Italics = dream

Chapter 6

He was five years old, before he got Bella, surrounded by faceless kids. He stood in the middle of a circle of them, holding a little Pachirisu, wearing the neat little light blue suit with white trim that was his school uniform.

The kids laughed as the Pachirisu hid its face in his shirt. Poor thing; it was scared senseless and shaking, a little burn on its back, evidence of being attacked by Chad's Charmander.

And then there was Chad, standing a few feet away. "Let that stupid thing go," the boy sneered. He was a few years older than Jack, a third grader. "I'm not finished with it yet!" The Charmander stepped out from behind its master.

"No," Jack whispered fearfully. Oh, yes, he remembered this day; his first Pokemon battle. He had caught Chad torturing small pet Pokemon that escaped their yards with his Charmander, so he rescued one of the victims. He had tried to run for a teacher, but Chad's friends surrounded him. Only this time, it looked like Jack's entire class was there as well.

"Fine, don't. See if I care. Charmander, Flamethrower!" The Charmander opened its mouth and released a geyser of fire. Jack tried to stand and run.

He screamed, forced to release the Pokemon. The Pachirisu hid behind him, fur charred. Jack's hands were blistered badly.

"Pachirisu," he whispered. "Pachirisu, you have to fight back! He'll hurt you if you don't. Please fight back."

The little Pokemon crept out from behind him, looking at him hopefully. It squeaked.

"Yeah, that's right. Now-" He paused suddenly. He couldn't think of any attacks.

That wasn't right; he had known exactly what to say before. Why couldn't he think of anything now? He frowned. Behind him, the crowd giggled.

"Charmander, attack!"

The Charmander leapt forward, scratching, biting, and generally just giving the poor Pachirisu a pounding like nothing else he had ever seen. Jack watched helplessly, horrified, as the Pokemon was beaten. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, he thought numbly. No, he had been winning during the real fight.

Finally, the Pachirisu couldn't get back up. It tried, but it collapsed back down.

"This is boring," Chad yawned. "What a loser. You're perfect for eachother."

A teacher finally came over. "What's going on?"

"I won a Pokemon match!" Chad exclaimed happily. But that was my line, Jack protested silently.

Instead of the teacher scolding them as she did in real life, because Pokemon battles weren't allowed during school, she smiled. "Congratulations, Chad. Your Charmander's really strong." She looked at Jack, her smile slipping away. "Arceus, Jack. Couldn't you have at least found a stronger Pokemon? Maybe then you wouldn't have lost!" She walked away, the other children laughing freely now.

The dream changed.

It was a few years later, and Jack was in fifth grade. He was sitting under an apple tree in his yard with Bella, still a silver Eevee. Bella was turned away from him, nose stuck haughtily in the air. The sun was down completely, and Jack found himself trying to tempt Bella to look at him with an Oran berry.

He felt his mouth open. "Bella, I'm sorry I stepped on your tail. This will make it feel better, I promise! Please forgive me?"

He remembered this day; when Bella evolved. He had stepped on her tail on accident and offered the berry to relieve the pain. Bella had immediately turned to eat the berry, and, being completely happy with her trainer, had evolved into an Umbreon a few hours later.

Just as expected, she turned. She even stepped closer to him, though she bypassed the berry and looked straight in his eyes. Her mouth opened.

Suddenly, she snarled, "I will never be happy with a trainer like you!" She bit into his wrist, drawing blood.

"Bella, I said I was sorry!" he cried, yanking away.

"Sorry doesn't make it better, you loser! SORRY DOESN'T BRING MY BROTHER BACK!"

He sat up in bed with a gasp. Tears streamed down his face. Bella, who had been sleeping next to him, lifted her head in sleepy confusion. She gave her strange little high-pitched whine, asking what was wrong.

He rolled over onto his side and picked her up, squeezing her. "Bella, I'm sorry," he sobbed. "I lost your brother, I'm sorry." He whispered his apologies over and over to her, staring blankly at the wall.

Finally, Bella, completely fed up with her trainer's strange behavior, nipped his shoulder to shake him out of his depression. It worked; he stared at her in shock. She wiggled up a bit, placed both paws on either shoulder, fixed him with a glare only an Umbreon could deliver, and licked him on the nose.

The message was strangely clear: "I forgive you already, so knock off the bullshit!"

Jack pulled her into a gentler hug. "You're right," he whispered. He closed his eyes. "Bella, I promise we'll get Thorn back. No matter what happens, I'll get him back."

A/N: I apologize profusely. This was barely more than a filler, trying to move the story forward. On the plus side, I like to think it had some entertainment value in the ever-so-slight knife-twisting. Read and review.