Day: Sunday. Yeah... I try to be faster. But it's still Sunday, sorry. If you want to know who the killer is, I'm getting to that. Just wait...

( Ash's POV ) (Ash has been forgotten. Sort of. Guess it isn't everything to be the main protagonist.)

I walked with Drew to the canteen, hoping he wouldn't ditch me if I started ordering food. Paul and Gary didn't even go with me anymore. Though that was also a relief, sort of. Especially with Paul. When I first heard he and Dawn were together again, I thought that would make him less grumpy. But he was just as grumpy as usual, only he wasn't around as often as before.

"I want..."I started, looking around.

"He wants two sandwiches, a chocolate milkshake and pancakes."Drew said. The exact words I wanted to say. I grinned and opened my mouth to say something, but Drew was faster. "And a cherry for on the pancakes. And I-"Drew smiled when he saw my open mouth"-want one sandwich with orange juice." I chuckled.

"Sure, do you have the money?"the woman asked. Drew handed the woman some money and she quickly gave us what he ordered.

"How did you know what I was gonna say?"I asked, still chuckling. Drew grinned.

"I'm friends with you for years now."Drew said. "And you only eat something different at dinner or in the weekends." I smiled.

"So you noticed?" Drew nodded.

"I'm not stupid."

"Debatable." Drew glared at me and took a bite out of his sandwich. "So, are you and May together now?"I asked with my mouth full of food. Drew stopped eating his sandwich.

"Do you even think I have the time to have a girlfriend?"he asked angrily. "I'll be leaving to Hoenn this Friday!" I wanted to open my mouth to say something, but Drew continued, "Ash, I don't even know if I can help with the whole murder situation! What if my parents decide I should go now! I'm in so much trouble for hanging up on them. And worst of all, I don't have the time to pack my bags. I need to get ready for my tests."

"Breath, Greeny."I said when Drew finally finished. "From what I hear, you don't want to go back to Hoenn." Drew shook his head. "Then tell your parents that."

"They're not as understanding as Delia, Ash."Drew said impatiently. "They'll say that I don't have a choice, and that it's a good thing. They say that with the murders I'm target number one, because I have a well-trained Roselia." Drew rolled his eyes. "I just want them to understand this town is more than just those murders."

"Then tell them that." I looked at my watch. "Oh no! Misty is going to get angry." Drew raised an eyebrow. "We're gonna have a great date, in the hospital." Drew chuckled.

"Well, I'm going to finish my lunch."

"Good luck with it."I said, glaring at Drew. It was unfair that he could eat all my food now. "Come Pikachu." But Pikachu, of course, decided to stay with Drew and eat all my food. I pouted, but walked towards the hospital.

( time skip )

"Can I help you?" I looked at the clock, hoping Misty would forgive me for being late.

"Yes, I'm looking for my friend, Misty Waterflower."I said hastily. "She's here, but I don't know where in here." The woman looked at me with the most annoyed face I had every seen anyone have.

"Misty Waterflower, you said?" She typed some things in the computer, fast and without a mistake. "She's visiting Mrs. Yvonne. Room 65, second floor."

"Thank you."I said grateful, and I ran to the elevator. I pushed the up button and waited for the elevator to come down. When I finally reached the second floor, I ran as fast as I could to Serena's room. "Sorry that I'm late, I absolutely didn't mean to!"I yelled as I rushed in. Serena stared at me. The first thing I noticed was that she cut her hair. The second thing I noticed was that Misty was nowhere to be seen.

"I didn't expect you here."Serena said calm. It scared me a little how different Serena was. I always knew her as a nice, cheerful girl. But the girl before me wasn't very cheerful.

"I'm sorry, I was told Misty was here with you."I said, doing my best to smile. Serena nodded.

"I see." What the hell was wrong with her? "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but she's not here. I left her, standing before the bathroom. If you want I can bring you there." I nodded slowly.

"Why did you cut your hair?"

"I want to be a new version of me. A better, stronger version. It's strange, isn't it?" I didn't say a word. Didn't make a sound. "I'm tired, scared and helpless. Though people see me as overreactive, clingy or just bitchy. I didn't sign up to be in a hospital, I signed up to be dead."

"But nobody wants you to be dead, people want to understand you."I said, without even knowing why. If Serena wanted to change that was fine by me. I just didn't really know what to think. "But I like it this way. It's pretty." A small smile escaped Serena's lips.

"Thank you, Ash."she said. "And I'm happy that I'm not a dead body. If I was I couldn't even give people a new vision of me. I tried to kill myself, which would only confirm that what they think I am, overreactive. But I'm not the same person as I was before this. I can't keep going on pretending I didn't try to kill myself."

"Nobody asks you to."

"I ask me to!" I worriedly looked at Serena. Short blond hair, white hospital clothes, blue eyes, filled with tears. What happened to her? "I'm starting to go mad in this hospital! I need to get out, but they won't let me! I don't want to hide the part of me that isn't perfect!"

"Nobody has to be perfect!"I yelled at her, not knowing why I was getting this angry. "Nobody expects anything from you, Serena. I didn't even say there was something wrong with you changing. If this is what you want, then I'm happy for you. I'm not pitying you, if that's what you're after. I'm your friend, Serena. Don't treat me like I'm your rival." Serena's eyes sparkled, but no good sparkle. They were angry, like a fire burning inside Serena.

"Do you have any idea what it has been like to be here?"Serena asked in a cold voice. "There are a few visitors, Sky, Misty and... Well, I didn't ask you to come! But of course you're not here for me, but for Misty. And what has she been through?"

"Way worse than you, Serena."I said, and I walked away to the bathroom. Misty was indeed there, cleaning up. On the floor were pieces of Serena's hair, a makeup bag with some fallen or broken things and water. It was like Serena had attempted to commit suicide again, but this time by drowning.

