Her Biggest Fan

DISCLAIMER: All characters and properties are copyright their respective owners. All writing and original characters are copyright 2008 Zephyr Paws. The author is in no way associated or affiliated with any third-party. This original fiction was created with no intention of any copyright infringement against any third-party, and is purely for fan enjoyment.

-~+~-
Chapter 1
Warming a Cold Heart
-~+~-

It was a bright, sunny day in Slateport City. In one of the local parks on the outskirts of town, a young new Trainer and her recent catch watched on as some of the Trainers fought against each other in the city's park.

"Effloresca, use Razor Leaf!" shouted a Trainer on one side of the field, instructing his Roserade to unleash one of its attacks. It complied and flung a barrage of sharp leaves from its colorful petal bouquet in the direction of its opponent.

"Dodge it, Sanders!" the other Trainer -- another boy, this one a few years younger than the other -- ordered his Sandslash. The Sandslash reactively jumped out of the way, but suffered a few strikes from the sharp leaves in the process.

After the Sandslash landed, it looked over to see the Roserade it was fighting just standing there, posing. That agitated the Sandslash, causing it to charge towards it without order.

"Finish it off with Petal Dance, Effloresca!" ordered the older Trainer, pointing his finger directly towards the oncoming Sandslash. The Roserade began spinning around, flower petals swirling around it, until it finally lunged forward towards the Sandslash, striking it directly and sending it flying across the battlefield.

The Sandslash remained on the ground -- appearing unconscious -- for several seconds before its Trainer finally recalled it, admitting its defeat. "Return, Sanders!" he said, using his Poke Ball to return the Pokemon to its stored home, giving it a chance to rest.

The younger Trainer reached down at his belt and grabbed his final Poke Ball. His previous Pokemon had already been defeated by the older boy. "Fine, now let's see how you can handle this! Go Psyche!" he shouted as he enlarged the Poke Ball, pressing its button, then threw it to release its inhabitant: a Kadabra.

"Hmph, this isn't your fight, Effloresca," said the older Trainer as he instinctively returned his Roserade to its Poke Ball. He placed the Poke Ball back onto his belt then grabbed a new one of his own. "Alright Atra, get the job done!" He threw the Poke Ball in his hand forward. Out from it appeared a battle-ready Weavile crossing its arms.

The intensity of the fight was really fascinating to the young girl in the sidelines. She'd never seen a Trainer as cool as the one she was watching! "Wow, Elly, look at that guy!"

"Pla! Plusle!" cheered the Plusle, watching the fight even more intently than before.

Both the young girl and her Plusle continued watching the two Trainers fight. The older Trainer's Weavile quickly dashed forward and gave a direct slash across the Kadabra's body, inflicting serious damage to it.

"Da- daabra!" cried the Kadabra as it held its chest with one of its arms.

"Wea," said the Weavile, smirking and looking back towards its victim.

"Psyche, use Psybeam, come on!" ordered the younger Trainer as he stomped his feet on the ground. He knew the fight wasn't going in his favor.

The Kadabra regained its composure and, using the spoon in its hand to concentrate its psychic energy, fired a focused beam of psychic force directly at the Weavile.

Neither the older Trainer nor his Weavile reacted to the attack at all. Instead, his Weavile, Atra, just stood there and faced it head on. The psychic beam hit Atra directly, but the Weavile didn't even flinch -- it just stood there and withstood the entire blow, appearing completely unphased by it.

"Whaa! Why didn't that work! That's Psyche's strongest attack!" exclaimed the younger Trainer in confusion.

"Don't you know that Psychic-type attacks don't work at all against Dark-type Pokemon like Weavile? Hmph, finish it off, Atra!"

Atra wasted no time in obeying its master's orders and darted forward, bombarding the already-weakened Kadabra with a powerful rush of slashes.

After a few seconds of continual slashing, Atra backflipped away from the Kadabra, then, in the blink of an eye, flew forward and gave it one final slash, stopping a few feet away from the opposite side of the Kadabra.

The Kadabra froze for a few seconds before finally losing consciousness and fell down to the ground in defeat, bruised and beaten badly.

"Psyche, return!" The younger Trainer returned the fallen Kadabra to its Poke Ball, placing it on his belt, then shook his fist. "Grr, you beat me! Your Pokemon are so strong, though!"

"Yeah, well I'm going for my eighth badge pretty soon. The practice never hurts. Isn't that right, Atra?"

"Wea." The Weavile walked over to its Trainer and then crossed its arms again.

"That's pretty cool. Well, good luck!" the younger Trainer encouraged. He then ran off to the nearby Pokemon Center to heal his Pokemon.

"Heh. I'll need it."

The onlooking girl and her Plusle simply had to come over to talk to the cool Trainer that they just saw annihilate some guy. "Hey! That was soooo cool, what you did there!" exclaimed the girl, running over to the Trainer and his Weavile. Her Plusle cheerily followed her along.

"What do you want?" asked the Trainer with an almost uncaring tone in his voice.

"I just want to know how you became so cool! I mean, you're so good at Training Pokemon! I want to be just like you!" The girl seemed unreasonably happy. "My name's Rachel. What's your name, Trainer?"

"...Jeff."

"Jeff! That's a cool name! It sounded like you had some pretty cool names for your Pokemon, too! Efforetta and Achra!"

"...it's Effloresca and Atra, get it right."

"Wow, that sounds even cooler! You're just the coolest in the world! Do you really have seven gym badges? Can I seeee them all? Please, please, pleeeease?!"

"How old are you? You're acting like you're some obsessed new 10-year-old Trainer or something." Jeff crossed his arms and appeared to be losing his patience. He didn't like talking to 'little kids.'

"Hey! I'm 11, not 10!"

"Big difference."

"So can I see 'em? Please, oh please, oh pleeease?!"

While Jeff was dealing with Rachel, nearly getting driven out of his mind, another overly enthusiastic fan was cheering on her own idol.

"Wow, you're sooooo cool!" exclaimed Elly, Rachel's Plusle. "You're strong and tough and cool and you look really strong, too! Did I say you look strong?! Wow! You really destroyed that Kadabra with your claws! Are those things sharp? Does it hurt if you scratch yourself with them? I bet they do a bunch of a damage, huh? Yeah!"

Atra looked to be pretty irritated by the Plusle's barrage of questions. "You're about three seconds away from finding out. Now get out of my face, pipsqueak."

