"Aaaand, CUT!" Shouted the director. "Great work ladies!"

Rosa relaxed and smiled. Filming for this scene went flawlessly. She never imagined she would get into acting, but it was one of the many interests she was able to pursue with her newfound free time.

It had been a year and a half since she had become the Champion of Unova's Pokémon League. She had thought being a regional champion would keep her busier. Since she had become champion, only two trainers had managed to get past the Elite Four. She had defeated both challengers and that was the extent of the competitive battles she participated in as champion. Apart from making the occasional appearances at events, she was pretty much free to spend her time however she wanted. She took the opportunity to travel the region and take in the scenery more than she was able to do when her travels were focused on collecting gym badges.

It was during those travels that she came across PokerStar Studios. It seemed to be a match made in heaven. Rosa needed something interesting to do while she awaited a worthy challenger, and they could use the attraction of the region 's Pokémon League Champion starring in their movies. Rosa found she had more of a knack for acting than she ever imagined herself having. It had been incredibly thrilling becoming the various characters the films' scripts had called for. In addition, she had made a great friend in Sabrina.

The last movie that Rosa worked on, Mystery Doors of the Magical Land, had been a huge hit. Rosa had played the princess protagonist and Sabrina played the main antagonist, Queen Bellaelba. Rosa was amazed at the chemistry she and Sabrina had in front of the camera together. Sabrina had seemed quite reserved and antisocial when they began work on the movie. However, as the shooting for the movie continued to go well, Rosa and Sabrina grew to become friends. It was refreshing for Rosa to have a friend around regularly after traveling alone throughout her journey around Unova, and Rosa seemed to get the aloof Sabrina to open up in a way that she clearly had not in a long time.

The movie had been such a success that a sequel was greenlit. Rosa and Sabrina were delighted to be working together again. Their chemistry from the last film easily carried over to this one. As a result, filming of their first scene together for the sequel only took one try to get done.

"Well, that went amazingly!" Rosa said cheerfully as they stopped outside the set to chat for a bit before heading to lunch. "We picked up right where we left off."

"I actually kind of hope every scene doesn't go this well." Sabrina said. "I wouldn't want to be done working with you too quickly."

"Fair point," Rosa agreed. "But you're good enough at acting that I'm sure you could work well solo or with someone else."

"Maybe." Sabrina pondered. "Hard to say since I haven't spent much time around anyone else for a long time."

"That's hard to believe." Rosa responded. "You're a Gym Leader aren't you? I would think that's a job that would allow you to meet all kinds of people."

"Well, my time as a Gym Leader has been....complicated." Sabrina said quietly. She immediately went red as if she'd said too much.

"What's that mean?" Rosa asked curiously.

"Forget it, it's nothing." Sabrina said in a panic.

"Come on, you can't mention that and not tell me." Rosa pressed on.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Sabrina replied.

"After the craziness with Kyurem I'm open to believe plenty." Rosa retorted. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we live in a pretty weird world."

"Fine..." Sabrina relented. "Just don't tell anyone. People will probably think I'm crazy or a freak."

"Your secret is safe with me." Rosa promised. "What are friends for?" She added with an encouraging smile.

Sabrina still felt uncomfortable opening up about her past but she was touched by Rosa's reminder of their friendship. If there was anyone she could open up to it was Rosa.

"Ok." Sabrina began after a deep breath. "You know my gym specializes in psychic Pokémon, right?"

"Yeah, every Pokémon I've seen you with has been a psychic type."

"Well there's a reason behind that. I actually have psychic powers myself." Sabrina revealed.

"Wow, really!?" Rosa asked excitedly. "What can you do with these powers?"

"You're not at all skeptical about that?" Sabrina asked incredulously. "You don't think I'm crazy or messing with you?"

"Like I said, coming face to face with legendary Pokémon tends to leave you with a more open mind." Rosa replied. "Though I am curious to see these powers you're talking about in action."

"Well...." Sabrina began. Suddenly Rosa began floating halfway toward the ceiling.

"Whoa hey! What's going on?" Rosa asked frantically. She was fully suspended in midair and unable to get back to the ground.

"Telekinesis is one of the abilities." Sabrina explained as if nothing unusual was happening.

"Okay I get it. Can you let me down now?" Rosa said in a flustered tone.

"Never would've expected you to be afraid of heights." Sabrina replied playfully, all of her previous anxiety now gone in this amusing moment with her friend. She complied with the request and let Rosa down gently.

"Well, it's definitely easy enough for you to prove that you have these psychic powers." Rosa said. "Can you teleport like an Abra too?"

Sabrina suddenly disappeared. "I suppose so." Rosa heard Sabrina say from right behind her.

Rosa jumped in shock and turned around. Her shock quickly turned into excitement, however. "Can you teach me how to do that?" She blurted out.

"Afraid not." Sabrina replied calmly. "From everything I've seen, psychic abilities are inherited. My father had them, and every other psychic I've seen had at least one parent who also had them. So, it seems psychic abilities are something you have to be born with."

