Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo.

Author's Rant: I was very very bored and cannot seem to get my other story going so I felt like entertaining myself by attempting Ikarishipping. Word to the wise: I'm not that great at romance. Just thought I'd let you know ahead of time. Constructive criticism is appreciated, flames are turned into curry doughnuts and fed to the homeless. XD Please review!

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They were falling in more ways than one.

Falling

Hikari and her three friends, Satoshi, Pikachu and Takeshi had found themselves in Hearthome City. They were currently on their way back to Twinleaf Town, for a quick visit to Ayako, Hikari's mother, and Professor Rowan in Sandgem Town. To get there, though, they would need to pass through Mt. Coronet. When they were reaching the tunnel, however, a painfully familiar voice greeted them.

"Hmph. I see you pathetic losers are here," none other than Shinji had approached them from the opposite direction.

"You! What're you doing here?" Satoshi growled. He'd tried to be polite when he had met the indifferent trainer, but now he was in no mood for his cold remarks today.

"What does it look like, fool? I'm going through Mt. Coronet, as apparantly, you are."

"What did you just say!?" snapped Hikari.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" Takeshi, being the voice of reason, intervened. "As much as I'm sure that you dislike each other, traveling in the mountain on your own is careless. Why don't you join us, Shinji?"

"What!?" Satoshi and Hikari protested.

Shinji "hmphed" and shrugged. "Why not? This could be amusing." Satoshi and Hikari looked defeated and shot angry glares at Takeshi, who sweatdropped.

The entrance to the mountain path was very narrow, so they had to enter single file. Satoshi led, followed by Takeshi, Hikari, and Shinji brought up the rear. The actual path was not much better, and on top of that, it was a maze. On either side, there was either a steep face or a deep crevice, with an occasional slick of water here and there. There were often times where they had to pick a direction between two choices, and more than once, they ended up going in a circle.

"This is getting us nowhere," Shinji stated rather irritably.

"Well, why don't you try showing the way, oh fearless leader?" Hikari shot back. He said nothing in reply. "That's what I thoug--ahh!!" The rock path, already brittle from the constant travel, crumbled beneath her feet. The force of the tumbling rock forced Satoshi, Pikachu, and Takeshi to run forward to safety before they fell as well, leaving Shinji to be the one who caught Hikari by the wrist before she fell to her fate at the bottom. By the time the dust had settled and Shinji had pulled Hikari back to safe ground, there was no path for at least twenty feet, and Satoshi and Takeshi had disappeared around the bend.

"You guys all right?" Takeshi called.

"I... I'm fine," Hikari replied faintly.

"Never better." Sarcasm was dripping from Shinji's voice.

"All accounted for over here, too," Satoshi pointed out.

"Well, since there's no way across, you guys are going to have to find another way around. It shouldn't be too hard, since there's a mess of ways to go around here," Takeshi advised.

"I'd rather take my chances with jumping," Shinji muttered.

"You're such a pessimist, Shinji! Why do you have to be so rude all the time?" Hikari retorted.

"You'd be dead at the bottom of a chasm if I hadn't caught you, so I wouldn't be talking about who's being rude."

"Stop arguing! Look, there's no way around it: you two are stuck together. You're going to have to work together if you want to get out of this mountain on your feet instead of in a body bag," Takeshi intervened, like before. Shinji gave one of his trademark "hmph"s and Hikari just scoffed.

"We're going to go on ahead. Shinji, I don't care where you end up. Hikari, we'll meet you at the Pokemon Center in Oreburgh," Satoshi called. As if an afterthought, he added, "Be careful, guys."

With a sigh, Hikari followed Shinji as he turned and backtracked. He seemed to know where he was going, so Hikari didn't question his judgment. However, as they went, the path seemed to become more coarse, like it was a back trail that no one used. According to Hikari's logic, people generally didn't take the back paths for good reason.

"Hey, Shinji..."

"What, Troublesome Girl?" he snapped, not even bothering to glance back at her.

"Are you sure that this way is safe? Taking the less traveled routes could be dangerous." Shinji laughed harshly at this.

"Not any more dangerous than the more traveled ones. You should know that from experience; the common routes are more likely to crumble than these ones." He kept going. Hikari huffed and continued, as well. The trail they followed narrowed, and it suddenly dropped off into a steep decline. One wrong move and you'd tumble forward. Even though Hikari hesitated, Shinji shrugged it off and kept on walking.

What a jerk! He doesn't even care that this is risky, not to mention if we fell no one would find us! Hikari fumed. But, there was nothing she could say that would sway his mind, so she cautiously stepped onto the "ramp", if you could call it that. Shinji was already nearing the bottom at this point, and she was going much slower than him.

"Hurry up, Stupid Girl!" Shinji called once he hit the bottom. "I'd like to reach Oreburgh before the next century."

This enraged Hikari. "Well, maybe if you hadn't chosen this stupid path, I wouldn't be going so slow!" she screamed back. Her shrill voice reverberated off the walls and came back to them. For a moment, there was silence, but then there was more shrieking. Shrieking that didn't come from Hikari. Faster than you can say "holy moses," a swarm of awakened and unhappy Zubat were headed straight for them.

