So, this takes place around the sixth chapter of "Of Creation and Destruction". I have very special permission from my wonderful, amazing friend FTEcho 4. You have to read his story to understand this, and you just have to read his story in general.

I'm sorry for butchering your wonderful story and characters.

…But, you know, Natty's complicated, so I only SORT OF butchered her character. XD

Learning the girl of your dreams had decided that she would rather be with a noncorporeal being than you is just the slightest bit upsetting. So, although Brian had mostly gotten over his sorrows through days of intense Zelda playing, he still felt down in the dumps about the whole thing and was a lot slower in the work he had to do at the gym. At the moment, he was tossing pokémon food into the pool, one slow handful by one slow handful.

"Brian!" Natty said, brown eyes lighting up and she raced into the gym. She slid a bit as she raced around the pool, straight past a clearly marked No Running sign, and skidded to stop just in front of him. "Just the guy I wanted to see!"

"Hey, Natty." Brian looked up from the water churning with hungry pokemon and smiled at other brunette. "What's up?"

"The ceiling, mostly," she chirped, then continued, "I've been trying to figure something out, and I think I have all the words for it now. I think I can show you how I do the pokémon thing."

His hand stopped on the way to the next bag of food. "What pokémon thing?"

"You know, the thing where I can sort of tell stuff."

He shook his head, grabbing the food bag back up and going back to his slow, rhythmic feeding of the pokémon. "What stuff?"

She shrugged, running a hand through her brown hair with a sigh. "Oh, you know. Where the rare pokémon are and where are the best fishing spots and where the berries are for curing poison and burns and all that kind of stuff."

Brian stopped again. "You can do that?"

"Yeah." She stood straighter, cocking her head to the side. "I didn't tell you?"

"No." His eyebrows came together as he thought, wondering if she was joking again. " I mean, can you sense where they are?"

"Don't be stupid. I'm not psychic. I can just see stuff with my eyes closed." She put her hands over her eyes to demonstrate, then peaked through her fingers, giggles pouring out through her lips. "Please let me show you! I really know what I'm trying to say this time!"

"Is this like the tree navigating thing?"

"What thing?" she asked, cocking her head to the side again.

"Where you went south and ended up at your house anyway."

"No idea what you're talking about," she replied, eyes twinkling. She took his hand. "Please stop being a fuddy duddy work-a-holic so I can tell you my awesome discovery."

"There wasn't a pachirisu in any of those trees."

"Of course there aren't. They're from Sinnoh," she retorted, then yanked the last two food bag up by their bottoms and chucked the food into the pool, despite Brian's frantic protests. "Oh, stop. In case you haven't noticed pokémon are pretty smart. They can sort out who eats what. And, if not, it can't be that big of a deal. I eat pokémon food all the time when I don't want to cook and I think I turned out fine!"

"I don't think that's sa-" he started, but was cut off by the brunette snatching up his hand and tugging him outside. He stumbled along behind her, trying to get his bearings after the sudden change in pace. "Natty! Where are you taking me?"

"Candy Mountain, Hogwarts, Narnia, to the TARDIS, Atlantis, Avalon, take your pick!" She laughed, swerving to the left. They were heading for the hillside now, towards the mountains and hills that made up the untamed landscape beyond Cerulean. She glanced over her shoulder for a second, then back on the uneven ground ahead so she wouldn't trip. "Brian, if I let go of you, will you promise to follow me?"

"You already dumped all the food!" he replied as she dropped his hand. "What would I go back for?

Natty suddenly stopped and turned to face him, and Brian was barely able to stop himself before he crashed into her, bringing them nose to nose. "I was going to say something important, but I forgot. Did you know that your eyes are gorgeous? I like eyes, but I usually like green or blue better, but there's something about your eyes."

"Thanks?" he asked, blushing a bit as he stepped back.

"Don't compliment me back or anything," she replied sarcastically, then spun and raced back up, charging up the hillside, leaping over logs and ducking under branches, with Brian easily keeping pace behind her.

