What happened next was a blur. Josh didn't remember screaming as he watched his friend get thrown almost 20 feet into a concrete wall. But his throat ached for the rest of the day. Josh didn't remember exactly how the Trainers next to him or the Gym Leader reacted when he threw out his Venusaur and ordered him to attack — something that Josh never would have imagined himself doing in the middle of someone else's Gym Challenge.

But just as quickly Pan appeared in front of him and shot an Energy Ball at the mysterious Pokemon, the Energy Ball disappeared before it could reach the Pokemon. And then, the Pokemon and the Gym Leader disappeared in a flash of pink light.

Josh looked around frantically, but they were gone. The Trainers next to him were already running to Ryan, but Josh beat them to him. Josh didn't remember who called the ambulance, but he did remember looking at Ryan and seeing his arm bent in the wrong direction. His face was bruised and covered in cuts, and there was one especially massive cut on his cheek that was bleeding freely. The blood was smudged and running down his face to his neck.

Josh reached out to try and touch him, but another Trainer slapped his hand away.

"Don't move his head!" she said.

The Trainer put two fingers on Ryan's neck. Then, she leaned down and put her ear to Ryan's mouth. "He's got a pulse… and he's breathing. Okay. How long —"

"Two minutes," another Trainer said.

It felt like an eternity. Twice, Josh tried to help, but the older Trainers shooed him away. Josh had never felt more useless in his life. Then, the ambulance arrived. The crowd of Trainers outside parted to let the paramedics through, and two of the Trainer School students busted the door down with their Pokemon. Caitlyn, and another girl who Josh didn't know, led them in.

"Josh! Oh, thank God," Caitlyn said quickly, then she pointed at Ryan's limp body on the ground. "Right here!"

#

The paramedics put a plastic collar around Ryan's neck, a tube down his throat, put him on a long, orange backboard, and then put him on a gurney. They wheeled him to the ambulance, but they wouldn't let Josh come in with him. Josh followed the ambulance on Hermes's back. At one point, he looked behind him to see many of the other Trainers following him, as well. They stopped at a hospital, and Josh landed just as they were wheeling Ryan inside.

A doctor and a bunch of nurses were waiting for them, and the paramedic talked at a mile a minute as they made their way through the hospital.

"Pokemon attack. 13-year-old male, found unconscious, responsive to pain. BP 120 over 80, resps low at six. Tubed him in the field. Multiple facial lacs. Possible fracture to the right arm," the paramedic said.

"Get radiology over here," the doctor, a tall, bald man with small, round glasses said. "What's his name?"

"Ryan Oak," Josh said.

The doctor looked down at Josh. "Do you have his parents' phone number?"

"Yeah."

"Call them, tell them what happened," the doctor said. "Let's get him into Trauma One."

Josh followed them through a set of double doors while he pulled out his phone and found Ryan's house number. The doctor and nurses wheeled the gurney into a room with a hospital bed. They each took hold of the backboard that Ryan was laying on.

"On my count," the doctor said, "one, two, three."

They lifted him from the gurney to the bed. Josh held the phone to his ear while he listened to it dial Ryan's house. The doctor fished a tiny flashlight out of his pocket and opened Ryan's eyes with his finger, flashing the light into each one, talking while he did so.

"Pupils are five millimeters, equal, and reactive," he said. "Let's get cross-table lateral films to rule out a c-spine injury. Get these clothes off of him, and check DTR's."

The nurses began to cut Ryan's clothes off with big, metal scissors. One of them cut the sleeve off of Ryan's arm, which was purple, yellow, and misshapen.

"Oh, God, poor kid," she remarked.

"DTR's two plus and equal," another nurse said. "Normal Babinski."

"Let's have a listen here…" the doctor said as he put on his stethoscope and put the round part on Ryan's exposed chest. "Hmm… Diminished breath sounds on the right."

"Hi," a voice in Josh's ear began. But he recognized it immediately — it was Avery's voice. "You've reached the Oak residence. We can't come to the phone right now, but leave your name and number, and we'll get back to you…"

The doctor pulled one of the stethoscope's earpieces out of his ear.

