DISCLAIMER: Just for the record, I do not own Pokemon. Technically speaking, Pokemon owns me. But Nintendo owns Pokemon, so support the official media.

Every story has more than one side.

Sometimes, the other sides cannot be shown.

But with a story like this…

It takes an expansion to show the missing pieces.

EX Chapter 1: No Regrets

It’s been two years since he lost.

To him, it’s like he lost his soul. I feel so bad for him. It’s like a meteor crashed straight into his face.

Every day he came to see me and his presence...brightened the day. I think mine did the same to his. I remember meeting him too.

I digress, however. I should probably get ready for the day.

My dreams; he was always in them. It had to be a dream though, because he was smiling. He never smiled anymore. I always wished I could do something to help him; to make him feel like he was somebody…

Everyone has a purpose in life. I know he has one.

Of course, like every time, I woke up after thinking that.

Yawning, I got out of bed. It was a sunny day out. A nice day. Almost every day in Westport City was like it. I loved it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I took out my PokeGear to check the time. It was 10:00. My PokeGear was a newer model; a JT-3000 also known as the GearStryke. It had an in-built clock, phone, radio and more…

Technology never separated me from the real things I loved: Grooming Pokemon. It was my job, anyways.

I got up and went straight to my clothes closet. Looking inside, I saw a pink dress. My mother’s dress from when she was a child. I kept it in memory of her, but I never wore it…instead I stuck to miniskirts. They were cute, but I wondered if one day I could wear that dress…

However, I knew that he would come visit me today. He always visits me. To tell the truth, I really did like his company.

I remember the day I met him…six years ago.

He was just a cute kid with shiny green hair flowing over his eyes. I know we were there, at the Vermillion City docks, for the same reason. The Takyu region. We were there because our families had been chosen to be the first ones to experience the newly erected Takyu region.

I was carrying a Teddiursa doll…I had grown accustomed to it and held it whenever I was scared. He came over to me and shook his head so his hair would fall lazily by his side. My face turned red the moment I saw him.

I was…young at that time. 9, to be exact. I thought he was extremely cool but the only thing I couldn’t stand about him…

He never smiled.

We talked about our lives…and how all kinds of bad things always happened to us. His parents cared nothing for him; my parents suffocated me…

Opposites attract they say.

Just as I thought, a knock came on the door. It was most definitely him.

I opened the door and he was there. Everytime I saw him, he struck me as an innocent boy but that was before…his parents died.

And to top that off, he lost. Bad. It hurt his pride, his emotions, his entire outlook on life.

His green hair flowed in the wind that happened to pass. It covered his innocent black eyes that held no emotion. “Hi.”

I immediately smiled, eager to see my very best friend. We had great times together…when he was open to the world and wanted to see it for himself…but his dream bit him in his butt. I felt so sorry for him. A boy like him….I had to admit….was perfect for me.

I remember when we always went to the park and sat together on the Ferris wheel. Now…I really wanted something more than close friendship.

“Please! Come in!”

I grabbed his arm and pulled him into my house. “Do you want anything?”

He sat down and reclined. “No thanks, Aria. I’m fine.”

I sat down with some tea. Taking a sip, he spoke. “So, what’s new?”

I had to be honest. Westport City was extremely boring. There was nothing to do and nothing really stopped me from leaving the town…except for him. When it came to change nowadays, he wanted none of it. He stood cold to the rest of the world.

Funny thing is, that was the exact opposite of what he used to think. He used to love change, the dynamic switch of events that made life enjoyable…

But now…he despised change; whatever changed, he would avoid.

I answered truthfully. “Nothing…and that’s the problem.”

Immediately he answered indifferently. “Why would you want anything to happen? I like it this way.”

“C’mon…it’s been too boring around here. You’d think that with this new region, there’d be something cool to do around here?”

I gave him a look. This looks must’ve been a characteristic of mine to him, and he always smiled when I gave it to him. It was a look that manipulated people somewhat. I stared longingly into the person like my eyes pierced theirs. Most times, he liked it though…this time, he seemed a little uneasy about it.

“No, I like it the way it is.” He answered with a straight face, looking over at all the objects I had sitting in my living room.

I focused my look into him even more. It only seemed to agitate him more.

He replied to my look with another “No.”

I shouldn’t have pushed the look too far though…some people can only take so much. That’s exactly what I was afraid of.

He’s been unstable ever since he lost, and I should’ve known that.

His answer…was the angriest I had ever seen him.

“NO, I DON’T WANT CHANGE! I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT CHANGE!!! I DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO THIS REGION, THE WORLD, OR YOU!

After his rant, he ran out the door; I saw a tear fall out of his eye. I didn’t know what to say, what to do. What does one do when her best friend snaps at them and walks out your door?

I was scared…my heart felt like it was crushed by a thousand shoes. Left in a gutter and spat on.

It felt like…crap.

I never say that word, let alone anything else. I try to have some class.

I went to sleep shortly afterward…

But when sleep came, all I could see was him.

Two people would have different opinions about us. One person would say that I spent time with him because I wanted to be with him. Another person would say that I was there to heal him from what he lost.

And they’d both be right.

I was the only friend he had. All of the allies and acquaintances he made on his journey…were gone from his mind. He severed the bonds he had established and isolated himself in his own shame.

Sometimes I pity him. Other times, I think he overreacts.

His story is nothing less than a tragic tale of a Pokemon Trainer gone bad.

Like all other 10-year olds, he became a Trainer and chose from the three Starter Pokemon. The Takyu region didn’t have its own Pokemon, being that it was a man-made continent, so we used the starters from the Hoenn region. They were apparently willing to donate.

Out of Torchic, Mudkip and Treecko, he chose the Fire-type, Torchic.

He treated that Torchic likes his partner, not a subordinate. That set him apart from other Trainers. He vowed to be the very best.

He said when he came back to the small town he came out of…he’d be a hero and a master. A Pokemon Master.

What is a Pokemon Master? Nobody knows.

Anyways, three years later, he came back…and he wasn’t the same. I watched his battle with the current Pokemon League Champion. All six of his balanced team of Pokemon were wiped out by two of the Champion’s unbalanced team of Fire and Psychic types. People had their bet on the “challenger”, but the Champion kept his title. The Champion left his challenger with dismal words.

“Come back when you become stronger!”

To the naked eye, there’s encouragement in those words.

To the trained eye, it says that one isn’t strong enough and the way a person says it will say it because they believe that the person cannot get stronger.

He saw that meaning.

He isolated himself for two years to his house. I brought him his meals…I couldn’t stand to see him die for such a frivolous reason.

He released his Pokemon, he gave up his status that he had…he began to hate Pokemon.

People call it a no-good sob story and for a while, I thought it was.

But I realized I could never leave a friend. I could never leave…my only friend.

My best friend.

From the day I met him, on that boat, I knew that he would be in my life for a long time to come…

And when I saw him leave, my body pained to see him go.

When he came back a fallen hero, my soul cried to see him in such a state.

And when he snapped at me…

My heart broke…

But I know he didn’t mean. What he was going through was a phase that everyone will go through at one point or another. His situation doesn’t help.

Until that day…

I would wait for his return.

I would wait…

And I would hope that he would show up on my doorstep one day soon.