Ash's Paldea Story

Chapter 28 Mela's Past

Everyone says that I'm a hot-headed girl, I have anger issues. It is true that I have anger issues, but I wonder when did it all start...

When I come to the school, I joined the department of Pokemon Battling. I don't have that many friends, but after classes, I always head to the school grounds to find Charlos the Charcadet. Charlos was at first wary of me, but after feeding him with Churros that I brought from Artazon, he seems to be getting along with me, and he has been a good friend of mine.

My school life is not that perfect, I can see a lot of people drooling at my looks, and that also causes some girls to be jealous. So sometimes after class, I was suddenly stopped by those girls and they gave me a beating.

"Why... why are you doing this..." I mutter with pain and agony in my body.

"Acting like a princess, are you? Do you think it will work?" As the girl continues to beat me up, I wanted somebody to help me, but the others are just treating this like some sort of show, until he shows up.

"Even if you're a girl, I'm not tolerating bullying others in school." The boy that defended me, is wearing black and he has blonde hair. By his side, he has a Lycanroc, and he is growling at the girls that are bullying me, causing them to get scared and run away.

"Hey, are you okay?" The boy helps me up and asks me.

"I'm fine... thank you for helping me..." I say. "My name is Mela, and you're..."

"I'm Gladion, a sophomore." He says. "Why do those girls want to beat me?"

"They say that I'm acting like a princess... but I didn't do anything..." I say.

"For some reason, the school has a high bully rate..." Gladion sighs. "And it seems that I have got a lot of attraction. Let's go somewhere private."

He grabs my hand and I can feel my face starting to burn, why does he care so much about me? Why would he even go this far to defend me while the others didn't?

After we get to the place where I used to play with Charlos, the two of us are sitting together and we start to chat.

"So they are your classmates?" Gladion asks me.

"Yeah... all three of them are in the same class as me... ever since my first day, they have been ganging up on me a lot of times." I say.

"And you just let yourself be bullied by them?" Gladion asks. "If anything, you should try to fight back, or maybe stand up for yourself."

"But... I don't have any friends... I don't think being angry at them is going to help..." I frown.

"Who said you don't have any friends? Don't you have your Pokemon? And I also noticed that you often play with Charlos the Charcadet." Gladion says to me, much to my surprise. "And if you want, I want to be friends with you as well."

I was surprised at what he was saying, and I ask, "Why would you want to be friends with a nobody like me?"

"Everyone is born special, you're not a nobody. You're your own person, so I suggest that you should live fully of yourself." Then he stands up and says, "Battle me right now, I won't take no for an answer."

"Battle? Are you sure we're allowed to battle here?" I ask. I like to battle, that's why I join the battling department, and when the two of us use the plaza to battle, my Houndoom was easily defeated by his Lycanroc. But he is nice enough to give out some pointers and also some tips to improve.

Ever since that day, no matter when I get to meet Gladion, I feel like my cheeks are heating up. Is this love? Or I'm just being an annoying fangirl of some sort? But thanks to him, I finally know how to stand up for myself.