"I can't believe that it's been two years already…," Ash Ketchum sighed. He shook his head, watching the TV, seeing the kid who had just won the Sinnoh League. "Well, let's hope that this kid can deal with all the paparazzi."

Pikachu smiled. "Pi…"

Suddenly, Ash's hat was lifted off of his head. "What the- Ugh, Espy, give me my hat back!"

The Espeon, who was sitting on the steps, laughed and lifted the hat higher. The sixteen-year-old started to jump up to grab it, but it was out of reach.

"Come on, Espy! Give it back!" He had a smile on his face as he jumped. Suddenly, a Pidgeot flew in through the window and grabbed it out of the psychic attack, handing it to Ash.

"Thank you, Pidgeot."

"Pidg!" It then proceeded to fly out of the window. Espy grinned to herself and trotted over to her trainer. He smiled, put his hat back on, and knelt down to pet her.

"It's okay, Esp. I'm just glad you got my mind off of Pokemon Leagues."

She grinned again, knowing that she'd succeeded. She hated to see him upset.

Ash stood up and looked out the window. "It's getting late… We should probably gather up the others and out them in their PokeBalls."

Pikachu and Espy nodded and grabbed a few PokeBalls, their trainer grabbing the rest, and they headed out, hoping that they would get done in earlier than one hour from then.

O.O

Ash put returned his Rapidash into his PokeBall and wiped his brow. "So, after Penny, we have… None. We're done."

His three Pokemon that refused to be in their balls sighed and flopped on the ground. Vulpix fell asleep immediately, and he smiled, picking her up. "Come on, you two, let's head back to the house and go to bed."

The two that were awake nodded and slowly followed him back up the small mountain. When they entered, he walked up the stairs and laid Vulpix in her small bed so that she could sleep. He quietly came back down and walked into the bathroom, Espy and Pikachu following quickly. They were in the middle of brushing their teeth when someone knocked at the door.

"Just a minute!" He spit into the sink. "You know, I still wonder how people can find this island. This is, like, the ninth person this year!" He quickly rinsed and spit again, and the person knocked on the door again. He sighed angrily and ran to the door, opening it, and was immediately shocked.

"Barry?"

"Ash? Nobody's seen you in years!"

"…It's only been two years…"

The blonde grinned. "Awesome! Now I can tell everyone where you're at!"

Ash grabbed Barry's arm. "Don't!"

"Why not?"

"There's a reason I came to this island, you know." He pulled Barry inside and closed the door. "I'm guessing you wanted a place to stay for the night?"

"Heh, yeah. You don't mind, do you?"

"Course not."

"Okay, thanks."

"Pika!"

"Es?"

The two turned towards the bathroom and saw Pikachu run over, Espy tentatively following.

"Oh, hey Pikachu! Long time, no see!"

He leaned down and pet Pikachu, who enjoyed it very much. Espy looked up at Ash, a little scared. Ash laughed quietly and picked her up.

"Relax, Esp. He's an old friend of mine."

"Espe?"

"Yes, really."

"I didn't know you had an Espeon," Barry realized. Ash smiled.

"Well, it has been two years."

"Yeah, I guess." They were quiet for a moment. "Why'd you leave?"

Ash looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You just… Disappeared. Nobody could find you anywhere. All of us were really worried. You just about broke Dawn's heart."

Ash sat down on the couch, Barry following. He thought hard for a moment.

"I guess… I guess that the paparazzi was just getting to me. I mean, everywhere I went, there were reporters. I wouldn't have been able to take it for much longer. And then… And then Brock and I got into a huge fight… I hadn't been helping for a couple of days, but that was because I hadn't gotten much sleep lately, and it was kind of getting to me. I was starting to feel kind of sick… Brock just started yelling at me one day, and I yelled back… He told me I was taking advantage of being famous… And I just… I snapped. I grabbed my pack and… I ran. I couldn't take it anymore. I went back to Pallet, got all of my Pokemon, got all of my Pokemon from my grandfather's farm, and came here. This was the farthest place I found that's away from people." He looked at Barry with tearful, pleading eyes. "You can't tell anyone that I'm here. I'll have to find another place far away from everyone again. Please, don't tell anyone."

Barry stared in shock for a minute, and then, to Ash's gratefulness, he nodded. "Alright, I won't. I promise."

Ash grinned and swallowed. "Thanks."

They talked for a few more minutes, and then they went to bed, grinning like crazy.

(-o-)

Ash stood up and looked around. He was surrounded by darkness… He started to run. He didn't know why, but he ran. He ran until he collapsed in tiredness.

It's your fault they got divorced.

He shot his gaze up. "Who's there?"

If it wasn't for you, they'd still be a happy, married couple.

"Where are you? Show yourself!"

The only reason your own mother kept you was because she felt sorry for you. She's probably happy that you disappeared two years ago.

"N-No she's not! S-She's… She misses me!"

How do you know? How do you know that she hasn't been partying about the fact that you're gone?

"S-She loves me! I-I know it!"

Really? What about you father? Did he leave because he loves you?

"S-Shut up! Dad left because he wanted his to go on a journey!"

Are you sure? Or did he leave because he didn't want you?

He fell to the ground, sobbing. "S-Stay away! D-Don't… Get out of here!"

"Ash, calm down! There's nobody here; wake up! Everything's okay!"

He opened his eyes and saw Barry leaning over him, and Espy, Pikachu, and Vulpix were sitting next to his pillow. He sat up quickly and wiped his eyes.

"Hey, are you alright? I woke up and heard you screaming, so I came running. You looked like you were having a really bad nightmare."

Thinking about it made a lump appear in his throat, so he bit his lip and looked out the window. "I don't really wanna talk about it…"

Barry frowned. "Come on, tell me. I wanna know what was bugging you."

Knowing he wouldn't get out of this, since it was Barry, Ash swallowed and explained what his dream was. By the time Barry got the full jest of it, tears were flowing down his cheeks. He quickly wiped them away again.

"Ah, man…"

He swallowed again, and when he looked at the others, he found tears in all of their eyes, but mostly Espy's. She was laying down, crying really hard. Ash pet her, remembering that she'd gone through this, too.

"Don't worry, Esp… We don't need to worry about them anymore. We have each other…"