*Disclaimer: Well… I don’t own Pokémon… I’m writing about them… hey, I’m a storywriter who doesn’t make her own characters… but is addicted to animé… blah… blah… blah

Ash leaned against a tree somewhere in the forest. He had no clue where he was, but he just leaned on the tree, thinking. Pikachu just stood beside him quietly. A voice of a girl brought him back into reality, “Hey, kid, you wanna battle.”

Ash, not being able to resist a fight, said, “You bet’cha!”

“Three against three good with you?” asked the girl.

“Sure,” Ash answered.

“Rapidash, go!” screamed the girl.

‘Easy enough,’ Ash thought. “Squirtle, go!” Ash screamed.

“Use fire spin, Rapidash!” ordered the girl.

“Dodge it, Squirtle!” said Ash. Squirtle did as he was told. “Use hydro pump!”

Squirtle went inside his shell and began squirting water towards Rapidash. Rapidash fell after a few seconds of direct hits. “Rapidash, return,” said the girl, “You thought that was easy, huh? Well, let me turn up the heat!” She took out a Pokéball, threw, and out came a Charizard.

“Whoa… well, there’s nothing I can’t match up to. Charizard, go!” shouts Ash, throwing his Pokéball and motioning for Squirtle to back out of the battle.

“Rooaaar!!” growled Charizard.

The girl ordered, “Tornado, body slam Charizard!”

Tornado obediently did so, and Charizard was badly hurt. “Charizard, return,” said the worried Ash, throwing the Pokéball towards Charizard. Charizard flung it back towards Ash. “Charizard, no, you’re hurt.”

Charizard got up and used a flamethrower against Tornado, but he flew up and dodged it, and, in the same movement, came back down and tackled Charizard. Ash called him back into the Pokéball without a struggle. Ash looked to his left, “Pikachu, are you ready?”

“Pikaachu!” he said, walking towards Tornado. They looked eye to eye and were ready to battle.

“Pikachu, thundershock!”

Pikachu did as he was told, but only stung Tornado.

“Tornado, finish him off.” Tornado nodded and glided to Pikachu and grasped him in his hands. He then flew up, circled around, and slammed him to the ground.

“Pikachu!” Ash screamed, as he ran to Pikachu’s side. “Are you alright?” he asked.

Pikachu opened his eyes, “Pika pik.”

“It’ll be all right, Pikachu. I’ll get you to a Pokémon Center, okay.”

“You’re Ash, right?” asked the girl.

Ash looked at her, “Yeah… but how did you know my…”

“I’m Fiora. Here, give this to your Pikachu,” she handed Ash a bottle of Potion.

“Thank you,” he said, as he gave Pikachu the Potion, and in the next second, Pikachu was well again.

“I have heard about you all throughout the forest and gyms, from every single person that I battle. They have told me that you are a strong trainer. I was hoping one day to battle you, and this was my chance. If you are as great as they all say, why have you fallen against me?” Fiora asked.

“Maybe you’re just a really good trainer,” Ash answered, not really wanting to answer the question.

“That could be a reason, but from hearing about you from the trainers I battled, and some that I lost to, I doubt that you are this weak.”

“You won, and that’s all you need and should want to know, so why do you keep asking why you won?” asked Ash, as he tried to walk away from her.

Fiora ran in front of him, “Cuz I came here for a Pokémon battle, and I want one no matter what it takes.

Ash crossed his arms and glared at her. He set himself down under the shade of the closest tree. “I can’t battle…” Ash mumbled.

“What, why not?” she asked.

“I just can’t!” he said, throwing an angry look at her.

“Alright, alight. But I swear to you that I’ll do anything to get you to battle a straight up battle against me. Whatever you want,” she said in a kind voice.

“You need heart to battle… and mine’s all broken right now,” Ash said more to himself that to Fiora.

“Ah, so it’s girl trouble you’re having,” she said, sitting next to him under the tree. He sat motionless and silent. “Well, if you won’t talk about it, then I guess I’ll tell you a story. I guess you could say I went through some matter of the heart that affected me in everything I did. I’m guessing you’re around… what, 12? I’m 16 now… but when I was 13, there was this boy I really liked… he worked at my father’s business. We had a stable and he groomed the Ponyta and Rapidash everyday after school just to earn a little money. I could always see him outside my window, and, eventually, I fell in love with him. I know it sounds stupid to fall in love with someone just by his looks, but it seemed my heart talked to his, and yet my being never spoke one word to his.

“Well, it was my chore to keep them clean on the weekends; one Saturday, he was in the stable the morning when I got up. I entered that stable and his eyes dug deep into my soul. I drew to him, and I couldn’t help it. You can guess what happened then, and I’ll spare you the details. I couldn’t think what was happening… but whenever he was over, we talked and talked for hours while he worked. One day, I offered to help him, but he wouldn’t let me because he said something about it being his job, and it should be him earning his paycheck. Then I remember we got into a fight about how if we were to be together, he should let me help him when he needs help. He was too proud to ever let me help him. In the end, his pride got to him.” She paused.

“What happened?” asked Ash.

“Well, he went to a different school then I did, but I heard what happened to him. He got into this fight with the bully of his school because the guy called him chicken or something. 26 stitches… him and his mom moved away that summer… and I haven’t heard from him since.”

“That’s a sad story…”

“Yeah, so are you ready to tell me what’s your story?”

“I guess. Well, there’s this girl, and, she, yeah, well, see, I really like her, and I know she really likes me… I think… I hope… now I just don’t know. Anyway, I think she likes my best friend.”

“You’re not much of a storyteller, Ash”

“I guess not…”

Tracey lay on the bed with a think layer of bandages all around his leg. “Hey, Tracey, how are you doing?” Misty asked as the door creaked open.

“Well, I could be better, but in this situation, I’m good,” he replied with a smile. But that soon faded away when he saw the emotions spread across Misty’s face. “What’s wrong, Misty?” Uncontrollable tears rushed down her face. “Don’t cry,” Tracey said softly, trying to put his arm around her.

“Ash… he’s gone,” she said over the waterfalls.

“What… why?”

“It’s all my fault! It’s because of some stupid thing… he annoys me so much…”

“There, there, Misty. Don’t be afraid to cry.”

“So, that’s your story, kid?” Fiora said, evaluating Ash’s story. “So, you believe these villains were telling you the truth?”

“I guess… the proof was right in front of my face. How could I not believe that?”

“Are you sure it was proof or was it really some image put in front of you? How could you tell the difference in the condition you were in? It’s possible that you judged wrong.”

“But it’s also possible that I judged right,” he retorted.

“You’ll never know unless you go back and see.”