This was inspired by a movie that I just watched again. Or maybe this was inspired by a book because that is how it came about it the first place LOL =) So, just a heads up to those who may be a little young…there is some bad language in this one so if you don't like swearing I wouldn't get too far, and there's drugs in it too so watch out for that! If you don't like that sort of thing don't read any farther! Any who for those who don't mind but like any sort of story…enjoy!

Unique

Unique: adj. 1. Being the only one. 2. Being without a like or equal: unequaled. 3. Distinctively characteristic: peculiar 4. Unusual.

He found himself wishing that it could be different on an almost everyday basis. Every day was the same and he found that he was bored with the same routine, the same antics, with nothing interesting ever coming along. Like right now, as always, he and his boys ditched school and made their way to the town park where children ran and screamed playing on the swings, or the monkey bars and on the thing that spinned, he never quite knew what to call it. Like time and time before they made their way behind some bushes that kept them out of view and they waited for Paul to pull out his pack of weed and his brown pipe and light it up so each could take a puff, and then make each and every one who put the pipe in his mouth pay up.

Ash wasn't proud of his lifestyle, but he was bored and there wasn't anything better to do. Nothing kept him busy or kept him amused like a good puff of weed. His life was to put it simply…boring.

"My pop is gonna kill me when I get home," Drew sighed blowing out smoke and coughing a bit from the inhale, "he told me this morning that he was going to the bar after work."

"You can come over to my place," Ash offered, "my mom won't care if you stay." Everyone knew Drew had an alcoholic father, but only Drew's close friends knew that his father was abusive when drunk. It wasn't something that Drew liked to bring up on a daily basis, but when he was with his friends he felt like he could let his thoughts and fears come out without taking crap from anybody.

"Thanks man, your mom sure is sweet," he took another inhale before passing on the pipe.

"Nah, it's just that she won't be home 'til morning and won't notice you there anyhow," Ash chuckled and took the pipe inhaling nice and deep, so the feeling of calm could pass through his system.

"Fuck Ketchum," Paul laughed, "what does your mother do so late at night? You sure she isn't selling her purse instead of working at the hospital?"

"Shut your face Paul," Ash growled, "she can't help the fricken hours they give her."

"He's right Paul, you shouldn't be so quick to talk shit on his mother when yours isn't an angel herself," Drew smirked before dodging a punch that Paul threw his way after the comment.

"Come on guys when will you grow up?" Brock sighed taking the pipe from Ash and taking a few quick puffs before breathing in a long one. Brock was the voice of the group, being a senior and having a couple years age difference gave him the place of reason and wisdom. The boys followed his advice because Brock was smart, kind, and probably more fatherly than their own fathers, those who had fathers that is. He was tall, lean, had deep brown skin and his hair was a spiky mess of dark brown locks. His most noticeable trait was his eyes; they were so squinty that you could hardly detect what color his irises were.

"When we feel like it," Ash grinned shoving his best friend before sighing. "It's getting late guys; I should be getting home before trouble finds us." He looked around the park and noticed that parents were gathering their children and leaving, the sun was just getting ready to set behind some trees.

"Pussy," Paul muttered before packaging his weed and stowing away his pipe. "See you fellows at school tomorrow then," he only gave a quick wave before taking off. As Paul walked his dark purple hair swayed slightly to his slow and sure steps, seeming almost cocky, like he didn't have a care in the world. That was Paul for you, the tough guy of the group with an ego to match. He didn't fear hardly anything, and he always kept his emotions in check, so good in fact that it was hard to tell if he actually had any feelings at all. He had a perfectly good reason to hide them though, with his mom cheating on her husband with practically every guy in town, at least that's what Paul said. He really never told the guys anything, it was his older brother who gave up some bits and pieces that their parents were really splitting up, it was just taking a while for the divorce to go through, and Paul being the rock never said a word about how he was dealing with it.

"Gotta love that guy," Brock laughed tucking his hands into his vest pockets. "I'll see you chumps later and Ash, I'll cook you dinner tomorrow, I know you hardly eat anything with your mom working all the time."

"Thanks man," Ash said before turning to Drew who pounded fists with Brock as he passed. "Ready to head home?"

"Yeah yeah, show me the way," Drew muttered finally untying his black tie and pulling off his blue blazer and throwing it over his shoulder. Drew was the only one in the group whose family had loads of money, and because of that Drew was the only one in the group who went to the preppy boarding school in town. It had all their kids wearing rich looking uniforms, and only the best of the best could afford the education the school had to offer. It was dumb luck that he met Ash and Brock one night while being stranded at some house after a party that his supposedly rich friends left him at. Running from the cops that night was a group effort, and the tale was funny and amusing at how two low lives and one classy guy bonded over trying to escape the feds.

"You sure you wanna be seen walking home with me? We might run into some of your prep friends ya know," Ash sighed, remembering their tender situation and how the rich kids hated people like Ash, Paul, and Brock.

