| “ | I had a vision of your arrival! I have had psychic powers since I was a child. It started when a spoon I carelessly tossed, bent. I dislike battling, but if you wish, I will show you my powers! | „ |
| ~ Sabrina |
Sabrina (in Japanese: ナツメ, Natsume) is the Gym Leader of Saffron City's Gym, known officially as the Saffron Gym. She hands out the Marsh Badge to Trainers who defeat her. She is a young lady with psychic abilities, and thus trains Psychic-type Pokémon. She serves as a villain in the anime, and in the Pokémon Adventures manga.
In Japanese version she was voiced by Kae Araki while in English version she was voiced by Lisa Ortiz, who also voiced Mars.
Biography
Games
Prior to Pokémon X and Y, Sabrina has appeared in every generation of Pokémon as the Gym Leader of the Saffron Gym. Known as "The Mistress of Psychic-type Pokémon", she has had psychic powers ever since she was a child, when she accidentally bent a spoon. She apparently dislikes battling, but is hard to beat because she can communicate with her Pokémon telepathically. Her fame has grown so much that even Trainers living in the Sevii Islands have heard of her. Previously there were two Gyms in Saffron City, a Fighting-type Gym, and a Psychic-type Gym. Sabrina used her advantage to defeat the rival gym and strip them of their Gym status.
In Pokémon Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Fire-Red, Leaf-Green Let's Go! Pikachu, and Let's Go! Eevee, Trainers must navigate warp tiles to find Sabrina hiding in the middle of her Gym. Defeating her will earn them the Marsh Badge and a Psychic-type TM: TM46 (Psywave) in Generation I; TM04 (Calm Mind) in Generation III. The Gym maintains a similar style in Pokémon Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold, and SoulSilver. The warp tiles are maintained, as is the badge: Sabrina, however, gives no TM in Generation II and TM48 (Skill Swap) in Generation IV.
In Pokémon Gold, Pokémon Silver, and Pokémon Crystal, we learn that Sabrina can see into the future, as she states that three years ago she foresaw the arrival of another strong challenger (realized in the form of Ethan, Kris, and Lyra). After this second defeat, she accepts that the ability of foresight may be limited.
In Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver, Sabrina has received a major redesign, now sporting a vastly different hairstyle and changing her wardrobe from a conservative dark-red turtleneck to a completely new, more casual-looking outfit. After her initial defeat in Saffron City, she ventures outside of her Gym. She can be found at the dock for the S.S. Aqua in the Olivine City Harbor at any time on Friday. After the player has obtained her phone number here, she can be called during Sunday afternoon to arrange a rematch at the Fighting Dojo she once defeated.
In Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2, Sabrina appears in the Pokemon World Tournament as a participant along with other Gym Leaders. She also takes part in Pokéstar Studios movies as Magic Queen Bellelba, a villain in the Mystery Doors of the Magical Land series.
Anime
Sabrina (and her doll) in the anime.
In the anime, Sabrina was the fourth gym leader Ash encountered. He challenged her initially in Abra and the Psychic Showdown, and had a rematch with her in Haunter Versus Kadabra.
Sabrina inherited her psychic power from her father, who had the ability to teleport from location to location, as well as telekinesis. It manifested when she was young, and it was soon apparent that Sabrina's abilities far exceeded her father's. She was able to use her psychic powers to do many things- teleportation, telepathy, psychokinesis, and transmutation.
As her power increased, she grew more obsessed with developing it. She became less and less emotional, using her abilities for destructive purposes, even transforming her mother into a doll and destroying her house. This caused a deep psychological rift. The emotions she tried to shut off developed into a separate personality- a young girl who manifested as a puppet around Sabrina. Sabrina's mind was divided into the cold, callous, emotionless woman with a thirst for power and the little girl who just wanted to have fun.
Sabrina became the leader of the Saffron Gym, and turned it into an institute where fellow psychics could develop their powers. Ash was headed to Saffron one day, unknowingly watched by Sabrina. Sabrina's younger self used her psychic abilities to save Ash and his friends from Team Rocket. The next day, despite warnings from a mysterious man, Ash challenged Sabrina and lost miserably.
Sabrina used her powers to shrink Ash and his friends, but they were saved by the man. He cautioned Ash that only Ghost-type Pokémon could defeat Psychic-types.
