J
Jinora
Guest
Gym Leaders in general need to get very close to their Pokemon. But in Sabrina's case, the psychic bond she needed required an even more intimate connection. She can to connect with them at the nerves and feel what they feel, and the untrained and younger Sabrina, before she became a Gym leader, had to get physical.
When Jasmine's Ampharos was sick, it knew that she would always be there. because they'd always been a little closer than just friends.
Flannery was a trouble maker before she finally took over her grandfather's gym. But her pokemon always loved her.