"My name's Elly! Isn't your name Atra? That's what your Trainer called you, right? That's such a coooool name! I wish my name was as cool as yours! But Rachel came up with it herself! I don't really like Rachel that much. Don't tell her I said that, though! Wait, how would you? You can't talk human, can you? Oh well, just keep it secret anyway, okay? Yay!"

The Plusle continued rambling on, though Atra had just about enough of the chatty Plusle. As tempted as Atra was to kill the Plusle right there on the spot, that'd be too messy; instead, Atra just completely ignored the Plusle and walked over to the side of the battlefield, eyes closed.

"Heeeey, where 'ya goin'?" asked Elly as she followed the Weavile.

'Great... just what I need, some talkative wimp blabbing rubbish nonstop,' thought Atra. "I'm going over here because I don't want to talk to you and want you to die."

"Die?! You don't really want me to die, I know that about you!"

"The hell would you know, huh?" Atra snapped back at her, clearly looking irritated.

"It's because you're a girl, aren't you? Girls don't fight as tough as boys do because they're supposed to be cute, according to Rach-"

Elly couldn't even finish her sentence before she was tackled to the ground by Atra and pinned down with a claw against her neck. "Does it look like I'm cute?!" screeched Atra, who was, in fact, a female.

Atra's actions attracted the attention of Jeff and Rachel, which provided a much-needed break in the conversation for Jeff.

"Ah! Elly!!" screamed Rachel as she ran over to her Plusle, crying her eyes out. Jeff couldn't understand how quickly she could be crying. It was like she'd never been in a Pokemon battle before. Regardless, he followed her just to make sure Atra didn't do anything stupid.

"Atra, get off of Rachel's Plusle, come on. Otherwise I'll put you back in your Poke Ball right now," said Jeff, reaching down at his belt for Atra's Poke Ball.

The Weavile glared at the Plusle beneath her, then got up off of her and crossed her arms, looking extremely irritated by the whole thing. She hated being confined to her Poke Ball, even though she'd grown plenty used to it.

As Rachel's Plusle got up, Jeff took careful notice of the coloration of the Plusle. Normally, Plusle's have a very creamy-colored body. Rachel's seemed to be a lot darker, more yellow, and her red markings were more of a brick color.

"Would you trade your Plusle, by any chance?" asked Jeff, trying not to reveal too much about the rarity of discolored or 'Shiny' Pokemon, as they were called.

"My Plusle? Yeah, sure! She's such a handful sometimes and I wish I had an even cuter Pokemon! Hey Jeff, do you have a Skitty? I reeeeaaally want a Skitty! I'd trade you my Plusle for a Skitty!"

"Fortunately, I do. Let's go to the Pokemon Center so we can trade, okay?" Jeff was delighted to hear that all she wanted for it was just a Skitty. Shiny Pokemon are some of the most sought after Pokemon out there, due to their extreme rarity. Most Shiny owners would trade their prized Pokemon for only the toughest and well-trained Pokemon out there.

"Yaaay!! Alright, come on, Elly! You're going to be going with Jeff now!"

Even though the Plusle was almost killed by the Weavile, she was really excited to hear that she'd be traveling with Jeff and Atra, because she still did look up to Atra a lot and was confident she could get through to her. "Pla! Plussssle!"

Of course, Atra was far from thrilled about the idea. Just what she wanted: a little Plusle following her around, asking her questions, and not leaving her alone. All she wanted was to be alone and to fight. That was it.

***

Jeff and Rachel went to the Pokemon Center and completed their trade down in the trading room. Elly, the Shiny Plusle, was now Jeff's prized Shiny Plusle. It actually worked out pretty well that it was a Shiny Plusle he got, since Plusle and Minun both make good cheerleaders and could perhaps help motivate his team, not to mention show off against other Trainers. Plus, he knew a friend that collected Shiny Pokemon and would trade through the roof for them.

After finally heading separate ways with Rachel, Jeff returned to the park to continue his training against other Trainers. He didn't use Elly to fight at all, but kept her on the sidelines to cheer on her comrades instead.

She seemed to help intimidate Jeff's opponents as well as boost the spirits of Jeff's other Pokemon. All of his Pokemon except for Atra, that is. She still resented the Plusle and resented it even more that, once again, Jeff traded for what she saw as 'a worthless teammate.'

As the sun began to set, Jeff finally called it a day and headed back to the Pokemon Center to stay the night to heal up his Pokemon and to prepare to sail off to Lilycove City.

Jeff settled into the Pokemon Center's lounge, which had plenty of couches with TVs for weary Trainers, as well as plenty of food, toys, and open space for Pokemon. Jeff and his Pokemon were all too familiar with the Pokemon Center lounges, stopping at countless numbers of them throughout their many travels together.

"Come on out, Effloresca! Ignis! Tsunami!" Jeff unleashed all of the other Pokemon he had with him: Effloresca, the Roserade; Ignis, the Blaziken; and Tsunami, the Blastoise. They all congregated around Jeff before setting off towards the open space to interact with other Pokemon.

Atra, on the other hand, had already retreated to a familiar place regardless of how unfamiliar the location was. At nearly every Pokemon Center, in the lounge room, were glass windows that paned the side of the wall. She always found herself sitting down by them, staring blankly at the outside, deep in thoughts. It was almost like she was in a trance.

While the Weavile sat over in the corner on her own, Jeff's newest Pokemon, Elly, far from understood the social code amongst Jeff's Pokemon, so she decided to wander over and say hello to who she saw as her new friend.

"Hi there, Atra! Can I call you Atty? You did a really great job today in your fights! You won each and every one of them, didn't you? Your Trainer didn't even have to heal you because you're so strong! Wow, you're so awesome, Atty! Mind if I sit by you?"

Atra didn't even react as the energetic Plusle sat down beside her. Deep down, though, she was getting closer and closer to that boiling point, ready to snap at any moment.

"Great, awesome, yeah! I'm so happy that we're friends now! I think that you're probably the strongest Pokemon out there, even if you are a girl!"

That was it. Atra had more than enough of the Plusle seemingly insulting her gender. If there was one hot button that Atra had, it was feeling inferior to males. She hated their arrogance, thinking that they are somehow superior just because of their body. Her strength had nothing to do with her gender and she knew it.

Without any notice and while still sitting down, Atra quickly and forcefully swung her claw at the Plusle beside her, slashing at her and sending her flying backwards until she hit the wall. Atra then resumed her moment of solitude. Well, at least for a few seconds.

"You really are strong! That hurt pretty good, I tell 'ya! I sure wouldn't want to have to fight you in a battle, because I know you'd beat me really good! But it'd really be an honor to fight you, too!"

