I'll Be Home For Christmas- The Extended Version Part 1 By Finaille Nailo "I don't really think it's that great of an idea to camp when it's this cold out. Plus, it's CHRISTMAS EVE!" Misty says, shivering a little. "Well, I would normally agree with you on that one Misty, but the Winter Tournament starts in two days, and we really can't get there by staying at a Pokemon Center, feeling happy we are inside and drinking hot cocoa." Brock says. "Cheer up a little Misty, at least it's not THAT cold considering the route outside of Ecruteak can be much worse." Ash pipes in. "And, we're at least 10 or so miles from any means of civilization. So, you'd better get used to it." Misty starts humming to herself to try to get her mind off the chilly weather. "Toge..." Misty's little Pokemon also starts complaining because of the cold. Misty walks over to her, and pulls a small blanket out of her backpack. "Here Togepi." She says as she wraps the small blanket around the tiny Pokemon, sets her backpack down, and places Togepi in her backpack. "Hey guys, do you wanna get some firewood while I go out and try to find some water?" Brock suggests. "Yeah, that's no problem." Ash says, as he finishes setting up his tent. Brock leaves to go find water. "I've got some stuff to finish up," Misty starts, "Ash, do you think you can do it alone?" "Yeah." Ash frowns. "Whatcha gonna do anyways?" "It's... nothing." Misty says, pausing. "I mean, it's something, but I'd rather not say anything." "Aww... does Misty have some P.M.S. problems?" Ash smirks. THWACK! "Owww..." Ash moans, rubbing his head. "Serves you right." Misty says with a grin, swinging her mallet to rest behind her back. "Heh... I'm going before things get a little too dangerous." Ash stands up. "Come on Pikachu." "Pika..." He rubs the back of his fuzzy yellow head, then hops onto Ash's shoulder. "Shouldn't be gone too long." Ash waves and heads off into the forest. Misty yawns and looks off into the setting sun and thinks to herself. "It's Christmas Eve, and tomorrow's not gonna be too glamorous either." She says to Togepi. She removes Togepi from her backpack, and digs around for a little bit. She pulls out a small box. "I still have to wrap their presents." She opens the box labeled "Ash", and smiles when she looks at the present. It was a charm bracelet. She knew he would never wear it, but glancing at Ash's backpack, she smiles at the little knick-knacks that were put on the zippers. He still had the Misty doll that Misty made for him for his birthday a few years ago. Poorly done, but he still kept it. Glancing back to the charm bracelet, there were only two charms on it. A Pikachu charm, and another larger charm that said "Friends Forever" and on the back it says, "I'll always love you." Misty freezes. She completely forgot what she was going to tell Ash the next morning... she had to tell him how she felt. Misty's fist clenches to the thought of Brock blackmailing her to tell him. She didn't have much of a choice, tell Ash how she felt or have Brock show Ash her diary. He already had possession of that. She laughs a little. She looks up into the night sky, the first stars finally becoming visible. She closes her eyes as sleep overtakes her body. ************************************************************************ "Misty?" A voice says. Misty looks about. "Who's there?" She asks, with a little fear imminent in her voice. "Who's there? It's me, Brock! Aren't you coming down?" He asks. Misty opens her eyes, to see she was in a room. Posters of her favorite bands lined the walls, and a computer on a work desk. She was lying on a bed. She scrunches up her eyebrows in confusion, and walks to the door. She looks down at herself, a much taller Misty. She wasn't wearing the clothing she was just wearing. She looks at herself through the mirror in her room. She had gotten much... older. "Yeah... coming!" She yells, walking down the stairs. After searching the house for a while, she finds a much older Brock working in a kitchen. "Hey, did you fall asleep or what?" Brock asks. Misty nods. "Hey, where's Ash?" Misty asks curiously. Brock gives her a shocked look, and walks over there and puts his hand on her forehead. "Whoa, did you hit your head or something? You know better, you haven't seen Ash in nearly ten years, and I haven't seen him for about seven." Brock states. "But I just saw him... five minutes ago." Misty stammers. "Are you sure you aren't sick or anything?" Brock