Chapter Four: So Close But So Far Away

It had been nearly a year since Ash saw Serena's first concert. He never got the chance to see any others since but he managed to listen to Bad Luck's two new albums; Serious Business and Heart-core. He really enjoyed both albums because they showed that Bad Luck could be flexible and show off talent with Serena. Even though the critics praised the album and topped the charts, Serena was still being horribly treated by Shuichi's fans.

"I don't understand why Serena is still getting so much hate!" Ash ranted to his friends, Dawn, May, Misty and Brock. They had all met up that morning at the local pokemon centre in Pewter City, and then they all decided to go out for a coffee. The gang had so many interesting stories to tell. Brock told the group about his amazing holiday romance in New York. Misty spoke about her sister's wedding and Dawn and May couldn't stop talking about their summer tour to Europe where they saw many live concerts and entered world-class contests - they even had the ribbons to prove it.

"Shouldn't you be concentrating on your own pokemon journey?" Misty asked Ash. "What happened to you are a pokemon master after all?"

"I know that," Ash responded. He couldn't bring himself to smile because all he know how crazy fans can be. He remembered after becoming a pokemon champion, being flamed by some people because they expected him to be a god, but when they saw he was just a young man, they nitpicked at every flaw. He heard of other incidents were people were crushed to death by overcrowding and how unkind words anonymously sent over the internet caused people to take their own lives. The other side to fame was not so great. Ash had risen and fallen during his career as a pokemon trainer. He could only imagine what Serena is going through. "But I can't help but worry about Serena."

"You don't need to be worried about Serena," Brock stated. "She's young, beautiful and is one of the richest ladies in the world right now. She's one third of the best selling band in Japan. She has everything."

"None of you guys understand," Ash insisted. "Just because she's famous, it doesn't mean that she's happy. Last week some crazy Shuichi-fan got arrested for throwing a bag of ratatta droppings in her face."

May gasped. "That's disgusting."

"See what I mean?" Ash asked. "There's a real dark side to fame."

"You're right," Brock said. "To top it all up, Shuichi's in prison so he can't do anything about it."

"How come he's in prison?" Dawn asked. "Wasn't he dating that really popular romance novelist from the 90's?"

"Shuichi's boyfriend murdered two people," Brock explained. "They tried to cover it up for so many years. The day after Shuichi's last concert with Bad Luck, they arrested him, his boyfriend and their friend, Tohma did too. Tohma had been covering up for him for years and Shuichi's undying love for Eiri was the downfall of his career. Klavier was assigned as the prosecutor for all three trials and Matt was a witness for the prosecution. They say it was them who reported them to the police."

"Who did they kill?" Misty asked. "I know one of them was Taki Aizawa, the lead singer of ASK, but who was the other one?"

"Yuki Kitazawa, he was pimping Eiri out when he was young. Eiri shot him dead and Tohma had been protecting him ever since. Shuichi's obsession with Eiri was once the driving force to his fame, but it was his eventual downfall. Eiri's got the death penalty. Shuichi and Tohma both have ten years. Eiri and Shuichi also adopted some children, they're in the care of Eiri's brother."

"It's not fair!" Ash yelled. "Serena had nothing to do with it! Why is she getting the blame? Damn that pink-haired faggot!"

"Be careful Ash," Misty whispered. "People can hear you."

"I don't care," Ash spat out. "Shuichi sucks. He and his boyfriend are horrible human beings that took advantage of their friends. They killed those two men in cold blood."

"YOU'RE WRONG!"A man roared from the other side of the coffee shop. The man was a tall man wearing a white frilly top and tight black jeans. He had a pink stuffed rabbit toy tucked on his arm and a teddiursa clinging onto his sleeve. They paid attention to the man's face, his cheeks were red and his eyes sparkled with tears.

"It's Ryuichi Sakuma!" Dawn gasped.

"Oh gosh," May swooned with star-struck eyes. "I love Nittle Grasper."

Ryuichi pointed his finger at Ash and yelled, "You give all the cute pikachus in the world a very bad name."

Ash wasn't sure what shocked him the most, his childish voice or the way he dressed.

"What are you talking about?" Ash asked.

"YOU DON'T KNOW A THING ABOUT SHUICHI AND ALL THE THINGS HE WENT THROUGH," Ryuichi screamed. "Tell them what you think Mr. Bear and Kumagoro!" Mr. Bear the teddiursa hopped on the table as Kumagoro, controlled by Ryuichi whirled around his body. Mr. Bear said nothing and only gritted his teeth. "SHUICHI SHINES BRIGHT LIKE A DIAMOND. THAT DIRTY TALENTLESS WITCH, SERENA HAS NO PLACE IN BAD LUCK. SHUICHI IS BAD LUCK'S STAR!"

"Serena deserves to be in that band more than anyone else," Ash snapped. He was still holding his ground. "Anything Shuichi did, Serena did a million times better."

"NO!" Ryuichi cried. "Serena kills Bad Luck with her generic vocals, and she can't sing; she's like a witch."

"So you have to insult Serena to prove that you like Shuichi?" Ash hissed. "I can take you on in a pokemon battle to settle this."

"Ash, don't you know who you're talking to?" Misty shouted.

"I don't care if he's the emperor or the pope," Ash snapped as he grabbed a pokeball from his pocket. "I'm letting nobody insult my friends."

"You think you're so hard cause you're a pokemon trainer?" Ryuichi tutted. "You're not a real music fan. I'm not battling you; not even worth my time."

"Coward," Ash hissed. The more he head about Shuichi, the more he hated his guts. Listening to his music was torture enough. "Good on Klavier and Matt for supporting her."

"Ryuichi was Shuichi Shindou's biggest idol, rival and fan," Brock explained. "He and Shuichi are very much alike in so many ways. I'm not surprised that he's sticking up for Shuichi. And he's right, we don't know what the guy has been through."

"I don't care," Ash said. "They need to leave Serena alone."

"Ash," Dawn patted his back. "Do you know that Bad Luck will be performing in Nimbassa City. We should get some tickets."

Ash felt his heart skip for joy. He loved listening to Serena's soft and tender voice, but then it hurt him as well because the music made her seem so close, but she was so far away.