Ash felt stupid when he realized he had a reusable Shadow Claw TM in his bag. Datrix demanded to learn in and he saw no reason why she should not learn it. After that was done, he explored the Saffron Shops to drain his passes. Dude has two passes, not to mention the money he gets from the Sponsorship, he can go crazy.

Which Trevenant requires. He complained about his move set, he demands type diversity. In the end, Ash got him Drain Punch and X-Scissor.

"Happy now?"

"I want more." Trevenant crossed his arms,

"Dude, you have seven team mates." reminded him Ash, "Maybe if they don't drain it fully."

"Compromise accepted." said Trevenant.

The next one was Snorunt. Ash decided, while the others learn their moves, she will evolve. So he choose two moves Froslass can learn. Draining Kiss and Thunderbolt. Like Trevenant said, type coverage.

Dreepy was difficult as Dreepy can barely learn any moves. In the end Ash got him move he could learn when he evolves, Phantom Force. A reusable that could be learned by Trevenant, if that ghost feels the need to update his STAB attack.

Frillish didn't want anything, but Ash picked up Dive for her in mind. You never know. Lampent the while got Psychic, just because. His rising star Shuppet got Dazzling Gleam and Gunk Shot.

On the topic of poison type moves, Haunter really needed something other than Clear Smog. In the end, he got Venoshock for that, as well as Poison Jab. In addition to that, Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse joined the chat. He doesn't want to push Haunter outside of his type comfort zone yet, as he still gets used to his new size.

While most of them had their moves down and simply practiced, Asher evolved Snorunt into Froslass. Sadly her ability became Snow Cloak. They hoped Inner Focus stayed as being able not to flinch sounds so useful! And it was useful. Once. Yeah, she needs more action in battle.

As he walked to the gym, he passed though a park. Where he found a wild Vulpix. He called out Frillish.

"Wait, Ash!" she said. "The professor may prefer if the Vulpix isn't damaged much. Maybe I could speak to them? If they would allow to be caught?"

"I… sure." he agreed. With that, Frillish approached the Vulpix and asked. The Vulpix had a demand. "Of course you would get food." With that, the Vulpix was on board. "He agrees, but he wants food right after capture."

"Oh! In that case." He gave Vulpix some of the food he had with him. "Frillish, good idea. Then again you tend to mediate arguments in the team."

"Someone has to keep a cool mind." she said, "We both know Lampent won't and Froslass is too passive."

"Yet. Maybe that changes now that she evolved."

"I hope, some backup would be nice." she agreed. "Now send him away."

"I…" Ash thought. "I kinda would like to… keep him…"

"I thought you want to be a reliable OFTR, Ash." reminded him Frillish. "And it is not like you can't catch a new one. Vulpix aren't exactly rare. And who knows, maybe the professor returns him at some point."

When the Vulpix was done eating, he was send to Professor Sycamore.

"Not like I am busy enough with eight Pokes, already." he joked. "Now let's get going, Frillish."

Walking into the gym, Ash could feel the psychic energy as it interacted with his ghostly aura. There was a lady working at the register. "Sabrina had been expecting you. I will lead you to her, follow me, Asher Farron Ketchum." He followed her and smiled a bit. They did commit to the whole precognition thing.

Arriving in the actual battle area, there was Sabrina, the scariest gym leader of Kanto. Well, her or Giovanni Sakaki.

"Welcome, Asher, you took your time coming here." she said calmly.

"I know, I am sorry for that, but I had to fulfill an OFTR job first." he answered.

"I see." She smiled. "You seem to have your priorities straight. Before we start, I want to say… your white hair is pretty."

That surprised Asher. "Uh, thanks."

The battle then finally started. He opened with Haunter and Sabrina with her Abra. Haunter made short work of Abra. While Sabrina recalled Abra, Ash remembered the odd letter he had gotten. 'After the battle I can ask her.' She then called out her Staryu, who beat Haunter.

Calling out Frillish, he wondered, 'She wrote it, right? It was signed with S.' Frillish beat Staryu. 'S as in Sabrina.' Then her Kadabra took out Frillish, but not before she could disable one of his moves, which in turn helped Trevenant to beat Kadabra. She called out her Alakazam, one of her strongest. No, it is her strongest.

