*******

The sun was brilliantly shining in the sky and warmed the town and forest below. It was a clear day and everyone was milling about their daily chores or just hanging out. In the surrounding forest, a lone tree shook for a few seconds and then the neighboring tree did the same. Then out of the branches, a purple lanky pokemon jumped down to the ground.

"Jeez, what does it take to get some good juggling berries around here?" She said, annoyed, putting her paws on her hips.

The Ambipom sighed and then continued her search on foot. "Susie would want us back in time for lunch, and I wouldn't want to miss her vegetable paella!" Her trainer, Susie, was traveling around the land with her pokemon, along with her boyfriend Brendan and his party. They had set up their camp earlier near the edge of the forest and allowed their pokemon to explore the around the area. Amber, the Ambipom, looked around for any berry trees that might be nearby. Her search wasn't in vain as she came across a small clearing with a small tree in the middle.

"Yeah! I found a Pecha tree!" she yelled as she danced around. "These would be perfect for juggling!" she said as she started to pull off some berries with her tail-paws. The amount was tough to hold as she struggled to walk back to the campsite with arms and tail-paws loaded with Pecha berries. "Why can't I hold all these Pechas?" Amber grunted.

So she decided to drop all but 5 of the Pecha berries and resumed her walking. "Five should be enough anyway! This juggling act would impress those snooty girls at least!"

Suddenly, she heard a sharp whistle in the distance. If the pokemon were out and about, Brendan would give a whistle to signify if they are needed back at the campsite. "Yay! Lunch is ready!" Amber gleefully yelled as she started to run towards the campsite. "That paella is MINE!"

It didn't take long for Amber to get back to the campsite with her sprinting. She came across the clearing in the forest where it sat. Susie was near the pan and stirring what was in it, while Brandon was setting up the picnic cloths for their pokemon to sit on during lunch. The trainers sometimes spoiled their pokemon with human food, as they know they would get sick of eating those brown lumps known as "Pokemon Food." Today was no exception.

Bounding into the clearing, Amber yelled "Paella! Paella! I'm ready!"         

"Sheesh, don't be so damn loud, it's not ready yet," said a Glaceon that sat nearby, licking her paw.

"Geeez, Opal! Don't be so cold!....Haha, I made a joke! One point for the monkey! Whoo!" yelled Amber as she danced around an annoyed Opal.

"Can you not yell so much, you'll damage my hearing," said a Lopunny as she strode over with a disapproving look towards Amber. "I think you would even make Arceus go deaf!"

"Well, go wear earplugs then, Pearl, if you can't handle it." Amber stuck out her tongue at the disgusted Pearl.

"By the way, why are you holding those Pecha berries?" Opal asked.

"So you'll be amazed at my awesome juggling skills!" Amber haughtily said, bumping her chest with her fist.

"Oh? Show us your awesome juggling skills, we're waiting." Pearl sarcastically said as she crossed her arms.

"Ok! Watch this!" Amber yelled as she threw the Pechas into the air. One thing was for certain; Amber is not a good juggler. As the Pechas came back down, Amber tried to catch them but the sun glinted into her eyes, making her lose concentration and a rain of berries fell on her head, an "Ow" for each one.

Pearl slowly mock clapped. "Wowzers! That was some awesome juggling you got there, Amber. I can't wait to see what you can do with only one berry." Pearl snidely remarked.

Amber made an "Hmph!" and leered at the two girls. "The darn sun got in my eyes! Really!"

Amber wasn't a good friend with Opal and Pearl, they seemed to like fashion, boys and other stuff that Amber found boring. They didn't really like Amber's hyper, childish attitude as well. Even Susie's newest Pokemon, a Minccino named Jade, started hanging around them and started picking up their quirks. Brendan's pokemon where at most, "acquaintances" to Amber. She found most of them to be "dumb meat-heads", since they always talked about getting stronger and picking up females. Well...except Marley. He usually stayed out of the way and was quiet most of the time. Amber usually didn't notice him.

