He was trying; he was honestly, honestly trying.

She was simple, she was blue, and she was different. Akin to a ghost, she haunted him, his thoughts swimming with muddled memories of a girl that for the life of him he could not remember.

Sometimes he even managed to convince himself that she wasn't real, that she was some figment of his imagination that reflected his inner desires. Reggie had, in fact, told him his repression of his true emotions would lead him to some strange futures. He hadn't believed him then, but now, now, this would be the only thing convincing him of his sanity.

At one point, he'd made it a challenge. He'd always liked challenges; they gave him some sense of deep satisfaction that he couldn't really find in anything else. (At least until he found her, but he would never admit that to anyone but her.)

He would find her. He needed to see her again, if only to vent his frustrations to this girl who screamed innocence but he knew, he knew she was some horrible demon sent to punish him for his lack of compassion.

It wasn't an easy challenge by any means; where was one supposed to look when one was searching for a demon, a ghost, a normal, humanoid girl who had done nothing to deserve his fury?

As he forced his thoughts to slow, he strategized, which was his automatic response to any sort of challenge. What did he remember about this girl exactly? She'd had a plastic smile glued onto her face the entire time he'd watched her, and he remembered thinking she really wasn't adequately dressed for the snowstorm they'd taken shelter from in the Snowpoint Pokémon Center.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone frown so much by the fireplace."

The slight words echoed vainly in his head. Yes, she'd spoken to him, but she was so quiet, so breathy, that he could only feign an indifferent grunt. His response would have shamed most, but she just kept smiling, and kept her gaze focused on the flames.

Moments like these confused him, because he felt like he should fill the emptiness with something, but he was resigned to staring at her with what he knew was a disgruntled expression, because that was all he ever knew.


It was two hundred seventy-four days later that he finally found the girl (he'd counted, because that was a part of his strategy). It was a coincidence that he'd been on his way to visit Snowpoint Temple to catch a new Pokémon. It was a coincidence that the light drizzle three hours ago had transformed into a never-ending onslaught of hail stones skydiving from who knew how high.

And it was most definitely a coincidence that Nurse Joy had carefully set the fireplace aflame, lighting the Center in the otherwise dark room.

She sat exactly where she had sat almost a year ago, staring at the fire with the exact same simple smile. It was almost as if she had been expecting him to be here, and she had planned everything out perfectly. (It didn't surprise him, honestly. He was convinced she could predict the future, or something like that.)

He sat on the sofa across from her, knowing she would notice his presence. They remained in silence for several moments, contented with warming their faces by something they pretended was the sun (they both loved the sun, and they would learn this about each other two years later on a joint beach trip).

"You're still frowning."

He sighed. She'd spoken. Two hundred seventy-four days filled with careful planning and strategizing and he still found himself short on words to say to this girl. It all kind of seemed worthless, in the end. No amount of strategy could prepare him for this.

Finally, "I want to battle you."

Because that was all he ever knew.

She sighed, smiling slightly. She had a lot to teach him.


A/N: I don't even know anymore. I'm good at not making sense.

Italics because I think Paul is an emphasis sort of guy.

Thanks for reading & reviewing!