AN: Sorry about how long it's been since the last update. Along with work being busy my internet has been absurdly uncooperative. It tend to rewatch parts of games or shows that relate to these stories to make sure I'm not missing anything (very crucial for some of them) and it took days just to get one of them to load and actually let me watch it.

AN2: I'm seriously starting to wonder if some of you are paying attention? Judging by some of the reviews it would seem I'm having to, again point things out. Ash's leg broke because he experienced a long drop onto solid rock. Anime 'plot armor' isn't a thing in this story, see him actually getting burnt in the Viridian Pokémon center incident. Secondly, just because he isn't battling every Gym, doesn't mean Ash isn't battling at all. Just look at the situation with those two gangs trying to be gyms. He battled their entire groups until the cops arrived. That was a massive battle and shows that yes, he IS getting experience. The group was just more focused on being cautious especially given Ash's injury.

Spot Inspection

Chapter 15

-Jane-

Groaning in exhaustion, Jane trudged back into the camp she and Ash had set up the night before. She, and her team, were exhausted from the latest training session with Aerodactyl. The creature was as stubborn as it was powerful and she kept having to use the other three members of her team to keep the brute in line. She was getting some progress admittedly, it was just slow.

"Still giving you trouble huh?" Ash asked, looking up from where he was making them breakfast, "That thing has to be one of the most stubborn mon I've ever met."

"You're telling me." Jane grumbled, "I'm just glad my team can knock him down whenever he tries anything. He's starting to behave a bit more each time though thankfully."

"That's good." Ash nodded, tossing her a bottle of juice with a grin "Got a call from your sister while you training. Grandpa Canyon has become a major thing now thanks to the cave with the ancient Pokémon. Apparently the champion of Hoenn is majorly obsessed with rocks and fossils and personally funded a full sized research facility in the area. He's helping with a few other professors from other regions who are overseeing continued excavation of fossils while exploring the cave to capture any further fossil Pokémon."

"They're trying to capture them all?" Jane raised an eyebrow as she opened her drink, sitting down beside Ash as he finally finished cooking.

"She mentioned that the ones in charge of the facility are worried about them being too violent to risk running into regular trainers for right now." Ash shrugged, "The mon not used to the modern world. Not to mention they're not sure how many are even down there and wish to ensure a stable, and safe, population. There's only been a couple of other Aerodactyl spotted in the cave so far though. Your sister said there's a good chance that the facility will put in a request to have you stationed there as part of its security once its up and running."

"Seriously?" Jane blinked. A facility that big would be a big deal. Getting vetted to work there would be hard enough but to be scouted would be even bigger.

"Seriously." Ash grinned back as he handed her a plate, "Besides the Kabutops, Omanyte, and Aerodactyl lines they've found a Pokémon Egg down there. The Sinnoh Champion was visiting the facility given her own history as an archaeologist and historian and the egg hatched for her."

"Imprinted?" Jane guessed, aware that there were a few Pokémon species that would imprint on the first thing they saw upon hatching.

"Got it in one." Ash nodded, digging into his breakfast "Little thing called a 'Togepi' from what your sister said." He showed a picture too, of a blonde woman cuddling a happy little egg baby.

"…That's adorable." Was the only response Jane could really make to the image as they worked to finish their breakfast and get back on the road. At the rate they'd been going they would hit Saffron, and the next gym, that afternoon.

-Ash-

Entering Saffron City, Ash frowned as he looked around. The place was bright, the buildings clean, and there was no sign of trouble or danger anywhere. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong here.

"This place feels eerie." Jane frowned, unsure why "It has the lowest reported crime rates in all of Kanto but just feels…off."

"Glad to know it's not just me." Ash laced his fingers with Janes, taking and giving comfort as they continued onward through the extremely quiet city towards where the Gym was supposed to be.

"There it is." Jane nodded to the building, its curved architecture standing out against the block like buildings of the rest of the city, "The Saffron City Gym."

