"I won't judge you, I swear. Sorry about the speech, I just want to help." Io's words were repeating in my mind. Why was I so adamant about not telling my story? Was it just because I didn't like to think about it? That's so weak of me since I think about it all the time. It doesn't seem like that's the problem. Maybe it is about time I come clean and tell at least a little something about my past. I mean, pretty much everyone else had so why not?

I took a deep breath. "Well?" Io encouraged me. Man, I'm older than a bunch of the others in our group but I act like such a baby. I opened my mouth, "I-" then I heard "Hey Io, Asuka! What's going on?" It was Ariel. I realized I had never answered her when she asked me how it went earlier. She must have been worried. Io turned to Ariel with a warm grin, "We're getting to the bottom of Asuka's problem." "Oh really?" Ariel also smirked. If I had been human I'd have been bright red from blushing. I didn't like all this attention. At that moment I had a revelation. "I'm shy." I whispered with a blank look on my face. Io cocked her head to the side, "Come again?" "T-that's why I haven't been able to tell my story," I said half-explaining it for my own benefit, "I'm shy, a-and don't like all the attention." "Even though you're shy, you can still tell us anything," Ariel said soothingly. Io smiled again, "Yeah, and they're are only the three of us here, you can tell everyone else when you think you're ready. But you should really tell at least us for your own good. Y'know, to become human again?" She was right. So I got ready to start again, "I-I'm not really sure where to start. My-"

"Io! Ariel! Where are you guys?" It was Kovu. And probably Seth. I glanced up sheepishly at Io who rolled her eyes. "We'll be right there!" She shook her head and looked back at me. "Continue?" My heart was pounding. It was just the three of us, I shouldn't be so nervous. I wasn't like this before Alex left. After he was gone I shut myself down to the world. I used to be so outgoing, but now I can barely manage a sentence when I talk. Just then another lightbulb went off in my mind. What if I...!

"Hey Io!" I popped my head up with energy. "Yeah?" she was a bit puzzled by my enthusiasm. "What if, I mean, maybe I should go ahead and tell everyone my story. T-that'll help my condition a lot right?" Ariel smiled approvingly, "You should go for it. They'll listen. We all want to help you." With that, we headed back toward the group while I tried to formulate exactly what I was going to say. What had I just gotten myself into? A shy kid's nightmare, that's what!

Continue?
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I figured I'd better wait til my next post since this one was pretty long anyways! Plus, you never know what kind of interruptions may await our heroes! (Sorry, narrator from Pokemon syndrome kicked in!)