"You seem unfocused. Is something wrong?" she asked. "We can battle another time."

"It is nothing." he answered her, "Go, Dreepy!"

"If you say so. It is your loss after all." she answered, eyeing the tiny dragon. "Your Dreepy is an interesting choice, Asher. Psybeam!"

"Go intang!" Dreepy turned intangible and invisible, then flew into the ground. Ash was sure he could see a weak outline of Dreepy. He just hoped Alakazam and Sabrina could not see this. Alakazam floated over the ground, waiting for Dreepy to return.

Ash could see Dreepy appear behind Alakazam. The little stinker of a dragon just bit Alakazam near the butt. "Dreepy! Seriously?" Ash then heard Sabrina laughing. 'Seriously, this is her kind of humor?'

Dreepy continued to just fool around with Alakazam. "Alakazam enjoys his playful fighting." said Sabrina. "Dreepy's are such trolls."

"They are. A handful to train." answered Ash. "But I suppose all pseudo's are a handful. Or was that the rule of thumb for dragons?"

"Both." she stated. "Let's end this. Alakazam!"

Before anyone could react, Dreepy became invisible in front of Alakazam and bit into his eyes, then he followed this with a tail slap into Alakazam's face. "Dreepy!" Said dragon looked to Ash, wagging his tail. Then he evolved. "Well, now Drakload I suppose."

Drakload said, 'Finally!', then he attacked Alakazam with a ghost move. Ash knew he did not teach it to Drakload, however he could feel the immense spectral power. 'He learned a new move. Neat.' When Alakazam fainted, Ash realized it was Phantom Force. "I can't wait to see what he can do as a Dragapult."

Drakload floated to him, while hyping himself up. "I am so awesome!"

"You are, Drakload."

"Curious, you can understand him?" asked Sabrina as she approached him.

"I can understand any ghost type." he told her. She then dragged Ash to her office. "Oh, you want to speak to me. Good."

"You want to talk to me?" she asked.

"Yes. I've got this letter, have you written it?" he asked, showing her the letter. "Are you S?"

"No, but I am in contact with S." she answered. "Seeing he contacted you…"

"Sabrina?"

"Asher, I asked Oak if I could borrow your OFTR services." she informed him. "As for why I choose you, I am aware that you're in contact with Sakaki. Tell me, what do you know about the Mindless, Asher?"

"Their minds are broken somehow. Ranging from amnesia to a zombie-like mind, it is a spectrum, really. All Mindless are trainers that had gone missing." he recalled. "Most are found near Viridian."

She pointed a finger into his face. "Exactly. Near Viridian. All trainers there have either challenged Sakaki or had at least seven badges. I think Sakaki has something to do with it." she told him. "Sakaki had always been oddly secretive. As of now, I have no proof of any connection, just my suspicions. When you challenge him, I want to wire you, so that I can spy on him."

"I…" He could not believe she suspects her colleague, then again, it is weird that Viridian is the hot spot for the Mindless. "Well, there is no harm if he is innocent. I do it."

Sabrina smiled. "Good, I knew I could rely on you. Now, if Oak asks what I need you for, just tell him you help me to study the paranormal. I know how protective he is of you." She then walked to her desk and took something out of a drawer. It was a golden badge. "And your badge."

He took it. "Thanks."

"You earned it. Now, something is bothering you, Ash. Tell me, I can help with whatever plagues the mind."

"I… when Drakload was invisible, I saw a slight outline of him." he said, "Did you see it, too?"

"No, but it sounds like a ghostly ability." she answered, "Is this all? I am sure there is more that bothers you."

He sighed, no point in lying to Sabrina. "There is, but I do not want to bother you with my daddy issues."

"Ash, speak."

"I… when I became like this by an accident, my father left us, we haven't heard from him ever since. But at the St. Anne tournament, I battled him there. I… on one hand, I want to yell at him for abandoning us and at the same time, I don't want to acknowledge him. It doesn't help that I figured out where he lives. That much about opening a ghost gym in Lavender…"

"Mm, I see…" she answered. "Until you decide that, either is valid, live your best life and show him what he misses. And for Lavender, someone else already tries to open a gym there, so you may need to look into a different town anyway. Well… I would sue him for any child support he probably didn't pay."

