Author’s Notes

This is merely a one-shot that I wrote at the end of April last year that I posted on fanfiction.net but not here. I figured I need the practice using html and so I decided I’d post it here for you to read as well. A short disclaimer: The song lyrics used at the beginning of the story are not mine. They belong to a band called Escape the Fate. The song is The Ransom.

(Quick!) We have the ransom. Tell me how that you can swim with ropes tied around your limbs. (Below!) There’s no more chances. Tell me now that you can swim with ropes tied around your limbs.

We watched him dance like a puppet on a string. Dreams can become reality, but most of the time, they remain dreams. Distant and perfect, they are often tainted by a sick little thing called reality. What you want is often perfect up until it becomes more real than you ever thought it would. It is only then that you see what lays beneath that perfect exterior- the faults, the troubles, the drama, the work, the lies.

They had known him from age ten on, working for the dream that he was so close to achieving now. But he wasn’t that same little boy anymore. She had known an innocent, sweet yet dense little boy. He was now immensely powerful, somewhat ruthless and possibly even… witty, as weird as it was for Misty to call him that. It had been months since she had seen the boy she had once known, and he was beginning to scare her.

His dream had suddenly enthralled him, consumed him, and overtaken his very being. He was difficult to be around and the formerly easy-going kid he had once been was now moody, biting and quick to anger.

Misty knew she wasn’t the only one concerned, but nobody, not even her, tried to correct him. She wasn’t sure if he was aware of this drastic change, but if he was, he was doing nothing to stop it. It was like all of the sudden her world had done a complete 360 and nobody had informed her of it.

Life is a crazy little thing that gives you hope, makes you smile and then chokes you slowly until you have no choice but to collapse. Eventually, the past is forgotten, the future is too bleak and the present is merely a bunch of crap.

Misty was trying so hard to deal with this cold and complacent person who had once been her best friend, but her reality was becoming a bit hard to swallow. Nobody could get through to him, nobody could make him smile, or laugh, or joke around. He had a permanent poker face on, and the only things that came out of his mouth now were screams and complaints.

They weren’t good enough for him now, and probably could never be good enough again. Ash was a true champion now. The only people that existed in his world now were himself, his Pokemon and the challengers that he would soon stomp into a hole.

All that you ever wanted was to stand higher and more proudly than anybody else. All that you wanted was to achieve your dream. I bet you never thought that after it was all said and done, you would be standing alone. And you’ll still be alone when it all crashes down and you fall. It doesn’t matter how loud you scream, but nobody, absolutely nobody, will come running to save you. Only you can save yourself now.