• This place always gave Tillie the chills. Here, in an upstairs room of the local Pokécenter, was where the Staraptor had experienced one of the oddest human rituals he'd ever learned of. Trading. In theory, it was a smart idea; Trainers sent a few of their Pokémon in exchange for an equal amount of Pokémon from another Trainer, and trained the other's Pokémon in their way. It allowed the Pokémon to learn new techniques and see more of the world than they would with their old trainer. But the system was flawed.

    Tillie had seen Trainers go on catching sprees, capturing tens of young and weak Pokémon just to have enough for a full trade. They handed them over in exchange for stronger, far more powerful Pokémon; and the other trainer just took the young ones greedily, for purposes unknown. Tillie had even seen one trainer release all six of the younglings immediatly after the transfer. The whole practice sickened him, really.

    Adaze was never like that. She had never been like those trainers that traded just so they could say they had once come into posession of such-and-such a Pokémon. She wasn't a collector, shoving rare Pokémon into boxes just for show. She had traded with forethought, and only for specific reasons. For example, the first time Tillie had stepped foot inside the Wireless Terminal was with a young Teddiursa that had recently hatched. It was shortly after Adaze had beaten the Elite Four, with Tillie leading the party to victory, of course. The Teddiursa's egg had taken the fifth seat of the party for many months, and it's birth was cause of great celebration among the new Champion's Pokémon. However, it had become increasingly apparent that the young bear had no place on a team of strong fighters; it was simply too young for such things. Adaze knew that she had no time to train it, and had made arrangements with a friend for the transfer of the bear to a younger trainer who would be able to care for it properly.

    Adaze did not try to keep these plans a secret, something that Tillie was grateful for. The Teddiursa had come to know the team as a family, and to be simply dropped off with a new trainer certainly would have left some emotional scars. Adaze talked for long periods of time to Teddiursa about the trainer it was going to, why it had to go, and about how many new adventures it would have traveling with those closer to it's own age. Teddursa accepted the situation much more maturely than Tillie had supposed, and happily toddled off to it's new master after saying goodbye to it's old friends. Adaze had smiled and waved as the trainer and his new friend left the Terminal, telling Teddiursa to come visit sometime. It wasn't until after they left that she began to cry softly. Tillie comforted her the best he could; knowing that the choice she had made was a hard one, but it was for the best. Tillie had admired his trainer for being able to make that desicion.

    On another occasion, Adaze had brought Tillie along to the Wireless Terminal with one of Tillie's old teammates, an Onix named Grounder. Tillie had heard Adaze speak with a trainer friend who was having difficulties defeating one of the Sinnoh Gym leaders with his current team, and wanted some pointers from the girl who had effortlessly defeated all eight of them only a few months before. Instead of advice, Adaze traded over the Pokémon responsible for her win. She recieved a Pichu in return, and trained with the Pichu for a week, until the trainer had completed his goal and the two traded back. Grounder had led the boy to victory, and had provided an example for the boy's Pokémon, all of whom began training even harder after Grounder left. The Pichu that Adaze had trained came back twice as strong as it had been before, surprising all of it's old friends and it's old trainer. Adaze was just glad she was able to help them out, and it was good for Grounder to get the exercise, anyway. That was what trading should have been like, and Tillie had been proud to know that his trainer wasn't like any other. Adaze cared deeply about all of her Pokémon, and wouldn't give them away willy-nilly.

    Recently, things had taken a turn for the worse. After becoming Champion, Adaze really didn't have much of anything left to do as a Pokémon trainer. It had only taken her a year to top the Elite Four, and, aside from occasional battle offers from younger trainers, there was no longer a challenge. Then, new Pokémon began appearing. At first it was only one a week, a rare Pokémon Adaze happened to come across, or a previous form of a Pokémon Adaze had always fancied on her team. But then more and more started appearing. A Bellsprout. A few Eevee. A Buneary and Lopunny. Pokéball after Pokéball was thrown, capturing more and more Pocket Monsters. The ones she didn't have immediate use for went into her P.C. Chu-kun, Adaze's Pikachu and Tillie's best friend told Tillie not to worry about it. He'd heard of many trainers who did this sort of thing, just to be ready for any sort of challenge. Tillie prayed that Chu-kun had been right, but then again; the Electric Mouse had a way of sugarcoating truth.

    One day,Tillie happened to glance at Adaze's P.C. screen while she was checking her boxes. Each box had been numbered, one through four-hundred and nintey-three. Each Pokémon was placed in a certain order in those boxes that Tillie recognized as their Pokedex listing. Many of the spaces were filled with Pokémon Tillie had never seen before. Other spaces, where Pokémon he thought should be there were empty. Over time, Tillie noticed those empty spaces becoming more and more abundant. It started the same way the catching had gone, with one at a time and over a long period of time. That quickly changed as teams of two, teams of three, teams of four Pokémon were disappearing. At first Tillie thought they were being released back into the wild. It wasn't until Tillie saw Adaze enter the Pokémon Center with one team of Pokémon, only to leave with an entirely new team that he realized what was really happening. Adaze was catching and trading Pokémon in droves. She had become just like every other trainer Tillie had despised.