"Where are we going?" he asked again, effortlessly catching up and carefully matching her stride.

She was panting. "Damn, I thought I was a fast runner too!"

"Sorry," he laughed.

"Really? Because I'm sorry about your clothes," she said cattily.

He glanced down, then back up at her. "But my clothes are fine!"

"Idiot," she giggled, and suddenly his hand was grabbed again and she yanked him with her over a cliff side, sending him colliding into the water. He thrashed his way to the surface, shivering at the cold mountain water as Natty began a backstroke, seemingly unphased by the hypothermic temperature.

"What the hell?" he shouted.

She laughed again. "You're no fun when you're depressed."

"I'm not depressed!"

"You're over the Misty thing then?" she asked tactlessly, pulling herself out. She immediately began stripping, casting her water logged clothes to the side and leaving her in a green one piece bathing suit, laying out in the sun. "And don't be so upset, I brought you to where the universe is."

"What?" he asked, smoothing his curly brown hair out of his face.

"The universe," she said, staring straight up into the sky. "This is where you can feel everything. This is how you learn to see with your eyes closed."

He pulled himself out, laying down next to her. "So, this is your special place?"

"I don't have a special place," she said softly.

"Is this a religious thing?"

She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, whispering, "It's hot, and there's a breeze but it's not strong enough to cool everything down. It makes the water ripple, but the sound is different from when a pokémon does it. The grass is all soft and tickly and itchy, and it's all warm from the sun. It smells like water, but because the breeze is coming from the other way, you can still smell the grass and trees and if you're really, really careful, you can smell pecha berries, but they're really overripe."

"Okay," he said slowly.

"If you let yourself go, and you breathe, you can feel the whole universe, I think." She opened her eyes and stared up at the sky. "And if you really think, and you can just…just feel, you can feel everything. And if you can feel everything, and realize that the universe is so big, and beautiful, but you get to be a part of it, I don't think you'd feel so alone."

He eyed her carefully. "I'm alright now, Natty."

She shook her head so violently her hair whipped around her face. "No, because I can see it when you're thinking about Misty, or Diana. All the light goes out from your eyes and they aren't pretty anymore. You look all alone, and I don't want you to be."

Natty rolled to her side, her hair hiding most of her face, and her voice cracked when she breathed, "Brian, I'll always be here."

"I know."

"You don't," she said desperately, shutting her eyes tight. "You don't! And…and I don't know how to make you see that I really, really will always be here. Even if I do goof around, I mean it."

He grinned. "Natty, I know."

She covered her face with her hands. "No, you don't. Not even close. Because I…I know I'm not Diana-" she yanked her hands down and glared at him through her tangle of hair "-or Misty, and I know I'm not as brave or strong or smart as they are, but I wish you could realize that I care about you just as much as they do, and even if I'm not as good at helping you and protecting you because I'm not really a trainer, I'll still try my hardest!"

"I know youwould." He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You're one of my best friends."

"One of your best friends." She gave a frustrated sigh sitting up as she wiped at her eyes, though Brian couldn't tell if any tears had fallen. "Yeah, that pretty much covers it."

"You never told me how you could do all that stuff."

She shrugged. "I just thought you needed some fun. I can't do crap."

"Then what'd you bring me out here for?"

"Because you're lonely, it's beautiful day out, and getting you to stop being depressed and have fun is like riding a rhydon backback – painful and hard. I would know."

"You're insane," he snorted.

She laughed, flopping back on the grass with a happy sigh. "Somehow, I've got this feeling that we're going to be hearing that a lot pretty soon."

I was going for something cute, short, and just a little glimpse of Natty's unrequited love. You don't see her get too serious until the end of the story, and through LONG messages between FTEcho and I, at around this time Natalia was already in love with him, but he wasn't in love with her.

So, since he spends an awful lot of time moping over Diana and Misty, I think that it'd be pretty painful watching him get rejected, especially when Natty likes him as much as she does.

So…yay for the endless awkwardness! :D