"I am sure mom is already on that." he said. "Well, for now, I will focus on my OFTR tasks and just being a trainer, after all helping you requires me to challenge Sakaki."

"On that note, I want to train you a bit. A little help for Koga and whatever Sakaki may throw at you." she said, "Follow me. We need to heal up our teams."

An hour later, they were in the gym. Ash was given a fabric bracelet, a card and a training suit marking him as a trainer belonging to her gym. He was very purple. Sabrina told him, "Those track suits are inspired by the uniforms of Galar. I am not a fan of those, but this is better than getting your clothes burned by attacks or something. I am just glad that I don't have to wear one. Feel free to wear one of those when you're out, it is advertisement for me."

"You need advertisement?"

"Well, somewhat. It would be nice that people see that I am not scary, but approachable." said Sabine. "Call out Froslass. I know that line can learn Psychic. And Haunter can can learn Dream Eater. While he isn't ready to learn that one yet, if a different Poke learns Rest, you have a sweet strategy I like to employ."

"Mm, Lampent can learn rest. Thinking about it, so can Shuppet and Trevenant." answered Ash. "Why not teach it to Shuppet and Lampent?"

"Good, call them out." she commanded.

Both could hear someone say, "That guy is lucky! Lessons from Sabrina herself!"

"Other practice, ignore those." she added. "Focus is important, our battle was close."

"Sabrina, would you help me to teach Drakload the move Psychic Fangs?"

"Not at all, after all you promised to help me." she told him, "So keep it."

Three days later Ash left Saffron. Sabrina was impressed how well he works with his team, even for someone who can understand their Pokes. While she would have liked to train some more with him – she used their training to teach her team how to handle Ghosts – she had a Gym Leader meeting to attend and Ash had to go at some point. Shortly before the meeting began, her Alakazam teleported them to the meeting at the Indigo Plateau.

While everyone else complains how faraway their monthly meet up place is – then again for Blaine and Koga everything is too far – she is always on time. When Blaine finally arrived – normally Bruno or Will are late – Lance opened the meeting with a question aimed at her. "Sabrina, did you meet Asher by now?"

"I did. He won first try and I tutored him for three days. So Koga, give your best." The ninja rolled his eyes. "I know you think some psychic moves will not be the deciding factor, but he is good."

"Three days under your tutelage? This Ash must be traumatized!" said Blaine.

"He isn't traumatized. Don't get me wrong, he got his issues, but not like that." she said. Sabrina then met Sakaki's eyes. "Maybe a bit trauma, but not because of me."

"Like what?" asked Giovanni.

"Mm, Asher told me about some issues with his father." she admitted.

Instead of Sakaki, this got a reaction from the champion, "I thought Ash's father ran off?"

"He did, but Ash ran into him on the St. Anne and found out he lives in Lavender." she explained, "Ash is confused how to react."

"How to react?" asked Bruno.

"Either yell at him or to not acknowledge his existence."

"Well, the dead beat would deserve the later." chimed Agatha in. "Treat everyone how you want to be treated."

"Poor kid." then said Surge. "Asher doesn't deserve that guy."

"Wait, we talk about Asher Farron Ketchum, right?" asked Blaine.

"You senile-"

"I am not senile, Giovanni! It is just, last week, I battled some guy called Farron Ketchum. He wants to apply to open a minor gym. He should reach you soon, Giovanni." explained Blaine. "Mind being extra difficult for that guy?"

"Everyone! We can't pick on a trainer!" reminded them Lance. "Even if it is one of those."

"I already have something in mind." said Giovanni.

"Why are you so engaged in this?" asked Will. "You're normally distanced from everything."

"He's sponsoring Asher." said Lance.

"And I have a dislike for dead beat parents." admitted Giovanni. "I could never imagine to abandon my Silver."

"Didn't Silver cut contact with you?" asked Blaine, only to receive a death glare from Giovanni.

