((Warning: I do not own the characters from Pokemon. They belong to Gamefreak/Nintendo, etc. The only character I own is Elise. This takes place four years after the events of the gen 2 games and their remakes. Enjoy!))

If the Johto Region had an armpit, Azalea Town would definitely be it. While I wasn't born there, I still consider it my hometown, and while it's still an armpit, it is one beautiful armpit. The town itself is right next to a forest, a long cave to explore in, and a well full of Slowpoke. Who doesn't like Slowpoke? The townsfolk are nice, and thanks to the charcoal business, the entire town smells like it's burning.

My name is Elise and I'm just your typical teenaged girl. I'm moody, irresponsible, immature, and slightly quick tempered. Probably my best physical feature would be my thick red hair, which has always annoyed me because it takes forever to wash and it gets in my face, so most of the time I just tie it back. On the bright side, I am a Pokemon lover and like my brother, I have a passion for music.

When I was born, my brother left to go on his own Pokemon Adventure, something I never got to do when I was ten. He traveled all over the different regions, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh.. you name it, he had been there, but when he returned to our family home in Kanto he made up for lost time. My brother and I instantly connected. Despite me being five years old, and him being fifteen, he played with and helped take care of me almost everyday. He encouraged me to practice my piano and to sing. He loved his guitar and ukelele and would regularly play for his Pokemon.

On one unfortunate day though, a gang of Team Rocket members stormed our house and stole all of the Pokemon on our property. The only Pokemon who managed to get away from Team Rocket's wrath was my Scraggy, who was given to me by my brother. My brother, who was sixteen at the time tried to save his Pokemon party and our beloved pets, but Team Rocket shot him down before he could. It has been ten years, but I still remember the loud high pitch screams I made, the gunshots, and the noises the bullets made as they hit my brother's chest. My parents could not bear the pain and the memories, so they took me and moved to the peaceful Azalea Town for a fresh new start, that's when I met my best friend.

My parents were very protective of me, but they let me play in Ilex Forest since I had Scraggy with me. I came across four boys while I was playing with Scraggy, they were around my age and I was extremely lonely, I had just moved and I had no friends. Three of the boys made fun of me and told me they didn't play with girls who had cooties, but one curious, purple haired boy decided to stay with me. We explored the forest, he told me all about the Pokemon who lived there, and on the way home we spotted a strange green glowing light that illuminated through the trees. I called the light, the green fairy and this boy and I were inseparable ever since. His name was Bugsy and for the past 10 years we had done everything typical best friends usually do. We created friendship bracelets, played in the woods, went swimming, and climbed trees. Even though I lost my biological brother, I gained a brother of choice and slowly but surely, I became happy again.

Now I know what you're probably thinking... Bugsy the gym leader? Yes, eventually Bugsy did become the gym leader of our town. He was only twelve years old when he was offered the job but at that time he was already extremely skilled with Pokemon and he was working on his own bug Pokemon encyclopedia, which he passionately continues to work on to this day. He loved his new position as gym leader. He redid the entire gym and made it into a habitat for bug Pokemon and it made him happy every time a new challenger walked into the gym, whether he won or lost.

Over the years he taught me how to train my Scraggy, and took me to Slowpoke Well to catch my very own Slowpoke. Even though I had no badges, I became a fairly decent trainer. I desperately wanted to go on my own Pokemon adventure just like my brother did, but my overprotective parents always declined my request every time I asked. As much as I wanted to go though, at the same time I wanted to stay to be with Bugsy. I'd regularly help him out with the gym. Despite being gym leader, he was regularly bullied by the boys who told me I had cooties. Their names were Mikal, Chad, and Allen and it always seemed like their life goal was to make Bugsy miserable. While he was the brains of our friendship, I was the muscle who stood up for him, which I did not mind doing after all he had done for me. We had a great friendship, and never did I feel like it was ever one sided.

