"So this is the place, huh?"

They looked at the pillared structure like it was several times larger than it actually was. It had a pokeball design painted above its door, showing them that this was the pokemon gym of Striaton City.

Elron walked over to the door and opened it, gesturing for Ira to go in. "After you."

Ira accepted the invitation and passed through the door. Inside was what looked to be a fancy restaurant, complete with well polished wooden tables and flushed out silverware.

A man with blue hair swirled over his right eye spotted her. "Well, do we have anoth--oh no! Not you again!" He pointed at Elron and cowered.

"Relax, I'm just here to watch," he replied.

"Thank goodness," the man said with a sigh. He bowed to Ira. "The name is Cress. What should I call you, young miss?"

She looked flattered. "Ira."

"Ira, huh?" He thought something over, then shouted to behind a curtain. "Hey Chili! Looks like you have yourself a challenger!"

A young man with a head of fire passed through the curtains. "Say what?"

"This is her," Cress said. "Her name is Ira."

Chili nodded his head knowingly. "Sounds like a good challenger for me! Come right this way!" He and the other disappeared behind the draped fabric wall.

Elron shrugged and followed them, with Ira following after him.

Behind the curtain was another room just like the one before it, and it had another curtain.

"Come on," said Chili, going through the second set.

Well this is a weird setup, thought Ira.

They walked through those, and found yet another almost identical room with yet another set of curtains which they walked through yet again.

What's the point in this?! Is the next room going to just be a fancy hallway too?!

The next room was not. Instead, it had but two tables and a stage front and center.

Well... I guess it's a good thing that it was not.

"Alright," said Chili stepping onto the stage. "Let's begin!" He let out his pokemon. It was a red monkey with a strikingly similar hairdo to his trainer.

"Here goes nothing I guess!" Ira picked off one of her pokeballs and let out her Skitty. Skitty had no clue what was going on and looked around bewildered.

"Wait, you don't specialize in steel types?" asked Chili, almost as confused as Skitty.

Ira was confused. "No?"

"B-but, your name. It sounds like 'iron.'"

"So?"

"So you obviously have to train steel types, right?!"

"Is that seriously your logic?!"

"Has that logic ever failed?! I mean really?! My name is Chili and I use fire types. My brother's name is Cress, like 'watercress.' Cilan's name is from the herb 'cilantro,' and he trains grass types!"

She looked at the other pokeball strapped to her backpack. "Oh wait, I do have a steel type."

"Ha!" proclaimed Chili. "See! The name based logic never fails!" He crossed his arms imposingly. "Now, let's get to business! Now that I know that you have a steel type I know that I'll have to advantage!"

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure I would have the advantage in this case. Whatever. "Skitty! Tackle!"

"Pansear! Dodge!"

The cat hopped towards the monkey nonchalantly. Apparently she did not understand the weight of her decisions. Pansear hardly had to step out of the way to dodge.

"Counter with a Scratch!"

Pansear took its hand and swiped down, digging its nails into the cat's hide. Now Skitty cared. She hissed and her eyes filled with a will of fire to win this bout.

"Quick Skitty! Use... Errr..." Ira looked back at Elron. "What else does Skitty know?"

Chili interrupted the fray. "Incinerate!"

The monkey formed fire around its hand and slashed at Skitty, who was now motivated to dodge. In a twisting motion the cat jumped out of the way, but then Skitty saw her next foe, her true foe: her tail.

Skitty's anger was redirected at herself as she ran around in circles chasing her overly fluffy tail.

This is hopeless! Ira's face drooped as she saw her pokemon making a fool of herself.

"Pansear... Uh... Finish the attack I guess."

Pansear reached out and tapped the cat with its fiery hand. A tuft of fur caught fire, and Skitty panicked. She rolled around on the ground convulsively to try and put out the flames.

"Just use Fury Swipes," Chili suggested to his pokemon.

The fire monkey shrugged, then gave Skitty a few more clawings.

Skitty took the attacks like the fluffy punching bag she had become and fainted. At least the fire was out now.

Ira looked humiliated. "Return." She took back her pokemon then stood there in silence.

"Aren't you going to let out your second pokemon?" the gym leader asked.

"No."

The rest of the battle had been rather painful to watch, but Elron smiled at this comment.

"What?"

"I said no!" Ira was acting somewhere in between a spoiled child and a rebellious teenager. "I refuse to accept this battle! I'll be back!" She stormed out of the room, leaving everyone flabbergasted.

Elron was left with a huge grin on his face. He followed her out of the gym. Interesting...

-----

Elron sat in the upper branches of a tree, resting back in the partial shade. There wasn't anyone, even Ira, around him. Ira was supposed to be healing her pokemon, so he took this small window of opportunity to be alone for a little while.

He creased the paper, making it take shape. The crisp white sheet quickly and effortlessly became a small airplane. He felt the light weight in his hand, being careful not to make his grip too tight or too loose. He motioned as if he was going to through it several times, but each time stopped a little short of actually committing to the action.

He looked at the paper airplane, wondering why he has such an attachment to it. Surely this shouldn't be a problem for him anymore, right?

In one final attempt, he forced himself to throw the plane in a swift yet controlled action. The fragile vehicle floated away on the open air, fluttering in the slightest air currents. Without warning it took a nosedive and ventured into the forest below.

Elron felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He let out a big breath of air and shifted his weight. It was time to leave. He carefully climbed down the tree and walked away, taking special care not to look in the direction of the airplane's landing.

Minutes passed after he left in which the paper had no disturbances but the slight brush of wind.

Silently a shadow was projected onto the paper, and gentle hands reached down and picked it up. The shadow's head turned side to side quickly, making sure that no one caught it in the act. Once it was clearly safe, the hands unwrapped the paper.

Dear Flora,

I know that this letter will never reach you, but I feel that I must bottle these thoughts up in something other than my own heart. If I don't let them go now, then I feel like these feelings will only eat me up further, and what will remain when that happens?

Over two years have passed now, and I'm struggling to let myself hold onto the feelings for you that I once did, so I won't let myself any longer. I must face the reality that you'll never come back. Most of my life hasn't even happened yet, so I can't keep letting myself get hung up on the past. I have to think about my future.

This is hard for me, but gone are the days that I can keep hoping that by some miracle you survived that fall. Quite frankly, some days I hope that you didn't, simply because I know that you haven't purposely been avoiding me for some reason all this time.

Today I've seen something new, something exciting. I've picked up a girl on my travels, and she's an interesting character. She doesn't have a clue what she's doing, but she's fun to be around. I wonder if this is how you felt when you first brought me along with you on your journey.

Oh look at me, rambling on in a letter without a destination. I'm sure I could ramble on even longer, but that wouldn't do either of us any good, so I'll just make this ending quick.

I loved you, I waited for you, but now I have made up my mind to move on.

I will never forget you,

Elron

P.S. I'm taking good care of all of your pokemon. Bagel and Baguette seem to be getting along especially well.

P.P.S. Aaron would kill me if he found out that I was writing this and didn't tell you that he's doing well. I'm sure he misses you too.

The end brought out a feminine giggle out from the shadow. A few tears stained the paper, turning it grey and smearing the ink. The hands relaxed and let the paper droop down towards the ground.

"I guess my time is coming up soon then. Don't close off your heart just yet, Elron."

The figure disappeared, leaving the letter behind. The abandoned letter swayed in the wind, just like a message in a bottle swaying in the ocean. A sudden gust picked it up and threw it into the air, taking it with it on its journey into the unknown. The silent message delivered itself to the unknown.

***

A/N: Yay ambiguity! :D