"When will that food be ready? I'm starving!!" a Gabite, Tosh, said to his Krokorok friend Wailer. "I'm so hungry I could eat an Octillery!" Wailer mentioned as he rubbed his pink and black belly while licking his lips.

"Ugh, those guys are such pigs!" Pearl said with disgust. Opal nodded in agreement.

"Hey, who are you calling pigs?" Barrett the Pignite asked Pearl.

"Haha, pigs! Nice joke!" Amber flashed a grin at Barrett. Barrett sweat-dropped at Amber's outburst, "Uh, ok..." he said, not amused.

"Ok guys, the paella is ready, but no rushing!" Susie called out to the pokemon, her ponytail of blonde hair moving slightly with the wind. They gathered near Susie as she was putting the hot paella into the bowls and setting them down on a table to cool.

Brendan, scanning the campsite with his deep brown eyes, was looking for a certain Pokemon of his. "Where's Mar-oh there he is." The Simipour was sitting at the edge of the campsite drawing shapes with the loose dirt in front of him. Brendan walked over and kneeled in front of him. "Hey, the paella's ready so you better get some before they eat it up!" Brendan chucked. Marley silently looked up from his dirt art and slowly got up. "Poor guy's been like this since I evolved him. I hope he's alright," thought Brendan as he lightly scratched the side of his head of short black hair. Marley made his way to the group.

"Ok, I'll let the girls go first this time," said Susie as she handed a bowl to happily chittering Jade. Amber was hopping in place in excitement. "Amber calm down! Here you go." Susie handed the bowl to Amber once she sat still. "Yay! Paella!" Amber yelled as she went to the picnic blanket, but all Susie and Brendan could hear was "Pom! Ambipom!"

"You heard Susie, Marley, girls go first," snickered Wailer.

"W-will you knock it off? That j-joke is so old," said Marley as he glared at Wailer.

"Man, look who has his dress in a bunch!" laughed Tosh. Wailer and Barrett both snickered. Marley let his head hang down, trying to ignore them. He then saw a bowl of paella in front of him. "Enjoy!" Susie smiled at him. Marley blushed slightly as he took the bowl from her. His trainer's girlfriend was so nice, why couldn't the other girls be like her? Susie's pokemon, Opal, Pearl, Jade and Amber where the only girls around most of the time, and they didn't show much interest in him. When they do meet new pokemon, Marley's shyness has kept him from making close friends.... especially with female ones, as either Tosh or Wailer would swoop in before Marley gets the confidence needed to meet the new pokemon.

Marley went over to the picnic blanket and sat down away from the group of girls at one corner, with Amber at another, who was getting up for seconds. Marley started poking at the rice with his fork when he heard Pearl say, "Haha, when he's not playing with dirt, he's playing with his food! What a weirdo!" The group of three girls all giggled at this.

Marley tightened his grip on his fork. "There are just a few things that I wish where different..."

"Hey are you going to eat that? It's getting cold!"

Marley looked up and saw Amber hovering over him. "U-uh, Y-yeah, I'm not that hungry...is all."

"Well let me know if you won't finish it then!" Amber giggled as she walked back to her blanket corner.

"Hey guys, Susie and I decided to do a friendly practice battle a little after lunch. I don't want you guys getting rusty, ya' hear?" Brendan said to all their Pokemon. They voiced their agreement and turned their attention back to their food.

A little after lunch, the group moved to a clearing to where the battle would be. Brendan and Susie each went to an end of the makeshift battlefield with their  team and huddled for a strategy.

"Ok guys, I'm going to be straight-forward here, step up if you want to go first." Brendan simply asked his team that was lined up in front of him. Tosh, Wailer, and Barrett all stepped backward, leaving Marley in front. Confused, Marley looked back at the snickering group behind him.

