Pain

No words were needed to know it existed. It practically radiated off of the boy who stood before you. Your body was frozen in place; unable to do anything but continue to watch him unnoticed. Quite frankly, you were terrified to find out what such horrible tragedy could've possibly broken this such lively boy beyond repair. That's exactly what he was.

Broken

Blue was always a proud boy and that was something you looked up to him for. No matter the situation, he always kept his pride and stood straight with a grin on his face. Now? That grin of his you adored so much and his body was hunched over a grave inside the Pokemon Tower. Even from the distance you were at, you could hear the sounds of his racked sobs escaping his throat.

One by one, his Pokemon began to release themselves from their Pokeballs on their own accord and crowded around their beloved trainer. He did nothing as his Pokemon started nudging him and hugging him in a desperate attempt cheer him up. You stood there waiting for his last Pokemon, his Raticate, to release itself from its Pokeball, but it never appeared.

Your breath hitched in your chest and realization hit you. The grave he was standing in front of - how utterly broken he was... could it really be? But you had only just battled against that same Raticate only days before. How could the life of a Pokemon - no, any living creature - just fade so quickly?

Sorrow

With tears of your own strolling down your face, you ran over to Blue and nearly tackled him down with a hug. He slightly turned his head to look at you and attempted to form his usual smile to no avail. The sorrow he felt outweighed everything else at that moment. Even for your sake, he wasn't able to muster a fake laugh.

"I'm so sorry, Blue!" you cried into his chest, wrapping your arms tightly around him. "I'm so sorry..."

Never before did either you or Blue notice how much sorrow truly did lie in the Pokemon Tower. A cemetery never truly meant much to people unless it held someone or something they knew. But once someone had the misfortune of feeling that sorrow? Well, to be quite frank, it felt like a Hyper Beam straight to the heart.

He looked down at you with tears flooding in his eyes. "Do you know what it's like to have a Pokemon die?"

You and Blue stayed there for hours. At one point, he ended up collapsing onto his knees and continued to stay like that. Despite your begs and pleas, he refused to move from that spot. There was no doubt in your mind that he would stay there as long as possible, but you couldn't just leave him there. It wasn't until a stomach growled from one of his Pokemon that he finally stood up. His body was shaky and he nearly toppled over. You quickly reached out to grab him, but he quietly shook off your help.

Empty

After his Pokemon were fed, he returned them to their Pokeballs, leaving just you and him alone together. He didn't even touch his food, but you knew you couldn't expect anything more than that. You were just glad that he finally left the Pokemon Tower. Being in a place like that was sure to only sadden him even more.

Sitting next to him on the bench, you gently rested your head on his shoulder and looked up at him. While he would normally blush and push you off of him, he just sat there and stared off at the glistening lake before him. Sorrow over washed you as you noticed his eyes. The fiery spark that usually sparkled in his eyes was gone. Now they looked so empty.

This wasn't the same boy you knew and it pained you to know that.

A Magikarp suddenly jumped out of the lake, causing you to jump in fright. Instead of splashing back down into the water, it ended up landing onto the ground where it flopped desperately to get back into the water. Standing up from his seat, Blue slowly walked over to the Magikarp and threw a Pokeball at it.

One. Two. Three. Click!

You stared at him wide-eyed as he slowly bent down to pick up his Pokeball which held his new companion. His eyes stared down at it in his hands as if he couldn't believe what he was doing himself. He may be feeling so utterly broken and empty due to the loss of his beloved Pokemon, but even a tragedy such as that one couldn't completely erase his old personality.

"I'll train up this Magikarp," he told you with a forced smile on his face. "I'll raise it up just like I did with Raticate."

You only hoped that one day, he could finally be whole again.