Well... never thought I'd actually post this one-shot seeing as it's one of my worse ones, actually I don't even know why I'm bothering to post it. *shurgs* To late to change my mind now I guess. Just saying now Ash might be a little bit out of character (just a little bit, as in almost completely. if he isn't I'd be suprised). Anyway onto possibly one of my worst one-shots yet, enjoy.

Warnings: blood (not in mass amounts, and it's only brought up about two times), implied character death

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon because if I did the movies would be more like the first and second ones and Brock would be Ash's male companion instead of Cilan (because let's face it, Brock is just awsome)

Word count: 1,997 words

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Falling

I was falling. Falling. Falling. Wind whipped my air in front of my face as the world rushed past me, my hat had fallen off long ago and was falling somewhere above me. It felt… weird, to say the least. The air felt like a cushion, attempting to put a stop my rapid fall. All the while gravity seemed to pull me downward faster and faster and faster. How did it even come to this?

One minute everything was fine. Brock, May, Max, Pikachu and I were laughing, having fun, messing around, just enjoying ourselves for once. Brock had suggested that we take a break from traveling for a while, May and Max didn't need any persuasion. And me? Well, it took May a lot of teasing and fake anger, and it also took Pikachu's pleading eyes, and Brock and Max's logic, but I agreed. Though I really wanted to keep going, but I guess they're right; everyone needs a break eventually. Brock kept saying that I couldn't go on forever, I was only human.

Only human… it's funny almost. I saw the legendary Pokémon Ho-oh on the first day of my journey. I've met Celebi, Suicune, Entie, and the Unknown; was almost killed by Regirock, Regice and Registeel; gathered Articuno's, Moltres', and Zapdos' treasures to try and stop them from destroying the world like some prophecy said to do. Rode on the legendary Beast of the Sea, aka Lugia, and was saved by him more than once.

I've met a Lucario that was a few centuries old and was trapped in a staff, but he came out because I have the same aura as his 'master,' as he calls him, Sir Aaron. Met Mew when we went to the Tree of Beginnings to find Pikachu, who had disappeared, and everyone that wasn't a Pokémon was swallowed by these weird red blobs, there's no other way to describe them – I think Kidd described it as the tree's immune system rejecting us or something- and then Mew told the tree that we weren't enemies. Yeah, because that's not weird at all.

Not to mention I've met Latios and Latias, who I think might have liked me… like, liked me(if you know what I mean), and helped them save Alto Mare. And I've almost died who knows how many times now; I know I've lost count. Then again, it's not like that changed what I am, I guess, nothing can really. I'm still just human, though I've seen, and done, things no other human has.

We stopped walking right outside a forest. The place was perfect, to say the least. A crystal clear lake was only a short distance away, shining in the soon-to-be-twilight sky, turning it a pale blue gold. The dense foliage of the trees provided shade, the sky was clear. The air smelled like oak, birch and maple trees. Even if it rained I could tell that wouldn't be a problem, I remember passing a hill that had a cave that could be used as shelter.

The sun was going down, and the sky turned gold, and so did the water and the mountains in the distance. Pikachu, May and Max were enjoying the view, Brock was down by the water, sitting on the grass that was only a few feet away from where the water lapped against the shore. Me, I was sitting in a tree, don't know why, really. It was one of those spontaneous things, you know. One minute your content, the next you want to do something completely different. I was only a few feet off the ground, so I could jump off whenever. 'Sides, like Brock said I'm a human Aipom.

That's when they had to come and ruin everything, like always.

Team Rocket, in their Meowth hot air-balloon, go figure. I jumped out of the tree just as they started their chant:

"Prepare for trouble,

And make it double-"

"We get it!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, cutting them off. Do they have to do their chant every time? "Pikachu, thunderbolt!" One second later a bolt of yellow lightning tore through the air crackling with electricity. When it hit the balloon it just bounced off, must be because of some 'improvement' they made to it or something ridiculous like that. I could hear them laughing, at us.

"We'll just take this and be on our way." Jesse said as a claw shot out for the side of the wooden basket, aiming straight for Pikachu. Part of me wondered how it fit in there, part of me wondered why they wanted Pikachu in the first place (they never did explain), and part of me was wondering why I was even thinking about the first two things and not doing anything. I grabbed Pikachu and held him close to my body, if they wanted him, they'd have to get me as well. There was no way I was going to let those morons get my best friend. I didn't care that they helped me a few times, they only did it for their own good, and at the time I didn't really have much of a choice.

I closed my eyes and jumped out of the way when the claw got close enough. May and Brock called out their Pokémon and told them to attack, I would have done it to, if I weren't somewhat worried that if I put Pikachu down they'd take him. The next thing I heard was Team Rocket calling out their Pokémon and telling them to attack in retaliation. Meowth was still controlling the claw, and I was still dodging it.