asks. "No, I'm fine." The phone rings. "I'll get it." Brock says, picking up the phone. After a few seconds, he looks at Misty. "It's for you." Brock says, handing her the phone. Misty grabs the phone, and puts it to her ear. "Hello?" She asks. There are a few moments of silence when... "I'll be home for Christmas." ************************************************************************ "Misty? Hullo?" Ash says, poking her in the side. "Huh... where am I?" Misty asks sleepily. "Duh! It's Christmas Eve and we're camping? Remember?" Ash says, sitting next to her. "I uh... could have sworn I was somewhere else... I had a weird dream... made no sense." "Dreams aren't supposed to make sense. You should know that. Or are you an exception?" Ash asks with a goofy grin. Misty looks at him and rolls her eyes. "Oh shut up." "Fine." There are a few moments of silence. "It seemed so real." Misty says, looking at Ash. "What? Are you saying you believe in dreams coming true now, or what?" Ash asks curiously. "You're so arrogant. I said the dream was real, not "I really hope this dream is gonna come true!"" Misty says, putting a hand on her forehead. "Hey! I'm not agorant... whatever that word was. What was the dream about anyways?" Ash asks. "Why would YOU want to know?" Misty asks, looking into his raven eyes. She blinks, and looks away blushing. "It wasn't really anything anyways, so you know." "Riiiight, you expect me to believe that, do you? Come on, tell!" Ash demands. "No! Stop bugging me!" "TELL ME!" Ash demands again. "No! I HATE YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE!" She yells automatically, not realizing what she said. Ash gives her a funny look, a sad one, but it turns angry. "Well, I hate you too! You're such a sissy; always complaining about this and that, why don't you just go home for Christmas? And then STAY THERE! You're always slowing me and Brock down anyways." Ash says angrily. Misty looks at him shocked. "Fine? You want me to? Well..." She says, grabbing her backpack- then Togepi. She grabs the box for him and throws it at him hard. "... Merry Christmas. Goodbye!" Misty yells loudly, then storms off, backpack and Togepi in hand. "He's such an arrogant jerk!" Misty thinks to herself. "But you love him." Another voice says in her mind. "If he loves me as much as I love him, then he can follow me for all I care. I'm sick of it!" She shrugs away the small piece of guilt. Ash is watching Misty storming off, wishing she would look back and say it was all a joke. She becomes smaller as she walks into the distance; Ash figures she's not coming back. "I should go get her..." He mutters to Pikachu. He thinks about what he said. "No, I shouldn't. I'll be much happier without her around." "Pika..." Pikachu says sadly. "I love her..." Ash says, realizing it when Misty is finally out of sight. "MISTY!" He screams. There wasn't any reply and he knew deep inside himself that he might never see her again. ************************************************************************ "It's almost been 10 years since that day." Misty thinks to herself. She sat on her bed, glancing at the posters of her favorite bands lining the walls to her room. A small picture of Ash was sitting on her lap. "He looks the same from all those years ago. Blue jacket, red hat... cute smile." A tear falls onto the picture. Misty looks out the window into the morning sun. Misty had changed quite a bit from all those years ago. She was 24, standing at a full height of about 5' 9". Her once bright reddish-orange hair now had brown and blonde highlights streaked throughout her hair. Her hair was also much longer, grown out to about halfway down her back. She lost the yellow tank top, suspenders, and short jean shorts. She was wearing a tight pink t- shirt and dark denim capris. "Misty!" A voice yells. "Breakfast is ready!" "Coming!" She yells down. She was living in a small house in the outskirts of Cerulean City. She was still the gym leader of Cerulean Gym, and had been for the last six years. She had been sharing the small house with... "Misty!" Brock pokes his head in her room. "Come on, your food is gonna get cold." "I'm not that hungry." Misty says quietly. Brock spots the picture of Ash. "Ah, it's all clear to me now. Why are you STILL sulking about the boy? What's it been now, ten years since you've last seen him?" "A day shy, but who would know?" "Misty Yawa is the perfect candidate for an answer." Misty throws a pillow at Brock. "Hey, I'm