"Did you get the machine?" he asked Josh.

"Yeah, I just remembered it's Friday," Josh said. "They're both probably at work right now."

"His parents need to be here as soon as possible, it's important," the doctor said.

"Pressure's falling, 60 over 40," another nurse called out.

"Tracheal shift — tension pneumo," the doctor said as he quickly pulled his stethoscope off. "Get me a decompression needle."

A nurse handed the doctor the biggest needle Josh had ever seen, and he jammed it into Ryan's chest. Then, he pulled out the syringe, leaving a small plastic tube in Ryan's chest, and a small hiss of air escaped from the tube.

"Whoa," Josh said.

"Pressure's coming up," a nurse said.

Josh looked down at his phone. His parents would be able to call Ryan's mom at her job back in Pallet Town — but then he remembered, Avery goes to school in Viridian. So he called her. She picked up on the third ring.

"Josh?" Avery's voice asked.

"Avery, you need to get to the hospital right now — the regular hospital, Viridian City General," Josh said quickly.

"What? Why?"

"It's Ryan. H-He's been attacked."

"What?!"

The doors to the room opened, and a man came in wheeling a huge machine behind him.

"X-ray's here," the man said.

"Cross-table c-spine first," the doctor said, "then we'll do the arm. Make them wide so we can rule out fractures from transmitted forces."

The doctor and nurses donned big, thick robes as the man aligned the machine next to the bed. One of the nurses grabbed Josh by the shoulders and led him out of the room. Josh kept the phone pressed to his ear.

"It's a long story, he's in the hospital right now, and it's serious. Just get over here right now," Josh said.

"I'll be right there."

Avery hung up before Josh could say any more. The nurse holding him by the shoulders let go and went back into the room, and Josh followed her.

"All right," the doctor said. "Let's send him for a head and abdominal CT. And call plastic surgery, he's gonna need someone to look at that laceration on his cheek. Did we ever get a hold of his parents?"

"I got his sister, she goes to school here," Josh said. "I'm gonna call my parents right now, they know their numbers at work."

The doctor nodded to him. Then, a nurse came in and handed a tablet computer to him.

"Films are back," she said.

The doctor's fingers danced across the screen as he enlarged the image and looked at it. Josh could see the arm — Ryan's bone, in black and white, and snapped like a toothpick. Even the doctor raised an eyebrow as he looked it over. "Oblique humerus shaft fracture. 30% chance of nonunion. Call ortho."

It seemed like every other word out of the doctor's mouth was in another language that Josh had no hope of understanding.

"What does that mean?" Josh asked.

"It's a nasty break," the doctor said as he glanced at him. "He's going to need surgery and a cast. You said a Pokemon did this?"

"Exactly why I don't let my kids mess around with Wild Pokemon — they're vicious!" the nurse said.

"It wasn't a Wild Pokemon," Josh said. "It was the Viridian City Gym Leader's."

The doctor and all the nurses looked at Josh, and then at each other. After a moment, the doctor spoke.

"Asuna, call the police."

One of the nurses, the one who had pulled Josh out of the room when they took the X-rays, walked out. The doctor turned his attention back to the tablet.

"Nothing on the lateral films. Good. Tell them they can take the c-collar off once he gets to CT."

The doctor handed the tablet back to the nurse. Then, another nurse poked his head into the room.

"Dr. Aoyama, we've got an MVA coming in," he said, "two criticals, five minutes out."

"Okay," the doctor said as he pulled off his glasses and wiped them with a handkerchief. "Page Tanaka, prep Trauma Two, I'll be right there."

He turned to Josh as he walked away. "You need to stay here," he said, "the police are going to want to talk to you."

Josh nodded. The doctor left, and the double doors swung shut behind him.

A real job, Josh thought to himself.

#

Avery Oak burst into the Viridian City General Hospital and ran to the front desk. She approached so fast that the woman at the desk nearly spilled her coffee.

