Hiromi sat down on that beach and talked to the Magikarp for hours. He was the first person (er...first living being...?) to ever not judge her and actually listen. Then again, he was a fish... But the eight year old girl still counted it.

She talked to him about everything. All the details about how she's been bullied, her home life, how she wanted to get out of Vermillion and explore all of Kanto and the other regions out there, the stuff she's learned about Pokemon in Trainer School, her dream of becoming a Pokemon Trainer and going on a journey of her own...everything.

The sun was beginning to go down a little bit, showing that it was in the middle of the afternoon now. Hiromi had enjoyed the majority of her day, except for the beginning of it. Venting to this Magikarp made her feel better. And she knows it's silly, but...

This Magikarp was her only friend.

"Hey, you!"

Hiromi nearly jumped out of her skin at the male voice, and she jerked her head around behind her to look at who it was. Her eyes widened in horror as she spotted those two boys from earlier, and they were back with three more.

"I thought I recognized you." Tony, the leader of the group, stepped up to her. "You're that stupid girl in the next class over from ours." He jerked his thumb to the side, pointing over at the other four boys next to him.

Hiromi stood up from the sand and dusted off her skirt. "Hey! I don't like what you're saying---"

BAM!

Hiromi coughed furiously as Tony threw his fist into her gut, and she dropped to her knees. The other boys, as if on cue, stepped up beside Tony and started giving Hiromi their share of punches.

Tony drew back and kicked the Magikarp as hard as he could, sending it flying into the ocean.

Hiromi tried to scream "NO!" but she was taking so many punches to the stomach that she couldn't utter any words other than "OW!"

The five boys stood around Hiromi in a circle, taking turns kicking her while she was down. She tried to huddle up into a ball to try and absorb most of the blows with the outside of her body, but they were kicking her so hard that it didn't make much of a difference.

This wasn't her first time getting beat up before, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

She kept screaming and crying for help, but no one could hear her. The Pokeball that was originally sitting next to her got bumped and rolled into the ocean. Hiromi watched it disappear into the water with tears in her eyes, trying to survive all of the blows she was taking. The boys were just laughing, enjoying hurting the younger girl.

"HELP! SOMEONE! STOP IT!" Hiromi let out a pained shriek, trying to get the boys to stop hurting her.

"HAH! You and what army?" Tony sneered at her, placing his foot on her chest and applying pressure to her lungs. He was cutting off her air, making it harder for Hiromi to breathe. "There's nothing you can do to get us to stop teaching you a lesson---"

FLASH!

All of a sudden, a huge white flash erupted from the ocean. The boys temporarily stopped kicking the battered girl long enough to stare at it for a second. The whole ocean stilled, almost as if it was preparing to surge with anger. The boys watched the white flash as a huge monstrous roar filled the air, intimidating them. They all just dropped their jaws and screamed at the gargantuan Pokemon that emerged from the white light: a very pissed off Gyarados.

"RUN FOR IT!" Tony screamed, making a run for it.

All five boys high-tailed it out of there, making a run for Vermillion City. They all screamed as the Gyarados shot Hydro Pumps in their direction, running as fast as they could. The Gyarados let out its angered cry, scaring the boys away. No one messed with his girl. No one.

Hiromi coughed up a little blood onto the sand, making the Gyarados immediately stop what he was doing and look over at her worriedly. His eyes widened in shock, and he bent his long body over until he was two feet away from her face. Hiromi stared up at the Gyarados, but she wasn't frightened. She recognized the jagged scar running down his left eye. She watched as the gargantuan sea serpent drew back and dove into the water while curled up on the sand and clutching her aching body.

A minute passed, and the Gyarados came back shooting straight up from the ocean. He swam over to the shore, plopping himself down onto the sand next to her. He dropped something he was holding in his mouth next to her face, and Hiromi looked to see what it was. She slightly smiled at her lost Pokeball, and laughed a little to see that it was covered in Gyarados slobber.

The Gyarados curled himself around her body, licking her face in an affectionate way. Hiromi felt herself starting to bruise all over, but she was beginning to feel better. She weakly sat up and hugged the Gyarados' huge head, wearing a content smile with her eyes closed.

"I told you that you weren't undesirable, my little Magikarp."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I was a kid, I got picked on a lot. Believe it or not, I got picked on mostly in elementary school and middle school. (For those of you with different school systems: whatever school grades you were in when 8 to 13 years old).

I got called undesirable every day because I was ugly, slow, and stupid. Everyone hated me in the third grade because I had just moved from across the country and started at a new school, and I was behind on the curriculum. They were learning division when I hadn't even gotten to multiplication yet.

I got beat up regularly at least once a week. They would take me behind the building as start punching and kicking, and they wouldn't stop. They never got caught even to this day, because I thought I would just sit there and take it rather than confront them.

I wanted to be brave, but I didn't know how.

They made me feel worthless every waking day, and that I had no legitimate reason to live. They made me feel this way when I was nine years old.

If you think younger kids can't be cruel, you are a naive fool. You are lucky you didn't have to witness what I went through, because this is not just a story.

It's my life.

So read, comment, vote, and spread bullying awareness everywhere you go.