Alright then, let's continue our story!

Flashback (4 years ago) – Paul is aged 11

"Come on Paul! Hurry up!" Lea called out.

"I'm coming!" Paul had yelled after her.

Paul and Lea were almost at the Veilstone Regional Park. There, they would play as usual; with their pokemon of course.

"Go! Turtwig!" Lea cried out as she threw a pokeball into the air. Once the pokeball opened, out came the grass-turtle pokemon.

"TURTWIG!" it cried out happily.

"Come on Paul! Bet you can't catch me!" Lea yelled as she started to sprint away.

"Hey! No fair, you got a head start!" Paul yelled jokingly as he began to chase her while their Pokemon followed closely behind.

For the rest of the afternoon, they either played tag or rested on the grassy lawn to take a break. This was back when Paul was still caring and nice to everyone. He would always put people and pokemon ahead of him and treat them equally with respect. When the sun was setting, Lea called Paul over to a bench to watch the sunset together. As they both sat on a bench, Lea had pulled something out of her pocket.

"Here, let's take a picture of us sitting on this bench." Lea suggested. Then she took a look at her Turtwig. "And also with Turtwig of course." she said giving a wink to Turtwig.

"That a good idea, I'll go over and place the camera on that stone railing."

Paul got up and did as he said he would. He had set the camera on auto-take in order to take a picture after he had settled.

"Alright… There! Set!"

"Come on Paul! Hurry!" Lea called out impatiently.

"Coming! We have 10 seconds to get into our places!"

Paul had taken a seat beside Lea but to his surprise, she had cuddled him. Without thinking, he had cuddled her back while Turtwig jumped in front of the bench giving a smile. The 'snap' from the camera was heard and the trio then relaxed. To both their surprises, Paul and Lea were both blushing. That was when Lea saw the sun slowly starting to go down so that was when she swooped in and kissed Paul on the lips.

Back to present for a moment…

"Wait, so you kissed HER!" Zoey asked with an upset tone.

"Yeah but that was before I met you. Let me finish Zoey." Paul said before he continued.

Now back to the previous scene…

Paul was absolutely flabbergasted by the kiss and so he pushed Lea off the bench. Lea was on the ground, shocked. She thought that Paul had loved her, she wanted to check.

"Paul…" Lea said while looking at the ground. "Do you love me?"

"No, well- I mean maybe. Wait… no that's not it…"

"So you don't love me Paul! After all that we've been though! I HATE YOU PAUL! I NEVER LOVED YOU EITHER!" Lea screamed at him before sprinting away towards the opposite direction.

"LEA! WAIT!" Paul had cried before he started to chase after her. Turtwig was obviously very distressed by its trainer's emotions but he followed closely behind Paul.

. . . Change of POV . . .

"NO! HOW COULD HE!" was all that was going through Lea's mind. She was filled with hatred; hatred of Paul for rejecting her.

"That idiot…"

She had been rubbing her teary eyes with her arm that she didn't notice that she was J-walking across a sidewalk. Before she realized it, it had been too late. A car had honked its horn before running into Lea, throwing her a few feet backwards.

The pain is felt now wasn't nearly as painful as what she felt from the inside.

"I guess it'll be all over soon…" she thought to herself. "The truth is Paul… even though you might not love me; I'll still love you without a doubt always. Maybe we might see each other again… I hope you'll forgive me then…"she paused for a moment and realized that the man was out of his car and on a cell phone; most likely calling 9-1-1. "If I'm going to die tonight, I just want you to know Paul," "I love you." She spoke the words out loud, just barely making them a whisper. And with those last words, her mind drifted away slowly…

. . . Change of POV . . .

