First story, inspired by AshxUrsula 4EVER's "I Want To Be There For You" (though that one isn't about betrayal).
UPDATE: Changed the title, as it was already taken.
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Ash (13/14): Veronica Taylor
Ursula (11/12): Melissa Schoenburg
Dawn (11/12): Emily Jenness (Lisa Ortiz after Ash gets betrayed)
Brock (18): Eric Stuart (Bill Rogers after Ash gets betrayed)
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Pain. Betrayal. Regret. Those were inner emotions commonly associated with the thirteen year old Ash Ketchum after his betrayal at the hands of the person he thought he could call a "friend".
It had started out like any other day. Dawn had been training for the Grand Festival, adding a few tweaks to her current contest techniques. And then...
Dawn's Piplup and Mamoswine had fainted at the hands of Ursula's Flareon and Vaporeon. Both of them were down to just a few points, but Ursula had secured the victory after a missed Hydro Pump aimed at Flareon struck Vaporeon, replenishing its health. While it was still sparkling, Ursula had her combine her Acid Armor with Surf so that the result was a shining mermaid-shaped wave, with Vaporeon in the middle. That was enough to cost Dawn all of her points.
Ursula had been bragging about it no more than five seconds after she was announced the winner and the Grand Festival trophy had been given to her. Dawn refused to cry, for she had grown past that. She still held deep resentment towards Ursula, and her declaring her past victories as flukes wasn't helping matters, either.
"I beat you fair and square, I didn't luck out!" Dawn yelled, loud enough for the crowd to hear.
"Of course you didn't, at least not this round. You're luck's run out." Ursula snickered.
Since Brock was off trying to sweet-talk a girl, it was up to Ash to quell the situation.
"Hey, Ursula, congratulations!" he grinned, saying his words in rapid-fire succession. "Dawn, you did your best!"
"Thanks, but shouldn't you be training for the league?" Ursula inquired, not quite as snappy as she was with Dawn, before adding, "You wouldn't want to end up a loser like DeeDee, would you?" Some of the spectators laughed at this remark.
"STOP CALLING ME DEEDEE!" Dawn cried indignantly, right after Ash shouted, "We're not losers!"
Some time later, Ash was battling in the Sinnoh League. He had taken on Conway, Nando, and even Paul, and now he was up against a mysterious trainer with a Darkrai. Dawn didn't exactly seem to believe he could win now that the Darkrai trainer was revealed, and Brock didn't have much of an opinion. What was really odd was that Ursula was there, cheering him on against Tobias. She was on the other side of the bleachers, so she was just another face to Brock and Dawn. He lost to Tobias, of course, but had managed to take down two of his Pokemon. It was quite the accomplishment, though Ash didn't feel particularly proud of it. He had just lost another league. Brock and Dawn looked mortified.
Not long after Ash had healed his Pokemon, he had found Dawn standing in front of him. The next thing she said quickly turned this day into the worst day of his life.
"Hey, Dawn. Where's Brock?" Ash asked a bit sadly.
"Back at Pewter City. Ash, we need to talk," Dawn insisted. "After watching you lose, I've come to a conclusion: you're holding me back."
Ash laughed at her. "Good one! I thought you said I was holding you back!"
A slap in his face stopped his laughter. "I'm serious! I could have won the Grand Festival if you hadn't sidetracked me all the time! All of that training, and you still ended up losing another league!" The rest of her words after that were a blur to him. The slap hurt, but not as much as the betrayal. Ursula watched this all with a horrified look on her face.
Since then, he had been training for a bit. He had explained the situation to his Pokemon. Pikachu and the Sinnoh Pokemon swore off Ice Aqua Jet, Counter Shield, etc..
The day before he headed back to Kanto, he saw a glimpse of a mysterious Pokemon in a bush. He immediately whipped out a Poke Ball and tossed it at the figure. Hey, it worked for him before, right? To his surprise, all that happened was that the Pokemon groaned lowly in pain as the Poke Ball merely bounced off.
The Pokemon turned out to be a Sylveon, a Fairy Pokemon from a faraway region, Kalos.
"Sorry, I don't just hand out my prized Pokemon to losers," Ursula taunted.
The incident still fresh on his mind, he hung his head down. He knew she was just teasing, but it was still true. He had trained so much, and still ended up coming out a loser. Was Dawn-
"Hey, don't be so down. I have to say that taking on two legendary Pokemon is nothing to be ashamed of, and anyone who would betray you for that is an even bigger loser than any first round fodder," Ursula reassured him. "Okay if I come with you? I'm planning to take on Kanto contests next."
"Sure!" Ash answered.
Months later, Ursula took the Kanto Grand Festival by storm with Ash by her side (Note: I don't like writing contests, so I'll skip it, along with other unimportant parts). Now all that was left was for Ash to take part in the upcoming Indigo League, and hopefully win this time...
Back in the present, Ash was in his room, staring at his clothes. He first looked at his outfit he wore for the first two regions that he traveled to. His eyes then drifted to the one he wore in Hoenn, followed by the one he wore for his Sinnoh journeys. He looked at his Sinnoh outfit with contempt. He would probably never wear it again, even if he wanted to, the memories associated with it were too painful. Just to make sure they could be permanently forgotten, Pikachu tossed them out of the window and Thunderbolted them to a crisp. Next to the now empty slot was another outfit, one that he hadn't seen before. This one consisted of a red jacket with a white collar and sleeves, white shoes with two red stripes on each one, a dark t-shirt, and blue pants with a belt looped around it. His mom must have just made it for him. He tried it on with his original Indigo League hat. He came out of his room to see Ursula and his mom interacting.
"Sorry to interrupt, but how do I look?" he asked, doing his trademark two-finger pose with the Earth Badge.
"And you complained about me taking a long time to change," Ursula mock-scoffed.
"Let's just say it's little wonder you attract all the ladies!" Delia gushed.
Ash and Ursula recoiled in embarrassment. "It's NOT like that!" Ursula and Ash exclaimed.
"You two are already in sync with each other, too!" Delia went on.
The two of them groaned.
A month later...
"Ready, Pikachu?" Ash turned to his partner.
"Pika!"
"Ash, good luck!" cheered Ursula.
"Thanks! I'll be sure to give it all I've got!" replied Ash, as his first round was announced. It was Ash vs a trainer from Nuvema Town of the Unova region. Both of them stepped up to the battlefield to battle. Ash extended a hand out to the boy, who he learned was named Trip.
"Sorry, I don't shake hands from people of the boonies. I'm only here so I can win this hyped up tournament," Trip scoffed at him.
Ash didn't let his insult get to him as he took his place.
