Saffron City Pokémon Gym Leader: Sabrina
The Master of
Psychic Pokémon!
Saffron City Pokémon Gym Leader: Sabrina
The Master of
Psychic Pokémon!
Saffron City Pokémon Gym Leader: Sabrina
The Master Of Psychic Pokémon
Saffron City Pokémon Gym Leader: Sabrina
The Mistress of Psychic-type Pokémon
In Generations I, III, and VII, a Team Rocket Grunt is initially blocking the Saffron Gym door, making the Gym inaccessible until the player has driven Team Rocket out of the Silph Co. office building.
In the first four Generations, the Saffron Gym is a maze of warp tiles and nine rooms. Seven of these rooms contain Trainers (only four in Generations II and IV), while the other two hold Sabrina and the entrance. In Generations II and IV only, the remaining three rooms are empty.
In Generation VII, instead of being nine rooms laid out in a square grid, with four teleporters and a Trainer in each (except the entrance and Sabrina's room), the Gym has 11 rooftop-like platforms, with the first 10 laid out in a triangle like a set of bowling pins (six of which contain Trainers), and the platform with Sabrina behind them. Only three of the platforms in this version of the Gym contain four teleporters.
In Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, the player must have a Pokémon that is at level 45 or higher in their party in order to be allowed to challenge the Gym. However, they are not required to use this Pokémon at the Gym if they so choose.
At some point prior to the Generation I games, both Sabrina's Gym and the Karate Master's Fighting Dojo laid claim to the status of being an official Indigo League Pokémon Gym. Due to the type advantage that the Gym's Psychic types had over the Dojo's Fighting types, Sabrina easily won the challenge and became the official Gym Leader of Saffron City.
Gym Puzzle
The colors on the maps below are purely visual aids and have no other significance.
Generations I-IV
Below is a map of the teleporters' connections. The one-way teleporter in Sabrina's room (Mid) that warps the player back to the entrance room (S) is exclusive to Generation IV.
Teleporter map
NW
H
J
M
N
N
F
J
K
L
NE
E
B
H
I
W
G
K
N
O
Mid
M
E
E
C
F
G
SW
I
D
L
O
S
A
SE
B
C
D
A
In all of these Generations, the path that takes the fewest teleporters to reach Sabrina is A-B-H-M, while the fastest path (the path that requires the fewest steps walked) is A-C-G-N-M.
Generation VII
Teleporter map
★
Q
P
I
J
K
L
M
4
J
N
N
O
5
K
M
P
6
O
L
E
2
F
G
E
D
F
H
H
G
3
I
D
1
B
C
C
B
A
Q*
A
↓
* This location is not an actual teleporter, but is where the "Q" teleporter will transport the player
In this Generation, the path that takes the fewest teleporters to reach Sabrina is A→(B or C)→D→H→I→((J→L) or (K→O))→P. This route will also skip two of the six Trainers leading up to Sabrina (#2 and either #4 or #5 in the above map).
Trainers with a telephone symbol by their names will give their Pokégear number to the player, and may call or be called for a rematch with higher-level Pokémon.
Trainers with a telephone symbol by their names will give their Pokégear number to the player, and may call or be called for a rematch with higher-level Pokémon.
The Saffron Gym first appeared in Abra and the Psychic Showdown, where Ash and his friends found their way there after temporarily getting trapped by Team Rocket. Ash challenged Sabrina to a battle, but she offered an unusual and ambiguous request: if he lost, he and his friends would have to play with her. Ash was quickly overwhelmed by Sabrina's Kadabra, resulting in him forfeiting the match. He and his friends were then shrunken down to the size of dolls by Sabrina, who trapped them in her toy town and nearly got them squashed by her toy ball. However, they were narrowly saved by Sabrina's father, who told Ash that if he really wanted to defeat Sabrina, he would have to get a Ghost-type Pokémon from Lavender Town.