"Listen, you twit," snapped Atra in an aggressive voice, "I'm going to tell you this once and once only: if you ever come within three feet of me ever again, I will rip that pathetic smile right off your worthless face, got it? Now you have three seconds to leave me alone for the rest of my life. One. Two..."

"You wouldn't really hurt me that bad, wouldja? I think you're a lot better than th-"

"Three!" shouted Atra as she jumped up and, exactly as she threatened, began slashing at the Plusle's face. Her strikes were swift and relentless, treating the Plusle just as an opponent in battle -- no, even worse.

"Ahhh!!" screamed Elly as she fell onto her back, crying out in pain.

Atra gave one final, vengeful slash across the Plusle's chest before turning her back to the fallen Plusle, muttering, "Now, leave me alone for the rest of my life, or it'll be the end of your own."

The attack attracted the attention of Jeff, Nurse Joy, and pretty much the entire lounge area. Atra's claws were stained with Elly's blood, confirming the ferocity of the Weavile to all that saw her standing there.

"Out of the way!" shouted Nurse Joy as she ran over to check the health of the Plusle. Two Chansey followed behind her. "Are you alright, Plusle?" asked Nurse Joy.

"Pl... ah...! P-plus..." mumbled Elly. She was beginning to lose consciousness.

"What the hell is going on?!" exclaimed Jeff, who got over to where all the commotion was. Several spectators followed him. "Atra, what's gotten into you?"

"Wea," said Atra, shrugging and crossing her arms. She'd have to clean up that blood on her claws later. For the time being, she just wanted everyone to leave her alone, so she walked off towards another corner.

"Oh no you don't!" exclaimed Jeff, quickly reaching for Atra's Poke Ball and returning the disobedient Weavile to its confines. That was a clear sign that she'd done something bad, because Jeff would always leave his Pokemon out after they've been healed up at the Pokemon Center unless they did something wrong.

As Nurse Joy and her two Chansey tried to heal Elly on the spot, she lost consciousness and they had to take her into intensive care. Not even Jeff could go along with her. He had to remain in the lounge, worried about both Elly and Atra.

***

The operation lasted overnight, but in the morning, Nurse Joy informed Jeff that his Plusle was as good as new and that she really had an amazing recovery.

After having some breakfast and feeding his Pokemon -- save Atra, who would have to go without breakfast -- Jeff headed out from the Pokemon Center and onto the ship he'd been waiting for, sailing for Lilycove City.

The ship wasn't a luxury ship by any means, but was a fair size model capable of transporting a few dozen Trainers and their Pokemon with ease. No swimming pools or other fancy to-dos. At least he had his own room, though, which was important since it'd be five days until he arrived in Lilycove City.

One by one, Jeff released each of his Pokemon to wander about the ship on their own accord. He stopped at Atra, though, holding her Poke Ball firmly in his hand, staring intently at it.

"Atra... what's gotten into you? You haven't acted this way around a Pokemon since... since... since Tsunami." He sighed and clutched the Poke Ball in his hand even tighter. "I want to let you out, but I don't want you attacking Elly. Hmm... I guess I'll keep you in here for an hour or so, just to give everyone else a chance to go about their business."

With that, Jeff placed the Poke Ball back on his belt, then ordered the four Pokemon he had released to explore the ship and have some fun. They were quick to disperse, leaving Jeff free to socialize with the ladies on board.

***

Elly had followed Ignis and Effloresca around, following them to the deck of the ship. There were a lot of Trainers and their Pokemon all around, battling and conversing with each other.

"Sacrebleu! Look at the ocean, Ignis! It is beautiful, no?" asked Effloresca to Ignis, holding his arm.

"It's too wet," answered Ignis, petting the little Roserade's head with his free hand.

"Hi! Hey! I'm Elly! You two are Jeff's Pokemon, huh, aren'tcha? I'm Elly! Wait, I said that already. Uh, oh well! What are your names?" The hyper Plusle dashed out in front of the two Pokemon, hopping up and down and trying to attract their attention.

Both Ignis and Effloresca looked at the tiny Plusle with a look of confusion. "Who is la petite Plusle?"

"I think that's Jeff's new Pokemon," said Ignis, looking down at the small Plusle in front of him. "You can call me Ignis."

"And I am Effloresca, la petite Elly. Pleased to make your acquaintance." The Roserade took a formal bow to introduce herself. She had a definite accent to her voice.

"Do you know Atra? Isn't she the coolest? She's so strong and I bet you she's probably even stronger than any of you! I found that out first hand!"

Ignis appeared a bit unsettled by what the Plusle had said. Of course, he always thought of himself as the strongest of the group and knew it to be true. He was Jeff's favorite, after all. "Not to boast, but I'm waaaaay better than that runt. She thinks she can fight, but she's really a joke compared to, say, me. Of course, everyone is, ahaha!"

"Oui, in fact she has fallen behind in le strength department as of late, ohoho."

"What?! You're kidding! She's awesome! Way awesomer than what you're saying!" Elly appeared to be in total denial over what the two Pokemon were saying. She was absolutely convinced that her idol was the strongest out there.

"What's your fascination with her anyway, Elly? Don't you think you should be swooning over a burly Blaziken such as myself, instead?" The cocky cock Pokemon flexed his muscles and gave her a wink.

"Oh Ignis, must you always be such a braggart?" asked Effloresca, tugging on his arm.

"Effs, come on, when you're the best, you gotta let people know it." He turned at winked at the Roserade as well.

"Right, whatever, well you two are really boring, so I'm going to go see some other Pokemon until Jeff lets Atra out to play! See ya!" Wasting absolutely no time, the Plusle quickly took off and ran away from the two Pokemon on the deck, intent on tracking down the other one of Jeff's Pokemon that she saw released.

***

Eventually, Elly found him: a big Blastoise sunbathing on the bow of the ship, alongside several other Trainers and Pokemon.

She energetically ran over to him and began her chatter. "Hey, excuse me! Are you Tsunami, Jeff's Pokemon? Huh, are 'ya?" The Plusle began poking at the Blastoise's shell.

"I might be. Depends on who you are," he answered, grumbling a bit.

"I'm Elly! I'm one of Jeff's new Pokemon! I wanted to talk to you so I could know you better! Hey, what do you think of Atra? Isn't she awesome?"

"Didn't Atra send you into the intensive care?" he asked, sitting up and looking down at the small Plusle.