Ash resolved to catch a Ghost-type Pokémon. After a trip to the Lavender Tower, Ash returned with a Haunter he had befriended. Ash challenged Sabrina to a rematch, but Haunter had wandered off in the meantime. Ash managed to escape Sabrina's wrath, rescued by the mysterious man once again, but Brock and Misty were transformed into dolls and placed into a dollhouse, where they met Sabrina's mother in the same predicament.
After talking with the man, who was revealed to be Sabrina's father, Ash returned once more, and during the match, Haunter appeared and started to playfully tease Sabrina. Haunter's antics delighted Sabrina so much, that she was no longer able to contain her emotions and started to laugh. This caused her two personalities to merge back into one. Ash was deemed the winner of the match due to the inability of Sabrina or her psychically-linked Pokémon to battle, and the young man won the Marsh Badge. Haunter chose to stay with Sabrina and her reunited family.
Pokémon Adventures
Sabrina in Pokémon Adventures.
Sabrina was one of the three villainous heads of Team Rocket, and serves under Giovanni in Pokémon Adventures.
She is first seen on top of her Kadabra after Red leaves Celadon City with an experimental Eevee, commenting how perfect that is even though it was thought that the Eevee had simply escaped. Under her boss's orders, she captured Moltres and brought it to Saffron City. She then used her Mr. Mime's Barrier to totally close off Saffron City from the outside world. Red's Pikachu was able to pass through the barrier by using Substitute. He was then able to defeat Mr. Mime and let Red, Blue, and Green in. At Silph Co., Sabrina took on Green, but the younger Trainer was able to best Sabrina by outwitting her than incapacitating her using her Jiggly's Sing. However, she snapped out of it soon and found Red and Green in the room that contained the Badge Energy Amplifier. Green then reveals that the badges she returned to Red were fakes, and flees. She was the one who controlled Zapmolcuno when it was created by Green by accident, but after Saur's evolution to Venusaur, she and the birds were defeated. The bird went free as the Silph Co. building collapsed.
Two years later, Sabrina helped the Pallet Town Trainers in the fight against the Elite Four during the Cerise Island battle. Sabrina's Alakazam created magical items called the Spoons of Destiny. When held by a strong Trainer, the Spoons of Destiny would point out a Trainer of a similar style and personality. Using these tools, Blue was paired with Koga, Yellow was paired with Blaine, Red was paired with Lt. Surge, and Sabrina herself was paired with Green. It would seem that all eight members still carry the spoons to this day, as Red made some usage of it in the Gold, Silver, & Crystal chapter.
Green and Sabrina found themselves battling Lorelei, who used her ice dolls to chain them to each other, something that proved to be a great disadvantage due to their lack of teamwork, which resulted Green being knocked out by Lorelei's Jynx. However, with Green's quick thinking and the act she put up, Lorelei was eventually beaten.
Sabrina suffered severe frostbite injuries on her wrist. Because of this, she later traveled to mystic springs at Johto's Mt. Silver to heal. There, she found Red in the springs with the same injury, and warned him of the assaults the Mask of Ice was about to commit in the Pokémon League that was to be held soon.
Afterward, she travels to the Pokémon League to have an exhibition match with the other Kanto Gym Leaders against the Johto Gym Leaders. Sabrina is paired up against Bugsy, whose attempts to befriend her end in vain. Despite the type disadvantage, Sabrina manages to defeat Bugsy with her Mr. Mime, who uses it abilities to create invisible walls to its advantage. When the Mask of Ice attacks the Pokémon League with his army of mind controlled Team Rocket Grunts, Sabrina assists her fellow Gym Leaders by battling the army. Once the battle had finally ended, Sabrina went back to usual Gym Leader duties.
Sabrina makes an appearance in the Black 2 & White 2 chapter. Here, she is revealed to have become an actress at Pokéstar Studios. When she notices Whitley having trouble picking a movie to act in, Sabrina has her Alakazam use its abilities to pick out a Brycen-Man movie for her.
Gallery
Sabrina's Pokemon
Trivia
- Her Japanese Leader title is Esper Lady.
- In the Generation I games, Sabrina, along with other Trainer classes, is seen with a whip. This is a leftover from the development of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green since Game Freak considered the idea of humans fighting against Pokémon themselves at one point, according to Ken Sugimori.
- Even though Sabrina isn't an Aura user, one of her quotes in FireRed and LeafGreen has her describing Psychic abilities in a manner similar to Aura's description.
- In Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue, she is the only Gym Leader who uses a Pokémon not of the type she specializes in during Gym battles.
- Sabrina uses a Venomoth on her team in all the games in which Koga does not use one on his team, and vice versa.