One night, I woke up at four o'clock in the morning. Like any teenager, I had extreme sleeping problems. Sometimes I wouldn't go to bed until 2 AM, other times I'd go to bed early and then wake up extremely early. On this particular night, the green fairy appeared in my dream. The green fairy usually appeared in my dreams on a regular basis ever since I first saw him or her. The fairy was like my guardian. Every time I had a nightmare, it would come to rescue me. Bugsy told me that I could call him anytime whether it was late at night or during the day and I had the itch to call him, so I grabbed my Pokegear from my nightstand and dialed his number. When he picked up, it sounded like he was wide awake, which I wasn't too surprised at, he was usually pretty energetic during the wee hours of the morning.

"Hey, can't sleep?" I held my Pokegear up to my ear as I began to sit up in my bed.

"Yeah, the green fairy was in my dream again, but I managed to wake up." To Bugsy, this was probably routine for him since I did this on a regular basis. Sometimes I questioned if he ever slept at all or if he was annoyed at me, but he had never complained whenever I called at a weird time.

"Do you want me to unlock the gym for you?" Bugsy asked. I could hear one of the many Butterfrees he owned making noises in the background. Many gym leaders preferred to live in a separate house away from their gym, but Bugsy created a one bedroom apartment for himself on the top floor. I'm still not entirely sure why he decided to move out of his dad's house when he became gym leader, but it never seemed to cross my mind.

"Hm... sure. Want me to bring anything?" Bugsy paused for a moment before speaking.

"Uh... maybe grab a soda pop or two from the Pokemart? Thanks." I smiled as I slowly crept out of bed and slipped on my running shoes before tying them.

"Sure thing, I'll see you in a few minutes." I hung up my Pokegear and slipped it in my bag before slowly and carefully sneaking out of my house (my parents hated when I left home in the middle of the night). I walked over to the Pokemart which was a short distance away from my house. I walked up to the front counter of the Pokemart and grabbed two soda pops from their freezer before taking it up to the cashier lady, who at this point was a familiar face to me. Her name was Angela and she was unfortunate enough to be given the graveyard shift at work. She also had a baby on the way, but the father left her as soon as he found out. So she was alone, with a minimum wage job, and a child that was going to enter the world soon. I'll be honest, I felt bad for her so in a way, I sort of befriended her. Sure, we never hung out outside of the Pokemart, but I enjoyed talking to her.

"Welcome to the Azalea Town Pokemar... oh hey Elise! Going over to visit your boyfriend again?" I sighed and placed the two soda pops on the counter. Believe me, I had tried to correct her several times but after a certain point I just sort of gave up on the whole 'he's not my boyfriend' thing.

"Yeah, going to go see Bugsy." Angela scanned the two soda pops as she nodded.

"How's everything workin' out for the both of ya?" she smiled as she handed the pops back over to me. "That'll be 600 Pokedollars." I grabbed my black leather wallet out of my messenger bag and shelved out the correct amount.

"We're good. Bugsy's still working on his research and I'm just... going on with my life for the most part. I practice my music everyday." Angela smiled and rested her elbows on the counter.

"That's great! Be careful though, men are nothin' but pigs. They say they love ya, and then they leave and say 'Oh! I need ta go on a Pokemon adventure!' and never come back. Though, if I know anything about our town's gym leader, he's a very nice kid. Train him up and I'm sure he'll be a dedicated little Spoink to you for life!" I let out a chuckle at Angela's words, even if her advice did not apply to me, it was still entertaining to listen to.

"Thanks Angela." I was about to turn towards the door before she spoke again.

"Oh! I want you to take these." Angela bent over and was digging for something that was in her purse. I looked down at her curiously as she pulled out a box of condoms. At that point I wanted to cover my face with my palm and say that Bugsy and I weren't like that, but like I said, I had given up on that a long time ago. Angela handed me the box of condoms and like the kind person I was, I accepted the gift and stuffed it in my messenger bag.

"Be safe Elise, take care!" I gave Angela a two fingered salute once I was at the door.

