Author's Notes: Okay, so there's a few departures from canon here. Primitive Secret Bass have made their way to Johto, but they sort of suck. And I'm going out on a limb and saying that there are priests and confessionals in Sinnoh... Don't hurt me, please. Just read and enjoy and, hopefully, review.

I own nothing.

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So, this is my first time here. I'm not sure how to do the whole 'confession' thing, but if I don't get this off my chest I'm going to explode. What? No, I'm not a member of the church, I'm from the Johto region. Please, just listen.

There was this person, this kid who I'd only met once in a while. He was in school with me, yeah, but a year ahead. We only saw each other in hallways and lunchtime and such. All the time, everyone would pick on him. He didn't have anything, really, just two pairs of clothes and a glare. Everyone mocked him. I didn't hate the guy, but I joined in anyway. We used to joke he was too poor for a haircut. He had hair down to his back, too, even then. I tried to trip him once, and he had it in a braid that way - whipped around and slammed this metal hair tie into my head. I think that's the most we ever interacted back then.

Then one day, he stole a Pokemon from the Johto lab. Just took it and his stuff and ran off. No one tried to talk him out of it, no one even saw him off. He was just gone. And I thought it was no big deal at first. Then he started coming after me.

At first I could hold him off. My Pokemon were pretty tough. Then he started training hours a day, day and night, and he planned our fights. He'd jump when I was coming back from training, with his team at the ready. He'd jump me early in the morning, when my team wasn't ready. He trained his Pokemon to be as fast as possible. I couldn't believe it, but I started losing. Me, the Champion!

Of course, that was after all our other fights. I won most of the early ones. Before he got his team's levels maxed out, when we were on even ground, I could beat him. It wasn't easy, but I could do it. Of course I could. I mean, I had lots of love and support from my mom, so no matter what, I was never down. Not like him. Even back then he was kind of quiet and depressed inside. I didn't know. I thought he was angry. Everyone did. Every time I spoke to him, he yelled at me. He was always swearing and glaring. How was I supposed to know he had something wrong with him?

He seemed so smug after he started winning. Once he got better, he could even beat me on even terms. It was embarrassing, this ghetto boy with hair down to his waist beating me, the Champion, a normal kid with a normal look. Everyone loves me over there, you know. I'm 'the Champion of the people'. I'm not rich or really talented or anything. I'm just average. He... he had talent, real talent, and the kind of determination that was disturbing. Every time I beat him, he got even more obsessive. He began to figure out where I was, where I lived, and made it a point to be there to fight me. No matter what, he was one step ahead of me. I hated it, I hated how much happier he seemed, how someone so low could rise up higher than me.

So there was this girl from our class, named Chris. She never put up with people teasing him. Anyway, she and him were friends, pals, kind of, even though they were as different as could be. They always talked and walked and held hands and sent letters to each other and called each other. She was the only person in my hometown who didn't love me. I loved her. I hated her. I couldn't stand them together. What's worse, Chris beat me more than once, and I think she was gunning for my job.

I... I can be honest here, right? I loved him more than her. He was always kind of diabolically beautiful. He was just such an asshole I couldn't take it. I wanted him to dominate me, but I couldn't have been nice to the guy to save my life. To see him, and her, the two of them, a beautiful badass and cute little girl, together, hurt like hell.

So I started messing with them. I snuck into their Secret Bases - so much more primitive at home then here - and messed with their alarm clocks, made them late for dates. I intercepted letters and made sure that only half of them got delivered. I'd mess with their Pokemon in their PCs and make them think the other did it. I told Whitney that he loved her, and Chris caught them hugging. I ruined their life. It took up all my time, too. The paper work back at the office started to pile up. People wondered where I was. My mom told me I had a problem. I ignored everyone. I stole Chris's Pokeballs and threw all into the ocean. Soon she had almost no money left for replacements and stressed him out by relying on him for money.

Then, on their anniversary, I got their cell phones and erased all the pictures those two had of each other, and their phone numbers. I left them where he could find Chris's and Chris could find his.

I was so sick of them by that point. Chris was always so happy and perky and self righteous. Why couldn't she just see how great I was? I am good, no matter what people say about pride. All I wanted was for her to recognize that. And he was always so smug. So he won some battles, so he nearly wrecked my life, so what? I was still richer and better than him. Every day I thought about how much I hated them. Both of them were so great, I wanted them to be mine almost as bad as I wanted them dead. Have you ever hated and liked someone at the same time?

That night I just laughed myself to sleep, Meganium by my side. Finally, I thought, they'd break up and I could be a soft place to fall. I'd get one of them for myself and then I'd have one less rival. Everything would work out. I mean, everything always does in my life. I never lose other than with them, I never end up on the short end of a deal, and I always have a happy ending. That's my life. I'm Gold, and I can't be in a bad situation. It doesn't happen. That is, it didn't happen.

They both killed themselves.

The police found his body in Ecruteak; he'd had his Typholsion use a Flamethrower on him behind the Gym. They say Morty tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't listen, didn't even stop, just asked that Morty take good care of his Pokemon. They told me he got hit in the chest, and it burned right through. Morty won't talk to me. I'm banned from Ecruteak for life. No one from there returns my calls anymore, no one. It's like I've committed some sort of horrible sin. Everyone knows it was me. He told them so. Morty told the police that his last words were, "Gold ruined my life, why live it without Chris?" They told me he was crying when he died. I can't imagine.

What happened to Chris was terrible. She was depressed already, but when found out he'd killed himself, she snapped. She tied herself to her Feraligator and then drowned herself. Whitney tried to stop her, tried to say she and him never had anything, that Chris was making a mistake, but Chris just cried and cried. Chris told Whitney "I can't keep going, thanks to Gold." Whitney couldn't swim. Once Chris went into Goldenrod's beach waters, she was as good as dead. Whitney's been in a depression ever since. Her Gym is closed until she can pull it together. She won't talk to me either. She just stays in her room and cries. I'm banned from Goldenrod, now, too, and DJ Mary has warned me that if I come within the city limits, she'll tell people to drive me out.

My life is in ruins. My mom won't look me in the eye. My reputation is shattered. People everywhere are talking about what an asshole I was. The police have done some investigating and if I ever set foot in the Johto region, I'll be charged with I don't know what. At the very least, breaking and entering, tampering with mail, destruction of private property, conspiracy to murder since they found my backup plans to kill him, and second degree murder. I have no money. It took everything I had to get here on foot.

Please, please tell me. Truthfully, will Arceus forgive me for what I've done? What can I do to make up for this? Is there anything that I could ever say to make this right?

No? I see.

Well, then, I'm off to see if Meganium can suffocate me with pollen. What? Am I serious? Sure, why not? It'd be a fitting end to all this, don't you think? Besides, I've got no future. Might as well let all hell loose. It's just sad that all three Johto star Trainers are dead because of me.

Do me a favor, priest.

When they come for my body, and they ask why, just say 'Gold'