"My brother, Ryan Oak, was in an accident," Avery said, "they said they sent him here, where is he?"

The woman messily wiped up the coffee with a napkin as she quickly typed in the computer with her free hand.

"Just sent up to the O.R.," she said. "Second floor. Elevators are that way."

Avery ran to the elevators and hit the button, but after waiting for two seconds she ran to the stairs. She climbed the stairs two at a time and went to the section of the building labeled "SURGERY" in big, bold letters. She caught sight of the familiar spiky brown hair of her brother, lying unconscious in a hospital bed as they were wheeling him into the operating room.

"Ryan! Ryan, I'm here," Avery said as she ran to him. Then she looked at the doctor with him. "I'm Avery Oak, I want to stay with my brother."

"You can't right now," the doctor said, "he needs surgery. Family needs to wait in the waiting area."

"I'm a healthcare worker," Avery said, "Pokemedicine doctor."

"I'm Dr. Taira."

Avery looked him up and down.

"Hold on — are you a resident?" she said.

"Yes," Dr. Taira said, "I'll be assisting Dr. Himura. You can't be in here, Dr. Oak."

Avery looked around. They were almost at the operating room. A surgeon was scrubbing at a sink. Avery reached over and grabbed a sterile cap and gown.

"I want to talk to the Attending," she said as she started to put them on.

"Your brother suffered multiple injuries in the attack," Dr. Taira said. "He's stable, but he's got an oblique fracture of the right humerus."

"Films?"

"Abdominal CT showed a small amount of free blood, so we're going to do an exploratory laparotomy. And we'll have an orthopod come in to fix the fracture," Dr. Taira said. He pushed Ryan's bed forward and the nurses continued to wheel him into the operating room. Then, Dr. Taira put a gentle hand on Avery's arm and held her back. "You should go to the waiting area. Dr. Himura will find you when we're done."

He turned to leave, but Avery followed him while rolling up her right sleeve.

"Wait," she said, "I want to donate. I'm O negative, same as my brother. You going to let me in, or make me go to the blood bank?"

Dr. Taira turned and looked at her. His face was covered by a surgical mask, and his eyes were impossible to read.

"Come on, he's my brother," Avery pleaded.

The doctor said nothing for a moment. But then he shook his head.

"You can't come in here, Dr. Oak," he said. "The blood bank is on the first floor, I'll tell them you're on your way."

Dr. Taira walked into the operating room, and Avery Oak was left outside. She considered trying to scrub in anyway, but eventually she huffed as she walked away and went down to the blood bank.

One pint of blood later, Avery went back to the second floor and to the waiting area. That was where she found Josh Dale, sitting on a couch, flanked by two police detectives.

#

Josh couldn't help but feel as though he had done something wrong while he talked to the police. Josh didn't seem to have any good answers to any of their questions. How tall was the Viridian City Gym Leader? What did he look like? What did he say? It was all so hard to remember. What happened to Ryan already felt like a dream that Josh was struggling to remember. Worst of all, Josh was paranoid that what little he was able to remember he may have just been imagining because he didn't want to feel so useless.

As the police finished their questions and walked away, Josh caught sight of Avery Oak. She looked pale and was walking slower than usual.

Josh stood up to hug her, and she hugged him tightly back. They sat down on the couch and Avery repeated many of the questions the police just asked Josh.

"How did this happen? Why would he do something like that? And what did you do? What did the doctors say?"

Josh tugged at his sleeves as he mumbled out his answers. Every time he said something, he looked at Avery — and then looked away, as if he somehow felt responsible for what he was describing. He felt worse than ever.

"Are you okay, at least?" Avery finally asked.

"… No," Josh said. "I've never seen a Pokemon do that to a person before."

Avery put her hand on Josh's, pulling him away from himself and wrapping him into another hug.

"Me neither," she whispered to him.

Josh felt tears streaming down his cheek as he pressed his face into Avery's neck, and he finally started sobbing. He had never seen anything like what had happened to Ryan before. The most blood he had ever seen was his own, and it was almost always at the sink, where it washed away easily.