    Which is why Tillie began to worry now that it stood outside the Wireless Terminal with it's trainer. It had come in through those doors many times before, but only because it was Adaze's primary mode of transportation. Chu-kun tapped Tillie's shoulder, waking the Staraptor from it's musing. The whole team was there, Adaze's five Pokémon who had fought together to defeat the Elite Four. They were the last of hundreds of monsters to enter that room, and never return. They were the last to be traded. Tillie looked over to his old comrades to see their reactions.

    Quark, the Golduck, had been one of Adaze's favorites, and had been with the girl almost as long as Tillie. He'd always been a tad odd, rather awkward, but always in high spirits. Now, his face was sullen and overcast. This seemed to be hitting him rather hard. Next was FireStar, the Rapidash. She'd never really respected Adaze as a trainer, but had admitted that she cared for the girl. The flames on her back roared and sputtered as she glared coldly at the back of the girl she had once trusted. Tillie felt sort of the same way. Chu-kun had left Tillie's side to comfort Luc, the Lucario. Adaze had hatched Luc from an egg she was given, and had raised the Lucario like he was her own son. Luc had a stronger attachment to Adaze than any of the other Pokémon in the team, and was completely shocked that she would ever trade him for any other Pokémon. He cried freely now, no longer caring if anyone saw him break down. Chu-kun, the kind heart he was, tried everything he could think of to soothe him. But nothing worked. Tillie surmised that it was because the Pikachu felt the same way. Abandoned.

    The group was moving into the Terminal, Adaze at the lead. Chu-kun gave a small smile at his friends before following the others into the room as well. They lined up, shoulder to shoulder and watched Adaze greet an older boy trainer, out of earshot. After a short conversation between the two, in which the boy did most of the talking, Adaze walked back over to her group. Apparently, she was ready to proceed.. The Staraptor glared at his old friend in the eye, wishing that she would see their anguish and change her mind; that she would return to the trainer he had known and loved. But in her eyes, he saw nothing of his old master. The spark that had lit up her dark brown eyes, cheeful and kind, inspiring them to do their best; that was gone. In it's place was a dullness, and emptiness as if she was only a shell. As if the real Adaze had left. As if she had never been there at all. She silently pointed to Luc first, to which the boy trainer nodded. Still crying, the Lucario was returned to his Pokéball, and tossed across the way into the hands of the tall boy. Once the boy caught the ball, it sparked and beeped, as if it had just caught a Pokémon. This signified the change of ownership of the monster inside. He released Luc and smiled. Luc looked away from the boy, staring longingly back at Adaze. It was only a few feet separating him and his old master, but he was this boy's Pokémon now. He couldn't go back if he tried.

    FireStar was next, huffing a cloud of hot smoke before disappearing into her ball. Then came Quark, who refused to look Adaze in the eye as she recalled him for the final time. Before Adaze could even motion for him, Chu-kun walked over to the girl. He looked up at Adaze, searching for something, but couldn't see what it was looking for in his trainer's gaze. For the first time that Tillie could remember, tears filled the small mouse Pokémon's eyes. Sadly, the Pikachu hugged it's master's leg, whispering in it's Pokémon language, "I love you, Adaze..." And then it was recalled. Finally, it was only Tillie and Adaze. Angry tears filled the bird's eyes. If this was to be the end of their long relationship, then he was going to give her a piece of his mind before he left.

    "Do you remember?" he said, knowing full well that she couldn't understand his words, but no longer caring, "Do you remember the day we met? Your starter Pokémon refused to listen to you and only barely beat me. You had to toss a Pokéball to keep me from getting away!" With great gusto, the Staraptor flapped it's wings and glared daggers at the girl in front of him.

    "You made me the leader of your team! You told me that you depended on me, and I believed you! We fought every battle, every Gym leader, every challenge that came our way, and we did it together! You told me I was your favorite! You told me you loved me! I loved you!" The girl stood silently as the bird ranted. Not a single muscle on her face twitched at the Staraptor's calls. She was like stone. Then Tillie knew. She wasn't his friend anymore, that girl was gone. This new trainer that was in her place wasn't Adaze.

    "That's changed. You've changed. I loved you. But now..." Robotically, Adaze raised the Pokéball and pressed the button. Tillie mustered every ounce of his energy and screamed loudly as he disappeared into the depths of the device, "I HATE YOU, ADAZE!"

    And it was done.

    ~Gatamigo