Part 1

I stood in front of the Saffron City gym, hesitating before I entered. I was welcome here, I knew. I was one of the few people who had befriended Sabrina after her gym had reopened. And almost the only person who had stood by her after her parents had died and she had become reclusive again. But today I was on a different errand.

I walked to the main gym, but Sabrina's assistant Steven was carrying on the battles. I suspected he was more than a partner to Sabrina, but if so the relationship didn't seem to be bringing her out of her depression.

Finally I checked in a small office where Sabrina sometimes sat with Haunter. She was there today, but alone, looking drawn and gaunt, with dark circles under her eyes.

I remembered one of the first times she had gone out in public, to the Indigo League championships. She was a beautiful, vibrant woman with a great future ahead of her. But after her parents had died within a month of each other she had blamed herself. She went on being a gym leader and no one complained about the administration of the Marsh badge, but she was brisk and official when she was battling trainers, empty and distracted when she wasn't.

She looked up at me. "Koga, it's very good to see you." But she didn't smile.

"I'm here with a problem, Sabrina," I confessed.

"What happened?"

"Aya's gone... just gone. She didn't even leave a note."

Sabrina looked confused. "What happened?"

"I don't even know. She was dating someone, but she didn't seem to want to tell me about it."

"You didn't insist?"

I shook my head. "She's a grown woman, Sabrina. I thought she'd be angry if I pressed into her business. Wouldn't you?"

Sabrina nodded. "Yes, but... if she has gone off with this person, do you think you can stop her?"

"If I knew for sure that was all it was, I'm not sure I'd want to stop her. But she did seem upset lately, and I'm worried about her."

"How can I help, Koga?"

I had never asked her much about her psychic powers except as they applied to Pokemon. I needed to now.

"Can't you trace a person? Find out where they are?"

Sabrina shook her head. "It's not that simple, or I'd put the Jennies out of business. But in the case of someone I've met, who might not have gone too far... I might be able to tell you something."

She put her head in her hands for a moment... when I saw the glow through her fingers I realized she was already concentrating on the task.

She looked up after a moment, seeming troubled.

"Koga... I have to ask you something... is anyone in your family psychic?"

"Not that I know of," I replied.

"Well, Aya is. There's no way I could have seen her so clearly otherwise. And I can tell you she's alive and I don't think she's injured or in danger right now. But if she's psychic and doesn't know it, or even if she does, she may need help. We really should go after her."

"We? Sabrina, I don't want you to get yourself involved."

I was surprised she wanted to, I liked to think we were friends but she barely knew Aya. Certainly Sabrina and I had never traveled together; I had hardly seen her outside her gym.

"I can't locate her precisely, just a general direction... you're going to need to search, and you'll need me with you to help."

She seemed determined. I hated to see her exert herself in the state she was in, but I did need her help. She called Steven in to give him instructions to take care of the gym for a few days.

Sabrina gathered a few belongings and suddenly seemed ready to walk right out the door.

"Sabrina, we can wait until tomorrow at least, you need to rest."

"She's somewhere to the east, Koga, in a forest area... we'll just go to the next town and rest there."

I nodded. Maybe she had her own reasons for wanting to leave the gym. So we traveled together to the next town.

Part 2

We took a bus, Sabrina sitting silently most of the way. At one point she looked up and said, "You know, I can't really read minds in the way you probably think I can. But if Aya's just discovering her psychic powers she must be very frightened."

For a moment I pictured Sabrina as a little girl, far younger than Aya, terrified at what she was discovering inside her mind. And I thought I understood a little better what had happened to her.

We booked rooms and sat talking for a while before sleeping. Sabrina tried to reassure me that Aya was fine, and I felt slightly better when I went to bed.

In the morning we decided we should take transportation to the edge of the forest and camp out that night. Sabrina hadn't used her powers in front of me again, but she said she was certain we were headed in the right direction.

It was strange, being alone with Sabrina. We set up camp early and then sat awkwardly staring at the trees.

Finally Sabrina began to speak.

"Well, at her age Aya's unlikely to end up like me, destroying her family."

"Sabrina," I said softly. "You're too hard on yourself, your parents were ill."

"Thanks to my treatment of them, they were."

"It's not that simple," I said.

She nodded. "Maybe not. It's difficult though... to be alone. No wonder you're so concerned about Aya."

"Well, you have Steven, at least," I said.

Sabrina looked surprised. "Well, he's a bit afraid of me, but I suppose he's a supportive person."

"I didn't realize, I thought you had a more... personal relationship."

Sabrina shook her head. Suddenly in the darkness she reached for my hand. I sat there, holding her hand and wondering what if anything that might mean.

She spoke again. "I never asked you about anything like that either..." She turned away from me and stared off into the trees, then continued.

"Do you date much?"

"Date?" I said, as if I didn't know what the word meant. "No, not really... I had relationships with a few women, and there was one I almost married. But I've been antisocial for quite a while, except for visiting you."

She nodded, still not facing me.

I sat there holding her hand, realizing how much more I felt for her than I had let myself admit. I picked up Sabrina's hand then and kissed it. She turned to me then and put her arms around me and pressed her mouth on mine.

We kissed, and after a while we lay down together on my sleeping bag.

"I love you, Sabrina..." I murmured.

I felt her loosen my scarf and run her lips down my neck. I gasped and caught her hair up in my hands.

Then suddenly she got up and said, "I can't do this, I'm sorry, I just can't."

"Don't apologize," I said.

"I am sorry though." She began to cry, and went away to sleep.

