This is how you live when you're running out of time.
ten
Ash Ketchum
It was a surprise they all saw coming. Who among his companions hadn't joked that his reckless antics would be the death of him someday?
Funny how something everyone predicted can still come as a shock.
Serena watched in silence at the funeral, staring at the pale, waxy corpse of the 19-year-old she once harbored a crush on. It was like watching a movie- this wasn't real, couldn't be. Ash was invincible, wasn't he? He had done so many idiotic, brainless things and survived- this couldn't have ended his life. Doing stupid things couldn't kill him. Right? Right?
nine
Misty Williams
Serena never really knew her all that well, but went to her funeral anyway. She had been a strong Gym Leader. She had loved Water-type pokemon. She had been Ash's girlfriend. She had been an excellent swimmer.
She had drowned in her own gym's swimming pool.
They said she had been locking the gym up for the night and tripped. She had fallen into the pool and hit her head on the tile, rendering her unconscious.
Her three older sisters wept, while the parents she never got to know mourned awkwardly in the corner, knowing they didn't belong.
eight
Brock Harrison
Brock, out of all of them, had probably known Ash the best. Perhaps because he had so many younger siblings, he universally adopted Ash and all his traveling companions as little brothers and sisters. While he had been a little flighty when it came to romance, he had been a good man, and a necessary constant in so many lives.
He was gone now.
His parents didn't look out of place the way Misty's had, standing with their now nine children. With so many, you might wonder if they noticed one missing, but his presence was sorely missed.
seven
Tracey Sketchit
His funeral was smaller than most. No one had been particularly close to him besides the Oak family and, um, certain people now deceased, whose names were still too painful.
Serena wasn't sure why she was here- she'd never even met him. But he had been one of Ash's friends, and she felt she owed him this small recognition. Besides, Ash and three of his traveling companions had all died, one after another, in the past two years. It was starting to get a little creepy, and she shivered. She hoped she was wrong, it was just coincidence…
six
Max Maple
Serena had known him a little bit, having met him once. Bonnie was inconsolable- after all, he had been her best friend. But worse than Bonnie was his sister, May, who clung to her lover. There was a look of desperation in her eyes.
Max looked in death much as he had in life. Dark green hair that was still messy, glasses placed gently over the black eyes that would never open again. His parents, unlike Misty's, seemed to fit in. They were grieving, but Serena couldn't look. It was painful.
She knew that May would be next.
five
May Maple
Serena wished her prediction hadn't come true. She hadn't been able to face Norman and Caroline during Max's funeral, but this was worse. She forced herself to watch them, but still couldn't meet their eyes, because she knew. She knew this was coming.
She knew who would be next, too.
By the look of it, the next person had figured it out as well. In her sky blue eyes, a coordinator from Sinnoh had a look Serena was beginning to recognize- hopelessness. As she left, she noticed a young man with green hair staring mournfully at a rose…
four
Dawn Berlitz
Dawn had seen it coming, and she had been right. Unlike the others, she had prepared. She had taken a flight to Kalos to see Lumiose Tower, visited Verdanturf Town in its fall splendor, hiked to Mount Silver. She had made a bucket list and done everything on it. That was the way she was- instead of waiting to die, she got what she wanted before her time was up.
Serena was starting to wonder if she should begin to do the same, knowing that somewhere, a clock was ticking away on the moments that she had left.
three
Iris Ariusu and Cilan Griffith
It seemed like they had taken a cue from Dawn and made sure they'd have no regrets- Cilan had finally admitted that he was in love and they married a month later. Quick? Sure, but they had to be. They both knew there would be no time for long engagements. They had died together, and it seemed almost fitting that they could be together in this.
Still, Serena selfishly had hoped for them to die separately- anything for a little more time. She began to put together a bucket list, beginning preparations for the inevitable.
two
Bonnie Bergamot
No funeral since Ash's had hurt her this much. While she had kind of known the others, this was Bonnie. Bonnie the energetic, Bonnie the brilliant, Bonnie who had her whole life ahead of her- right up until she didn't.
There was another reason, too.
The deaths were in Kalos now.
Clemont was understandably devastated- it had been his little sister, and she was killed by a malfunction of one of his inventions. Serena guessed that he would never build another invention in the rest of his short life- and she knew it would be short. She shivered.
one
Clemont Bergamot
He had killed himself.
That was the only thing Serena could think of, staring dumbly at the polished coffin. It was closed- they didn't want anyone to see how mangled his dead body was, his limbs twisted and shriveled, his face blue from the poison he'd taken.
He couldn't handle it. Living knowing he would die soon, living blaming himself for his sister's death, he had chosen to face death on his own terms. He hadn't left anything saying so, just an "I'm sorry," but Serena knew.
It hurt, knowing she was next. There was no one left.
zero
Serena Fischer