I got cocky at one point, after what must have been ten minutes, and let Pikachu jump out of my arms and I yelled "Pikachu use iron tail!" If only at the time I knew what would happen next, if I did I wouldn't have told Pikachu to attack at all, I would have just kept him in my arms and continued dodging. But, no, I didn't know, so I told him to attack. Meowth brought the claw up a little so that it would catch him at the height of his jump, but by the time the claw caught Pikachu he had already hit the fabric and made a small cut in the seam. "Gotcha!" The cat-like Pokémon exclaimed in an almost teasing voice. Though at the time I didn't care, I hadn't noticed, I was running as fast as I could to the tree closest to them so I could climb it and jump onto their balloon.

By the time I had climbed to the top of the tree closest to the balloon and jumped was when I actually heard Max yelling "The balloon's losing altitude!" Only half of me comprehended what he was saying, and that half didn't care.

That was my first mistake.

I was losing air as well, gravity was starting to pull me down, but I had to grab the basket, I had to get Pikachu and make sure he was alright, I couldn't let them take my best friend. They were moving away, and I was getting closer to the next tree. That's when I got an idea; I still had not realized that Team Rocket was slowly falling out of the air even though they had already lowered about three feet. The hole that Pikachu made must have just barely cut it.

My idea was to grab a branch from the upcoming tree and jump after them again. And that's just what I did. I think May was calling me to come back, but my mind was blocking everything but my goal out. After grabbing the branch I jumped again, and this time I was just inches away from them. They looked frantic, and Pikachu was still trying to get out of the claw's grasp. "I'm coming Pikachu!" I hollered.

"Pikapi!" He called as a response. At least I knew that he heard me. "Pikapi, pi Pikachu pika Pikachu!" Looking back on it I think he was trying to tell me what I'd been so oblivious about. But I didn't care, I still kept going. I jumped and grabbed the basket, but just barely. I could feel the leaves and branches scratching my legs, cutting them, I even felt something warm roll down my leg, but I could have cared less, the only thing on my mind was Pikachu.

"Hey, no hitchhikers!" Jesse yelled "Meowth lose him."

Meowth responded "Eye-eye." The air balloon was still slowly deflating, and it was moving back and forth trying to shack me off, I refused to loosen my grip.

"Pika Pikachu pi pika!" At the time I didn't know what Pikachu was trying to tell me. Now, though, I have feeling he said something along the lines of 'we're not over the forest anymore.' And part of me realized that as well, I mean I couldn't feel the leaves brushing up against my legs anymore, though I still could feel the warm sticky substance rolling down them. Meowth was still trying to make me lose my grip. And, he was actually succeeding at this point; I could feel my left hand slipping. So I did the only logical thing, I tried to regain my grip again, taking one hand off so I could raise it and grab another area.

That was my second mistake.

Team Rocket saw that as an opportunity and Meowth started to shake it even more, we had lost about ten feet altitude wise and were still falling, but we had to be about twenty feet over the water still, and it wasn't the type of water that you could fall in and not have to worry about anything. No, it was rough, like an ocean at high tide on a day where it's always crashing the land with huge waves that could easily drown you if you're not careful. I couldn't get my loose hand on the basket again, it was moving too much and every time I thought I got it, it would just come loose again. My right hand was starting to lose its grip as well; this was something I couldn't win. But at the same time, I couldn't lose, there was no way I was going to let them have my best friend.

My left hand finally managed to reattach itself to the basket, but, Murphy's Law just had to come into play, my right hand lost its grip. So now, I was hanging by my left hand that had just barely managed to grab the basket after being shaken off, and it was just barely hanging on. "I'm not giving up!" I muttered under my breath. We had lost another two feet, and there was still eighteen feet to go.

I could feel my left hand slipping again, and my right hand was still trying to regain its grip. There was no way I'd be able to do it, and I knew that. Turning my head slightly I could see land in the distance, part of me thought I could hold on until the balloon was there, and then let go and follow it on foot. But the more logical part of me realized that there was no way I'd be able to hold on that long, and even if I could…would the balloon even make it that far? My left hand slipped, and I started to fall, and I could hear Team Rocket's laughing and Pikachu yelling "PIKAPI!" all the while.

So here I am, falling, falling, falling, going faster and faster and faster; and there will be no one to catch me when I hit the bottom. My last thought before I hit the rough waves was "I'm sorry… Pikachu…" and then the world grew darker and darker and darker, and I knew that there would be no one to bring me back to the light.

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"What's happening to me? Falling... falling... into darkness." -Sora

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Yeah, not my best work, and I know it. But now you know what I mean when I said that Ash was going to be out of character for this. I had a lot of fun doing Team Rocket, I have no clue why, but I found it fun, maybe it's just me.

Later

Ember