I knew better than to try to bother her with questions, and she didn't seem to want an apology from me either. But I hated not knowing what had happened. Was it my age, was is the circumstances? I tried to turn my mind to my main purpose for being out here, and forced myself to fall asleep.

Part 3

The next day morning Sabrina shook me awake before it was even light.

"Aya's near here, and I think she's in trouble,"

"What kind of trouble?" I asked.

"I can't tell... but if we go this way," Sabrina pointed, "we'll find her very soon."

We walked for a few miles, finally spotting a tent through the trees.

"Aya's in there," said Sabrina. "But I can't tell you what's happening... I'm in an unfamiliar place and I can't see well with my mind."

"Do you want to wait for me while I go?"

Sabrina shook her head.

"How quietly can you walk?" I asked her.

"As quietly as you need me to," she replied.

We approached the tent silently. Sabrina seemed to be concentrating hard on walking and after a while I realized her feet weren't touching the ground. Finally we reached the clearing but I could hear nothing. I wasn't sure what to do now; I didn't know at all what was happening to Aya or even if she was alone. Finally I decided to reveal our presence and called out her name.

The tent flap opened. I saw a glimpse of Aya. Standing in front of her was a thin, red-haired man with a Raichu by his side.

"Koga!" Aya cried out.

The man gave me a glare. "Your brother... he and his friend shouldn't be here."

I moved slightly closer.

"What happened, Aya?"

"I thought Alan was my friend. I told him I was having nightmares, and moving things without touching them. He told me he could take me to someone who could help me. Then when I wanted to leave now... he told me he was from Team Rocket."

"Enough of this!" shouted Alan. "Raichu, thunder shock!"

The thunder shock did stun me, but Sabrina turned it aside from her body and called out her Kadabra. Soon the Raichu was unconscious.

I was able to stand up again and saw that Alan had moved behind Aya and was holding a knife to her neck.

"Aya's going to be a Team Rocket psychic or she's going to be dead," he said coldly.

"Fool..." I heard Sabrina mutter. The knife fell to the ground in front of Aya and a little red-haired doll appeared where Alan had been.

Aya stared at the doll in shock and began to cry.

I moved forward and touched her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry we got here late, Aya..."

Aya was still crying. "I actually thought he cared about me. But really he wanted to steal our pokemon at first, and later he wanted to steal me. I don't know what I was stupid enough to tell him I thought I was becoming psychic."

"I'm just sorry you couldn't tell me," I said. "Are you that afraid of me?"

Aya shook her head. "I don't know what it was... I felt like a freak."

"I can help you deal with being psychic," said Sabrina.

"I don't want to turn people into dolls," said Aya.

Sabrina looked bitter. "I don't either; I haven't done that in years. Technically he just looks like a doll, and thinks he is one. He'll stay that way for two days or so if I don't reverse it and no one disturbs him. We'll call the police when we can, unless you'd rather let his Rocket bosses deal with him. Might be better revenge that way."

"I don't want revenge," said Aya.

"Good," Sabrina nodded.

"We should leave now," I said. "We should be able to get back to town today and spend the night there."

"Sabrina can't teleport us instantly?" asked Aya.

Sabrina gave a wry smile. "Don't expect so much from being a psychic," she sighed.

Aya nodded.

We walked along in silence again. I spoke to Aya a little about why she hadn't wanted to communicate with me, but she was so upset I didn't want to press her. Finally we reached the town and got rooms again.

Part 4

That evening Sabrina knocked on my door. I was almost afraid to speak to her, but I invited her in and we sat down.

Sabrina looked at the wall for a while then finally said, "You probably want to know about last night."

"You don't owe me an explanation," I replied.

"Yes I do. You see, after my parents died, I didn't want to get involved with anyone, ever. What if I hurt them with my mind? What if I had a child someday who might be a monster like me?"

"You know you aren't a monster. Look at how you've just helped Aya! And you wouldn't make the mistakes your parents made."

"You think I have so much control... but last month I got upset when some trainer insulted me. I went in the office and shattered a chair."

"I pride myself on my self-control too, Sabrina. But a year ago I got angry and broke the living room window... I had to use my hand to do it, but what's the difference?"

"You don't know what it's like to have psychic powers and misuse them," she insisted.

"I don't know what it's like to have psychic powers at all," I said. "But I do know about power. When I was nineteen I got in a sword fight with someone over a girl. It was against every code of conduct there is. I was a master at sword fighting and I could have killed him."

"Did you hurt him badly?"

"No, I disarmed him without blood. But my teacher, who happened to be my father, told me I should never touch a sword again."

"And did you get the girl?"

I laughed. "I barely remember her, but no, I didn't. She was too smart to bother with me. What I'm trying to say is that you're just a human being, and you need to allow yourself to live. Whether you want anything to do with me or not."

"You may be right," she said. Then she turned to face me.

"What do you want, Koga? With me, I mean."

I looked in her eyes. I was a little afraid to tell her the truth, but I did.

"I want to marry you, Sabrina."

She looked shocked, and said nothing.

"Maybe that's not fair of me. I know you haven't been out in the world much lately to meet anyone."

"Neither have you," she said. "That doesn't bother me. The thing is, I'm afraid of myself."

"I'm not afraid of you," I said. "Except I'm afraid of you not loving me."

"I do love you," she said. "And I do want to marry you."

She was smiling, the first real smile I had seen on her face in a long time. I pulled her close and kissed her.

She put her head down on my shoulder.

"I'm very happy," she said softly. "But this will mean so many changes."

I laughed. "I hope so."

The End