Paul's Tears
Our heroes are on the road after the Sinnoh league and have run into Paul and Barry. Ash decides to have a battle with Paul.
Ash's POV
Paul and I were battling each other once again. He was using his Electrovire and I was using Infernape. Pikachu was right next to me, cheering for Infernape. Dawn, Piplup, and Barry were on the sidelines watching. Brock was in the middle of us, judging. Infernape was getting tired. Electrovire had still a lot of power in it. Paul spoke and said, "Electrovire, Thunderbolt!" Thunderbolt was launched towards Infernape. Before I could command it to dodge it, the Thunderbolt hit Infernape hard. "Infernape!" I cried out.
Infernape went down in a heap. Brock made his call and said, "Infernape is unable to battle! Electrovire is the winner! Paul is the winner!" I recalled Infernape back to its ball and said, "Great job, you deserve a good rest." Paul recalled his Electrovire without saying a word. Dawn and Barry came over to me. Dawn sighed and said, "It was a good battle Ash. Too bad you lost." Barry nodded in agreement and said, "Paul has gotten stronger, you know." I nodded. Paul walked away without saying a thing.
Something inside me was telling me to go after him, so I did. I followed him and called out his name, "Paul!" But, instead of him turning to me and asking what I wanted, he started to run. I couldn't believe it. Paul never ran away from me before. I ran after him, calling his name, "Paul!" Paul kept running. Finally, I caught up with him. I grabbed his arm and turn him around. Before I could see his eyes, he threw up his arms in front of face. I could still see his mouth-which was trembling. I grabbed him and he started to thrash around-like he was trying to get me to let go. But, I didn't. I hung on. Something was telling me to hang on. "Paul!" I shouted. Paul finally spoke and said-his voice trembling, "No, dad! Please, don't hurt me! I'm sorry for being such a weakling!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
Paul kept thrashing around. I had to do something before he hurt someone-namely himself. I shouted at the top of my lungs, "PAUL! IT'S ME! IT'S ASH!" Paul stop thrashing around and put down his arms. I saw his face and saw that he had been crying. I couldn't believe it-Paul was crying. He opened his eyes and I saw the terror that someone had placed into him a long time ago. I could tell that something was terribly wrong and it had something to do with his dad. He smiled at the sight of me and weakly said, "Ash. Thank goodness. I am glad to see that it is you." I was even more confused. Why was he afraid of his dad? I thought to myself. Pikachu, Dawn, Piplup, Brock, and Barry caught up to us. They all gasped at the sight.
Paul still had tears in his eyes. Dawn asked the first question, "What happened?" Barry asked the second question, "Are you okay?" Brock asked the final question, "Paul, is everything okay?" Paul shook his head and answered, "No. There is something you ought to know. There is a Pokémon Center up the road here. We can heal our Pokémon there and I can tell you there." We all nodded in agreement. We followed him to the center but little did we know that Team Rocket overheard us.