"Mmmhmm! She did! But that's just because I really wanted to talk to her and I don't think she was ready or something. I probably should have listened, but I just had to see if she really meant her threat, 'cuz you know, not every Pokemon that makes a threat actually goes through with it! But she did! Isn't that great?" Elly smiled up at the big Blastoise.

"Whatever you say, kid. If I were you, though, I wouldn't spend too much time trying to befriend Atra. She's a loner. Been that way since I met her. In fact, she absolutely detested me at first."

"Why's that, Mr. Tsunami?"

"Well, uh... I really don't know. Never asked. Eventually she just left me alone and I just gave her space. Haven't been no problems since."

Elly shook her hear. She didn't want to just give up on befriending who she saw as the coolest Pokemon in the world. "No way! Well she's strong and all, but I'm sure that she can cheer up, too!"

"Don't even try it, kid. Just give her space and leave her be. Nothing else'll do any good. She's built to fight and that's about it."

"But she's gotta have a friend, right? I mean, don't you talk to her? Don't Ignis and Effloresca talk to her? They didn't seem like they cared much about her either! I know she's gotta have a friend!"

"Listen, kid, she talks every now and then, but usually not for long and usually just criticizing how we fought. Just give up on her and leave her be. You're just getting your hopes up if you're thinking of being some sort of friend or something, 'cuz she don't want friends; she just wants solitude."

"I'll do it!" shouted Elly. "Just watch me, I'll do it! I can't believe that she doesn't have any friends at all! She just needs someone to talk to, that's all, just you watch!" Elly quickly ran off, revitalized with a new enthusiasm to befriend the bitter Weavile. "See ya, Mr. Tsunami!" she shouted as she quickly fled.

"Yeah, whatever, kid. Whatever."

***

After running around the ship in search of Jeff, Elly finally found him leaving a room in the ship, looking pretty pleased with himself.

"Man, that girl was so hot! Oh dammit, what was her name, again? Julie? Junie? Shoot, I'll just have to guess-" Jeff was interrupted by the small Plusle blocking his path and chirping at him. "Oh, hey Elly. Did you have fun?"

Elly shook her head. "Pla..."

"Too bad. I know I did, heh. Ah, ahem, anyway, you're going to have to be good, now, got it? I promised I'd let Atra out right after I- er, well, right after that lovely visit. She seems to have a problem with you, though, Elly. You could try work it out, but just don't make her too upset again, because the Nurse Joy on ship has gotta be overworked with all of the Trainer battles going on."

"Pla! Plusle!" Elly seemed significantly more energetic. She was jumping up and down, smiling.

"Well, alright. Just be sure not to piss her off, got it?" With that, Jeff pulled out the Poke Ball containing Atra, then released her onto the ship.

"We-wea. Vile." Atra crossed her arms as usual, looking particularly upset that she had to stay in her Poke Ball for so long.

"Sorry, Atra, but you need to behave better. Now I don't want you and Elly here getting into any fights, got it? If you do, I'm going to keep you inside of that Poke Ball for the rest of the trip, so don't get grouchy."

Atra merely turned her head away from the human, then began walking off without waiting for him to say anything else.

"Err, see ya, Atra."

Of course, Elly simply had to follow Atra. After all, that was who she really wanted to talk to, especially after convincing herself that she just needed a good friend.

***

Atra had wandered off to the side of the ship. She sat down at stared out at the ocean from between the railing.

No more than a minute passed before her solitude was interrupted, once again, by the ever-perky Plusle. "Atty! Hi! Hey, how are you doing, huh? Mind if I sit down next to you?" She didn't bother giving Atra a chance to answer and sat down to her left. "I've never been on a ship like this before, it's pretty cool! There's a lot of ocean out there, huh, isn't there?"

"I can't even kill you now, either... what bad luck," grumbled Atra. She felt very annoyed by the Plusle. She's been bothering her at every single chance she got, literally.

"Aww, you wouldn't really want to kill me, would you, Atty? Naaah, I didn't think so, you're too cool for that! I mean, I'm sure you could kill some other Pokemon, but you know that I'm your biggest fan, right? You're incredible!" Elly mistakenly tried to hug Atra's left arm, causing her to screech and violently thrust her away from her.

"Never touch me!!" she yelled, glaring right at the Plusle.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to! I just think you're so incredible and thought that maybe I could just hold your arm, because it'd be a huge honor!"

"You should already be honored that you're not dead yet," she remarked, turning her head away from Elly and crossing her arms.

"Oh, I am! I am! That tells me that you really do care about me and know just how big of a fan I am of you!" Elly scooted back over to Atra, although took a lot more care as not to accidentally touch her.

"I don't give a Rattata's ass about you. Why don't you just go swoon over that cocky Ignis instead? Maybe he'll actually pretend he cares about you."

"Because I like you a lot more!" exclaimed Elly, who turned her head over towards Atra and smiled at her.

"There's nothing about me to like. Just leave me alone." Atra sighed. She was growing very angry at the Plusle badgering her. Worse yet, she knew that if she attacked her, she'd spend the rest of her trip inside of a Poke Ball, which wasn't any fun.

"You really don't have any friends, do you?" asked Elly, although in a much less hyper, more serious tone.

"No, and I don't want any, so shoo, get out of my face." Atra motioned her claw for Elly to leave.

"They really were right..." said Elly with a sigh, sounding sad for the first time. "Don't you get lonely...? Not having anyone to talk to? Just sitting here, or wherever, staring off into nothing?"

"I'd rather be lonely."

"You'd rather be lonely than what?"

Atra was silent. She didn't know how to respond to a question like that.

"You'd rather be lonely... than happy?" asked Elly, adding on to her previous question.

Atra's silence persisted, except she looked a lot more affected by the question than before. She looked almost frozen, even, in response to the question the Plusle asked her.

"Well...?"

"...Just go." Atra ordered.

"You can be happy, you know! You don't have to be lone-"

"I said get out of here!!" yelled Atra, standing up and pulling her claws back, ready to strike.

Elly decided that sticking around for any longer would be a mistake, both for her and for Atra, so she quickly turned around and ran away from the angry Weavile, finally leaving her alone.

About a minute after Elly had fled, Atra stared out to the ocean, then began doing something she hadn't done in a long, long time. She cried.

Little did Atra know that she was being watched by the Plusle that had fled just a moment ago. She was hiding behind a corner, looking over to see the Weavile shedding her tears.

"I wonder what she's crying about?" Elly asked herself, wondering as to whether or not she should interrupt. She decided on it and walked back over to where she was. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked compassionately.