Erika muttered, "I was way too easy on Farron. He looked so depressed, said he still grieves his kid that passed. I pitied him."

"But Asher is alive." pointed Giovanni out.

Blaine coughed, hiding the words 'do-over kid'.

"Stop your conspiracies, Blaine." said Lance. "Everyone, we need to focus."

"You want a change of topic? I have one!" said Lt. Surge. "Agatha said she wants to retire soon, right? Maybe she could take on Asher as a replacement. Unlike her, he is an actual ghost specialist!"

Agatha looked at him like Giovanni looked at Blaine. "Do I need to remind you that my Arbok wants a rematch with your Raichu? Arboks like them as a snack."

"Agatha…" said Lance, half scolding her – as much as you can scold an old lady – and half giving up pushing this meeting back on track.

"Oh! From what I hear about Asher, he sounds like a good successor." she then said.

Sabrina told her, "He has ghost powers. For once he can understand them. He… he told me he wants to be a ghost gym leader. As the town he aims for is infested by Farron, maybe he would be interested in the position of an Elite."

"This is good to hear." answered Agatha. "And I totally steal referring to Farron as vermin."

Flint spotted Lance with his face on the table. "Everyone! Does anyone have anything on the Mindless?"

"Flint is right! It is great we all agree that Farron is vermin, but we need to discuss the Mindless!" added Lance, sitting up correctly. "I believe Sabrina had a theory?"

"I had." She stood up. The lights of the room dimmed as the windows got darkened. A projector threw a map at the wall. It showed Kanto and Viridian. There were colored spots, marking where Mindless had been found. Each color showed a different point of the spectrum. Blue, like the one Asher found, were just memory loss, while red spots acted like zombies.

The most spots were around Viridian, the reds more further away. Sabrina explained, "Each spot is a Mindless. Like you can see, most Mindless were found near and even in Viridian. Three directly by Sakaki's gym. Adding to that, all Mindless were trainers who challenged Sakaki or had at the very least seven badges."

She saw Sakaki looking coldly at her. "Are you implying they are connected to me?"

"Yes. The data alone implies it." answered Sabrina.

"But reds, the dangerous ones, are found further away from Viridian." he countered.

"I know. There had been a development, well, a discovery. Some of the Mindless that have been hospitalized, they have been regressing mentally. They moved down the spectrum. To red." The map changed, some spots changed colors. "The reds are further away from Viridian as they were simply not found. They were found days, maybe weeks after going missing, giving time to their mind to deteriorate." she explained. "I consider this further proof that your city contains the source of this."

Lance leaned back into his chair. "They deteriorate…"

Sabrina added, "Yes, but there had been some tests. It seems certain treatments, if the Mindless are found early enough, the deterioration can be stopped, or even heal it. But those studies are still at the beginning."

Giovanni then stood up, "Sabrina, those studies, I sponsor some of them. Not just the ones conducted by my own company."

She laid her papers down. "Oh, I didn't knew that."

"Next time, research more thoroughly, Sabrina." he told her. "Think before you accuse someone. Honestly… if it is one of us, it may as well be you."

"Giovanni!" yelled Lance. "What is with you!"

"She accused me first, which is weird." he replied shrugging. "Think about it, Sabrina is a psychic mistress. She could break someone."

"Screw you! With your logic, Asher could do that, too." said Sabrina insulted.

"Don't be silly. Asher being behind this?"

"Everyone, break time." said Lance, having given up on having a smooth meeting. "You know what, we call it a day."

She returned to Saffron after a private discussion with Lance. Besides him telling her to bring up such accusations with him first, he told her to leave Giovanni alone.

Over the next few days she worried if Giovanni is now onto her – he knows she has a hunch – and Asher by proxy. But would Giovanni harm Asher? He seems lo like Ash. To be fair, Asher has similarities to Silver, just less rude and broody.

Days later, she got a message from Asher. 'Thanks! The moves you taught really helped against Koga! Next stop, Erika!'

'Keep safe and stay vigilant, Asher.' she replied.

Started: 23th May 2024

Edited: 29th July 2024

Finished: 20th July 2024

Uploaded: 23th January 2025