"I called my parents," Avery said after a moment, "they'll be here soon."

"Ash called me," Josh said. "She's coming, too."

"That's good," Avery said. "Ryan's going to want to see you two."

Avery let Josh go, and he wiped his tears away with his hand.

"How much longer do you think it'll be?" Josh asked.

"A while, probably," Avery said.

They sat on the couches for hours. Josh couldn't think of anything to say. Every few minutes, Avery would stand up, pace a few times, shake her head at herself, and sit back down. She checked her phone constantly. She would murmur updates on when her parents would be getting there, and Josh would nod.

Eventually, a doctor with a neatly trimmed beard entered the waiting area, holding a clipboard and a folder.

"Ryan Oak?" he said as he read from the clipboard.

Avery immediately stood up and walked to him.

"I'm his sister, Dr. Avery Oak, ER Pokemedicine," she said.

"Doctor," the man said as he nodded his head to her. "I'm Dr. Himura. Everything went well."

"Thank God," Avery muttered as she visibly sighed.

"I took a look at the spleen — no rupture, no lacerations," the doctor said. He removed an X-ray from the folder and turned around to hold it up to the light and show Avery. The same bone that Josh had seen — snapped in two and completely misaligned — was now perfectly straight, and had a white-hot straight line running next to it, with several nails connecting it to the bone. "Ortho did a open reduction and internal fixation. No complications. You'll be able to see him soon."

"How long will the pins stay in?" Avery said as she took the X-ray to look at it more closely.

"About four months for the pins, six months for the cast," the doctor said. "You can keep that, it's a copy."

"Thank you," Avery said, without taking her eyes off the X-ray.

The doctor nodded to her and walked away.

"So, he's going to be okay?" Josh asked.

"… Yeah… He should be fine," she said slowly, still staring at the X-ray. As if she was trying to convince herself.

#

It was late by the time Ryan Oak got any visitors to his hospital room. First, his family was allowed in. From their chairs on the other side of the wall, Josh and Ash heard soft crying, followed by voices arguing, followed by more crying.

Eventually, Ryan's parents walked out of the hospital room. Ryan's mother hugged Josh tightly and thanked him with tears in her eyes. Josh had never seen Mrs. Oak cry before — but they had all been crying.

"He wants to see you," Avery said quietly.

And so, Josh went into Ryan's room, with Ash.

The hospital room was white and clean, but the air was dry and had a weird smell. It was only now, as he walked to the now-conscious Ryan, that Josh decided he didn't like hospitals.

Ryan was lying in a hospital bed, his right arm resting on his stomach, covered in a large, white cast that ran from his hand to his shoulder. His face and chest were bandaged. Three large band-aids covered his right cheek, where the big cut had been. His face was still red and purple from various bruises that were still healing.

"H-hey, Ryan," Josh said as he approached. Ryan said nothing, only looked at Josh with lidded eyes that showed no emotion. Something bumped Josh's legs from behind, and Josh turned around to see Ash pushing up a chair for him to sit in. Josh sat down, and Ash pulled up another chair for herself.

Finally, Ryan opened his mouth to speak.

"What's going to happen to the tournament?" he asked. His voice was hoarse.

Josh had no idea what he was talking about. Which tournament? The one at the S.S. Anne? Or the one in the Karate Dojo in Saffron?

"They haven't said anything," Ash said. "I think the whole thing will be canceled, probably."

"What?!" Ryan said. He winced as he sat up. "They can't! Why?"

"Ryan, a Gym Leader put you in the hospital," Ash said. "There's no way they can keep the Pokemon League going after something like that."

"Wait, the Indigo Plateau?" Josh said. "Oh. Oh, my God."

"They can't cancel it," Ryan repeated.

"Ryan, are you serious?" Ash said. "This is what you're worried about?"

"Yes!" Ryan said. "My parents tried to tell me it was canceled. They want me to quit training, just like that. After everything I've been through, they want me to quit now."

