Author’s Note: I’m working on Ascension and Season Three at the moment, but hey, I threw in a short story between Season One and Season Two, so why not add another short story between Season Two and Season Three? Better yet, why not make this a follow up to Reason, which was my first pokémon story in five years? Writing style is based on rainflower’s Realness Plus The Square Root of Imaginary. Some concepts introduced will be a dark and disturbing…so keep that in mind, will you?

- Affection -

- By Brian -

A quiet, male voice asks out, “Hello? Misty, are you still there? Please don’t leave me alone…”

Scared, watery eyes scan the surrounding area; darkness is seen.

Black-haired boy pleads, “Misty? Please…please come back! I…I…I don’t know what to do without you…”

A slender, female figure appears, wearing a red, skin-tight shirt and headband, with the Hoenn insignia displayed. “On the contrary, Ash…you know exactly what to do when someone leaves you.”

Blink. Blink. Blink.

The black-haired boy looks at the figure before him, whispering, “May? Is that you-”

A hasty reply is given, “I am her, yet not her at the same time. I am the May that exists in your mind.”

Eyes go wide with fear; another fake loved one has appeared.

Black-haired boy fidgets in his chair, in an attempt to hide his discomfort and confusion.

“Was it enlightening?” Brown-haired girl looks at him expectantly.

Black-haired boy opens his mouth to respond; no words come out.

Sharply, “Was it enlightening?”

Silence. Silence. Silence.

Brown-haired girl moves closer to the black-haired boy.

Shiver. Gasp.

“What you doing…?”

Slender hand reaches out to slap the black-haired boy.

Black-haired boy clutches his cheek in pain. “What was that for…?”

“Was it enlightening?”

“What are you talking about, May?” Black-haired boy rubs cheek, wondering if it’ll bruise.

“Pain.” is the simple response given by the brown-haired girl.

Brown eyes widen in confusion. “Pain?”

“You felt pain when I slapped you, yes?”

“Of course! You slap as hard as Mis-” Black-haired boy catches himself, realization occurring.

Blue eyes narrow at the boy. “Yes. Pain. You also felt pain when Misty left you moments ago, did you not?”

Nod. Nod. Nod.

Black-haired boy nods head solemnly; eyes beginning to look glassy.

Brown-haired girl continues speaking, “When you feel pain, you wish for it go away, don’t you?”

Sad smile appears on the boy’s face. “No one wants to feel pain.”

“Exactly, which means you know what to do when someone leaves you, am I correct?”

Boy shakes his head, not understanding the meaning behind the girl’s words.

Smirk appears on girl’s lips, as she wraps her arms around him and sits on his lap. “You don’t know what to do when someone you love leaves you?”

Brown eyes widen in fear and arousal at the female’s sudden move. “I…I…what? I…I don’t…know what you’re talking about, May…”

“Of course you know, Ash.” Her smirk turns back to her blank expression, yet she grinds against him.

Black-haired boy tries his best to hide his arousal. “Please…please tell me what you’re talking about…”

Grind. Grind. Grind.

Gasp. Gasp. Gasp.

Groan. Groan. Groan.

Brown-haired girl stares into the boy’s eyes. “When Misty left, you felt a hole in your heart, did you not, Ash? That hole in your heart made you seek to fulfill it, with anything that you could find that was suitable. You found me…May, a simple, innocent girl from Hoenn.”

A low growl is heard. “What are you trying to say? Are you trying to say that I was thinking with my-”

The girl cut him off with a particularly hard grind to his lap. “You wished to find affection, since you no longer had the affection of Misty. You wished to find someone who was better then her, someone more slender, more delicate, more innocent, did you not?”

The black-haired boy has had enough; he pushes the girl out of his lap and stands up to face her. “I didn’t do that!”

A smirk appears on the brown-haired girl’s face. “You wished to become one with May, didn’t you? You are, and will forever be, a lonely boy…who tries his best to fulfill the holes in his heart in any way that he can. When Blue and Green left, you immediately sought out Misty and Brock to replace them, did you not?”

“No, I did not!”

“When Brock left, you replaced him with Tracey.”

“No…it’s not true…”

“When Tracey left, you made sure Brock returned, didn’t you? You don’t even know how you did it, but you managed to get Brock to journey with you nonetheless.”

