A/N: Emerald was a confusing character, and it doesn't help that the site I was reading from is missing most of the Emerald chapters. So I really have no idea why Emerald told himself he hated Pokemon. I'm not convinced he really knows though, from the bit where Jirachi woke up.

Emerald: Lying to Himself

He hated being so short. He hated being unable to do anything by himself.

He loved his Pokemon though: loved how they would wind themselves around him in embrace, lift him up to the skies, bring the world down for him… He loved every bit of them.

He is lying to himself when he says he hates Pokemon, now, that he only loves the battling. He does love Pokemon: his Pokemon that he left behind in the past, and the Pokemon he's borrowed from Crystal and bonded with too. He just…he's not even sure why he pretends to hate them.

And it's only when he stops lying to himself that Jirachi awakes.