"Well it never hurts to ask." Rosa said, taking it well. "But I don't see how this would complicate your role as a Gym Leader."

Sabrina continued her explanation "Well, I was born with more powerful abilities than most. From my childhood until a few years ago I was pretty obsessed with developing them. It was as if I was in a trance, all I could think about was improving my abilities. I began training with psychic Pokémon to further this and I became pretty antisocial with my family and other people."

At that point Sabrina seemed hesitant to continue.

"And?" Rosa pressed. "Come on, I can tell from the look on your face there's more to it than that."

"There is, but..." Sabrina seemed ashamed. Rosa put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You can tell me." Rosa assured her.

This seemed to give Sabrina enough encouragement to continue her story. "Eventually I developed an ability only the most gifted psychics can use: transmutation. It's the ability to convert matter into other kinds of matter. In its simplest terms, it allows you to turn something into something else, and I didn't put that ability to the most ethical use. If I felt someone was getting in the way of me developing my powers I would...." Sabrina hesitated before continuing "...turn that person into a doll."

"So what would happen to someone when they become a doll?" Rosa asked. This story was quite the shift from the lighthearted demonstration of telekinesis and teleportation, but Rosa didn't want to discourage Sabrina from sharing.

"Well, psychic powers can't seem to affect the soul of a living thing. Even if the body is changed into an inanimate object, the soul will remain within it. In the case of a person being turned into a doll, they would still be conscious and aware of what is happening around them, but being a doll would render that person unable to move or speak. Someone with psychic abilities would be able to talk with them telepathically and they would also be able to talk with others who have been changed, but to an ordinary person, they would be indistinguishable from an ordinary doll."

Sabrina continued. "The first person I turned into a doll was my mother." Rosa was shocked at this revelation but maintained her composure. "From there I went on to change anyone else who I thought was getting in the way of my powers developing. Eventually I established the Saffron Gym as one that specialized in psychic types, displacing the one that was there before that specialized in fighting types. I used the Gym as a means of testing my abilities, but by that point my outlook was so warped that I ended up turning any trainer that lost to me into a doll too."

Sabrina looked at Rosa nervously, but when Rosa didn't seem afraid of Sabrina despite being told all this, she continued. "This went on for a few years. The police even suspected that I was connected to the disappearances of the losing trainers, but of course they couldn't find any concrete evidence, since all they would find if the Gym was searched would be a bunch of dolls. Nonetheless, rumors spread and eventually, people became afraid to challenge my Gym."

"So what ended up happening to all the people who got turned into dolls?" Rosa asked. "Are they still dolls?"

"No." Sabrina replied. "Thankfully, I was snapped out of my obsession with my powers a few years ago and I changed everyone back. This kid showed up with a Haunter that was following him around and, well, that Haunter's behavior was absolutely ridiculous. Somehow its antics broke whatever trance I seemed to be under. I regained my senses and changed all of the dolls back into people. I decided to give the kid a badge even though he didn't really come close to beating me in a Pokémon battle. From there I tried to run the Saffron Gym like any other Pokémon Gym and rebuild my relationships with my family, but I honestly still can't look my mom in the eye after I forced her to spend more than a decade as a doll."

"Eventually, I decided I needed to get out and see more of the world after I had shut myself in the Gym for so long, and well, that's how I ended up here." Sabrina concluded.

"Well, that's quite the story." Rosa said.

"I'll understand if you don't want to be around the psycho who turns people into dolls."

"Oh come on!" Rosa retorted. "Didn't I say you can share all of this with a friend?"

Sabrina was on the verge of tears with how happy she was to have a friend like Rosa. What Sabrina was telling Rosa was something that the latter had never thought possible. She could tell that these were painful memories for Sabrina. She wanted to help her friend, and she also found herself struck by a strange curiosity.

"This may be a little weird, but after that story I'm a little curious what it would be like to be a doll." Rosa said in a playful tone, trying to bring the conversation back to the lighthearted atmosphere it had earlier.

"What?" Sabrina asked, shocked that Rosa would say such a thing.

"You've shown all your other abilities to me, and you've said you can change people back when you want to." Rosa pressed on. "So what better way to prove you've gotten over whatever obsession you had in the past?"

"Y-you are out of your mind!" Sabrina sputtered.

"Come on, just change me and then change me back, what's the harm? It'll prove you've got yourself under control. What can I say? I'm always happy to help friends work through their issues." Rosa said. "Plus I can't resist the chance to see and experience something out of the ordinary."

Sabrina pondered Rosa's words. There probably was no harm in demonstrating this ability and then undoing it. Plus it was very encouraging to have someone with this much faith in her.

"Alright, I hope you know what you're getting yourself into." Sabrina said, still not sure why anyone would want this.

"Not really," Rosa replied playfully. " But that's just part of the experience."

Sabrina hesitated for a moment before tapping into the power she hadn't used in years. "Alright, here goes..." she warned.

Rosa didn't notice anything at first, then suddenly her whole body felt a strange tingle.  She gasped when she was lifted into the air by an unseen force. While hovering in midair she looked down to find that she was glowing in a bright blue light. She then felt herself begin to shrink. She felt more strange the smaller her body got. Finally, the shrinking stopped and she slowly drifted to the ground. She landed softly and from there was left to take in what had happened.