"Of course they do," Ash said, "Ryan, you —"

"Broke my arm, I know! I know that!" Ryan snapped. Ash actually flinched in her chair. "I've got a six-inch rod stuck in there to keep it straight, and it hurts like it's being chopped off every time I move. I don't need any reminders, Ash!"

"Ryan, stop," Josh said.

"Just shut up, both of you!" he yelled. He tried to turn away from them, but he winced again, and he brought down his fist on the edge of the hospital bed to keep from screaming. "God… I thought you, of all people…"

"Me?" Josh said. "What do you mean?"

Ryan looked at him, pain in his eyes, and then he spoke.

"I thought you'd be on my side," he said. "This is the one thing I've always wanted. More than anything. I don't care about school, I don't care about baseball, I don't care about girls. I just wanted to be able… to be able to hear…"

For the first time in his life, Josh saw tears in Ryan's eyes. But Ryan turned away again, awkwardly shifting on his side to keep his arm still and look out the window. Josh stood up and walked around the hospital bed so he could look Ryan in the eye.

"To be able to hear what?" Josh asked.

Ryan tried to turn away from Josh again, but Ash was still sitting on the other side, also staring at him. Finally, he gave in.

"To be able to hear Gramps say he's proud of me," Ryan said. "I know he just gave us our Pokemon for his Pokedex. But I wanted to go to the Indigo Plateau just like he did… I wanted to be a great Trainer like him."

Josh and Ash looked at each other.

"If you wanted that so badly, why are you always such a brat to him?" Ash asked.

"Of course, you would say that," Ryan said. "All you have to do is walk in the room and Gramps is already praising you. Like you walk on water. Even before you had any Pokemon."

"Ryan, that's not —" Josh began.

"And you don't even listen half the time," Ryan continued, turning to Josh now. "You get the worst grades in the school, and you don't do any better with the stuff Gramps teaches us. But you're still Mr. Wonderful in my house."

"Well, maybe people would treat you better if you weren't such an insufferable, arrogant, dick!" Ash yelled.

Josh stared at Ash.

"We were worried about you," she continued. "And the first thing you do is yell at us because the tournament might be canceled? Why don't you tell Josh thank you for calling the ambulance and the cops for you? Why not just be nicer to people and they won't have to wait until you're Champion to finally give you some respect?"

"Ash, wait —"

"No, I'm not going to stop just because he's your friend," Ash said. "Look, I've put up with a lot of your crap, Ryan. But if you're doing all this just because you want Professor Oak's approval, you could've gotten that a long time ago without getting your arm broken in the process."

"Weren't you listening?" Ryan countered. "I couldn't have gotten it once you two showed up! Everyone in my family treats me like I'm the worst one of us!"

Ash stood up from her chair and stormed off, reaching for the door. But she stopped when she heard Ryan's next words.

"You were just a loser before me and Josh went to sit with you at school!" he said. "You were a lonely weirdo who no one wanted to hang out with! I only hung out with you because Josh made me!"

"Shut up!" Ash screamed, whirling back around with tears in her eyes. "God, you deserved this!"

"Both of you stop!" Josh said, running between them. He put his hands on Ash to hold her back, but she just collapsed into his chest, sobbing. Josh pulled her into a hug. "He didn't mean that."

"Yes, I did," Ryan hissed.

"No, you didn't," Josh said, letting Ash go and turning on him. "I wanted to be friends with Ash as soon as I met her, and so did you — I didn't make you do anything. And she's the reason we're still friends."

"Well, I don't need friends," Ryan grumbled.

"Fine," Josh said. "We'll leave. Maybe they'll cancel the tournament, maybe they won't. But if they don't, you won't have anyone here to help you get there. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Ryan looked away from him. Josh looked back at Ash, who still had tears running down her cheeks. Josh reached into his shirt collar and pulled out a metal chain, with a small, rusted piece of metal attached to it. Ryan's eyes caught sight of it for a moment before he immediately looked away again.

"I don't care if there's a tournament or not," Josh said. "I just want you to be okay. Because, honestly, if the tournament happens and you're not there, it won't mean anything to me. You're the reason I started training, and I want you to be right there with me. I'll be waiting for you, once you get better, no matter how long it takes."

