Ash sighed over his breakfast while he sat in the kitchen, watching the pieces of cereal in his bowl bob up and down. His mother, Delia Ketchum, hurried into the room and gasped.

"Ash! What's wrong?" She placed a gentle hand on her son's shoulder. "I always know something's wrong when you lose your appetite."

"It's... ah, I don't want to talk about it," he mumbled. Delia gave a knowing smile.

"Is it about Misty?" she probed.

"No," he said too quickly.

His mother awwed and gave him a hug, one that he'd grown out of about five years ago. "Now, Ash, it's all right if she's stopped calling. She is a very busy gym leader, after all. You can't expect her to call every day. Besides--" and she started to busy herself with the rest of their breakfast, "--this probably won't last too long, either. The two of you are very, very good friends, and I doubt that she'd ever completely cut off communication from you."

"Really?" He sighed again, heavily. "I doubt it."

"Yes, really," Delia stated firmly, hoping that the firmness would transfer to her son. "Yes. I am absolutely, positively, one hundred percent sure that she will start to call you again."

"Okay," Ash muttered. Taking his cereal with him, he thumped loudly upstairs, slamming the door to his bedroom behind him. He placed the bowl on his desk, then flopped onto his bed.

It was no use. No matter how many time his mother tried to reassure him, he knew different. Misty had never done this before. Never. Always there, always ready with an encouraging word or some lighthearted bantering, she and Ash had become close throughout the years that they had stayed apart: he with his journey, she with her gym leader responsibilities. He'd always relied on her as his closest friend, closer even than Brock, but now...

Now...

He didn't know why. It had all started on that one day, when she'd called him and he'd had May and Max over. They'd all said hi, smiling, laughing and going over old memories. Yes, that had been fun. But then something had happened, and Misty had simply cut off the call. It was so sudden that Ash had had barely any time to react when the screen went blank. Her face - her smile - had disappeared into blackness, leaving only his voice as he called her name hollowly.

"Misty," he said again, softly, as if calling for her.

But of course she couldn't hear him. Somewhere in Cerulean, the girl of his dreams was spending her days without him.

He groaned and rolled over, smothering himself with his pillow. At least May and Max were visiting for the time being. Life in Pallet Town would be unbearable if they weren't here. Max was definitely an awesome kid, if annoying at times, and May was just May, as usual. She'd been acting a little odd, though. There had been a difference in her actions recently, something that would sometimes make him blush, make him feel awkward and yet awed when he was around her. He didn't know what it was, though. Of course, she did seem to be trying to get "closer" to him for some reason. It was starting to unnerve him. His mother had once mentioned something about May being at "that age" and that Ash should just completely disregard the difference in her actions toward him.

He hoped that she was right.