Elly was immediately tackled and pinned to the ground, once again with a sharp claw prodding against her neck, ready to kill her at any moment. "G-get the hell away!!" shouted Atra through her tears, quickly trying to hide her emotions.

"I just want to help! I don't want to die! Can't you just tell me why you're crying, huh?" After asking, Elly felt Atra's claws poke even tighter against her neck. She could almost feel the blood pouring out of her.

"I'm not crying!!" shouted Atra, obviously lying, as evident by her tear-stricken face.

"If a strong Pokemon like you is crying, it must be something big, right? Come on, you don't have any friends, you're sad, you can tell me what it is! Don't you wish you had someone to talk to about whatever it is you're crying about?"

Atra completely froze in response to what Elly said. Part of her wanted to kill her right then and there. But... another part of her really did wish she could open up to someone -- anyone -- about her problems. The Plusle beneath her wanted to hear her story. She genuinely wanted to help.

The Weavile got up off of the Plusle, wiped her face with her arm, then started walking away.

Elly immediately got up and followed her. "Hey, where are you going? Do you want to talk about it or not, huh?"

"Just leave me alone..." answered Atra, who was still walking away. Her arms weren't even crossed like usual. Instead, they were just hanging limp to her sides. She looked really depressed.

"Hey! I'm not going to give up until you tell me!" shouted Elly as she continued following Atra. "It's really bothering you, whatever it is, and you've gotta tell someone!"

"I said leave me alone..." grumbled Atra. She was getting more and more impatient with the Plusle and was really starting to regret not killing her when she had the chance. Even that Poke Ball was looking pretty tempting.

"No! I won't! You need to talk to someone about your problems! You don't have any friends except for me, for whatever reason, but I know I can help you! I know it!" Elly quickly jumped out in front of Atra, causing her to stop briefly.

"You don't know anything... you don't know what it's like..." Atra still didn't want to talk to Elly about her problems. All she wanted was to be alone, now more than ever. Without saying anything more, she continued walking along, avoiding the Plusle in front of her.

"That's it?" Elly called over to her. "You're just running away? I thought you were the coolest, most awesomest Pokemon ever! But... I guess I was wrong. I guess you're just a cowardly loner that is too wrapped up in your own problems to bother with actually dealing with them."

By the time Atra turned around to wring the little Plusle's neck, she was gone. Elly had run off somewhere, finally leaving Atra alone. She was glad for that, but actually felt a little bad that things ended the way they did. After all, she'd never had a fan before. In fact, she'd never really had anyone concerned about her feelings, either... not even Jeff.

"Little... twit. Elly..."

***

Elly didn't bother Atra for the rest of the day, leaving her by herself to reflect on her life and battles as she was used to. Shortly after night fell, Jeff rounded up all of his Pokemon and returned them to their Poke Balls so he could catch some shut eye.

The next day, Jeff released all of his Pokemon once more, no longer hesitating to release Atra, since she behaved well enough. His five Pokemon all dispersed, leaving Jeff free to do whatever socializing he pleased for his second day on the ship.

While Atra headed off to the side of the ship she was at yesterday, she noticed something -- rather, she noticed a lack of something: Elly. The annoying little Plusle stopped following her around. She was nowhere to be seen. It was almost unnerving, causing the Weavile to fear she was spying on her from around a corner or something.

She got up before she began her contemplations to investigate the nearby portions of the ship. Nothing. No Plusle in sight. It was just her and the sea. Aside from the time she spent in her Poke Ball, it was the first time she'd been apart from that Plusle since Jeff traded for her. It felt good... yet somewhat empty.

"I'm thinking too much about this. She's gone, out of my fur. I don't need to deal with her." Atra crossed her arms and plunked herself down in front of the railing, crossing her legs as well. "All she did was just get in my way, bother me, and distract me from my fights. What a worthless slime."

She thought about it some more, relishing the pleasantries silence and solitude provided. It really did give her plenty of opportunity to reflect on her problems. Though she had a new problem now: Elly.

"That dumb rodent needs to get a life," remarked Atra, fully knowing that she was talking to herself. She sighed. "It's not like I'm even the strongest Pokemon out there... not even in Jeff's team. That arrogant prick Ignis will always be stronger, always be more cared for, and always receive the praise for any big victories."

Atra thought for sure that Elly was watching her, just waiting to drop in and try convince her that she was the best. She turned around behind her, practically knowing that she was there. Nothing. Again, no Elly.

"She really is gone..." Once more, Atra sighed. Crazy as it seemed to her, she almost wanted the Plusle there to argue with her and say she was the best. She almost missed Elly.

Deciding to be less vocal and more introverted, Atra switched to purely thinking and no longer saying her thoughts aloud. She wouldn't have spoke if there were anyone around. In fact, she didn't even know why it was that she was talking aloud in the first place, unless... she actually wanted to be heard.

'Why does she keep bothering me?' Atra asked herself in her mind. 'I'm not her friend. I don't even want to be her friend. I just want her to... no, no, I don't even know what I want anymore. She was right; I don't have any friends... Dammit! Why am I thinking so hard over this? This is who I am! This is who I've always been! Trusting anyone is a foolish mistake! Everyone I've ever trusted just turned around and betrayed me... she'll obviously do the same.'

Atra closed her eyes. The sea was too distracting for her to effectively carry on her internal conversation. 'But... I did hurt her. I almost killed her. It's like she didn't even care about that.' Atra gave a sigh. 'No one ever asks how I am or what I'm feeling. They just ignore me. That's how I want it to- ...no, is it? Do I really want everyone to ignore me and leave me alone? Really? Do I really want that Plusle to never come back and talk to me? Why does a part of me feel like I want to open up to her...? Stop... stop it!'

"Atra?"

"...Elly?" Atra opened her eyes and got up, but saw nothing; no signs of the Plusle were to be found. It was just her imagination. "D-damn..."

The Weavile continued her internal reflection for the rest of the day. Deep down, she was patiently waiting for Elly to show up and bother her, though she'd never admit it, not even to herself. Elly never came, though.

It wasn't until the end of the day that Atra saw Elly again, when Jeff rounded his Pokemon up and returned them to their Poke Balls. Even then, the Plusle remained silent to Atra, not giving her as little as a single word before she was sucked into her spherical container.

***

The next day, Jeff's Pokemon were released as usual. Atra went back to that familiar place on the ship where she stared out at the ocean. Again, no Elly. She'd been thinking about the Plusle almost non-stop since she left her alone. It was really starting to get to her.