"You too!" I traveled outside of the Pokemart, it was still dark. The only light that was outside was the two lightposts that lit up the town at night. Slowpokes roamed all over the town, but most of them were asleep. The Charcoal Master's apprentice was chasing after his boss's beloved Farfetch'd in what appeared to be circles around the town. Finally I made my way to the biggest building in the middle of town – the Pokemon gym. I turned the handle and sure enough, the door opened for me. I made my way inside and walked through the bug nest of a gym. Most of the Pokemon that lived there were still asleep. I finally made it to the back of the gym and climbed up a set of stairs to Bugsy's living quarters. I quietly stepped into the living room and shouted.

"Bugsy?! You there?"

"I'm in my room, come in!" I pulled out the two soda pops and made me way through the living room to his bedroom. Bugsy's apartment almost resembled a lab. There was a glass display case with a wide variety of rock and leaf samples, an array of different Pokemon books on three different book shelves, and a work desk that was in Bugsy's room. It was a small apartment but he managed to fit a lot of stuff in that one place. I set one of the soda pops down on Bugsy's desk where he was currently working.

"Here you go..." I squinted my eyes in focus as I saw what Bugsy was working on.

"You're still sketching that Dustox?" I asked curiously, he simply gave me a nob.

"Yep, it's a lot harder working from memory." I frowned in thought as I took a drink of my soda.

"If I could buy us two ferry tickets to Hoenn, I would." Bugsy smiled and paused to look up at me as he twirled his office chair.

"I know you would." Bugsy had significantly matured since his debut as gym leader. When we were kids Bugsy tended to go for the look of a bug catcher or a camper which went really well with the theme of his gym, but when you're sixteen, it's unfortunately no longer cute. He began to wear t-shirts and cargo pants or shorts with tennis shoes or hiking boots. Nothing too fancy like Claire's (the gym leader of Blackthorn City) blue romper and cape, but it made sense. And while Bugsy was still a pretty small looking guy, puberty still changed him. His body was a little more athletic looking, his facial structure and voice changed, but to me, he was still the boy that I met in Ilex Forest those years ago.

I smiled and yawned as I fell backward on his bed and let out a sigh of relaxation as I felt the mattress support my back.

"I'd really like to go on a trip with you, someday." Bugsy turned his chair to face his work again as he talked.

"I would too, but I have so many responsibilities here. I guess I could get one of my gym trainers to substitute for me while I was gone, but then we'd have to worry about your parents." I sighed and covered my face with my hand. I hated the restrictions that my parents put on me.

"I know..." I frowned. I desperately yearned for adventure. The farthest I had ever gone outside of Azalea Town was Ilex Forest and the entrance to Union Cave. At that point I figured there was no way in hell that my parents were going to ever set me free, but little did I know that everything was all about to change.

"Hey Elise... could you sing a song for me?" I let out a laugh at Bugsy's question.

"But I don't have my guitar with me." Bugsy shrugged, at this point I was laying on the bed with my eyes closed and under the covers.

"I don't care, I like hearing your voice." I opened my eyes temporarily as I tried to think of a song and the first thing that popped into my head was Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I took a deep breath before beginning the song.

"Somewhere... over the rainbow. Way up high..." I paused for a moment as I tried to remember the lyrics.

"And the dreams that you dream of once in a lullaby..." I smiled shyly at Bugsy as soon as I noticed him staring at me from his office chair. "Come on.. keep going." I laughed and shrugged. "Fine..." Little did I know that I skipped a verse, but at that point it didn't seem like Bugsy cared.

"Someday I'll wish upon a star, wake up where the clouds are far behind me... Where trouble melts like lemon drops, high above the chimney tops, that's where... you'll... find... me..."

"Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly, birds fly, over the rainbow. Oh why, oh why... can't... I..." I stopped since I forgot the rest of the song and yawned tiredly as Bugsy got up and started to tuck me into his bed. He began to whisper as soon as he was done.

"That was beautiful, have a good nap Elise." I smiled as my eyes laid shut and I was only able to let out one word.

"Okay..."