Chapter 5 – Breaking up is never easy

"What…you're breaking up with me…"

Ashachu felt numb. Hearing those words was like being hit over the head by a Rhydon's tail. Part of him refused to accept it – This couldn't be happening, it had to be one of Darkrai's nightmares.

Hunter let out a long sigh and bowed his head. This was torture. He couldn't bare to look at the horror and hurt on Ashachu's face, but dared not look away. If he was going to do this, he owed it to Ashachu to look him in the eye.

"I didn't say I want to break up. I just said I think we should take a break."

"What's the difference?" cried Ashachu. "You're saying you don't want to be my mate any more."

"N-no," stuttered Hunter. "I just mean, we should pause things. You know just to see how we feel?"

Ashachu frowned and shook his head. He had no idea what Hunter had just said. "No!"

Hunter bit his lip, silently wishing he could be anywhere but this. He was struggling to find the right words. To explain what he wanted in a way that Ashachu would understand…and that hopefully wouldn't hurt him.

"Let me put it this way. I think our relationship was moving too quickly, and we weren't quite ready to be lovers as well as best friends. I just want us to go to take some time to make sure this is really what we want. To make sure we don't have feelings about…other Pokémon."

Ashachu's stomach gave a lurch of fear as Hunter uttered those last two words. "Is this…About Geyser."

Hunter's eyes widened in surprise. How could Ashachu have asked that. Was Lucario right. Was Ashachu jealous of Geyser? And then he felt a touch of annoyance – After what had happened, how could Ashachu think this was about him and Geyser?

"No. It's about you and that Sneasel!"

Ashachu felt a twinge of annoyance. "You know he has a name!" He was getting tired to everyone referring to Blade as that Sneasel. "Is that really what this is about? Hunter, I'm…"

"Shhhh." Hunter raised a paw to his lips to silence Ashachu – which only irritated the electric mouse more. "You don't need to tell me why it happened. It happened, and I forgive you for it. What I need you to do is decide how you really feel. And I need to work out how I feel about all this."

Ashachu gaped at Hunter. He was struggling to comprehend what he was hearing. He gaped at Hunter, before holding out his paws and saying, "Hunter. C'mon man. You can't be serious. I love you, buddy. You're."

"Ashachu stop," said Hunter bluntly, knowing if he allowed Ashachu to continue he might not be able to go through with this. The confused and upset expression on Ashachu's face was already tearing at his heart. "I've made my decision. This is what I want. We need to take a break, so we can work out how we really feel each other."

Ashachu opened his maw to reply for a second, closed it, sighed and then bowed his head. For a second it looked like he might cry.

He closed his eyes and screwed up his face. Hunter smiled at him weakly. He wanted to say something to comfort Ashachu, but had no idea what to say. And then a completed disaster happened…

"Hunter," sang out Geyser. "…Are you coming!"

Hunter closed his eyes and groaned. He opened them again, looked up and saw Geyser waving him to him from a short distance away. Then he looked back at Ashachu and readied himself for the explosion.

Ashachu raised his head and looked over his shoulder. When he noticed Geyser, the expression on his face changed from a look of sadness to a scowl. He turned back to Hunter and folded his arms. "Oh. I see how it is." He added under his breach, "not about Geyser, my tail!"

"Ashachu it's not what you think," said Hunter. "We just agreed to spar together. Well, Cameron and Ash said they wanted us to."

The scowl on Ashachu's face deepened. For a brief second, Hunter held his breath wondering how Ashachu would respond. And then, Ashachu spun around, turning his back to Hunter and raising his nose in the air. "Fine, go spar together. I don't care."

"Ashachu…It's not."

"No it's fine. Go train with him."

"Ashachu, don't be this way…ASHACHU!"

Still keeping his back to Hunter, Ashachu dropped to his all fours, and ran off. Hunter held out a paw as if to stop him, and called out but it was to no avail. He watched Ashachu go and then sighed. "Well that could have gone better…"

Hunter wasn't quite sure how he felt at that moment. There was a small feeling of relief. Like a weight had been lifted from him. There was also a sense of regret. For the most part he just felt numb.

He didn't have long to ponder his feelings. For at that point, Geyser called out his name again, followed by Cameron.