"Elly..." she started, letting her emotions finish off the rest of the sentence, "I miss you..." Atra couldn't believe she said that. As hard as it was for her to say, she knew it was true. She didn't realize that, as much as she was really bothered and irritated by Elly's antics, she found the attention comforting, for a change.

It made her question whether she was such a loner because she didn't want the attention or simply because she never received it and gave up on trying to get it.

Tears began forming at the Weavile's eyes -- another rare occurrence for her. She'd grown to be too tough to cry. Before Elly came along, she thought she cried her last tear so, so long ago. 'Tears are for the weak,' she'd often say. Now, though, she was eating her own words.

"M-maybe... maybe I'm weaker t-than I thought..." She knew there was a lot more to what she just said. It wasn't just her crying that she saw as being weak; a lot of it was that she was too weak to open up to Elly, the one Pokemon that actually cared about her and wanted to help her unconditionally. She was too weak to accept help from her, thinking she could handle it all by herself, just as she'd done countless times in the past.

" 'You'd rather be lonely than happy.' That's what she said... I guess she was right." Atra stood up and wiped her face with her claws, wiping off some of her tears. They were still slowly leaking out of her eye. She stood up against the railing and stared out into the ocean. "Maybe I am just a cowardly loner. A weak, cowardly loner..."

Before long, Atra's tears picked up their pace. The Weavile began crying and sobbing, shedding her tears out into the open ocean. She hated the feeling of crying, but she was powerless to stop herself from it, no matter how hard she tried.

"El-ly... m-maybe... maybe I s-should just t-talk to h-her..." said Atra through her sobbing. "M-maybe... and i-if I don't, I-I'm just g-g-going to be... weak and l-l-lonely."

She'd had enough of it. Atra regained her composure, gave a snivel or two, wiped her soaked face with her arm, then, after taking a few deep breaths, walked along the ship in search for her yellow-and-red fan.

***

Atra first searched near the bow of the ship, where sunbathers were sunbathing and a few Trainers were battling with their Pokemon. Among the sunbathers was a certain Blastoise that Atra was all too familiar with. 'Stupid turtle. What an oaf, hmph. He wouldn't have a clue where that rat is,' thought Atra, getting very agitated at just the sight of Tsunami.

Moving along, Atra headed around towards the back of the ship, where she found Ignis and Effloresca dancing with each other. Their size difference made the dancing look very awkward, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves nonetheless.

As Ignis and Effloresca noticed Atra approach them, they stopped their dancing. "So look what the wind blew in," remarked Ignis in an arrogant tone.

"La petite Weavile, ohoho!" Effloresca taunted, clearly mocking her icy teammate.

"Shut up. You two should be training, not dancing, Slakoths. Have you seen the new twit recently?" asked Atra, appearing to be irritated as usual.

"Haven't seen the pipsqueak since morning, babe," answered Ignis. Atra absolutely hated being called 'babe' by the likes of him, hence why he called her that so often.

"Oh sacrebleu, has la petite Weavile been squirting eye tears? Non?"

Atra clenched her claws and was about three seconds away from stemming the mouthy Roserade before she got ahold of herself. "Fine," was all she said before she stormed off and away from the couple. It was a mistake even asking them.

***

Atra spent the next half hour looking around the ship for Elly, now, more than ever, wanting to talk to her. Ignis and Effloresca teased her and she saw the one Pokemon she resented perhaps more than Ignis -- Tsunami, the Blastoise. Having someone actually say some nice things to her would be a much better alternative than running back to her railing and spending the rest of the day staring at the ocean.

Her searching proved to be unsuccessful, though; Elly was nowhere to be found by simply scouring the ship. Atra decided that she'd walk around the ship again, though this time calling for her by name. It was rare for her to actually initiate the conversations, but an absolute first time for her to actually be calling for someone by name.

"Elly. Elly. Where are you, Elly? Stupid Pl-... hmph. Elly." Atra avoided raising her voice too loud. She didn't want to attract too much attention to herself and make it look like she really, really wanted to find Elly.

Finally, after another twenty minutes or so of searching, Atra heard the response she was looking for. "Atty?"

"E-Elly? Where are you?" asked Atra, hearing Elly, but being unable to locate her.

From out of nowhere, Elly appeared behind her, startling her. "I was hiding in this thing," said Elly, pointing at a pipe of some sort. "I just wanted to stay out of your way like 'ya told me to. But since you were looking for me, what do 'ya want, hmmm?"

That was quite a question. Atra wasn't even sure what, specifically, she wanted. She just wanted to talk to her, for the time being, or even just have her blab on like she was good at doing. "I... I just wanted to talk, that's all."

"What about?" That question made Atra feel even more unsettled. Where was the bouncy Plusle from the other day that would chatter on like it was nobody's business? That was all she wanted for now, not to go into her problems.

"I... I don't know. But I just wanted to talk. Can't you talk or something?" Atra didn't quite know how to handle the situation. Part of her wanted to jump right in and express her frustrations to the little Plusle, but she also didn't want to trust her, either. She was, after all, pretty annoying and still pretty new.

"Yeah, sure!" Elly smiled up at the Weavile. "I don't know if you can fit in that pipe or not, 'cuz it's pretty small, but it makes for a really good hiding place! It's really fun just watching all of the Pokemon and Trainers walk by and not have them see you or anything! It was so much fun that I did it all day yesterday! Did you do anything fun yesterday?"

"...No."

"Oh, well, okay! Maybe you should do something fun today since you didn't do anything fun yesterday! You do have fun sometimes, right?"

Looks like Elly picked up right where she left off, being as annoying as ever. Somehow, though, Atra felt less inclined to kill her and ignore her on the spot. After being shunned and ignored herself and realizing that's how she was treating the one Pokemon that actually was trying to help her, she didn't want to make an ass out of herself and decided to listen to the chatty Plusle, even carry on a conversation, if she could.

It was a long shot, though. "No, I don't," answered Atra.

"Why not, huh?" asked Elly, looking puzzled at the Weavile's answer.

Atra never played with other Pokemon like a lot of other Pokemon did, at least, as far as she could remember. Even fighting lacked the spark of fun that she believed Elly was talking about. She always just kept to her own business, sitting and watching playing Pokemon whenever she was genuinely bored of reflecting on herself and spitting negative comments about them under her breath.

"Is it because you never had any friends to play with?" added Elly with a tone of sincerity to her voice.

Atra didn't know how to respond. It might have been true, but she didn't really want to vocally admit it. Instead, she closed her eyes and nodded her head twice.