"Stupid Girl, now look what you've done!" Shinji yelled angrily, reaching for his belt. Unfortunately for him, the only Pokemon small enough to actually be released in the narrow cave was his Honchkrow, but the Dark type attacks it knew were ineffective again the Poison type Zubats. Hikari had thrown caution to the wind and taken off down the slope, and ran past Shinji.

"Come on!!" Hikari cried. "You're going to get mauled by Zubats!" As much as he hated to admit it, Hikari was right, so he took off after her. They ran as fast as they could down the narrow path, so needless to day they were taken by surprise when the path became... well, quite frankly, a slide.

"Kyaaaaaa!!" Hikari screamed as they slid down the cavernous tunnels. It seemed to last forever, and when it finally ended, the two slammed into the ground miles below the surface. "Owwie..."

Hikari heard Shinji stand and brush himself off, but it was so dark that she couldn't see him. She tried to stand up, as well, but a shooting pain went up through her leg made her lurch back to the ground. "Owww!!!"

"What's the matter?" Shinji's generally uncaring tone belied his 'concerned' words.

"I think I twisted my ankle..." Hikari muttered. Once more, she tried to get to her feet, but the pain was just unbearable, so she gave up with a defeated groan. She heard Shinji approach her, but couldn't see him kneel down in front of her.

"Get on."

Hikari looked up. "Huh...?"

"I said, get on. You can't very well just sit there forever, can you?" Shinji repeated. Hikari blinked, and then awkwardly climbed on to Shinji's back. He hoisted her in a position that made it easier for him to carry her. Hikari was bewildered at his kindness, even though his words betrayed this. Even so, it was still pitch black in the tunnel. Stumbling around blindly in the dark was not a good idea. As if a light bulb turned on in her mind, Hikari felt very stupid for a moment.

"Duh!" she muttered. Reaching around Shinji's arm, she grasped a Pokeball at her waist as called out Pachirisu. "Can you light the way, Pachirisu?"

"Chi pa!" The squirrel Pokemon mock saluted and let small sparks emit from its cheeks to illuminate the passage. Now that they could see what lay ahead of them, Shinji and Hikari both were disheartened. A long and narrow path stretched as far as they could see, and presumably even more where they couldn't.

"Well..." Hikari started. "No way to go but forward, I guess."

"Whatever..." Shinji replied nonchalantly. So forward they went. With Pachirisu leading the way, they marched for what seemed like eternity. Every so often, Hikari stole a glance at her Poketch. The last time she looked at it, it read 21:01. The sun would have set, probably around two or three hours ago. Still, they continued. After a while, Hikari began to feel drowsy, and without thinking about it, she laid her head down on Shinji's shoulder. She felt him tense slightly, but he shrugged it off.

He's really warm... that was all Hikari remembered before dozing off to sleep. Shinji figured that it was probably a good idea to stop and rest, so he sat Hikari down against the wall of the path.

"Oi," he called out to her Pachirisu. It turned around to face him. "Take a nap or something. We're not going anywhere for a while." It seemed hesitant to take orders from someone other than Hikari, but figured it wasn't anything dangerous, so Pachirisu curled up in Hikari's lap. Shinji settled himself on the opposite wall and fell into a light sleep.

(Hikari's dream)

"Think about how different it feels when someone else close to you is gone..."

Hikari heard this echo through the darkness where she was. The only light was from a tiny aura that surrounded her, but other than that, darkness. Then, a flash of bright light blinded her, and then she was at a crossroads, looking at herself, with Satoshi and Takeshi.

"Take care of yourself, Hikari." Satoshi gave her a big hug, then Takeshi. Were they leaving?

"You guys be careful on the boat, okay? Oh, and say hi to Professor Oak for me, Satoshi." The other Hikari bid farewell.

"Hoenn is a big place, so don't get lost!" Takeshi teased.

They must be going back to Kanto, Hikari thought. The thought saddened her. I knew that we weren't going to be together forever, but it seemed like it was for so little time...

Darkness swept the scene again. "Think about how different it feels when someone else close to you is gone..." the unknown entity repeated.

"What does that mean!?" Hikari yelled to the air. Nothing answered. Instead, a new scene swept over the dark canvas around her. Now, it was a rainy day. Her double was alone, standing under the plastic roof of a newspaper vendor.

"Ooh, what a horrible day to get caught out in the rain!" the other Hikari grumbled. "I wanted to get to the Pokemon Center..."

"Hey, little lady, can I interest you in a paper? Only 100 Pokeyen for a pretty thing like you," the vendor bargained. He was kind of creepy. "There's a really big story if you read the inside cover."

The Hikari double thought about the offer, then reached into her pocket and tossed a few coins onto the counter. "Sure, why not? Thanks for letting me loiter until the rain slows," Hikari answered politely.