"LEA!" Paul cried out. The girl was nowhere to be found. When Paul heard the sirens from the ambulances, his heart raced. Somehow, he already knew who was in trouble. He raced towards the sound of the ambulances; unaware of what he was going to find. When he had arrived at the scene, he couldn't bare the site of his oldest-childhood friend; dead on the streets. His eyes were full of fear and sadness. 'No…No… this is just a bad dream…" Paul collapsed to his knees on the ground. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a man with two police officers; talking. "Officers, it was a complete accident. I am deeply sorry, I did not mean for this to happen. And please believe me, the girl was J-walking when I accidently bumped into her." The officers were not fully convinced but had to believe the man. "Did she say anything sir?" one of the officers asked. "No officers, nothing at all." And with that, they asked the man for his name and address and then they parted ways. Unfortunately for Paul, he didn't get to hear Lea's last words so his spirit was still filled with that hatred for everything, and everyone. He never wanted Lea to die like this. He blamed it on everything he saw, even Lea's own Turtwig. But most of all, he blamed it on himself. With that grief he no longer loved pokemon, neither did he make any new friends, fearing the pain to bear when one leaves or dies. After Lea's funeral, Paul had decided to take Turtwig under his care. Although he gave Turtwig the same treatment as his other pokemon, he was a little more lax with it came to him. He wasn't cruel hearted or mean, he was just afraid. But Zoey had changed that…

End of Flashback

"Oh…" Zoey said with a concerned voice. "I'm sorry to hear about your friend Paul…"

"It's all my fault… I was the one that rejected her. I was the one that made her run away. I was the ONE THAT KILLED HER!" and for the first time since 4 years, he had started to cry. Zoey didn't know that Lea meant that much to him. Of course, one side of her was jealous but the other side was concerned. Not knowing what to say, Zoey gave Paul and friendly hug in which he collapsed into. Zoey slowly started to rub his back which made Paul feel a lot better.

"You know, she'll always be waiting for you." She gave a quick smile before continuing on. "And I'm sure she will wait as long as she has to, to meet you again. For now, let's go to sleep Paul."

"Alright Zoey… Thanks for understanding."

"Hey, we both love each other right?"

"That's an undeniable fact. Although I loved Lea maybe more than as a regular friend, I'll always love you with all my heart Zoey." Paul said as he gave her an honest smile. Zoey went to zip up the tent before getting inside of her sleeping bag.

"I'm going to need some sleep if I'm going to participate tomorrow. Goodnight Paul. Sweet dreams."

"You too Zoey… and you too Lea…" Paul then drifted off to sleep.

…Paul's Dream…

Paul woke up in a brightly lit room.

"Where am I?" he asked himself.

"Hey Paul…" a voice said behind him. Paul quickly spun around and saw a ghostly image of Lea.

"Lea? But… how?" Paul was confused… but happy. He ran over to her to give her a hug in which he actually felt. She returned the hug before facing him eye to eye.

"So, I see you met another girl…" Lea started.

"Yeah…" Paul said somewhat ashamedly. "Look Lea, it's my fault that you died that night. I never should've treated you like that. I'm sorry." He swung his head down when he apologized. Lea just simply smiled at this.

"No Paul. It wasn't your fault. It's technically not really anyone's fault other than mine for being careless."

"But I-"

"Stop Paul. There's other things I want to tell you and I don't have much time." Lea replied.

"I'm glad you met Zoey. She's really making you happy, and I can feel that and do you know why?" Lea took a quick pause before continuing. "Because a part of me will always be in your heart Paul. You can never forget the ones you truly loved and they will always be with you forever, like me." Lea replied happily. "Don't let the past experiences let you down. Continue your relationship with Zoey. I'm certain that whatever route you take in life with her, I'll always be happy for you. But I want you to remember, I'll always be with you every step of the way IF you need my help. Alright?"

Paul had to pause for a moment to allow all of that to sink in. He couldn't believe it. The girl that first loved him said it was ok for him to love someone else. Paul felt that a lot of weight had been lifted off his chest. He was glad that he had this dream, he was glad that he met a girl such as Lea.

"Back when the car hit me, the driver claimed that I didn't say anything, but I did Paul. My last words on earth were I love you. And that you directed to you Paul, because I'll always love you forever, whatever happens." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek making Paul blush. "I have to go now. I hope you'll be happy with Zoey. I was really distressed when I saw how heartless you had become. I tried to visit you but your heart was always closed. But now that's all changed, thanks to Zoey. Give her my regards and I'll see you again sometime!" she then dissolved into the air leaving Paul utterly speechless.

. . .

Paul woke up in the morning and found Zoey out of bed. He saw her outside making breakfast for him. "I'll never forget you Lea. Never…" he then placed a smile on his face before walking out the tent.

Whew, that chapter must've been a story of its own! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it cause I really enjoyed writing about it. Thank you Emmi92 for the OC and stay tuned for future chapters!