"Aww, Atty! That's so sad! Do you want to play with me?" offered Elly, smiling up at Atra.

Her question took her totally off-guard. She'd never been asked something like that before. She didn't even really know how to play with other Pokemon! So much of her life had just been spent in regret and self-induced isolation. She didn't want to have anything to do with the world. Now, a part of her actually did.

"...Alright," answered Atra, opening her eyes to see the Plusle smiling at her.

Elly looked ecstatic after hearing that Atra would actually play with her. She deeply admired Atra and to have her idol no longer shun her and actually play with her was a dream come true. "Yay!! Alright, let's play Tag, does that sound good?"

"What's Tag?"

Elly proceeded to explain the rules of Tag to Atra, who quickly understood it. The only thing she didn't like about it was that there was a 5 second waiting period that you had to wait before you could chase your opponent.

The unlikely pair began playing Tag with each other. Atra started as 'it' first, which lasted only about... 6 seconds. She remarked that it was too easy. Then Elly tried chasing Atra around, attempting to tag her, but with zero luck.

Elly spent the rest of the afternoon chasing after Atra, who eventually began doing more than simply running away and threw some finesse into the game, taunting and provoking Elly, then narrowly leaping out of the way at the last second.

For the first time since she could recall, Atra actually had fun -- not just found something entertaining, but actually had fun. Perhaps it was because Elly was actually laughing the whole time, even though she was losing by a long shot.

***

The sun was starting to set and Elly eventually conceded to Atra. They both walked along the side of the ship on their way back to Jeff's room.

"Wow, look at the sunset, Atty!" Elly instinctively grabbed Atra's claw and tugged on it, pointing with her other paw at the sunset.

"I said don't to-" Though the Weavile was quick to repel Elly's paw from her own, she instantly became mystified by the gorgeous sunset on the horizon. It cast a golden shimmer amongst the sea and clouds. The ocean's waves looked as if they were ripples wandering through a sea of gold. The sky had a glowing radiance to it.

Such sights as the one before her were often overlooked by Atra. She had no reason to enjoy them. The time she spent staring out at the scenery weren't out of admiration for their majesty, but rather just because they were there.

"See! Isn't that pretty?!" exclaimed Elly, who walked over against the railing and stared out at it.

Atra joined her and stared out at the spectacular sight before them. "I guess it is..." she muttered, still not fully accepting the fact that what she was seeing was something more than just the sun setting behind the ocean.

"So, do 'ya feel any better?" asked Elly, looking up at Atra with an interested look on her face.

"About what?" replied Atra.

"Whatever your problems are. Did having some fun make you feel any better about them?"

Atra paused. "...If I said yes...?"

"Well, then I'd say, great! And told 'ya!" She smiled.

The Weavile smirked. She did feel a bit better, particularly from earlier. It was weird, though, because she wasn't used to talking and interacting with someone like she was with Elly. Even though she was really annoying at first, Elly didn't seem quite as bad now that she thought about it.

"So, did you want to talk about your problems at all? I'm sure I can listen and can help you out! I dunno if you know it or not, but that's what friends are for, 'ya know? To help their friends out with their problems!"

Yet again, Atra was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to open up to the little Plusle. She felt a lot more inclined to today, as opposed to yesterday, but still had her own reservations. "You wouldn't want to hear them," she said, thinking afterward that she probably should have just said no.

"Aww, sure I would! I want to hear all about you! I mean, I think you're so totally awesome as is, but if I could really learn more about you, that'd be so incredibly cool! And hey, you know, it's important to let out your problems! Like, you just sit there and think all day, don'tcha? Well that doesn't get any of your problems solved or make you feel any better about 'em, does it? But if you actually talk to someone about 'em, like me, maybe you'll actually be able to solve them or something!"

"My problems can't be solved... It's too late for that."

"You have a friend now, right? Isn't that one problem down?"

That was a good point, as much as she hated to admit it. Though, really, was it such a bad thing admitting it? Even after how cruelly she treated her, Elly was more of a friend than any other Pokemon she'd met. There was a certain comfort now, after getting over that initial 'get-out-of-my-face-before-I-kill-you' feeling towards her.

"I... I guess," answered Atra.

Elly smiled. "Now just think about your other problems! I'm not going to tell anyone if that's what you're worried about, nuh uh, not me! I can be really good at keeping secrets!"

"Even though you blab like a drunken Chatot?" added Atra, actually laughing slightly at her remark.

"Haha, yeah! Drunken Chatot! Did you know you're actually really funny, Atty?"

Atra shook her head. "No. I'm not funny."

"Yeah, you are! I mean, well, you can tell some pretty funny jokes! There's just something that makes me laugh with every threat you make!"

"Sounds like I'll need to make my threats more physical..." groaned Atra, feeling a little uncertain about if being 'funny' was a good thing or not.

"Haha! There! That! See what I mean?! That was really funny! Hahaha!" The Plusle began laughing hysterically, rolling on the wooden deck and holding her belly with her paws.

Atra just rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just don't laugh too hard at it or it'll lose it's punch."

"Haha, ha! Ha!" Elly got up from where she was laughing on the floor and walked back over to the railing, joining Atra. They both stared out at the ocean. "So, come on, you can talk to me about anything! Why are you always so depressed, huh? Is it just because you didn't have any friends, or is it something else?"

"It... um... Elly..." Atra had never talked about her inner problems to anyone before. She'd always been too afraid to, for fear of seeming soft or being judged. Because of that, she trained herself to bottle it all up inside and just listen to her inner thoughts to calm her down.

"You can tell me, I promise! I'm your friend, right? Right?"

"...R-right." She actually admitted it. She actually admitted that Elly was her friend. It was tough for her to admit that, because it went against everything she was for as long as she could remember. It seemed incredibly unlikely, too, since she did treat Elly pretty bad in the past and even inflicted serious injuries on her.

"Yay! See, doesn't it feel good to have a friend for a change? Now, come on! You can tell me anything, it's alright! I'm still going to think you're the most awesomest Pokemon in the whole world! But I'll think that you're even more awesomer if you stop keeping everything to yourself all the time and talk to your friend about what's going on!"

Atra sighed. "Where should I start...?" she asked with a groan.

"Wherever 'ya want to! We can work on one problem at a time, too! It's not like we have to get 'em all fixed in a day, 'ya know!"

The Weavile glanced down at the Plusle to her side, then back out at the sunset. It changed from a shimmering gold to a radiant red glow, lighting the sky on fire. "I really hate everything in my life. The only reason I really have left to live is just to fight and prove that I'm strong."

