Friends and Rivals, Love and Pokemon

Part 10 --- Denial
By Blastoise



It seemed for an eternity Ash had stared at the roof of the small room he's sleeping in. Sleep is not welcoming him since the day Misty had left him.

When Ash woke from his short slumber, he can hear the music still being as loud as ever. Not in a partying mood, Ash quietly sneaked by madly dancing people and went for a quiet walk.

Where could Misty be?


"Violet, I told you I am not coming back to Cerulean!" Misty yelled to the phone. "No! Go find yourself another Gym leader!" Misty's face is red from her anger. "I am not coming back and that's final!" She hung up on her sister.

She threw her phone on the soft mattress so hard that it bounced at least a few times before it settled down.

Sometimes I wonder if they are my sisters. I am going for a walk, maybe it'll take my mind of the whole situation.


Ash sat down in a little café holding his drink.

Misty sat down in a little café holding her coffee.

They both sat with their back against each other, they lean back on their chairs at the same time... the two's head gently collided, "I'm sorry." They both said to each other, then they turned their heads to face the person they are hopelessly in love with.

"Ash?"

"Misty...!"

Misty turned away quickly. Not here! Not now! She quickly placed her un-drank coffee down and prepared to run, but Ash was quicker. He grabbed her wrist before she can bolt away. She tried to jerk her hand away, but he wouldn't let go as he tightened his grip.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Misty, the only thing I am doing right now is not letting you go."

Both of them stood, Ash with his hand on Misty's wrist. The little café was empty, the owner started to move the outside tables back into the shop.

They both watch each other's unmoving eyes, not minding the cold air surrounding them. A cold breeze blew by, picking up Misty's unbraided hair, moving like silk...

"Please come back Misty, I- we missed you."

"You don't understand Ash."

"I would if you gave me a chance." He forcefully broken their stare and looked at ground; he let go of Misty's hand warm hand and put his in his pocket. "Misty..., the letter..., I..."

Misty's eyes widened expectedly, staring at the boy with his face to the ground. "What I wrote... I didn't mean it." Misty lied desperately; those words were Misty's truest and deepest feelings.

"Misty... I love you too."

Ash, a lot had happened lately, for you and me. Sometimes my emotion confuses me, hurts me, and even destroys a part of me. I don't know why I am telling you this, but since I am not going to see you again, I might as well…

Have you wonder why I followed you around and be in a part of your magnificent adventure? Have you ever asked yourself why I never left your side no matter what? And did you know that every time I thought I lost you, I lost a big part of my life?

But that doesn't matters anymore. I am off to my own journey, to fulfill my dream as a Water Pokemon Master. I know this is being very selfish and insensitive of me, but I just can't say goodbye face-to-face with you.

I am going to the Hoenn region, I heard that there are many new species of Water Pokemon. We probably won't ever see each other again, but I'll let fate decide on that one.

I hope you win the Jotho league, I really do. I'll miss you Ash, and Pikachu and Brock and Tracey. Tell them I said bye.

Love, Misty


Her heart jumped. Did he say...? He... I can't... He said... Her heart beating fast, her thoughts racing, her blood pumped wildly in her body, her face became pinkish red as her body increased in temperature, she no longer felt the cold chill on her bare arms.

She took a step back and looked at him. His head not looking down anymore, his eyes closed with fear, like a small boy too scared to continue to watch a horror movie. Ash didn't know what to expect, as he is experiencing the true suspense for the first time of his life.

Still totally unaware of anything, Ash stood, waiting... Misty moved closer to the statue-like boy, her lips touching his cold cheeks. She then shy away from him, whispering something as quiet as the nothingness itself, only allowing Ash to hear those words.

A second later, she ran into the darkness. Not moving an inch, Ash still stood statue-like with his eyes closed, but tears escaped those closed tight eyes and dropped onto the ground...


"C'mon Ash, you should wake up and get down to the stadium today. Gary and the other finalists are gonna battle today, I think you should check out the competition."

Ash moaned as he sat up and rubbed his tired eyes. What an interesting dream, I hope Misty won't run away from me when I tell her my true feelings.

Ash peeked out the room and saw Tracey walking by, "Morning Trace." Ash greeted him with a smile on his face.

"Hey, you are sure in a good mood today. What brought you around?" Tracey smiled at the boy. Tracey was in his usual clothing today, wearing T-shirt and shorts.

"You know the feeling where you just wake up one day, realizing everything is so perfect and everything can't be better? I am feeling like that right now." Ash smiled as he stretched, scratching his already messy hair. "By the way, you seen Misty around? How come she didn't wake me up like usually? Did she went to fishing again?"

Tracey's smile immediately dropped, he turned to the stair case down to the first floor and shouted, "You better come up here, Brock!" Tracey's voice was full of urgency.

"What happened?" Brock ran up the wooden stair case quickly, looking at the content Ash. Brock had an apron and a white chef hat on with his usual clothing.