"It's not a problem for a pretty thing like you," the vendor smiled while he handed her the paper. The "real" Hikari watched as the Hikari double flipped straight to the said story and began to read. A strange feeling of dread rose in the "real" Hikari's throat as the other continued down the page. She saw a tear run down the double's face, so she hurried over and peeked over the double's shoulder.

Young Trainer Dies in Train Derailment was the headline. The "real" Hikari continued to read. "11 year old Shinji of Veilstone City died in a violent train derailment earlier this week. 17 others were critically injured, and it is not known whether or not they will make it. 31 others escaped with minor injuries. The cause of this derailment is unknown..." Hikari didn't have to read the rest. Now she knew what that ethereal voice meant.

Sure, when Satoshi and Takeshi left, Hikari was sad, but this... it hurt. It hurt to think about never seeing the indifferent trainer ever again, it hurt to think that he was really gone. What to make of it, she wasn't sure, but she knew that there was a difference.

Hikari snapped awake. She was still in the dark, so she pinched herself to make sure she wasn't still dreaming, and was quite relieved to find that it stung. Hikari pushed the little light button on her Poketch to check the time. It said 02:34. The dream came rushing back to her, but when she could hear Shinji's light snores, her fear dissipated.

Still... what was that dream about...? Hikari thought. What was it trying to tell me? That there's a difference between leaving and dying? She pondered for a while as she shifted into a more comfortable position without waking Pachirisu. Finally, after a while, it hit her. Hikari could feel all the heat in her body rush up to her face. Or... the difference between friendship and... love? Hikari tried to envision Shinji's sleeping form on the other side of the path. Am I falling for Shinji? Just thinking about it made her blush over and over again.

You know you are, a voice in her head said.

How do you know?

Because your dream showed you what lies in your heart.

How so!?

Think about it: If Satoshi died, you'd be sad. If Shinji died, you would, too.

Shut up! I can't believe I'm having an argument with myself! I seriously need some sleep. With that, Hikari pushed all thought of this out of her mind and forced herself to sleep. It wasn't for long, though, because what seemed like only minutes later, Shinji woke her up.

"C'mon, Troublesome Girl."

"Chi pa!"

Hikari slowly came to wake up. Pachirisu was already lighting up the passageway with its tiny sparks, and Shinji was hovering over her. Thoughts from the previous night surfaced and Hikari blushed a brilliant red. She pushed them to the back of her mind.

"Can you stand?" Shinji questioned.

Hikari used the wall to support herself as she tried to stand, but the pain was worse than the day before, so she fell back to the ground with a yelp. Shinji looked disgruntled.

"Hmm... a twisted ankle should have at least started to heal by now. Take your boot off."

Hikari was taken aback at this order, but she listened nonetheless. When she did, she saw that her ankle was swollen severely.

"Figures. It wasn't twisted, it was fractured." He reached for his bag and pulled out two strips of wood.

"What are those for?" Hikari asked nervously.

"A splint, Troublesome Girl. Even you should know that. Do you have anything to tie it with?" Hikari thought about it, then pulled the scarf from around her neck.

"This is all I have. Takeshi usually carries the first aid kit..."

"It'll work." Shinji took the scarf and used it to secure the pieces to wood to Hikari's ankle to keep it from moving too much. Hikari stuffed her boot into her bag so that it wasn't in the way. The next thing Hikari knew, Shinji has suddenly pulled her into a deep kiss. It wasn't forced, au contraire, but surprisingly gentle. Hikari was wide eyed, caught completely off guard.

Of course, that wasn't to say she didn't enjoy it. After a few seconds, she leaned into it, the subtle poignance of them both showing.

"Chipa chipa chipa!" Pachirisu giggled. Shinji and Hikari suddenly jerked apart, blushing and now rudely aware of their audience. They both glared at the squirell Pokemon. It just chittered and ran ahead, leaving the two in darkness. An akward silence engulfed them both, and Hikari was the one to break it.

"Um... should we go?"

Shinji hesistated, then cleared his throat. "Y-yeah." Somehow he managed to help Hikari to clambor onto his back in the dark, and he used his hand use the wall as a guide until he could see the glow of the Pachirisu up ahead. From there, they continued in silence for about an hour or so, when they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. (How cliched is that?)

It took both Shinji and Hikari a moment to adjust to the daylight, only to see both Satoshi and Takeshi waiting for them. At first they were surprised to see Shinji helping Hikari, but shook it off and hurried forward to greet them.

"Glad you're both okay. We thought you fell into a crater or something," Satoshi laughed nervously. Takeshi volunteered to carry Hikari back to the Pokemon Center, where she could put some ice on her ankle. Shinji decided not to stay in Oreburgh, but to go on to the next town. As they turned to go their separate ways, Hikari looked over her shoulder at Shinji. He was walking in a quickened pace, for obvious reasons.

"Shinji," she called. He only stopped. He didn't turn to look back.

"Thank you." Shinji kept going. But what Hikari couldn't see was a smile slipping onto his face. He knew the real meaning of the words she'd said, and he couldn't help but feel warm inside.