I pulled Ashley the Oshawott even closer to me as the freezing November wind rushed at us through the trees. It was getting dark, and the ground was damp from the recent rain. At that point in my life, I was just about as hopeless as a person could get. I, Kelli Bell, was living all alone with my Oshawott on the roads and trails of Unova. A person might think that it wouldn't be so bad. No one telling you what to do, and you could just bring a sleeping bag and live off of berries. It really wasn't that easy though, especially since I had no belongings to call my own except for the clothes on my back, and all the berries that I lived off of were dead because of the cold. If all that didn't sound bad, then I don't know what would. All that I could do for Ashley and myself was stare out at Route 3 and hope that a kind traveler would come by and help us. Some food would have been nice. Yes, that would have been very nice. But no one had come by for at least six months, so I didn't see much hope. Deciding not to worry about that major problem, I set my heart on simply asking the next person to pass for some food. And so I waited. I waited for… well, minutes. But let me tell you that they were probably the longest minutes of my entire 14 year life. Even after that, I was still surprised to hear the nearby footsteps of a traveler. I peeked out from behind my tree and saw that there wasn't just one of them but two, no three! By the looks of them, I could tell that they were trainers about my age. As they got closer and closer, I began to get more and more excited. I wouldn't have to eat leaves and random plants anymore! At least for a while anyway. When the group was no more than a couple feet in front of me, I crawled out and spoke for the first time in a very long while, "Hello, could all of you spare me some food, please? Ashley and I have been living out here for quite a while. Oh, and my name's Kelli," At the sound of her name, Ashley came out of the shadows and into the fading light. She appeared thinner and paler than ever before.

"Osha?" she questioned shyly. As I stared into the eyes of the three trainers, I saw that they were mainly filled with shock. The shock of seeing a dirty, starving girl with her Oshawott living all alone in the forest. The shock of seeing her once beautiful blue hair tangled and covered in dirt, and her face with the pleading green eyes. The shock of knowing that she knows that any day could be her last.

"Of course. We have more than enough," one of the trainers said, "You can come with us and we'll set up camp." I stood up, both happy and surprised at this offer. It was then when I started to realize some details about these people. The trainer who had spoken was a boy slightly taller than me. A Pansage stood next to him.

"Aww Cilan! Do we really have to share?" My thoughts were interrupted by another trainer. This was another boy who was wearing a strange hat and carrying a Pokémon that I had never seen before.

"Ash, you are such a kid! Didn't anyone ever tell you about helping the poor?" Then, a girl with tall purple hair spoke. She was obviously younger than the others. I also noticed an Axew quite at home on her head.

"I don't want to be a problem. I'll go if you don't have enough for me," I said, disappointed. They looked like such nice people, but I truly didn't want to make things difficult for them.

"No, please don't go!" the first trainer said just as I turned my back. I turned back around slowly. "You can stay with us for…" he was cut off though by the trainer with the hat.

"But she doesn't deserve our help!" he turned to me. "Just look at your poor Oshawott! It looks terrible! I bet you're starving it and keeping all the food for yourself! You're a terrible trainer!" He had no idea just how untrue that was. I always gave half of my food to Ashley, sometimes even more. There were even same days when I would give her all of my food, which might have been everything I would get for days. I had done everything in my power for Ashley, and he dared to call me a terrible trainer! But then again, if I had really cared about her, then maybe we wouldn't have been in that mess. Just the thought made me want to cry. Maybe I really had failed as a trainer. I ran off into the thicker part of the forest and sat beside a tree, trying to pull myself together. It was there that I decided what I wanted to do. It was just so obvious to me that I wasn't wanted or cared about, but the thought of leaving this place, no matter how terrible it was, still almost made me think twice about my decision.

"Ashley," I called. She came to my side obediently, just like always. "Ashley, I just want you to know that I love you and care about you a lot, and I'm going to miss you. But you have to go with them. Those trainers will take good care of you, I promise," She gave me a questioning look. "Look, I just have to go, ok? No one wants me anymore! No one even cares. Do you want to spend the rest of your life like this? I know I don't. So just trust me and let me go!" I was really trying to stay strong for Ashley, but I have to admit to crying a little as I gave her one last hug and stood up. In truth, I felt sorry for her. She had no idea what I was about to do. I just knew that she would be better off without me. "Now you go over to the nice trainers, ok? Just remember that I'll always love you, and that this will be best for you,"

"Oshawott?" Ashley asked.

"Just go and meet them. Give them a chance. Please, do it for me!" I was shaking as I bent down to pet her head before turning her in the right direction. She walked away without another sound. It was just like her to do that. Ashley had always done what she was told without question. She even left me when I told her to, and that's what I respected so much about her. But I had no more second thoughts as I walked over to the spot where I kept the knife. I dug through the wet leaves until I found the sharpened rock that I kept for defending myself. Slowly, very slowly, I walked to a nice clear spot between the trees. It was a worthy place for the job, in my opinion. I raised my left arm and without thinking stabbed the point into myself. Not in the right place, I soon learned. I felt the terrible pain, but I lifted my arm another time. This time though, I looked down at the ground. Both the leaves and the front of my green rag of a dress were turning a bright red. "This world will be so much better without me," I whispered to myself, "Once a star, but now just another homeless girl. I hate this, I really do. I hate this whole, cruel world. Now it's time to finish what I've started, or rather what my father started. But I'm going home now. Home to Mother, and soon probably Ashley. It's time to end this. It's over," As I said those last words, the point entered my skin one, two, then three more times before I fell to my knees. The last thing I saw was the trainer with the Pansage finding me there on the ground, rock in hand. "It's over," I whispered one last time so they could hear it, "I'm going home."