"Guys, that's not really funny." Brendan said, un-amused, to the group, putting his hands on his hips. "Marley, do you want to go first then anyway?" Marley was unsure for a few seconds, as he was not so great in battle against a girl because if his shyness towards them. He then nodded and got into position on the battlefield. He hoped he would go up against Opal, for her ice type that can be easily dealt with "Scald". Jade is new to the team, so he wasn't sure how she battled. Both Pearl and Amber where fairly hard-hitting in battle, so he just had to keep his distance with them.

"Looks like Marley's ready!" Brendan looked across the field and yelled, "Hey Susie, ya' ready!?"

"Almost!" Susie waved back to him. She turned back to her team and held out a fist with 4 straws. "Ok, whoever gets the shortest straw gets to go first." Pearl went first and chose a straw. She sighed in relief when it turned out to be a long straw. Amber went next.

"Oh! Looks like you go first then, Amber! Get your butt out there!" Susie told the Ambipom. Amber went into position and saw who she was up against.

Marley shrunk back a bit when he saw Amber skip into position. "Just keep your distance..." He thought to himself. But then he had a change of plans. "You know, I'm sick of staying back...maybe I can show those guys I can be a tough fighter..." Marley closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Alright, Brendan, I'm ready!" Susie yelled back over.

"Ok, Marley, use 'Scald'!" Ordered Brendan.

"Amber, try dodging it and use 'Double Hit'!!"

Marley stood his ground as he felt his body temperature go up for the attack. Grabbing his tail to shoot the water from its tip, he waited for Amber to get close enough to take a shot at the right time. Amber ran swiftly towards him, ready to jump out of the way of the impending shot of water. When he felt she was close enough, he released a shot of hot water from his tail dead center at Amber. She swiftly moved out the way with her tail-paws, but got hit in the leg with the piping hot water.

"Owies!" Amber yelled as she hopped on her un-hit foot off to the side before charging at him again to pull off her attack.

Marley kept trying to shoot the boiling water at her, while trying to keep his distance, but she was better prepared with her dodging. Before he knew it, she was preparing to strike with both tails. The two consecutive hits didn't really faze him, but damn did it hurt.

"H-hey, try not to go so easy on m-me." Marley told her in a low voice. "I want to-"

Whack! "Ok then!" Amber yelled as she hit him hard in the head with one of her tail-paws. He hit the ground hard and rolled until he stopped. He got up into a kneeling position while holding his head. Amber was also very unpredictable in battle.

"Amber, be fair, you don't get two turns in a row!' Susie yelled at her.

"Marley, use 'Acrobatics'!" He hoped Brendan didn't call out this attack, which means he has to go up to the Pokemon and hit them with graceful punches and hits. But this time he didn't want to do graceful; he wanted to show Tosh and his buddies that he's a capable up-close fighter.

Still slightly dizzy from the punch to the head, he charged her with newly found confidence. Getting ready to land a punch, he heard Susie say "Amber, 'Brick Break'!" With tail-paws glowing a reddish color, Amber swung at him in wide-arcs. He nearly missed the first arc but the second connected to the side of his chest. Pain shot from the point of contact and ran through out his body. He let out a loud yelp as he rolled on the ground for the second time. When he stopped, he laid there in pain for a few seconds while his arms were wrapped around his chest and coughed a bit.

"Stop the battle! Marley are you alright?!" Brendan yelled as he ran to where Marley ended up. He tenderly put his hand on the Simipour's back and saw that he was coughing up a bit of blood.

"We need to get to the Center, right now!!"

*******

"Thank you for visiting Osaru Town's Pokemon Center, we'll hope you'll come again." The nurse smiled as she handed over a tray with a single Pokeball to Susie. Susie took Amber's Pokeball and went to sit down on one of the comfy red couches in the center of the big room. She sighed as she sat down and sadly looked at the Pokeball before sending out Amber in a red light. Amber stood idle for a second until she registered what was around her.