"You here for the Gym young man?" a jogger approached from behind as Ash and Jane observed the facility, the man constantly moving, jogging in place even as Ash felt something brush against his mind "If you're trying for the league then I'd suggest you give this Gym a pass. Keep moving onto the next town." Before Ash could even respond the man was gone, already moving deeper into the eerily silent town.

"He was psychic." Ash frowned, having been too caught off guard by it to respond or stop the man from leaving "Tried to compel me to follow his suggestion and go."

"You're positive?" Jane narrowed her eyes in suspicion, looking in the direction of where the man had gone.

"Completely." Ash nodded as they stated down the steps into the Gym building, "Not sure why though." Stepping into the Gym building, Ash saw several people in lab coats and scrubs moving about the place, many having medical masks over their mouths.

"Who are you?" a man behind a desk stood up the moment they entered, "Why have you come here?"

"I'm Ash Ketchum and I came for a Gym Battle." Ash observed the man warily.

"Phah, Pokémon battles." The aide scoffed, holding up a spoon "We here at Saffron are practitioners of a far greater art." The man began to grit his teeth and growl, face turning red from the strain until the spoon in his hand bent ever so slightly.

"Telekinesis." Ash noted all the other various people milling about, "You're all psychics training your powers here, aren't you?"

"I see you are aware of the superior arts." The man was smug before gasping in shock as Ash levitated the spoon into the air. A weak psychic he might be himself, but he was still beyond the power of this arrogant man. "Y-you are a psychic too?!" the man was stunned.

"Yes, one capable of telepathy and telekinesis." Ash nodded, not mentioning that his abilities were on the lower end. Having both was still a rare trait though. The man, now much more polite, led them past several rooms full of people determinedly training their psychic powers towards the heart of the Gym. In all honestly it looked mire like some sort of temple than a battle arena.

"Great Sabrina!" the man who'd led them there knelt before a screen, "A challenger has come to face you!" the screen raised to show a woman with a stern face and green hair holding a small doll of a smiling little girl. Or what looked like a doll anyway.

Ash grimaced; his telepathy could feel the psychic feed from the woman to the doll. And even more 'voices' coming from people off to a side room. It was painting a particularly descriptive picture.

"Is that so." The adult woman rose, still holding the doll, her voice emotionless. Ash could feel pride, wrath, and ruthlessness from her. From the smaller form in Sabrina's arms, he could feel suppressed joy, desperation to be loved, and childlike confusion at why nobody ever wanted to stay with her. He'd only ever been able to sense surface level emotions or thoughts so if he was feeling this much it meant either his powers had grown. Or Sabrina needed help badly.

"It is." Ash nodded, stepping forward, already having a plan in mind, 'Jane, be ready to bring out Umbreon.' Ash reached out to his girlfriend telepathically, Jane thankfully used to his silent messages enough to not show surprise. He silently filled her in on what was going on that he could tell.

"Okay!" the tiny Sabrina giggled happily, "But if I win then you have to promise to be my friends and play with me!"

"And when I win, along with the Marsh Badge, you have to turn your dolls back into people." Ash pulled out his chosen pokeball, the Psychic who'd led them here jerking in shock that he was aware.

"So, you can sense them?" the older Sabrina's hair raised slightly, her eyes glowing.

"You aren't the only psychic here." Ash tossed up his pokeball as Scyther appeared. She'd already admitted to turning people into dolls. That alone was enough for an inspection failure but he doubted she'd just take the loss paperwork and call it a day. Not if she was as damaged mentally as he thought.

"That's quite rude you know." Sabrina narrowed her eyes, a bit of anger leaking through her emotionless expression, "But you are correct in that I will not simply 'call it a day'."

"Figures." Ash sighed even as Sabrina sent out a Kadabra.

"Agility and swords dance, go!" Ash shouted the moment the battle was signaled to begin, "Don't think ahead, just act!"

"You seek to avoid me learning your strategies by reading your mind." Sabrina's anger had faded already, gone back to controlled confidence, cold certainty of her victory, "Logical, but still pointless. Confusion."

