Author’s Note: Okay, okay, time to make up for my two angst pieces with some nice, fluffy goodness…with just a small bit of angst. Mwahaha.

 

 

 

-RingRingRing-

-By Brian-

 

 

 

Misty. I wonder how she’s doing.

 

Misty. I hope she’s doing great as a gym leader.

 

Misty. What am I going to say to her?

 

I was actually going to talk to her today…I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve seen her.

 

            One month? Two months?

 

            It feels like forever.

 

            What I’m I saying? It’s just Misty…I mean, I didn’t get this nervous when Brock left.

 

            But then again, I kind of liked the idea of traveling with just Misty. Of course, Tracy joined the group shortly after, but it’s not like I hold it against him or anything.

 

            What am I doing rambling?

 

            Okay, picking up the phone. Wait, putting down the phone. Okay, picking up the phone…no wait, putting down the phone again.

 

            Pikachu and Torchic look up at me, an amused expression on both of their tiny faces.

 

            “Chu?” Pikachu squeaks up, her head tilting slightly at me. I guess she’s wondering why I’m acting so weird right now.

 

            “Uh, um…I’m gonna call Misty.” I answer feebly, my hand reaching for the phone once again.

 

             “Thank you for using the Vid-Phone system! Who would you like to call today?” replies the automatic message.

 

            Uh…uh….think Ash! Think! Who was I going to call again…? Waaaaaaah!

 

            Out of embarrassment I dial in a random number that pops in my head, and wait to see who comes up on the screen.

 

            “Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Ring-Ring-Ring!”

 

            I gasp in horror as my mind (slowly) processes who’s on the screen at this moment.

 

            “Ash? What the? What do you want?” shouts an irate, groggy Gary Oak, my arch-nemesis turned sort-of-friend, “I was trying to get some beauty sleep when all the sudden someone starts calling!”

 

            Of all the numbers to dial! Waaaah…!

 

            “Sorry-dialed-the-wrong-number-sorry-Gary-I’ll-talk-to-you-later-bye!” I reply hastily, immediately hanging up after I’m finished.

 

            This…certainly isn’t going well.

 

            Why can’t I call her? I shouldn’t be so afraid to call her…after all, I’m sure she’d appreciate it, right?

 

            “Yeah! I’m gonna surprise her! Then she’ll be so happy when she sees me!” I exclaim loudly, causing several people (and pokémon) in the center to look at me funny.

 

            I manage to ignore the stares as I go about dialing her number, hoping that she’s home.

 

            “Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Ring-ring-ring! Phone Call!”

 

            Oh no? What if she’s not home? What if she’s busy? What if she hates me? What if she doesn’t like me anymore? What if she forgot about me? What if she’s with Gary-wait, I already called him-wait! What if she’s with someone else? Why do I care if she’s with someone else? Omigosh, what if she is with someone else? What if she never ever wants to speak to me again…?

 

            What if she-

 

            “Hello?” answers a quiet, beautiful voice.

 

            My jaw drops as I gaze the screen. Before me is the image of a beautiful girl, with short red-orange hair that’s down to her shoulders, wearing a blue-and-white dress.

 

            She looks confused, and obviously a little frightened at the fact that I’m gawking at her so much. Oh no! Her eyes are getting all wide…she must be terrified or maybe-

 

            “Ash!” she shrieks out, causing me to distance the phone from my ear in a vain attempt to retain my hearing.

 

            “Ash Ash Ash! How have you been? I’ve missed you sooo much!” she excitedly yells out, causing me-

 

            Wait…is that…?

 

            “Misty!” I exclaim, causing more people (and pokémon) to look at me funny, “Is that…you?”

 

            She blushes a deep red, which causes me to blush in unison. “Yeah…I decided that since my sisters were gone I might as well try something new, instead of the top-and-shorts that I’ve been wearing for who knows how long…hey, umm…Ash?”

 

            “Yeah?” I reply breathlessly, awed by how…nice she looked…

 

            She pauses for a moment before continuing, “What do you think…?”