"Amber..." Susie said to get her attention. "Today's battled showed something...and I've been thinking about talking to you for a while."

Amber knew something was up, and she braced for whatever Susie was going to say.

"I think you really need to learn some self-control and to learn about thinking before you act. This isn't just about today's battle, but in general. Yes, I ordered you to use 'Brick Break', but I think you can be pretty harsh in battle, even fun, friendly ones like today's."

Amber, ashamed, hung her head. She really didn't mean to hurt Marley so badly...sometimes she does go too far, even she can agree with that. She hopes he could forgive her at least.

"I'm sure Marley is doing alright back there, I'm just waiting on Brendan to come back. So don't be too worried, seeing you all sad like that is very weird. Give a smile! You did kick ass in today's battle." Susie gave a small smile to Amber as she rubbed the top of her head in reassurance. Amber smiled back.

"Good, try to keep your spirits up at least. I need to make a video-call, so I'll be over there." Susie motioned to the machines that lined the far wall. "You can walk around, but only in this main room."

Then, out of the double-swinging doors in the back of the room, Brendan was walking with another nurse. Then he parted ways with her and made his way to where Susie was sitting at one of the video-telephone machines.

Amber wanted to see how Marley was doing, and it seems he's somewhere in the back. So as quietly as she could, she snuck off and went through the double doors. Thankfully, the center wasn't busy this time of day, so she more chances to hide if someone came by. Poking her head into several rooms, occupied or empty, she finally found Marley's room. The room was silent except for the beeping of a nearby machine. Marley was laying on a small hospital bed with white and blue sheets. Something was hooked up on to him, but she didn't ponder it further. It looked like Marley was napping, or at least resting his eyes. Amber couldn't tell.

"Well, isn't it loser boy!" Amber shouted, which startled Marley out his nap and he sat up in response.

"Man, I totally kicked ass in that battle, and you would've, but you got crumpled like a...a...piece of paper with my glowing fists of doom!"

Amber then noticed Marley had his head down, hands tightly holding the blanket edge.

"...j-just go away...I don't need it r-rubbed in," said Marley in a low voice. "...I-I just want t-to be l-left alone..." Marley then turned onto his side away from Amber and curled up in a ball.

"H-hey! I didn't mean that in mean way!....I know I was harsh in that battle, but you did tell me not to go easy on you! So what gives?" Amber walked up to the edge of his bed.

"...I j-just wanted to p-prove something..." Marley whispered.

"Prove something? To whom? Those dumb meat-heads of Brendan's?" asked Amber as she held the bed railing.

Marley turned to Amber and propped himself on an elbow. "D-dumb meat-heads?"

"Yep! That's what I call those three other guys on your team. They always talk about stupid stuff like snagging girls and flexing their muscles and other stuff like that. But you usually seem to be in your own little world. Say.... what do you like to talk about?" Amber moved closer to him, causing him to reel back a little in surprise.

"I...g-guess whatever you want to talk about." Marley shyly looked away.

Amber suddenly crawled onto his bed and faced him. "Hmmm, how about...Pecha berries? I love them! They taste delicious and are great for juggling!"

Marley, deeply blushing at being that close to her said, "Well, They ar-"

"Amber! There you are! We were looking all over for you! I had told you not to walk off." Susie appeared in the doorway, with Brendan behind her.

"It looks like she was apologizing to Marley for that hard hit today; I wouldn't blame her for going off like that." Brendan added.

"Well, we need to get going soon, and let Marley rest. Come along Amber." Susie motioned to Amber with a beckoning gesture.

Amber turned to Marley. "Hey, when you get out of this dump, I'll show you the Pecha tree I found earlier. We can talk about all kinds of stuff then!" Amber hopped off the bed and left with Susie. Brendan stayed behind.

"Looks like you made a friend, Marley. Nice job!" Brendan winked and gave him a thumbs-up. Marley looked down while smiling, blushing deeply. "A...friend...."

*******