"Oh….right. Maybe I'll head home first anyways and grab a few things before my old man gets home. I'll see ya tonight," Drew agreed with little hesitation. After everything it seemed that Drew still cared about his image and for Ash it kind of bugged him that Drew still didn't want to be seen hanging with a lowly crew. Like he thought before, there was nothing different about anybody in this town, nothing unique or exciting. Every day was the same and everybody treated everybody like crap. The rich were still the rich and the poor would always be poor or something like that. A few of Drew's prep friends had said something about it once at a party that Ash, Brock, and Paul had happened to go to. "And Ash," Drew stopped short turning around slightly to smirk at him, "no hard feelings okay? It's just easier this way," and with that he flipped his light green bangs to the side and sauntered the opposite way towards the richer side of town.

"Whatever man," Ash muttered stuffing his hands into his red jacket pockets and heading down the street towards his home. It was always busy at this time of day or night really. The sky was still its pink, orange, and purple color and people were heading out of their jobs and walking the sidewalks to get home and have dinner or to just enjoy the evening. He dodged a few people and kept his head high as some business looking men and women bumped into him without apologizing or giving him glares for his messy look. He was used to it; there was nothing different in how he was treated on an everyday basis, just because he was poor. A flower shop window caused him to slow down in his tread, and he stopped for a moment to look at his reflection frowning a little at what he saw.

His raven black hair was slightly long and was sticking this way at that, as if his locks had never been brushed. His eyes were dark brown, and held a certain kind of light in them that you didn't find in most guys eyes at his age and in his position, he took it as the light of hope. He wore a red and white baseball cap, a black t-shirt and a red jacket and his ripped jeans were light blue and worn out looking, and on his hands he wore red and black fingerless gloves. His red and black sneakers didn't look that great either, he noticed with a sour frown, maybe he would start saving money to buy some new ones. Taking one final look in the window, and agreeing that maybe he did look pretty shabby, he turned to continue to his destination.

THWACK!

He didn't have time to stop as he collided with something, and that something seemed to have been moving fast for the next thing he knew he was flying backwards by the force and whatever that something was fell with him, landing hard on top of him.

"I'm so sorry!" The something gasped, and Ash realized that it was a girl who was lying on top of him. He opened his eyes and was met with the prettiest sight he had ever seen. Her eyes were captivating to an extent that he could hardly describe. The most he could note were that they were large and blue swirled with green eyes with super long and black lashes. Her nose was small and pert, her lips plump, pink, and glossy while her cheeks were rosy from the chilling air and the most amazing part was her fiery red hair that tumbled wildly around her shoulders in large cascading waves.

"It's alright I guess," he mumbled as she quickly realized their awkward position with a blush and hurriedly got to her feet. With a disappointed observation, he took in her white blouse and blue blazer with the same emblem on her right breast as Drew's blazer. Her skirt was short and pleated and she wore thigh high white stockings with brown loafers. This girl was a rich girl and would of course have nothing to do with him once she realized what she ran into. The same as any other rich girl had done to him before and well it happened more times than one would think and yes, Ash was used to it.

"I was just in a hurry, I wasn't looking ahead of me and I-"

"There you are Misty, where do you think you're going?" A handsome young man was running down the sidewalk, his brown hair perfectly gelled and his uniform, the same as hers except he wore blue pants, perfectly pressed.

"Gary," she breathed in a gasp, and Ash saw a glint of fear cross her face as the pretty boy made his way closer to them. He looked at the boy and frowned, Gary was known to almost everyone in town and that's because Gary made sure of it. His family was the richest of families, and had the best ties and well…pretty much the best of everything and they flaunted it around without guilt. Gary had once been Ash's childhood friend back in the day when money and statuses didn't matter, but that all had changed when Gary went to a different Junior high school.

"Well, if isn't Ashy boy," Gary sneered as he eased into a saunter, one much like Drew's, and placed a hand on the beautiful girl's shoulder. "What are you doing with Misty?" Ash glared at the possessive grip the brunette had on the girl and inwardly smacked his forehead. Of course someone of this beauty would already belong to the likes of Prince Gary.

"I just ran into her is all, don't worry I was just leaving," Ash growled ignoring the girl's face as she looked at him with a look he couldn't recognize. It was just going to be the same anyways, everything was always routine. Gary would have shot out some more insults making the beautiful rich girl laugh and be in awe of Gary's power, and Ash would just head home with his tail in between his legs because his ego would have been kicked. He left earlier this time, instead of picking a fight because he wasn't sure if he could handle having this certain girl laughing at him because of Gary, the girl was quite gorgeous and she had seemed really nice.

"Just lay off Gary Oak, if I haven't told you once I've told you a thousand times, leave me the hell alone." Her angry voice caused Ash to stop and turn slightly in disbelief, a girl turning down the charms of Prince Gary? Now this was new and something he had never seen before in his life. Since they had been young boys, the girls followed Gary around like little lovesick puppies. When he turned to see what was going on he was surprised to see the redhead trying to pull her wrist out of Gary's hand, her face contorted with a fierce rage that still managed to look quite pretty.