"H-huh?!" exclaimed Elly. "Why's that?!"

"Err... it... there's a lot of reasons for it."

"Like?! Can you name a few, huh?!" Elly looked rather concerned about Atra, who was still just staring out at the sunset.

"Leto..." Atra hung her head down, appearing to be quite sad.

"Leto? What's a Leto?" asked Elly.

"H-he... he was a Zangoose that Jeff caught. He was a real nice Pokemon."

"And then what? What'd he do to make you so sad, Atty?"

Atra sighed. "He... he didn't care about..." Atra paused mid-sentence, appearing to be holding back more tears.

"He didn't care about what, Atty?" asked Elly, looking up at her friend.

"About... me," said Atra. She began crying shortly afterward.

Elly scooted over closer to her, then began petting the Weavile's back. "There, there, Atty, it's okay."

"I said don't- d-don- d... don't..." It was no use. Atra broke out into an uncontrollable sobbing fit and was powerless to prevent the Plusle from comforting her, even if it was by touching her. Tears flowed out of the Weavile's eyes. She'd cried more in these last three days than she had since Leto.

"You... you loved him, didn't you?" asked Elly cautiously. She didn't want to offend Atra, but she had a gut feeling.

Her gut feeling was right. Atra fell in love with the handsome Zangoose, but he didn't even acknowledge her existence.

"E-Elly... I... I- I did... I- I n-never t-t-told anyone th-this... e-e-except f-for... L-L-Leto..." The Weavile stepped away from the railing, then got on her claws and knees to cry more.

Elly followed her and walked over to her shoulder, then rubbed it gently. "I... I'm sorry, Atty. What happened between you and Leto?"

"He... h-he... I... I told him th-that I loved him, that I c-couldn't stop th-thinking about him, and that I r-really wanted him to be m-my mate... I d-don't know what came over me, b-but he t-told me... th-that... he didn't love me or even care about me. H-he said that I didn't k-know what love was and that I c-could never know... He just teased me l-like the rest of J-Jeff's P-P-Pokemon..." She began sobbing even more.

"Atty..."

"The next d-day, J-Jeff traded him away for Tsu-n-nami... because he was stronger. I didn't even get t-to say goodbye... and th-that was the last I-I-I s-saw... of... him..." Atra broke down in tears and sorrow, collapsing onto the ground and burying her face in her crossed arms, crying out at the top of her lungs. She was too sad to even worry about being seen by any of Jeff's Pokemon.

"It's okay, let it all out, Atty, let it all out... It's okay..." Elly went over to Atra's head and began rubbing her head, petting the red crown of fur that adorned her head. She moved her petting down to Atra's red ears, rubbing her cheek with her paws.

After a few more minutes of crying, Atra sat up and leaned her back up against the railing of the ship. The red tint of the sunset had already faded and it was officially night out.

Elly hopped up onto Atra's lap, completely disregarding the previous signs that she didn't like to be touched.

"Get off of m-... I... I'm sorry, Elly... I... y-you..." She sighed. Her natural reaction was to yell at whoever touched her. That was how she shielded herself against strangers and familiars alike.

"Do you want a hug, Atty?" asked Elly, looking up at Atra, though, since she was sitting down and Elly was on her lap, not nearly as much as usual.

"A... hug? I... I've never..." As Atra began responding, Elly took initiative and gave her one anyway. The Plusle leaned in forward and held onto her Weavile friend's body, burying her face against her chest.

At first, it made Atra feel uncomfortable, but she quickly felt a warm, tingly sensation take over her body as her friend hugged her. She felt compelled to reach her arms around Elly's as well, even though she'd never done that to anyone before. Not knowing if it were right or wrong or if she wanted to or not, she slowly reached her free claws back around Elly's body and held her close to her own.

That one embrace felt so peaceful, so pleasant, so comforting. It was as if all of her worries and anxieties just dissolved in that one sweet moment. She enjoyed the feeling of their furry bodies pressed against one another. It connected her to her friend. She no longer felt like the icy cold and heartless Weavile she once was. Instead, she felt warm inside and, best yet, that someone actually cared about her for exactly who she was.

Elly pulled her face away from Atra's chest so she could stare up at Atra. Her eyes were closed, but that didn't make the sight any less appealing to her. She knew she had to act. She squirmed around a little bit until she could reach Atra's face with her paws, then grabbed onto her cheek with her paws, brought her head down slightly, and, taking a bold move forward, kissed Atra directly on the lips.

Atra was immediately taken by surprise at Elly's unexpected actions. The Plusle, the female Plusle, was kissing her! Not only that, but it was the first kiss she ever received, from either a male or a female. Atra reacted by pushing Elly away from her, freeing her lips and causing Elly to give a guilty stare back at Atra.

"E-Elly?! W-what the hell?!" exclaimed Atra, utterly confused and slightly disturbed by what just took place. The comforting hug was one thing, but Atra knew the significance of a kiss and knew fully well what it meant.

"A-Atty! Didn't that feel good, huh? Y-you know it did!" exclaimed Elly, looking up at Atra with pleading eyes.

Atra shoved the Plusle off of her and took a few steps forward, staring off into nothing and clearly contemplating what had just happened. She was kissed, and not just by any Pokemon, but by another female. It wasn't right in her mind. Not right at all.

Elly quickly got up and followed the Weavile as she was walking away, still walking at a slow pace and staring blankly. Elly began tugging at the Weavile's legs, trying to stop her from moving. "Atty! Atty! Please don't go! You can't go! I love you, Atty!"

Hearing that last line caused Atra to freeze in her tracks. "W-what...?" she quietly asked back to the Plusle, though not turning around to face her.

"Atty... You're the most awesomest Pokemon there is. I knew it from the moment I first saw you! You're not just strong and cool, but you're really beautiful, too! And you're a really great Pokemon! I love you, Atty, I mean it!"

"J-just..." started Atra, clenching her fists and sounding increasingly frustrated, "leave... l-leave me alone!!" With that, Atra shook her leg and kicked Elly back, knocking her to the ground, then ran away from her fallen friend as fast as she could.

"Attttyyyy!!" yelled Elly as Atra ran until she was no longer in sight. The poor Plusle broke out in tears. Maybe she acted too quickly? Maybe too impulsively? Maybe she just shouldn't have done that at all. Whatever the case, she worried that the friendship that she actually managed to build with her idol, Atra, was gone.

-~+~-
End of Chapter 1
-~+~-