*BOOM*

I was thrown, and so were Brock, Max, and May. I had the wind knocked out of me, but I got up and dusted myself off. Pikachu hopped on my shoulder. I ran over to where Brock was kneeling-he had gotten up faster, I guess. May was there but her legs were twisted at impossible angles and her eyes were glazed.

"Brock, Brock!" I cried.

"I've got a faint pulse and faint breathing. Get a pokémon to Nurse Joy, NOW. We can't move her and we need Nurse Joy fast."

"Go get Nurse Joy and bring her back here, quick!" releasing Swellow from the pokeball.

Max had been thrown even farther than the rest of us, and he finally walked up to us, grimacing in pain.

"I think my arm's broken," he said, but stopped at the sight of May. He sat down, hard, and I put a hand on his shoulder as he started to cry.

I wasn't far from crying myself.

Brock looked up suddenly.

"I've lost breathing and pulse."

"Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

He zapped May to no effect. He looked up at me.

"Thunderbolt!"

"Again!"

"Ash," Brock began, as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"No! NO!" I cried as I sat down with my head in my hands. I sobbed and sobbed there, right next to my friend's dead body.

Brock finally managed to get me to leave May's side. I sat in the PokeCenter. 'Damn,' I thought, 'I never want to be in one of these again.'

Jessie, James, and Meowth had come out of the bushes to look at the dead girl, eyes wide. Jessie teared up and ran away, James running after her. Meowth sadly offered use of their balloon to transport May's body back, but Brock had curtly replied that we were fine, thank you.

I didn't care. I don't care. I'm numb.

Max looked saddest of all at the funeral. His glasses kept getting misted up with tears.

But no one else noticed. They were all content to talk about May's achievements and her bravery and how damn cool she was. Why are they content to sit and talk? I could have saved her; she could have still been alive, dammit!

May was buried next to a beautiful old tree right next to the Petalburg Gym. Why did it have to be you, May? Why? I could feel my rage cracking into overwhelming sorrow. I felt like crying for hours, and I did. Brock just looked at me and put his hand on my shoulder.

May's mom ran up to the casket and tried to stop it from being buried, throwing herself on it. Norman restrained her and brought her into a hug, where she collapsed into a puddle of tears.

I woke up screaming. Panting, I glanced around the room, seeing nothing but my furniture and that hat I hadn't worn since May's death.

I kept dreaming myself back to when she died. Awful, horrible nightmares. I would see her die, right before me, eyes rolling up in her head.

Sometimes I was frozen and couldn't talk or move.

But other times I yelled up into the heaves, "Take me instead!"

And sometimes May sat up and I felt the life slowly drain out of me. But I woke up smiling.

Isn't that sick?

I finally decided it was time to visit May's grave. I left Pikachu at home.

"Y'know, May, I hate it when I see people waste their lives now. I mean, I did before too, but since you...died so young and never got to..."

I closed my eyes, steeled myself, and continued.

"Anyway, that's what I've been doing, in my grief for you. I promise to be the best trainer I can be, for you. And I'll come say hi as much as I can. I know you're looking down at me, and I want to honor your memory. I won't let you down, May. I won't let you down again."

This world is not all smiles and butterfree. But I'm going to move on and grow. I owe that much to May.

So for the first time since that day, I slipped on my hat, picked up Pikachu and without even leaving a note, set off to a new region, a new hope. Sinnoh.

A/N: Hey, am I developing a following yet? :D Lately I've been into darker stories. So that's what I've been writing.

~Love, Sofia.