I let out the air I hadn't yet realized I was holding in. He smiled at me, but it felt like he was dissapointed with himself.

Why? The guy had just wiped the floor with me in front of all of Kalos.

If Ash hated me, he wouldn't have even bothered to glance back at me.

He would be going on to the finals, and I would be going home. I turned away before I had the chance to look at his bare arms. The audience was cheering; I could see the red signs with Ash's name written across them in big, bold lettering.

I could still remember we first met, how my face burned with shame when my eyes refused to peel away from his metal limbs. "Frostbite," he had said in such a cold voice that a chill went through my bones. It was about a month ago when we last talked.

By no means are we friends, let alone together, but we did travel to the league with each other. He's "too in to be out, too out to be in," as my brother would say.

"Miss? 'Scuse me? Miss Astrid?"

I jolt out of my thoughts and lock my knees as I spiral back into reality.

The referee pats my shoulder consolingly. "Sorry about the loss, but the next match is in a few minutes." He taps his watch with two fingers. "We've gotta keep this thing running. Great battle, by the way." He shoves me onto the long, green walkway that leads to the dressing room. "Thanks," I call to the moustached man, who has already forgotten me, staring intently at his clipboard.

I run into the dressing room, sit down, and bury my face in my hands. Something about battling Ash made me recall Brandon, of the Kanto Battle Frontier.

"Not bad," he had said when I could finally grip the Frontier Symbol in my damp palms. "For a Kalos girl, not bad at all." I remember giving a strained smile and bowing to my brother's childhood hero.

"Astrid?"

I faintly register a cold hand on my shoulder. Metal. When I look up, Ash's face swims into focus.

Ash's face?

I jump, looking slowly up into his deep brown eyes. "Arceus, don't scare me like that!"

He forces a reluctant smile. "Sorry. It's getting late, and the Center's going to close soon."

I stare at him blankly. He sighs, and sits on a velvety bench in front of me. "Maybe we should heal our teams?"

"Oh." I stand up, so quickly that my head churns and my blood pounds in my ears. Ash grabs a visitor's map and we walk alongside each other into the League Square.

"If our rooms are to the left, and the Food Court is the second right..." Ash mulls over the directions while I stare up at the moon. Tonight, she's a waning crescent, framed by the clouds who seem to have blanketed the whole sky, though the moon shines bright enough to seemingly push away all obstruction.

"Knew it!"

I wince as Ash grins at me triumphantly. "We go straight!"

I chuckle slightly. "Since when do you smile?"

Ash's face turns serious once again, and he turns away.

"I don't smile," he mutters, more to himself than to me. "I don't smile."

My chest tightens with something- I can't quite pick out the feeling. Maybe pity, slight anger, but mostly disappointment. "Can we just go?"

He starts walking again, so briskly that I have to jog to catch up. "Arceus. Slow down, will you?" I call after him.

"Hurry up, then." His voice cracks.

As I oblige, I catch a glimpse of his face, no larger than the sliver of moon in the sky. His eyes are dull, lifeless, and his cheeks shine with tears. Hopeless, I can't help but think.

"What are you hiding?"

He swipes madly at his face and turns. "Astrid, you lost that battle for a reason. Now leave me alone."

"What are you saying?" Arceus forbid he insult my style! "I can win against you! I just-"

His eyes narrow and I stop midsentence.

"You don't know how much I want to tell you the truth."

"Then why don't you tell me," I whisper. "I can help you."

"No," he says. "Nobody can help me! Not even one of you!"

"What the hell?"

One of me? What is he talking about?

"Meet me at the afterparty tomorrow night. I swear, I'll explain everything."

I sigh. "You'd better."

"Your Absol must be exhausted. Apparently this Center is open until midnight."

My eyebrows furrow. He just went from screaming at me to advising me in a few seconds.

"Ash, I've been looking for you."

I swivel around. Behind me is a tall woman dressed in an modest, full-sleeved black dress.

"H-h-hello, M-miss C-cynthia," I mumble, wide-eyed.

She smiles at me. "I loved the way your Absol could endure the Draco Meteor from Ash's Altaria. Really, it was by dumb luck that Ash won." She turns away from me.

"Ash, we need to talk alone. League business."

Ash shakes his head. "Astrid is going to get involved sooner or later. Might as well just tell her now."

"But Ash, you said you'd tell me at the afterparty." I wasn't complaining, just confused about the sudden change of events.

Cynthia looks at me. "Perhaps we should go somewhere more akin to private conversation."

"Lead the way," says Ash, looking unnaturally bored.

I guess I don't get any say in this, then.

I follow Cynthia and Ash into an area just inside the League boundaries: a small, compact gray building. The door rubs against the top of my head as I pass under it, and Ash has to duck slightly to get through. When I get a chance to register what's inside, I have to blink a few times. Gone is the image of cramped broom closet or outhouse. Replacing it is a huge room, so cavernous that my footsteps echo against the marble floor. When I look up, I see stone arches curving to morph the room into a dome. As I slowly walk forward, I trip over a small, metal box with a large, red button on it.

"Go on, press the button," urges Ash, with a hint of childish impatience in his voice I have never heard before. The rest of the room is plain, save for the formal tables and chairs. Then, I notice something on the wall. Something very small, something almost impossible to notice: a marginally small difference in the color of one retangular area from the color of the rest of the walls. I ram my hand against the button, and, sure enough, the small section of wall recedes. The triumphant laugh refuses to stay bottled up and I let it out like a cough.

Cynthia's words of praise are honestly sort of overwhelming.

"Arceus, you saw the door, didn't you?" she asks. "Wow, the second person who's ever been able to spot that."

I can't help it: I don't really like to be second at anything. So I ask, "Who was the first?"

Ash's head snaps down suddenly in a sort of "please don't look at me" way. Cynthia eyes him warily as his metal hands clench with a clink. "Both of you in one room."

He glances back up. "Like what you said when we first met in Sinnoh. 'When every life meets another life...'"

"'...Something will be born."

The faint whispers of their words gently float down, like feathers easing their way toward the ground. I've heard her say the phrase multiple times on TV, but now, when I hear Cynthia's crystal clear voice and Ash's low, husky one combine, I understand the enormity of that phrase.

No matter how large, how miniscule, how loved, or how hated, every life has meaning. And when you meet anyone- Trainer or Pokémon- you are giving birth to new interaction, new understanding. Essentially you create a life.

The words of the ancient people echo in my head as I step towards the future.

Wow.

Well, that was a real bugger to write. Seriously, I went from Ash getting attacked by a flash mob to Cynthia turning out to be Astrid's older sister! #TooManyDarnIdeas

Be warned: we will be rotating between these 3 points of view in the future. Next chapter- N tells us about the fate of Unova... 5 years after Hilda is killed.

R&R. Please, dudes.

I updated Chapter 2 and fixed a bunch of non-make-sense-stuff and added Drew from Advanced. If you find any grammar or spelling issues, please tell me!

MSD, signing off. Hope you have a wonderful Saturday! (Or Friday, Or Sunday, depending on where you live)