"Ash has a few question for you, Brock." Tracey said nervously, not knowing what is wrong with the boy. Tracey turned to Ash and gesture him to talk.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you saw Misty around this morning." Then Ash put up a mischievous smile, "Did she went to fishing again? She was so pissed when I caught a bigger Goldeen then her yesterday."

Brock walked cautiously toward the boy and put a hand on the boy's forehead. "Ash, are you feeling alright?"

"Since you mentioned it, I am a little hungry. But other then that, I feel perfectly fine." Ash answered happily, not bother by all the fussing caused by Brock and Tracey.

"What happened to you yesterday?" Tracey joined the conversation, obviously very concerned for his young friend, "You were so down, and now you're so happy."

Ash just shrugged and asked, "Where's Misty?"

Brock and Tracey turned to glance at each other, both not sure on how to handle this weird situation. In Brock's mind, he started to draw out conclusions.

He's either joking or he's losing it."

Brock stared into Ash's eyes, he can tell the puzzled boy wasn't trying to joke around. He feared it, but after another closer look at the boy's face confirmed it. "She's not here."

"I know that, that why I want to know, where's Misty?" The boy grew annoyed with Brock and Tracey's games. He demanded the two older teens to tell him to truth.

"She not here as in she wasn't here for a long time." Tracey spoke up, giving Ash a piece of information that he didn't believe nor want to hear. "She left us for almost a week now..."

Ash stared absorbly at Tracey, a perplexed smile rouse as he chuckled, "This is a joke right? This is all a joke... Yeah, that's it, it's a joke."

"This is not a joke...

Not hearing what Tracey said, Ash continued to mumble, "It's all a joke, she wouldn't leave me, it's all a joke. She's fishing, yeah, she's probably catching a Goldeen right now."

Brock used his strong hands to grab both of Ash's shoulders and started to shake him. Every time he shook him, he said a word, spelling out the whole sentence.

"Snap out of it! This is no Joke!"

Tracey freed Ash from Brock's grasp, letting Ash catch his breath. What he had heard from Brock and Tracey started to sink in; Misty's gone, and it's not a joke...


The goofy smile the boy had earlier in the morning was gone. Brock and Tracey worried about the boy's health. They know the boy is sick, and they know what Ash is sick from, but they can't do anything about it.

"Did you see him after the party last night?"

"No..., he left the house and didn't come back until very late, right?"

Brock shrugged.

"I bet you anything that something happened to Ash yesterday when we were having the party."


-----Flash Back-----


Still totally unaware of anything, Ash stood, waiting... Misty moved closer to the statue-like boy, her lips touching his cold cheeks. She then shy away from him, whispering something as quiet as the nothingness itself, only allowing Ash to hear those words.


A second later, she ran into the darkness. Not moving an inch, Ash still stood statue-like with his eyes closed, but tears escaped those closed tight eyes and dropped onto the ground...


-----Flash Back Ends-----


Now completely remembering the events of, not only last night, but several years ago as well; Ash, for the first time, saw things from a completely different point of view.

All those times he and Misty fought with each other, it always ended up with some swear words being exchanged that's obviously very inappropriate for Ash and Misty, then they would make up (forced by Brock), with a bitter 'Sorry'. They would be in a good mood with each other for two days and then the whole fighting process will start again.

"Misty, I just wish I can leave you in the next city!! I don't care if I owed you a bike or not!!"

Ash of course didn't leave Misty in the next city, whatever that was. He never thought about not having Misty around being his adviser, and more importantly, his friend. He is always used to have Misty around, when she's not about cut your head off, Misty is a very cool person to be with, especially if she's your secret crush for the longest time.

You never know how much you love someone until that someone leaves you and never comes back. Ash once heard that moral before, but he didn't know it will apply to him as well.

Ash sighed. I just have to accept the fact that Misty doesn't love me the way I love her. If an 'I love you' can't stop her from leaving me, then she doesn't love me at all.

The tiny electric mouse scurried across the room and leaped into Ash's bed and stood on Ash's hungry stomach. Ash forced out a fake smile to reassure his little buddy as he scratched Pikachu's ears.

Not caring how he had gotten home from the coffee shop yesterday night, not caring whether he should use Pikachu or Charizard to sent Team Rocket blasting off next time, and reluctantly, not caring about her...

The only thing he cared about now is his dream, something that he wanted to do ever since his dad became a Pokemon Master. He promised himself that he'll follow in his father's footsteps and be a Pokemon Master...

I can't let emotions get into my way of my battling. In the final rounds of the Pokemon League, there is no space for errors. I am completely shutting her out of my mind; and now, there are only a few things between my and my trophy that says, "Pokemon Master".

Completely invisible to Ash and Pikachu, a familiar figure stood outside of the room's window. The shadow of night hid his appearance from Ash and Pikachu.

Satoshi quietly said to himself, "Ash, I hope you didn't know that I was the one that took you back here, because I don't want anything to go between the good battle we promised each other. You better get over her fast, or you might not even get to the final."