. "I lost both my parents on 9/11."
The crowd murmured and the judges all bowed their hands as if to say that they supported Sabrina even though she was a criminal defendant.
"What exactly happened to your parents on 9/11?" asked Amanda. "And I don't mean to be personal, but did their deaths somehow drive you to join Team Rocket and become the person that you are now?"
"My parents were on United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco and from there, they were to connect to a United Airlines Flight to Tokyo," explained Sabrina. "They were in New York City to celebrate their wedding anniversary and that at the time; I was engaged to a man who was in Boston promoting a possible Pokemon League competition to be played at the new Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. They were all the loves of my life and when they died, it seemed my life was over and rather going back to my old ways, I abandoned my status as a gym leader and formally joined Team Rocket as a way of relieving myself of the pain and misery I had to endure in the days following 9/11."
"I don't mean to be getting even more personal," said Amanda. "But what flight was your fiancée travelling on 9/11?"
Neither Amanda, nor the rest of anyone else in that courtroom were prepared for what they were about to hear.
"My fiancée was on United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles continuing onto a United Airlines Flight to Tokyo," said Sabrina, trying to hold back tears. "I saw his plane crash into the World Trade Center on live television."
The crowd gasped in horror upon hearing her confession and Amanda regretfully saw the former Saffron City gym leader break down crying. Amanda felt powerless at this and shared Sabrina's pain and suffering as her uncle barely escaped death on 9/11 when he did not get on the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center which was American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles.
Rather than continuing her questioning, Amanda decided that enough was enough and asked that the witness be excused. Sabrina walked out of the witness stand and sat back down next to Lt. Surge and Koga, who comforted Sabrina in her moment of crisis.
"I think that this would be a good time to adjourn for the day," said Judge Avery, banging on his gavel. "Court is adjourned until 9:00 tomorrow morning."
When we returned to the Ketchum residence that night, I wanted to ask Amanda what was going through her mind when Sabrina revealed the reason why she joined Team Rocket. Being fellow New Englanders and lifelong friends, I was very sensitive to ask her, but she didn't mind it at all.
"Jeff," she said as we ate dinner that night. "Can you imagine the pain Sabrina must have held deep inside for when she lost her family?"
"I know," I replied, taking a sip of cranberry juice. "A lot of people died that day: men, women, children, Pokemon, all of whom had nothing to do with Team Rocket or Al-Qaeda to begin with. It seemed that Sabrina's family was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I suppose."
"Is there anything you can do to help her?" asked Ash. "Sabrina is not like the person she used to be. I helped her see the truth about life remember?"
"Ash," I said. "You know that in the end, it will be up to the judges to decide Sabrina's fate and I know that she would do anything to see her parents and fiancée again, but in my opinion, having her die on the gallows is not how she wants to spend the last day on Earth and it would certainly not be the way that I want to spend the last few moments of my life if I was in that situation."
"What can we do?" asked Ash.
"Pika," added Pikachu.
"All we can do now is wait and let the trial process I'm afraid," I said and we continued our dinner that night with the uncertain future of Sabrina and any of the defendants with whom we now believed were innocent until proven guilty for the crimes committed on that horrible clear blue sky day in 2001 and the days after that…