A Life's Worth

A Life's Worth is the first Pokemon one-shot piece written by Burnt Flower, which tells the tragic story of Michelle, an orphan who slowly goes insane after surviving an air raid. It was first posted in Fanfiction.net in 2004, though it was later posted in Serebiiforums and The Pokemon Tower.

This was Burnt Flower's first attempt at writing horror and it was generally received with good responses.

Plot Summary
The one-shot portrays the psychological trauma that a smal girl, Michelle, suffers after being the sole survivor of a bombing that destroys her peaceful town.

It begins right after the air raid, in the middle of an unnamed, war-stricken land where the unmoving form of a child lies. Michelle soon comes back to consciousness and is confused by her surroundings; she can only remember having a picnic with her mother, her brother, Dan, and the family's pet Bulbasaur. After several dazed moments, she finds the bloodied body of her mother and cannot comprehend the implications of death. She tries to make her talk with her beloved doll, Mrs. Daisy - her only belonging that wasn't destroyed after the bombing.

After this desperate attempt to wake her mother up, the horrifying truth finally settles in and she faints once more. Soon after waking up, Mrs. Daisy beings to "talk" with Michelle. It tells her that the only way to revive her mother would be to kill a Pokemon in cold blood. It tries to reason with her by saying, "Inferior lives for bringing back to life a vastly superior one. It’s quite the fair deal, Michelle." After hesitating for some moments, Michelle reluctantly agrees.

Mrs. Daisy instructs Michelle to take the dagger from a dead soldier (who will turn out to be Jake in the one-shot Contaminated Freedom). They soon spot a stray Zigzagoon and Michelle runs after it. After finding the Zigzagoon's hideaway, Michelle realizes that it is actually has pups. Asking her mother for forgiveness, she raises the dagger high up in the air. The Zigzagoon, thinking Michelle was a threat to its newborn, attacks. Michelle plunges the dagger into the Zigzagoon's fur and it drops dead to the floor.

Mrs. Daisy taunts Michelle by saying, ''Congratulations, Michelle. You have lost your humanity.'' She finally snaps and rips the doll apart with the same dagger that was used to kill the Zigzagoon. Michelle runs back to her mother's cadaver and hugs her, wishing they could be together once more.

Michelle wakes up by her mother's soothing voice, and when she opens her eyes, the dead Zigzagoon stares back at her with loving eyes. The dolls final words, “You know I never failed you, Michelle…” echo once more in her mind. Michelle smiles back at the Zigzagoon, knowing that her mother was finally back with her.

The ending is left up to the reader's interpretation.