I stood by and watched my Trainer's form silently. Her long, black hair was unkept and her skin was unnaturally pale. The stench of illness was thick in the air.

I heard a rustling and turned to see the limber form of a Snivy approaching, followed closely by a small Lillipup.

"Is she any better?" Snivy asked.

I shook my head. "She draws nearer to death every second," I answered solemnly.

A look of anguish crossed Snivy's face, and tears gathered in Lillipup's eyes. "All she wanted was to be the best trainer she could be," Lillipup sniffed, "Why'd she have to be the one to fall ill?"

"Fate will do what fate must," I answered. However, as I said this, a stab of grief scorched my heart. Lillipup was right. Lucy hadn't been a trainer for long; scarcely a month. Snivy had been the Pokemon she had received from Professor Juniper. Not long after, she had caught Lillipup, and then me.

Snivy looked at me pleadingly. "Is their nothing we can do?"

I paused to consider this. "No..." I responded.

"You're a Ghost- type!" Lillipup exclaimed, "Surely you must know something!"

"Well, there might be a way..." I trailed off, a million things flying through my mind.

"Really? What? Tell us!" Snivy shouted.

"It's nothing either of you would be able to do," I replied, "And it probably wouldn't work, anyway..."

"At this point, I'd be willing to try anything," Snivy replied, "I'll let you think it over. Come on, Lillipup, let's go gather some berries." Snivy turned and disappeared back the way he had come. Lillipup glanced at our trainer one last time before pursuing Snivy through the undergrowth.

I sighed and floated closer to my trainer. As I watched, she gave a shutter as the illness slowly drained her life force. I hadn't lied when I told Snivy that I might have a way to save our trainer, but there was no guarantee it would work. But if it did work... I might not be able to celebrate my success. I shook my head and floated over to Lucy's trainer bag, hoping to find something within it to at least lower my trainer's fever from a short while.

I tipped over the bag and its contents tumbled out: several Potions, a Pokedex, a few Pokeballs, a camera, some cooking supplies. Nothing that could be deemed helpful for fevers. As I set the pack down, an object at the bottom caught my attention. I levitated it out and saw it was a photo album, with the words, "My Pokemon Journey" etched into the cover.

I opened it, curious about the kinds of photos it might hold. The first photo I came to showed Lucy, shining with health, smiling and holding a Pokedex proudly in her hand. By her side stood Snivy, looking cool as usual.

The next picture showed Lucy throwing a Pokeball at a lost looking Lillipup. Judging by the strange angle the photo was at, I assumed Snivy had taken it.

A few pages later, I spotted a picture of Lucy, Lillipup, and Snivy. I was also in that picture, hoovering just above Lucy. I smiled as I remembered the look on Lucy's face when she had scanned through her photos to find a Misdreavus had photo bombed her. She had spent the remainder of two days hunting for me. She eventually found and caught me. At first, I had refused her every command, but gradually I had grow to admire Lucy's never- yielding spirit.

I turned another page, and smiled sadly at the picture. It had been take just days earlier, when Lucy had won her first Gym Battle. She was shown smiling broadly in front of the Gym, holding the Gym Badge up high, with Snivy, Lillipup, and I beside her.

The next page I turned to was blank. I sighed, imagining the book filled with pictures of Lucy proudly holding Badges, then eventually one of her sitting on the Champion's chair with the Elite Four. But it was not to be. Lucy had fallen ill on the way to our next city, and neither Lillipup, Snivy, nor I were strong enough to carry her to a Pokemon Center. So here we were, forced to watch as our beloved trainer slowly withered before our eyes.

As I closed the book, I thought once again of my task to save my trainer. It was daunting, and would no doubt leave me drained. But if I could save my trainer, if I could make her wishes and dreams become reality, wouldn't it be worth it?

I heard Lucy cry out and turned, panicked. Lucy's physical state was rapidly decreasing. It seemed that as I had been looking through the photo book, Lucy's sickness had taken a turn for the worst. I could sense her life force depleting rapidly. It was then I made my final decision. I was going to save my trainer's life, no matter the cost.

It is well known to most people that Misdreavus absorb feelings of fear as energy. But what they don't know is that we can absorb other feelings as well; pain, misery, and other such emotions.

I hoovered above Lucy and absorbed all the pain and misery the sickness had caused her, erasing the illness from her entirly. In her place, I would suffer the fate she had been so close to.

When I finished absorbing the last traces of the illness that had burdened my trainer, I collapsed onto the ground, writhing in pain. Through the pain, I sensed Lucy stir as her life force was slowly restored. It wouldn't be long before she was fully conscious.

As the pain increased, I heard Snivy and Lillipup enter the clearing again, worried by the ruckus.

"Misdreavus!" Snivy cried, "What did you do?"

"I- I s- saved h- her," I whimpered, forcing the words out despite the pain, "I- isn't th- th- that wh- what a P- Pokemon is m- meant to do? S- save th- their tr- trainers?"

"There must have been another way!" Snivy wailed, "There must have been!"

"N- not... enough... t- t- time," I choked out, "I- I had... t- t- to s- s-ave... h- her."

"Misdreavus?" I heard my Trainer inquire, becoming aware of the situation. I felt her soft hands as she gently picked me up. "Wh- what's wrong?" she asked, "What happened? Misdreavus? M- m- misdreavus?"

Through the pain, I smiled at the sound of Lucy's voice, one last time. I had saved her life. I was going to make all her wishes and dreams come true.

Fate may be cruel, I thought as my senses slowly dimmed, but so long as we have our family and friends by our side, we can shelter each other from the wild storm of hate that rages each and every day outside our windows. And even though our paths may stray, we'll see each other again...

Someday...

---

~ Author's Note

And my entry for NyxAbsol 's contest is finished.

WHY DID I HAVE TO GET THE DEPRESSING PROMPT????

Oh, well. I wrote it, it's sad, and will hopefully win! Or at least make someone cry. It this makes at least one person cry, I will feel accomplished.

So.... Just to tell those of you who don't know me, my stories typically aren't this depressing, but meh- you've got to step out of your comfort zone at least once in life. And now that I have, I don't have to again! ^-^

That's all for now. Bye, and see you next Author's Note/ Story Thingy!!