Ryan still wouldn't look at Josh. He stared out the window.

"… Just get out," he said.

Josh sighed. He put his necklace back under his shirt and left the room, with Ash following behind him.

#

Avery, and Ryan's parents were waiting for them when they left. They had probably heard some of the shouting, but neither they nor Ryan's childhood friends acknowledged it.

"He needs time," Josh said flatly.

Ryan's parents nodded. Avery put a hand on Josh's shoulder. Then, they walked away, leaving Ash and Josh alone. Ash wiped the corners of her eyes again.

"What was that thing you're wearing?" she mumbled.

"It's a long story."

"… How do you put up with him?" she asked.

Josh shrugged.

"He's right," Josh said. "I suck at school. I was never the best on the team, either. I like Pokemon, but I can't remember half the stuff Professor Oak tried to teach me about them. I can't even remember half of what I learned on my own, most of the time… But Ryan's the reason I've always kept trying."

"Why?" Ash asked.

"He won't let me quit," Josh said. "Everyone else says 'It's okay, you can try again tomorrow,' or 'Maybe this just isn't your thing.' They never try to make me feel bad about it. I know they're trying to be nice, but sometimes I just want someone that won't let me give up. That's Ryan. He doesn't just want to be the best at something, he wants everyone to know that he's the best."

"He's just full of himself," Ash said.

"Yeah, he is," Josh chuckled. "But I don't think anyone who was ever good at anything didn't get a little full of themselves sometimes. I'm proud of what I've done since Professor Oak gave me Pan. So, at the end of the day, Ryan's the reason I'm here. And he's not as tough as he acts."

Ash scoffed. "I know that."

"And you aren't, either," Josh added.

Ash looked at Josh, but he was dead serious. There was nothing she could say to that. She never would have imagined Ryan could make her cry so easily. She felt like a little girl, again.

"He didn't deserve it," Ash finally said.

"Yeah," Josh said. "So maybe you should tell him that."

"… I will," Ash said. "Once he — once both of us have cooled off. Once we're all home."

Josh nodded to her. Then he tightened the straps on his backpack, and padded down his pockets, checking to make sure everything was there.

"The police said they want me to stay in the city while they keep looking for the guy who did it," he said. "So I'll be hanging out here. Caitlyn invited me to stay at her place. You can come too, if you want."

"Maybe later," Ash said.

Josh nodded and walked away. Ash watched him leave, and couldn't shake the feeling that Josh had changed a lot since she had last seen him. But that was only a day ago. Had he always been that way? She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and then she pulled out her phone. She called the Professor.

"Ashley?" the Professor's voice answered. He sounded defeated.

"I just talked to Ryan," Ash said. "He's okay."

"Oh, thank God," the Professor said. "… My, um, son won't let me see him."

Ash couldn't count how many times her parents had tried to find reasons not to let her go on her journey when the Professor had suggested giving her another Pokemon to protect her. They had been terrified a wild Pokemon would hurt her. Every parent had nightmares about that happening — everyone in Pallet Town told her that. It had seemed so silly to Ash, at the time.

The Professor had assured Ash's parents she would be fine. That it was perfectly safe — normal, even — for kids her age to go out on their own adventures. He must have told Ryan's parents the same thing.

"Yeah, I kind of figured," Ash said. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault."

"… Just give it time," Ash said.

"Yes, I think they all just need some space," the Professor said. He sounded just as helpless as Ash felt.

"Do you think they'll cancel the Indigo Plateau Conference?" Ash said suddenly.

"Um, I have no idea," the Professor said. "I don't think they've said anything about it. But usually, they would have announced which Trainers were going to be allowed into Victory Road by now. I assume no announcement means it won't be happening."

"Yeah, I thought so, too," Ash said. "That's what I told Ryan."

"Oh, that's why you're asking. I thought that was a strange question."

"Yeah," Ash said, "that's why. Ryan wanted to know."

"Did they say how long it will take for Ryan's arm to heal?"