She tried to move but no part of her body responded. Her body was absolutely still, not even drawing breath. However, she didn't find herself gasping for air. Her entire being felt soft and light, because she had become a simple rag doll. Sabrina bent down and wrapped her hand around Rosa's waist picking her up and placing her on a table next to their bags. Rosa's doll body made no movements or sounds in response.

"Ok, this is really weird, am I even alive?" Rosa asked herself, still taking in the stillness of her new form.

"Well yes and no." Rosa heard Sabrina's voice say from above in response to the question Rosa was unable to ask aloud now that her mouth was nothing more than stitching on her cloth face. "Your consciousness is still active inside your doll form, but you won't need any food, water, or oxygen until I change you back into a person. You're in a kind of suspended animation."

"Wait a minute, I can't talk! Are you able to read minds!?!" Rosa asked. She had just been turned into a doll by Sabrina's powers so reading minds definitely didn't seem far fetched.

"I already told you, I'm able to communicate telepathically with anyone under the effects of my abilities as long as I'm near them." Sabrina explained. "If anyone else nearby was also changed, you would also be able to talk with them as well. To anyone else, you'd just be an ordinary doll."

"Well, you've definitely proven your point." Rosa conceded. The change was thrilling as it was happening, but Rosa was starting to get creeped out by the feeling of being a doll. It wouldn't be possible to remain this still as a person. She couldn't do anything. She couldn't say anything. She was utterly inert. Someone could pick her up, play with her, do anything to her really, and there would be nothing she could do about it. Now, Rosa remembered Sabrina had said that some of the people she changed had been stuck like this for years. Rosa felt pangs of remorse for making a lighthearted dare out of what must have been a horribly guilt inducing situation for Sabrina.

"Alright let's get you changed back." Sabrina suggested, likely sensing Rosa's growing discomfort.

"Fine by me, hey sorry I pressured you into this. Lunch is on me when we get to the cafe" Rosa thought sheepishly.

"You don't have to apologize, but I'll gladly let you buy lunch." Sabrina replied out loud, glad Rosa still didn't consider her a dangerous freak.

Just as Sabrina was about to tap into her powers to undo Rosa's transformation, the door to the studio room loudly flew open. The sound startled Sabrina out of her focused state and she turned to see the movie's director walking toward her.

"Sabrina! Oh, good you haven't left yet. The next scene is focused on you, so I was hoping to get your thoughts on the script."

"Does it have to be now?" Sabrina asked, unable to believe the timing of the request. "I-I'm starving, and I was just about to grab lunch with Rosa."

"It won't take long." The director insisted. "I'm sure we can go over a few lines before Rosa gets back."

From the table she was sitting on, Rosa could see how nervous Sabrina was getting and decided to give her an out.

"Just go." Rosa thought. "You can change me back when you're done."

Sabrina shot a glance at the doll that clearly said, "You can't be serious!"

"Don't worry, it's not like I'm going anywhere." Rosa retorted mentally, regaining her earlier snarkiness.

"Okay, fine. I just can't stay too long." Sabrina told the director.

"Don't worry, I think we've got most of the scene figured out, we just need some input from the star." The director replied.

Sabrina gave one last look at Rosa before following the director to his office. Rosa was left alone with her thoughts. After a few minutes, the uneasiness with being a doll was coming back. She became even more aware of her inability to move or speak now that the hallway around her was as still and silent as she was. With nothing else to do she tried to force herself into motion or make a sound but it was no use.

"No, no, NO!" The silence was suddenly broken by frantic shouting and the sound of wheels. Then it came into Rosa's field of vision. A cart carrying what appeared to be merchandise for the studio's souvenir shop was careening toward the table Rosa was perched on, with a panicked worker futilely chasing in after it.

Rosa watched the cart shoot toward the table. It hit with a loud thud. The impact caused Rosa to tip off the edge. With no way to try to catch herself, she rolled right off the table and fell with a silent gasp. The drop was not even a foot, but to the tiny doll Rosa was, it felt like a fall off of a balcony. She landed softly inside the cart without any injuries or pain but was left trying to collect her mind after the dizzying sensation of the fall.

The worker soon caught up to the cart and was relieved to see that nothing was damaged, not even noticing the doll that was now in the cart. There was nothing unusual about a doll in the likeness of the main character of the studio's upcoming film being among the merchandise. With another sigh of relief, the worker pulled the cart away from the table and began to wheel it away.

"Woah hey! Stop! I'm not supposed to be in here!" Rosa desperately tried to say to the worker, but it was no use, the worker had no telepathic abilities. "Sabrina!?! Sabrina, help!" Rosa tried to call out to the one person who could hear her in this state. However, Sabrina was not close enough to hear Rosa's pleas. Rosa could do nothing as she was carried further and further away from the place where Sabrina was supposed to find her and change her back into a person. Rosa could only hope Sabrina would find her before she ended up as someone's souvenir.