"Come on Misty, what is your deal? Why won't you just give me a chance?" Gary tried to soothe, pulling her closer.

"I've given you plenty of chances Oak, and every single time I've caught you with some floozy in the back classroom. I don't believe your bull about how they're the ones that corner you, you jackass!" She broke free of his grasp and backed up a couple feet placing her hands on her hips.

"You know you're just going to have to get over it anyways doll, we belong together. The most popular guy in school, the most popular girl in school, it's just a match that's meant to be." Gary smirked and ran a hand through his hair. Ash scoffed, was this guy for real? How much had he changed to force a girl to be with him, it used to take a single kind word for a girl to melt and now Gary had turned into some sort of douche?

"Bite me!" The redhead snapped flipping the brunette off and making Ash laugh aloud and cause both teens to turn simultaneously towards him.

"Don't mind me, please continue," he joked ushering them on with his hands.

"Fuck off Ash, or I'll send your mother to the red light district," Gary growled in anger and causing Ash to take a couple steps towards him.

"Leave my mother out of your desperate attempts at flirting Gay Bear," he shot back.

"Why don't you both calm the fuck down and you Gary can leave me alone," the redhead interjected before twirling on her heel and heading down the sidewalk at a run. Both boys watched her disappear into the crowd.

"Damn it Ketchum! That's the girl I'm bound to marry and you just ruined it!" Gary barked shoving Ash out of the way.

"Seems to me you've been ruining it by yourself already Oak, and if you were planning on marrying her then why are you man whoring yourself around your school?"

"Don't talk about things that you don't know about Ashy boy," Gary seemed to have finally calmed down and gave Ash his familiar smirk; "if your parents were forcing you into a marriage that you didn't plan for yourself you'd probably be doing the same. Besides, who wants to stick to just one girl at eighteen when there are so many fine ones?"

"Beats me Oak. I have the freedom to choose whoever, the freedom to marry whenever so that question doesn't have any affect or sympathy on me." For once Ash felt happy to be where he was, unlike the rich kids whose parents wanted the family's to marry into richer family's, he could choose to do and become and marry whoever he wanted without disappointing anybody.

"Whatever Ashy boy," the brunette boy disappeared as well and Ash soon found himself walking home later than normal, the sky black and stars already popping here and there against the vast darkness. He wondered why Drew hadn't called to ask what was taking him so long, and where the hell he was.

"Hey, wait please!" He stopped for what he hoped was the last time and turned to see that girl from earlier running at him. His mouth opened in surprise and practically fell over when she passed by him in her flat out run, and he watched as she tried chasing down a black limo which turned a corner and vanished. "Oooh crap, my sisters are gonna kill me," she wailed out loud stopping in her tracks.

"Having more problems are we?" He couldn't help it. Here she was in front of him for the second time that day and he wanted to talk to her more, he didn't want her to just run out of his life and ignore him like everyone before her had. He grinned as she looked at him, and relief flooded through him as he watched her eyes flash with recognition.

"I'm having the worst luck today," she smiled a sweet, shy smile and pulled a strand of fiery red hair behind her ear. "First Gary tailed me after school and now I missed the limo my sisters sent for me just because Gary made me late. I shouldn't let him affect me so much but…"

"I could give you a ride home if you uh…want?" Ash scratched the back of his head awkwardly, wondering how he could ask her such a thing. He'd never had the courage to ask a rich girl that sort of thing before. He watched as she looked around and then back at him with a questioning stare.

"Aren't you walking?"

"My house isn't too far from here, if you want you can walk with me and then I can take you home safe and sound. This part of town isn't too cool at this time," he shrugged and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, trying to sound normal and not act as if he really wanted her to be different for once in his life.

"Really? Well, yeah that would be great."

"Well it's alright hope you get h-"he stopped short and blinked at her as she smiled warmly at him. "You really trust me enough to go home with me?"

"I think you're actually safer than my friends from school," she laughed coming closer and holding out her hand, "I'm Misty Yawa, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Ash Ketchum," he returned placing his hand in hers, "I'm still confused on why you're okay with this so fast." Ash just couldn't believe it, here he had been wishing for a change in his life and suddenly it had been answered? Was it too good to be true?

"I think you're different, you know… unique. I've been looking for that lately and I think you're just what I've been uh…needing," she took her hand out of his and smirked.

"Yeah," he agreed softly smiling his first true smile in a long time, "you too."

A/N: Just got my internet on cuz I've been moving here and moving there in just a few month's time LOL sorry its taking me so long to get my stuff up, I really want to finish this Alphabet Challenge thing for all my awesome reviewers =) You guys are what keeps me going, I love hearing from you and I like how you all seem to like how I write. You motivate me to keep up the work and bring out better stories for you to read so thanks! And tell me how you like this one, I wanted to try an AU…I think that's what you call them…and I think the next few will be just that just so I don't end up being redundant in my one shots. I happen to like AU sometimes, even if poor Pikachu isn't in it…or is he? You never know cuz there actually could be more to this one shot lol Anyways…see you next chapter!

~waterfalls