"They said four — no, six months."

"I see… Well, with an injury like that, he won't be allowed in, either way," the Professor said. Then, his voice changed. It got lower and quieter. "Ryan will be crushed. Even more so than he already has been."

Ash felt more tears coming, but she blinked them away.

"Can you find out for me? If it's canceled for sure?" she said while trying to keep her voice even. "So I can tell Ryan. And I can tell you how he's doing… Until you're allowed to visit."

"Yes, I have a few contacts who are still involved with the League," the Professor said. "I'll call you as soon as I know anything."

"Okay."

"Thank you, Ashley."

"It's nothing. Thanks, Professor. Bye."

Ash hung up and put her phone away. She was thirsty. She looked around for a water fountain, or a vending machine — and was immediately met with Sabrina's pink eyes staring at her from the shadows. Ash jumped.

"God, you scared me," Ash said.

"Sorry," Sabrina said. "I was hoping to visit your friend. But I see he's not in the mood for visitors right now."

Sabrina was leaning against a wall, across the hall from Ryan's hospital room. She was a ways away, and Ash doubted she could have heard anything they had said inside.

"No, he's not," Ash said. She hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "Are you — do you know if —"

"I don't know whether the Indigo Plateau will be canceled or not," Sabrina said.

Ash huffed.

"You're not much of an esper, huh," she murmured.

"I could say the same to you," Sabrina said. She didn't seem the least bit offended.

"What do you mean?"

Sabrina walked to Ash and pulled out a can of Coke she had been holding behind her back. She gave it to Ash, and she spoke as Ash cracked it open and took a sip.

"Espers come in all kinds," Sabrina said. "There's no telling what kind of abilities they may acquire, or when they will appear. There are no limits to what they may be able to do, but there are also no consistent ways to train them. There's no physical or visual manifestation of esper status, either — and yet, we find each other. The one thing all espers have in common is a… sort of sense. A kinship that we feel when we meet someone like us."

Ash furrowed her eyebrows as she listened.

"I've never felt anything like that," she said. "You're trying to tell me I'm an esper? I'm not."

"Then how would you explain what you experienced at the Pokemon Tower?" Sabrina asked.

Ash shook her head.

"I don't know what I saw," she said. "That could have happened to anyone."

"You don't really believe that."

"Don't tell me what I believe," Ash said. She walked over to a bench and sat down. Sabrina followed her at a distance, looking down at her.

"Espers also tend to have lonely childhoods, a feeling of not belonging anywhere," Sabrina said quietly. "They're emotional. Image-conscious. Sensiti—"

"I'm not an esper. I don't want to hear this," Ash said as she stared at the ground.

"Sensitive to others," Sabrina continued. "Which is why something as trivial as a man's whistle can disturb you."

Ash looked up.

A man's whistle?

"Yes, Ash," Sabrina said. "You may not be able to see the future. But you have a sense. A sense of those around you. Of people you've known for years and of people you've never met before. And a sense of those who have long since passed."

Sabrina sat down and put a gentle hand on Ash's own. Ash hadn't even realized it, but she was trembling. Sabrina held her steady and looked at her intently.

"I know that you know the man who hurt your friend," Sabrina said. "It was the same man you met in Celadon. And again in Saffron. You will meet him again, in time."

Giovanni.

Ash couldn't say anything. She was too stunned — and horrified, by what she was hearing. The name alone felt like poison in her mind. Hearing it felt like the nightmares she had gotten as a kid, climbing out of bed in the middle of the night, convinced that she was going to feel a monster under her bed grab her by the ankle. But Sabrina continued.

"I don't know when, and I don't know where," she said, "but when it happens, you will need your friends with you. Both of them. Do you understand?"

Ash gulped, her throat was dry as a bone. She was sweating. But she nodded.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect your friend," Sabrina said, "but people like us tend to suffer by the same gifts that we have. I see enough to see some things, but never everything. I suspect you will suffer the same way."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Ash asked, her voice quivering.

"I mean that the ones closest to you will make you suffer the most."