In Haunter versus Kadabra, Ash returned to the Saffron Gym with a Haunter he had befriended at Pokémon Tower. However, when he tried to challenge Sabrina again, Haunter suddenly disappeared. Ash forfeited the match, causing Sabrina to turn Brock and Misty into literal dolls. Before Ash could meet the same fate, Sabrina's father appeared once again and saved him.
Once Ash had found Haunter, he returned to the Gym to challenge Sabrina once again. However, Haunter once again disappeared before the battle. Before Ash could be turned into a doll, Pikachu stepped in to battle Kadabra and protect Ash. Halfway through the battle, Haunter suddenly reappeared, making funny faces and performing different sorts of other comedic acts to Sabrina. This eventually caused her to start laughing for the first time in years. Due to the Psychic link between Sabrina and Kadabra, the Psi Pokémon also started laughing, allowing Sabrina's father to declare Ash the winner and turn Brock and Misty back to normal. Ash subsequently received his fourth Badge and left Haunter with Sabrina.
Besides the battlefield, the Saffron Gym also houses a room where Sabrina's students study PSI phenomena.
Kadabra first appeared as an Abra in Abra and the Psychic Showdown. Sabrina used it in a one-on-one Gym battle against Ash. During the battle with Ash's Pikachu, Abra evolved into a Kadabra and with its Psychic-type attacks, it eventually caused Ash to forfeit the match to save Pikachu from being further injured. It was shown that Sabrina and Kadabra share a strong psychic bond.
Ash later returned for a rematch in Haunter versus Kadabra. During the battle, Ash's Haunter appeared and made Sabrina laugh for the first time in years, which caused Kadabra to laugh as well due to the psychic bond it has with Sabrina. Due to this, Sabrina decided to give the Marsh Badge to Ash.
Red was seen visiting the Saffron Gym after the Silph Co. incident in File 3: Giovanni. Countering Sabrina's Psychic-types with a Ghost-type Pokémon, Haunter, Red was able to win his match against her and earn himself the Marsh Badge.
Saffron Gym battlefield in The Electric Tale of Pikachu
The Electric Tale of Pikachu
The Saffron Gym appeared in Haunting My Dreams, where Ash arrived there in order to challenge Sabrina, being totally exhausted from his travel upon arriving. After a quick meal with Sabrina and Brock showing up as well, Ash and Sabrina started their Gym battle, with Ash using Pikachu against Sabrina's Abra. Despite being asleep, Abra was able to use Teleport to evade all of Pikachu's Thunder Shocks, until one of the Electric attacks was reflected back at the Electric Mouse Pokémon, knocking it out and causing Ash to lose the battle.
Pokémon Zensho
The Saffron Gym was mentioned in PZ07, when the Karate Master told Satoshi how Shigeru had recently beaten Sabrina, and how she was now trying to save the Silph Co. from the hands of Team Rocket. After helping Sabrina to save the Silph Co., Satoshi received a Marsh Badge from her as a sign of gratitude.
In the TCG
The Saffron Gym was featured in the TCG as both a Japan-exclusive Theme Deck and as a card. The following is a list of cards mentioning or featuring Saffron Gym in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
Saffron Gym Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
In Pokémon Red and Green, there is an oversight here. By returning to the Gym after losing the battle against Sabrina, the game will consider that the player won. The player is thus registered as a winner and receives both the Marsh Badge and TM46. This error was fixed in Pokémon Blue and the international Pokémon Red and Blue.
For unknown reasons, the Saffron Gym is the fourth Gym in the anime, but the sixth Gym in the games.
However, in the Generation I, III, and VII games, it is possible to defeat Sabrina before obtaining any more than two Badges, as it is accessible through Vermilion City.
In Generations I and III, it is also possible to defeat Sabrina as the seventh Gym Leader, as Surf can be used outside of battle to reach the Cinnabar Island and Blaine's Gym right after obtaining the Soul Badge. In Generation VII, as the Secret Technique Sea Skim can be learned and used before earning the Soul Badge, Cinnabar Island can be reached before defeating Koga. However, this does not affect the fact that Sabrina can still be left as the seventh Gym Leader in Generation VII as well.