"Night Slash." Ash shouted, having an idea that was thankfully correct. Channeling the dark energy allowed Scyther to break the psychic hold that Kadabra had put on it.

"Oh? So, you are more capable than you would appear." Sabrina didn't miss a beat as she changed her strategy up, "Kadabra, begin levitating stone from the field into the air. Use them to attack or impede as needed."

"Dabra!" the Pokémon, that Ash could feel was caught up in the damaged psychic feedback loop that was Sabrina.

"Keep using agility and swords dance." Ash ordered, "Have Night slash charged up as much as possible." If it could break a telekinetic hold then channeling dark energy should also block telepathic reading. If the tightening of Sabrina's eyebrows was any indication, then it was working.

"Dabra!" the Kadabra raised more and more stone that Scyther kept cutting through, gaining more and more speed as already fast bug type soon became a blur that was almost impossible to keep track of, even with his heightened reaction time.

"NOW!" Ash shouted, having trained with Scyther to be able to make one rapid hit if they ever use moves to boost speed and agility this much. It helped that the Kadabra line were all powerful psychically but exceptionally frail. Taking away it's ability to attack directly was leaving it open to being defeated.

"Impossib-" Sabrina and her aide were stunned as Kadabra slumped but Ash wasn't done yet.

"Use thief!" Ash pointed at the psychic construct that Sabrina was holding, Scyther trusting him enough to do it without question. As the dark move touched the psychic construct the 'doll' faded away, Sabrina dropped to the ground. Her stoic mask was shattered as tears fell from her wide eyes. He could feel all the emotions that she'd split off from herself rushing through the Gym leader as she broke down into tears.

"Sabrina, release them." Ash's voice was firm even as he felt pity for the woman who's own powers had overtaken her. He wasn't sure whether her powers had primed for such after their earlier deal, or if some part of this now 'whole' Sabrina did feel guilty for what she'd done. Either way, he could hear the shouts of shock from the next room over as people were returned to their full size.

"What have you done to the Great Sabrin- ugh." The weak psychic aide dropped to the ground, hypnotized by Umbreon who was helping Scyther in keeping Sabrina coated in Dark type energy. The woman was sobbing, even as her emotions overwhelmed her.

"Umbreon, use hypnosis on her. Please." Ash's voice was gentle as the dark type did so, the powerful psychic slumping to the ground, asleep and whole for the first time in years.

"I'll call my sister. Have her get specialists over here." Jane was already bringing out her phone, having seen what Ash did. Saffron City had failed their inspection, but the Gym leader needed mental help more than corporal punishment. He just hoped she would accept that.

AN: I did admittedly end up using some extrapolated head canons in this chapter based on context clues from the show. We know Sabrina was an absurdly powerful trainer and she turned those who lost to her into her 'toys'. However we didn't see any other 'dolls' in the dollhouse besides her mother meaning that either everyone beat her before Ash, which wouldn't fit for her power and reputation, that she wasn't ever challenged to battles, or that Sabrina's dad managed to get every challenger out of the doll house. If it was the last one then someone should have reported the situation as being shrunken down and turned into a literal toy? That shit ain't okay. Hence I can see Sabrina's dad using his psychic powers to compel people to either not enter the Gym, as he tried to do to Ash in this chapter, or if they resisted he'd use stronger compulsions to compel them to forget or keep quiet. The man was clearly a powerful psychic himself given the abilities we saw him use in the show yet he never tried to find someone who could stop Sabrina? Never tried to get her help? The story beat of the parents who still believe in the good of their daughter, who want to save the 'true self' that was the little child that wanted friends? It's touching but it still doesn't excuse the fact that his daughter went insane and he never tried to get her help.

Besides that though we saw Sabrina help Ash out when Team Rocket stole Pikachu shortly after their arrival to Saffron City. Makes me think that she took her duties of 'protecting' that city seriously even in that psychotic break state. Honestly, Sabrina would never have passed inspection given that whole mess, but I think she needs mental help more than jail time like some of the others.