"Hunter!"

"Hunter, get your tail over here!"

[Pokémon]

Ashachu ran deeper into the rainforest, finally stopping when he couldn't see the others anymore. He came to a halt beside a large rock between two palm trees and raised himself onto his hind legs.

"Hunter," he squeaked. "How could you? PIKA!"

In a bid to release some of the emotions building within him, he attacked the bounder. He leapt into the air and brought an iron tail down upon it. The large rock shattered into a thousand tiny fragment, and Ashachu landed back on his feet, breathing heavily.

"After everything we've been through together, you seriously want to break off…and be with Geyser. Fuck!"

Emotions swirled through his little mousey brain. Anger, frustration, regret, sadness, jealously and fear.

"I mean, I know I did the wrong thing by you. I know I hurt you. But…we could have worked it out. Why didn't you just talk to me about it…And Geyser. When I get my paws on you!"

He punched his right paw into the palm of his left and let off a spark of electricity…

The attack was quick, silent and deadly. Ashachu had no idea what was happening until he felt arm around his chest and the cold claw across his eyes, blinding him. As panic surged within him, he heard a cold voice whisper in his ear, "Got you, little chu."

Ashachu opened his mouth to scream, but quickly found it covered by a claw.

"No, no. Don't scream little chu. And don't even think about using an electric attack or else."

Ashachu felt the claws around him tighten a little and he heard the creature that had a hold of him laugh. "He he. Is that all you're going to do kid. Just stand there. Haven't you listened to anything I taught ya."

And that's when Ashachu recognised the voice. "Blade?" His heart thumped in his chest as the fear begun to subside. The claws release him permitting him to spin around and come face to face with the Sneasel.

Blade was grinning at him, his maw wide open. Ashachu glowered at him. "There was no need to sneak up on me like that?"

"Hehe. You know kiddo. If your gonna wander away from your trainer like, you'd better keep your wits about you. This is where the wild Pokémon roam, you need to be alter. Sensitive to your surroundings. No humans to protect you out here. What have I been telling you about instincts? A wild Pokémon would never leave themselves so vulnerable."

Ashachu sighed and rolled his eyes. "But you still didn't need to sneak up and grab me like that. You scared me half to death."

Blade continued to grin his smug grin at Ashachu. "Only way you'll learn kiddo. You'll be on your guard next time." He laughed, before slapping Ashachu on the back. "Haha. So how have ya been. Arceus, I missed you!"

I missed you. For some reason that expression made Ashachu's heart flutter and a little colour appear in his cheeks.

"I'm okay, I guess," Ashachu replied. "Same old trained Pokémon life. Training, gym battles, walking."

"Sounds terrible!"

Ashachu resisted the urge to roll his eyes for a second time. "What about you," he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing here," Blade replied. "I came looking for you, Hikari. Was getting lonely in that place."

"How'd you get out."

"Had a little help from a friend. Turns out they were looking for you too. Well for your trainer."

Ashachu groaned. "Ugh. Please tell me your not still with Team Rocket."

Blade laughed again. "Hehe. Meowth told me ya might say that. I've heard they've been following your trainer since the second day of his journey. I told him, sheesh, talk about stalking."

"You don't know the half of it," grumbled Ashachu.

"I know enough," Blade winked at him. And then he said something Ashachu wasn't expecting. "Now tell me Hikari. What's going on between you and that Riolu."

Ashachu let out a long sigh. "His name is Hunter. And I don't want to talk about it."

"Look I saw what happened alright."

Ashachu felt a jolt in his stomach. "Y-you saw that."

"Mmmhmm." Blade nodded. "Team Rocket's been following you since Robusto. I've been watching your camp for a while, waiting for an opportunity to come talk to you. I saw you run off into the forest and, so I followed you."

"You know Blade you're right," Ashachu replied. "Talk about stalking."

Blade laughed. "Hehe. You know what you need Hikari." He scuttled around Ashachu and grabbed his shoulder, making him jump. "You need to unwind. Let out some of your pent up emotion."

Blade started to massage Ashachu's shoulder. And Ashachu felt that same pleasant tingling sensation down his spine and tail he had felt the last time Blade had touched him.

"And I think I know just the thing! Come with me."