Disclaimer:

Question:

My Answer:

Characters: Your own pokemon, and yourself.

Summary: An inside look into what it might be like inside the game, versus what it's like for us on the outside.

Restart

~We're not as different as we seem to be:

There's so much more to me than what you see~

"Finish it!" you shout.

My partner, a pokemon that always did enjoy the blood of the sport, has our opponent imprisoned in his arms. In one fluid motion he flips our opponent onto the ground, and her gasp of pain is audible from where I crouch.

Our opponent scrambles back on all fours. Her tail is dragging on the floor of the rocky arena, leaving streaks of blood as she attempts to flee. She takes me in with the eyes of a dumb beast, and loses it: she begins to cry long, blubbering wails that never seem to end, and blood froths from her mouth.

"No," I whisper.

My partner doesn't even spare me a glance; instead he uproots a boulder from the arena and brings it down hard onto our opponent's head in a Rock Throw. There's a dent in her temple, and even though the rapid rise and fall of her flanks continue I know that she's a goner.

"No," I repeat, louder this time. "No. I don't want any part of this…"

"Dragon Claw," you command.

Against my will, I unsheathe my claws and lumber towards our opponent. No, not our opponent- yours. She's not my opponent. I don't even know her.

She lifts her head, and I see myself reflected in the pixels of her eyes. I see my paw begin to glow in a Dragon Claw.

And I see my attack rip her open as her HP falls to zero and she faints.

She faints slowly, in a fade-out that happens in a blink of an eye to you but lasts an eternity for me. In the end, there's nothing left but a shimmer of pixels and a pool of blood unseen to you but makes me want to vomit.

"Dodge it!" I hear you scream.

I turn slowly, and find her partner charging towards me: my partner doesn't watch- can't watch, since it's not his turn to move- as the attack slashes downwards.

But I watch. I watch as my HP is reduced to zero, and I watch as blood spills from my body like tears. I watch the NPC stare through me, like Pinocchio before he became animated. I watch as I start to disappear.

Then my eyes vanish, and I can't watch anything anymore.

000

"Dammit," you mutter, curled up on your couch with your DS in your hands. "That Ace Trainer always gets me." You shut the game off and then restart it, beginning the battle over again.

Your two favourite pokemon are at full health, and, like the last five times, you send them out first.

~Tell me, what good is winning

When you lose your heart?~