The Boy in the Mirror

By: Bryce Daniel (2014)

"Ash? A-Ash," a voice said meekly. "C-could I t-talk to you?"

"Huh," Ash said rolling over towards the clock on the nightstand. "It's 3am."

"I know, but I c-couldn't sleep. I n-need someone to talk to… someone brave, smart and strong – e-e-everything I'm not."

"Okay, fine… but where are you?"

"I'm – I'm in the bathroom," he said sheepishly. "Hurry up, p-pl-please it's d-dark in here… and I c-can't find the switch."

"Calm down, you'll wake everybody up."

Ash walks into the bathroom, shuts the door softly behind him and flips the lowest light on…but there was no-one there. He turns towards the mirror and his reflection lit up.

"A-Ash, it did work! Clemont – sorry, 'Mirror-Clemont' - said if I 'wished h-hard enough' I could 'reopen the portal' and be able see you again. You're the only person I could think of who could help me."

"Umkay… with what?"

"Well, as you're probably aware, I'm - I'm training for the K-Kalos King. But Serena keeps telling me I can't because she's opposed to contests that exclude girls. S-she also thinks 'no-one will take a trainer as weak as you seriously.' Maybe she's right… I can't even get Bunnelby to eat my Poképuffs – it'll eat anything...but he takes one sniff and snubs its nose at it."

"C'mon, don't talk like that; you still have your Pikachu."

"No, I don't," he said hunching forward defeatedly. "It…It ran away."

"Sorry to hear that, did you go look for it? Maybe you just got separated."

"N-no," he said fighting back tears. "I s-saw the look it gave me when it left. I k-knew it HATED me. We weren't 'separated,' it intentionally left me..."

"Pika…chu," it said wearily before jumping up on its owner's shoulder.

"Sorry, buddy," Ash said stroking his cheek affectionately. "Did we wake you up?"

"Pika…" it said affirmatively.

"It m-must be nice, having a pokémon that LIKES you. M-maybe Serena's right, maybe I *AM* 'too weak to be a trainer!'"

"Pika?"

"Ya see, buddy, HIS Pikachu apparently abandoned him, just like Snivy did with her trainer…but somehow I don't think that's the reason he contacted me."

"Um…hehe… it's not. Y-you see there's a certain blonde-headed magician-"

"Cool, you mean like a Guitarist? I love Guitarists!"

"Um…no… I mean he casts spells and does tricks."

"'He?' You mean like a boy?"

"I sh-should have known y-you wouldn't u-under s-stand…"

"Wait, Ash, come back. You haven't told me what the problem with him is yet. Is he bullying you? You CAN tell me, I'm your friend, remember? Putting you into weird trances or turning you into weird sea creatures…"

"T-the s-second one…but n-not the way y-you think. I get all flustered around him trying to get him to notice me. But t-the worst part… is every time a girl gets within eyeshot of him his little sister goes up and tells them 'I will NOT allow you to break my dear brother's heart!'"

"Ha, that almost sounds like Bonnie and her constant proposals."

"Wait, B-Bonnie pro-proposes? Next you'll tell me CILAN was friendly, PAUL was mean and GARY actually gives you the time of day. We used to be cool, but ever since he went to Johto h-he's become a first-class ass-"

Meanwhile, a certain science nerd in long sleeve pajamas hung back behind the door too embarrassed to show his heavily blushing face.

Pfhoom: "CHES-"

"Shhh."

"Gah, what was that?!"

"It almost sounded like Chespin. I don't know about your world, but in ours it has a tendency to let itself at the worst possible times."

"I th-thought I heard some-thing as well. Y-you d-don't th-think? G-gods," he said burying his face in his hands. "This is e-embarrassing."

"Why," a scantily clad blonde boy said from behind him. "I've been waiting for this moment for weeks. You have no idea what it's like wondering 'will he accept or will he just get mad and run off?'"

"Wait," his more conservatively attired reflection said finally entering the room. "You mean have feelings for Ash - I mean 'Mirror-Ash' - but were afraid to act on them? This Ash said you were 'confident and collected'…the exact opposite of me."

"In matters of magic and athleticism… but the heart is different matter entirely. The kind I can't control with a potion or you with your supposed 'science.'"

"'Magic?' 'Athleticism?' I thought you said we were 'similar."

"Well, you're both super smart with a sister who loves you and an impeccable taste in friends – BOY friends," he said tossing his arm around Clemont's shoulders affectionately making the blonde boy turn an additional five shades of red.

In turn, Mirror-Clemont threw his arms around Ash with similar results before they ultimately retire. As Clemont is about to leave the bathroom, his reflection tosses him a small box through the mirror.

"Condoms?"

"You're welcome," he said clicking his tongue suggestively making Clemont recoil in abject horror.

He looks down at his hands and sighs before clenching his fist determinedly, and then looks over at Pikachu and Chespin on the counter.

"I-I guess the two of you should go check in on Serena and Bonnie for a while. Ash, wait up," he said harriedly trying to get his shirt off as he flicked the bathroom light off.