A/N: The view of Pokemon battling in this story is that, if these supernatural animals went around fighting each other, they WOULD kill each other, no ifs or buts about it. Consequentially, Pokemon battling has been banned for one hundred years. Pokemon are viewed more realistically in this than they are in the TV show. Thankyou to Raichu, Skyler Vane of Versus City, Ash's Dragon and Bluwirz for reviewing my work, particularly Raichu, who reviewed about five times for various stories and gave me much constructive criticism ^^ Anyway, please review, and enjoy. :P

Disclaimer: Contrary to popular belief, I don't own Pokemon. :D

Cliff by the Sea

She sat on the rocky cliff, the salty wind tousling her long golden-brown hair and throwing it around her face. Her blue-green eyes focused on the pad in her lap, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She held the pencil lightly and made deft, fluid, quick strokes across the paper, forming lines, shadows and shapes.

Her subject sat perfectly still, the wind making patterns through his thick, soft orange fur. His face was set in a serious and grave expression, his furled ears flopping limply in the breeze.

Finally her face relaxed, her thin lips curling into a satisfied smile. She flipped her head, tossing the soft, damp hair out of her face, and held the pad up to the light. Her subject gave a grunt and trotted over, examining the pad. Etched on the paper was a perfect, black-and-white copy of himself. He grinned, baring sharp, gleaming teeth, and gave an approving growl.

Not bad. You're improving.

She liked to pretend she could hear the puppy's voice in her mind. He was her only friend, and though they were close as could be, she missed her other friend. He and she had had long conversations about whatever came to mind, laughing together and sharing their secrets and dreams.

But now he was gone, and all she had was the puppy.

"Don't say that. It's brilliant and you know it."

Brilliant? Maybe in that alternate universe, you know...your imagination?

She laughed and tackled her friend. They wrestled happily on the cliff for a few minutes, the sea crashing against the rock below. Sad-looking, grey clouds blew over their heads, threatening to burst open and pelt them with cold, bitter rain. Every so often a chunk of rock would dislodge from the cliff and tumble into the turbulent waters below. But the girl and the puppy didn't notice, and continued to roll around, shaking with laughter.

She remembered sitting on this cliff with him, and talking about what was out there in those dangerous seas beyond their village.

"One day, I'm going to go out to the sea, and find out," he had told her. "I'm sick of all this guessing. Someday soon, I swear, I'm going to get out of here and see the world."

"I'll miss you," she had replied with a small smile. He had taken her hand and they had sworn that they would go together and find out what was out there.

At first, she had been angry. Standing on the cliff, she had tossed the locket into the sea and screamed at him. "You promised me! You promised you'd take me with you and we'd see the world!" She had known he wasn't sorry.

But that was then, and this was now, and now, she had forgiven him.

And now, a shadow fell over her and the puppy.

And now, she looked up and saw a man, with broad shoulders and a very short haircut, wearing a black outfit that had a crimson letter 'R' embroidered on it.

And now, she was filled with dread.

"I'll take that," he said in a gruff voice, holding out his hand. He was looking pointedly at the puppy. She hugged him tightly to her chest, feeling the rich vermillion fur under her hands. He dug his claws into her shirt. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew it was upsetting her, and he didn't like it. He growled at the strange man with red and black body-fur.

"No, that's all right," she said calmly, although her heart was pounding in her chest and her hands were sweating with worry. She didn't know how to fight him off. She didn't know what to do.

He would have known. He always knew what to do.

She could remember the night of the carnival two years ago. It was her fourteenth birthday, and he, the puppy and her had gone to the carnival. They had all tried the fairy floss, and then the huge Ferris Wheel. When it the wheel stopped, she had felt dizzy, looking down what felt like a thousand metres to the ground below. He had laughed and rocked their carriage until she declared she would be sick, at which point he had advised her to simply enjoy the beautiful view, and she had hugged the puppy and looked down at the small town, shining in all the colours of the rainbow.

He had given her a locket for her birthday. She had put in it a photo of them laughing at some stupid joke somebody had made, and treasured it, until he went.

But that was then, and this was now, and now, she was being threatened by a dark, sinister man, cowering on the edge of the cliff.

And now, she knew that she couldn't give him the puppy. These puppies, with their soft red fur and huge black eyes, were not easy to find, and she knew that the man and his gang of crooks would kill the puppy and sell his beautiful rich fur, and fashion his sharp white teeth into a kind of ivory, or sell him to some other town where they were impossible to find, where he would be brutally slaughtered and his disgusting fatty meat would be digested into the stomachs of some foul carnivorous person.

The man reached for something at his belt. She blanched, thinking it was a gun. "I didn't want to do this," he said slowly. He paused. "Actually, I did. If you don't want to give me the Pokemon -" she flinched at the word. Nobody had called them the forbidden term 'Pocket Monster' or 'Pokemon' for one hundred years, since training was banned and the Rockets became a real problem "- then I'll take it from you by force. Hitmonlee, go!"

She gasped. It was a PokeBall. PokeBalls had been banned even before battling. It was the cruellest thing one could do to a creature, to tear up its essence and encase it in a digital device. The creature appeared, with long, tough legs and clawed feet. She imagined those claws tearing into the puppy's flesh and whimpered. The puppy whimpered too.

I'm scared. What's going to happen to me?

"Now, give me the Pokemon or you both die." The man's lips curled into a cruel smile. And now she wished more than ever that he hadn't left her.

"I needed you," she whispered. "Why did you have to go?" But she made no move to give the puppy to the man.

"No? Well then - mega kick, Hitmonlee!"

The creature sprang at her and the puppy, gathering power in its springy legs. She folded her arms around the puppy and leaned forward so that the kick hit only her. The strong, clawed feet tore into her skin and she screamed in pain. The puppy leapt up, agitated, scared at the smell of her blood. She held him tighter, restraining him as he struggled anxiously to see the cut. It was a deep cut, but it wasn't long. She ignored the throbbing in her arm and turned away from the man, hiding the puppy from him.

"Hi jump kick!" commanded the man. She turned slightly and the puppy was knocked from her arms as she went sprawling. Both elbows grazed, palms stinging and her head throbbing, the girl leapt to her feet. The puppy had been hit directly by the attack; more than her. It was unconscious on the ground.

"Slam!" cried the man euphorically. The creature swung a leg out towards the puppy. The girl's scream was drowned out by a crash of thunder. Pale violet lightning illuminated that one second that seemed to last forever. In slow motion the sharp-clawed feet connected with the puppy's chest, piercing the thick fur and skin, and swung it up towards the sky.

If the puppy had survived the kick, it didn't survive the sickening crunch as its neck snapped and it landed headfirst on the ground.

"No!" screamed the girl, running towards it, but the man scooped up the corpse and kicked her in the stomach as rain began to patter on the ground.

Winded, all she could do was stagger backwards and watch as her last friend disappeared around the corner.

Her eyes filled with tears, mingling with the rain running down her face. She hurt all over from the creature's attacks, but it was the loveliest feeling in the world compared to the pain in her heart. "You left me too," she choked quietly. "Everyone's gone now."

Her mother had never really cared; she was too caught up in work. Her father had died shortly after the girl's birth. She had never had any friends, apart from the puppy, and, of course, him. But now everyone was gone and she had nobody. She turned to the edge of the cliff, facing the sea, which was tossing dangerously in the storm. "You left without me," she said softly. "But I'm coming now. I hope you've waited for me."