"Ash."Misty said, and she quickly stood up. "I'm sorry, I totally forgot you were..."

"Coming."I finished her sentence. Misty nodded guilty. "That's okay, don't worry. I had a chat with Serena, because of that."

"Oh, how is she?"Misty asked. I looked away, still a bit angry.

"Better than ever." Misty didn't respond. My guess, she realized I didn't want to talk about it. I could remember how Serena sat crying before the hospital room. I yelled at her, accusing her for Misty's problems. Asking what she had done. She had just cried, unable to answer me. I could remember the words Misty had screamed to me: "Why are you so dense! Can't you see how much it hurts her to see you mad at her!"

"Look, Serena is in the hospital for a long time now. She..."

"Why are you always taking her side?"I asked annoyed. "I'm mad at her because she's trying to defend herself. I wasn't even attacking her, but she didn't give being nice a chance. If this is how Serena is now, I don't think I want her as a friend anymore."

"Ash..."

"No, don't Ash me!"I yelled, now angrier. "This is how it's always going, when Serena becomes the topic, you don't even care who's right! Is it because Serena needs your comfort, needs pity. I'm sorry, Misty, but I don't think Serena deserves your pity."

"There is no right or wrong in an argument, Ash."Misty said patiently. "But when it comes to Serena, we need to make sure she feels safe. You don't know her, you don't know what she has been through. And I know you haven't had a lot of losses in your life, Ash. She has. So it isn't about pity, or preference. It's about choosing to help, to protect, someone."

"Yeah, I know."I said frustrated. "Now you say it's not about pity, but in the end pity is the only thing that makes you choose Serena's side."

"So you want me to choose your side, just because you're my boyfriend?"

"No, I want you to choose a side by using your brains."

"Like you ever use your brains!"Misty shouted angrily. "I'm the one that studies, I'm the one that gets high grades, I'm the one that keeps figuring things out about the killer! Ash, you don't do a thing!"

"I'm not stupid, you know." Misty looked angry at me, not even trying to smile. "I don't have a good vision of romance, yes. But what do you expect from someone who lost his father at the age of three. For some subjects in school I score even higher than you do. Misty, you say I'm the dense one. But you can't even see it when I'm holding back my own feelings for others." Misty opened her mouth to say something, but I turned around and walked away. "I'm gonna look for Leaf. She at least cares about me."

"Are you breaking up with me?!"Misty screamed, just before I was gone. I looked at her. She had tears in her eyes, and looked tired.

"Yes,"I said, processing it. "Yes, I am." Then I walked away, leaving Misty in the bathroom with Serena's stuff. I started walking faster. And faster. I ran to my dorm. But instead of opening my door, I opened Drew's. He immediately looked up, with Roselia beside him.

"What's wrong?"he asked, and he stood up.

"I need something to distract me."I said, throwing my bag on Drew's bed. Drew grinned. "I'm not too late, right?"

"I don't think Harley has another job, yet."Drew said determined. "I'll take you there." I nodded, and walked after Drew to his motor.

( Dawn's POV )

"I told you to stay."I said angry.

"I'm not a dog, you know."Gary said irritated. "I care about Leaf, so do you. If you're gonna look for her, so am I. I gave you one day alone, you sucked. Now we're both gonna look for her." I glared at Gary.

"I'm trying to keep you safe."I snarled. "That's what Leaf would've wanted me to do."

"If it helps you, I wouldn't have listened to Leaf either."

"You're a bad boyfriend."

"Hey, it's my first time being someone's boyfriend." This actually caught me by surprise. "I had lots of girls that liked me, but we never became a couple."

"So you're a player?"

"Does that surprise you?"

"No." I had forgotten how much I hated Gary. I still did, but it was a different hating. I had always known he was a player. I just forgot he was that same person as he used to be. Leaf had a good influence on him. Just like Barry had a good influence on me. This thought made me more determined about everything. I wouldn't let what happened to Barry, happen to Leaf. I started walking faster.

"Hey, easy now Dawn. What's the rush?"Gary asked, following me. I didn't say a thing. But I knew where I was going to, even though it was very likely Leaf wasn't there. "Dawn, where are you going? Dawn!" I ran faster, Gary close behind me. When I stopped, we were almost there. "Dawn, seriously, where are we..." He shut up when I walked through the cemetery, to Barry's grave. I felt tears coming up, and a whole lot of them. I sat down at Barry's grave.

"Look, I hate to break it to you, but this isn't gonna help Leaf."Gary said after a while.

"I know."I said, still crying. "I just can't help it. The moment I think of him, I just need to see him. And then I realize I can't. Because he... I just don't want this to happen to Leaf. I don't want to have more graves to visit."

"Then come."Gary said, but slowly, not rude. I nodded and followed Gary.

"Come on out, Pachirisu!"I shouted. I looked at Gary, waiting for him to call out his pokémon. Gary smiled.

"Umbreon, I choose you!" Gary grinned at me. "Umbreon, you remember Leaf, right?"

"Umbre!"

"Good, 'cause you're gonna look for her!" Umbreon sweat dropped

"You hear that Pachirisu?!" Pachirisu nodded. "Good!" Gary ran after Umbreon. "For Barry."I whispered, before running after Gary and Umbreon. We would find Leaf, and we would make sure nothing bad would happen to her. Nothing.

________________________________________________________________________________

It has been a little while ago, since I last updated. I'm sorry for that, but Wattpad was doing weird, and I was afraid that I would lose this chapter. I hope you understand.

This chapter took kinda long for me to make. I just didn't feel like writing out of Ash's POV. And it was kinda hard for me to crush my OTP like that. But, well, it was doomed to happen, wasn't it?

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                   -LapisLazulli2-