The boy smiled lovingly as one gloved hand placed a firm grip on the steel bar, and the other gently stroking the smooth mustard-yellow fur that belonged to the one-foot-tall mouse, a mouse that so happened to purr at his master's action.


It was already out of the question if he ever loved her.

The pill-shaped buds hanging around her slender neck were lightly tossed left and right by the cold breeze, the scythe-like leaf appendage on her head drooped in tune of her mood, and her short and pale-yellow tail sat between its pudgy legs, having barely wagged the whole day. The image her eyes had truthfully delivered to her mind was no fraud, yet, at the same time, hard to believe, unlike the moon that emitted only a faint glow.

Difficult to believe, yes, and at the same time, no.

It was a monotony, and it goes without saying. How she would eat the provided pellets, setting a boundary to the other Pokemon, confining herself in isolation. How she would fool others that evolution matured her to an adult, when, really, she never actually knew the meaning of "mature". How she would rarely talk to anyone, human or Pokemon; she would, but only out of prior need to do so. She was used to this; if she somehow does the opposite of those things, she would think it weird of her, so to speak.

Well, whatever. This "monotony" seemed more indifferent than her life in the wild, with what harsh, intelligent, scheming, powerful, stupid (she could've scoffed at this, but right now was a little too saddening for that), and thieving opponents, whom she will always want to forget. Despite all the gloom there was in that she would choose that junk-y life over ever remembering – ever meeting's a better term – the boy named Satoshi.

Clutching the fire dragon with all her remaining strength as they twirled around in midair, clumsily hitting smack-down on the rocky downfall of the mountain. She was already hurt from the boy's first attempt to catch her with a small cerulean dinosaur with some kind of large plant bulb on its head a failure (again she wanted to laugh at her impressive strength, but she was too depressed to).

She wanted to get up, but all the gashes and wounds from the battle prevented her too. She wanted to hit the boy, for making her all so close to death. But yet, she cursed her weak limbs instead, tears she adeptly kept invisible. It didn't change anything though; she was still hurt.

(Boy, that hurt didn't compare to the hurt she felt now.)

Hurt, sure, but ashamed at her lack of strength, as she found herself being helpless on the spot, then making the boy worry for her sake. A stranger, to be exact. Then she found herself shamingly gnawing him when he engulfed him in an embrace, as she heard faint yet quick footsteps on damp grass en route to their so-called "Pokemon Center".

"Hey, Bayleaf?"

She quickly jerked her head up, tense but for only a second. The first thing she saw was the smile that seemed so genuine it was delusional. Then she saw the pair of eyes that almost resembled her own that held so much angst. She frowned with her crimson red, soulful eyes, tears threatening to fall.

"It's okay; I'm still here..." He averted his gaze at the night sky, the many dotted lights called stars twinkling brightly. Then, quite suddenly, he began to place a warm hand on her chin, then softly stroking it with uncharacteristic gentleness. She quickly dropped her vision to a dull beige ground, a tint of pink appearing under her teary eyes. "Bay..."

"I'm still here..."