telling the truth." "Oh shut up why don't you?" Misty asks. "Fine, fine. Anyways, you are still coming to the dance club tonight, aren't you? You promised me." "I don't know Brock, I really don't feel all that up to it." "MISTY! You promised! Please come?" Brock says, with an evil grin. "If not I'll just have to blackmail you into it." "Right... I'm sure you can..." Misty says, rolling her eyes. Brock walks over to Misty's dresser and holds up a small book. "Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to secrets of Gym Leaders. Today's section is on Misty Yawa, who buys clothes from..." Misty covers Brock's mouth with her hand. "...because she likes to fantasize herself in bed with a certain boy..." "Don't you ever dare repeat that, you hear me? I'll come. You'd better be happy about this one. I do have that one picture... of you and that girl doing..." She is cut off by Brock now putting his hand over her mouth. "Ok, ok... well, at least you're coming..." Brock says with a grin. "You owe me... or else I'll post the picture in a place that's obvious, yet you'd never find, in the gym. I mean it." Misty says while raising an eyebrow. "Anyways, get outta my room. I've got some stuff to finish up. New battle strategies, need to get those written up. It's almost the beginning of the New Year." "Right... you do that. Just be ready to go at 6pm, ok?" Brock asks, a hint of begging in his tone. "Sure. Now get out!" "Fine... fine." Brock grins and shuts her door. "Boys..." ************************************************************************ "Gah... my hair looks so crappy." Misty mumbles to Togetic, who had just returned that night from flying a letter to her friend. "Toge!" Togetic says excitedly. Misty forces a small smile. She twirls around in the sparkling turquoise dress she's wearing. "Well, I guess I'd better go down. You gonna be ok alone, aren't ya girl?" Misty asks, bending down to pat Togetic's head. "Night' girl." "Togetic toge!" Misty grins and goes out of her room. Brock is standing by the front door. "Took you long enough." He pauses to look at Misty. He grins. "You look really nice! Maybe if you can get your mind off of Ash you might wanna actually dance with some guy." "Uh huh, right. Let's just go, ok?" Misty asks with a sigh. Brock smiles evilly. "She doesn't know what she's in for." Brock thinks to himself. Brock holds the door open for Misty to walk through, and they both get in Brock's car. ************************************************************************ They arrive in Pallet Town about two hours later. "May I ask why we went to Pallet Town... Cerulean's dance club is just as nice." Misty points out. "Well, some friends wanted us to come here." Brock says with a smile. "What do you mean by "friends"?" Misty asks, raising an eyebrow. "You'll see." Brock's grin widens as they pull into the dance club parking lot. After a little bit of searching, they find a parking space close to the club. Brock parks, and they get out of the car. "This better be fun." Misty demands. Brock laughs. "Don't worry about it, I KNOW you'll have fun. Wait a second, don't tell me you're STILL sulking about Ashy-boy." Brock realizes. Misty's eyes widen. "Hey, I didn't say anything." Her cheeks flush crimson. They enter the dance club. It's dark, crowded, and noisy inside. People are dancing all around the two. "Brock!" A girl's voice yells. They both turn to see a green haired girl running up to them. "Brock, who is that?" Misty whispers to Brock. Brock grins. "Duplica." Misty's jaw drops. "Brock! Hey!" Duplica says again as she hugs Brock. "Who's your friend?" "I think you remember Misty." Brock says, smiling. Duplica hugs Misty. "Oh wow, I would have never recognized you." Duplica says, grabbing some of Misty's hair. "Your hair is adorable... he'll love it!" "Who'll love it?" Misty asks, confused by her statement. Duplica interrupts her as she is about to ask another question. "Hey Ashton! Come over here!" Duplica yells across the crowded room. A few moments later, a tall boy with raven hair and eyes walks over to where the three are standing. He stops in front of Misty, and stares at her. "Hi! I'm Ashton, and you must be Misty, right?" He says with a voice Misty almost could recognize. He extends his hand. "Yeah... I'm Misty." She says nervously. She thinks to herself, "It couldn't be Ash, could it?" A/N- Ok, since this is gonna be incredibly long, I decided to make this two or three parts! Please review!