“No! Brock left because…because Professor Ivy must’ve done something horrible to him!”

“When Misty and Brock left you, you felt all alone, didn’t you? You wished for anyone to journey with you, didn’t you? You yearned for the companionship of others, so you sought out Gary, am I correct?”

Brown eyes widen in fear and shame. “Please…please don’t say it…”

The female smiled at him, before continuing, “You sought out Gary, but he refused your sick advances, since he did not swing that way, right?”

“JUST SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!”

“You ran away from Pallet…as far as you could, ashamed, so ashamed, like a boy who had been caught stealing from the cookie jar. You were shamed, weren’t you? The loneliness consumed your soul, right to the point where you would seek out your former best friend.”

The black-haired boy slumped against the wooden chair, hands on his face.

Tears. Tears. Tears.

“You missed Misty. You thought about her, over and over again. You thought about what sick, twisted things you would do to her when she returned to you, right? You wanted her, you needed her, because without her you were nothing. You even tried going to Imite House, in a desperate attempt to find Duplica. You were going to force her to pretend to be like Misty, because that last time she did that it really turned you on, didn’t it?”

The boy weakly tries to protest her claims, but is unsuccessful.

“You found May when you reached Hoenn. You saw that she was everything Misty wasn’t…and you loved that. She thought you were a nice boy, which is why she allowed you to accompany her. Didn’t you realize that you were her only friend?”

The boy yells and screams for her to stop, but she does not.

“She only wanted a friend. She was a very lonely girl, that May. Her father didn’t love her; he wanted a son. When he did receive a son, he kicked out May, to go on her journey, despite the fact that she was fourteen, the same age as you. She trusted you, did you know that, Ash?”

Brown-eyes are filled with shameful tears.

“You tried your best not to follow up on those horrible impulses of yours, but that one night, when her sleeping bag was right next to yours, it was too much for you to take, wasn’t it? All you wanted was some affection…just like how Misty used to give it to you, only you wanted more…”

Black-haired boy speaks up frantically, “I didn’t mean for it to happen! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“You gently stroked her cheek, and she woke up, her eyes filled with innocence. She asked you, in a quiet voice, what you were doing, and you lied to her face, telling her that you loved her. She giggled at you, and you grinned back at her. She liked you, Ash. She liked the kind side of you, not the dark and twisted side that’s been building up in your soul…”

Silence.

“You looked into her eyes, and then you kissed her. She broke off the kiss, and she asked you what you were going to do. You said you were going to show her what love was. She was confused and scared, but she thought you loved her, so she allowed you to show her what love was. She was so trusting of you, even when it started to hurt her. You kept on going and going, despite her quiet cries for you to be slow and gentle…”

“I…I…”

“You were the first person that she thought loved her, yet that was not the case. You took advantage of her that night, and you took it all away, Ash. She liked you. You were her best friend. How could you do such a thing, Ash?”

The boy, through his sobbing, whispered quietly, “Affection…all I wanted…was affection…to feel loved…to feel close…to be one…”

The boy glanced his head downwards, and began crying softly, damning himself over and over again for what he had done.

Unfamiliar sobbing was heard. The boy looked around him cautiously, and found the source of the crying.

Tears. Tears. Tears.

“I understand now, Ash.” Tears were in the female’s eyes as she spoke.

She turned around swiftly, and started to run away.

He did not see her again, nor did he see anything else after that.

Instead, the black-haired boy could only see the darkness in his soul…

- End -

What could I say? I needed to write a really dark story, and this just happened to be the darkest one I could conceive. I hope this was a worthy follow up to Reason, even though that was nothing compared to this.

I don’t think I should explain about what happened in this story, since it’s relatively straightforward. The only thing I feel that I should point out is that the May in Ash’s mind (that one that is talking to him) was crying because that’s the look on the real May’s face before she ran away, after what Ash did to her.

Ash would never do any of the things that are described in here, such as going to Gary for “affection”, or showing what “love” was to May. I just like stirring up trouble, that’s all.

If you want to know what I have planned and I’m currently working on, please visit my profile, so I don’t have to waste space posting what my next stories will be.

Thanks for reading, and please review and tell me how great (or horrible) this story was. I appreciate all feedback, since it helps me become a better writer, as well as providing a few chuckles.