 

            “I think you look great…” I manage to say, my face getting redder then…uh…May’s shirt…. wait! I mean…a Charizard! Yeah…

 

            “You don’t look too bad yourself Ash,” she says with a wink, “you look so much more mature then the last time I saw you.”

 

            Naturally my ego becomes inflated, causing me to puff up my chest a bit. “Well, I have been working out of course…”

 

            “You’re still a little scrawny though...” she remarks with a smirk, causing my inflated ego to pop like a balloon. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted…

 

            “Anyways, how are you holding up in Cerulean?” I ask, wondering what she had been doing while Brock and I were gone.

 

            “Pretty good, I guess. Most kids that come by are too devastated to battle when they realize that the Sensational Sisters have been replaced by their runt of a sister…grrr….” she says angrily, clenching her first to emphasis her point, “but then again, it’s nice to be finally recognized as the Gym Leader of Cerulean…”

 

            “Sounds pretty nice…” I muse, wondering what it would be like to be a Gym Leader for Pallet, even though it’s a very small town with no gym to begin with.

 

            “But I do miss you, and Brock, and Pikachu. What have you all been doing so far?” she asks with curiosity, looking at me intently.

 

            “Well, we’re doing the same thing we’ve always been doing…traveling to various towns, meeting new people-“

 

            A panicked look appears on her face, although she looks like she’s trying to hide it. “New people…?”

           

            “Yeah! I met Professor Birch, a gym leader named Norman, and two people recently joined our group!”

 

            “Oh…?”

 

            “Yeah!” I answer, holding up a picture of May and her brother up to the screen, “I met her while on my way to Professor Birch’s lab…her name’s May and she’s really great and she has a Torchic and she’s kind of like you except I didn’t destroy her bike and she has a little brother who-”

 

            “May? I didn’t know that a new girl came along…” she commented dejectedly, a frown appearing on her features as she examined the picture.

 

            Oh no! What did I do wrong? Did I say something stupid? Oh no, I must’ve said something stupid….

 

            “Is there a problem?” I ask worriedly, hoping that whatever it was I could help her fix her.

 

            She smiles, although it looks sort of forced. “Nothing’s wrong, Ash-”

 

            I interrupt, “Then how come you sound sad…?”

 

            She looks away from the vid-screen, unsure of what to say. After a few moments of hesitation, she answers.

 

            “I guess…it’s just…I don’t want to be replaced…” she whispers quietly, causing my heart to skip a beat.

 

            Whaaaaaat? What are you talking about? Replaced? No! Never ever…!

 

            “Misty…” I try to say as soothingly as possible, “No one could ever, ever replace you.”

 

            She doesn’t respond; she merely looks away, her hair covering the expression on her face.

 

            “You and me, we’ve been through so much, you know? Remember when you first fished me out of the lake? Or when you wouldn’t stop following me, even when we went through Viridian Forest? Or the time you saved me from drowning when we were on the Orange Islands?”

 

            “She’s very pretty, that May…” she comments quietly, “and skinny too. You and her look great together…”

 

            “You’re forgetting one thing, Misty…”

 

            She looks at me, a worried look on her face. Come on Misty, it’s not like I’m going to agree with you!

 

            “She’s not Misty. She’s not you…she’s a friend, but that’s all. You’re something different, to me.” I say, looking deep into her eyes even though I’m technically looking through a screen, “you’re much more then a friend, Misty…”

 

            “What are you trying to say, Ash…?” she says, with a tone of hope in her voice.

 

            She looks so cute…

 

            I smile at her, with the biggest, silliest, dopiest smile I can muster.

 

            “What I’m trying to say, Misty, is that I like you.”

 

 

 

-End-

 

 

 

See? I can write slightly in-character stories where Misty doesn’t kill Ash. Happy now? ^_~


The dress that Ash is seeing is from Pokémon Stadium 2, where Misty looks much more mature.

 

Originally Ash was going to say “I love you”, but that was just…too predictable. Not many people expect to hear “I like you” as the closing line in a slightly romantic story.

 

Next story: Misty finds out that Ash and May are a couple…