We Build Then We Break 
Hello everyone! Welcome to my new fanfiction, We Build Then We Break. The 
idea for this story has been in my head for many years but I was always too 
afraid to write it down because I didn’t want to do a bad job of it. It was 
inspired by a set of novels by Australian author John Marsden called ‘The 
Tomorrow Series’. It will be loosely based on the events of the books so all 
credit for the idea goes to John Marsden. It will also take ideas from the 
two Pokemon Gamecube RPG Games Š Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of 
Darkness. 
Shippings will include a Misty/Ash/May triangle and an Ash/Misty/Gary 
triangle. Who ends up with who will be revealed in due course. :D There may 
also be a little Brock/Sabrina romance later on.  
Music inspires all my writing and sets the tone of the story. At the end of 
each chapter there will be a ‘Playlist’ with the songs that inspired the 
chapter. 
This prologue is a ‘pilot’ of sorts Š just a taste to see whether you guys 
like the idea of this fanfiction. I am really excited to write it and I hope 
I can do it justice.  
Please leave me any feedback you have in a review. I just love hearing what 
you guys think and it really helps to receive any suggestions or constructive 
criticism on my writing. I will happily respond to any questions and 
comments. 
 
Prologue 
Great Companion 
 
It all began with a phone call. 
It was just another normal morning in Cerulean City when the sound of the 
phone ringing echoed through the Gym. I was in the arena feeding our many 
Water-type Pokemon at the time, and I silently cursed myself for not 
remembering to bring the cordless phone with me. It really irked me when I 
got to the phone just in time for the person on the other end to hang up. 
Nonetheless, I threw the last bit of food into the pool and raced through the 
Gym into the kitchen. This took me a good thirty seconds and I was a little 
surprised when it was still ringing as I picked up the receiver. 
“Cerulean City Gym, this is Misty,” I was panting from the sprint to the 
phone, but I managed to get the words out. 
“Mist!” the video phone kicked in then, but I already knew who it was. I felt 
the corners of my lips pull up in a smile that I couldn’t resist when I saw 
the face of Ash Ketchum.  
“Ash! Hi!” I realised I probably sounded like my overexcited, eccentric 
sisters, but I was so excited to see him and hear his voice after so long 
that I could have burst! He smiled back at me, and I tried to compose myself 
as I stared at his face. I couldn’t deny that he sort of took my breath away 
in a pleasing and surprising way.  
Age had been very kind to my friend of eight years. His childish features 
remained through the playfulness in his chocolate brown eyes, but his face 
was older, his features more defined on his tanned skin, dark from his recent 
travel. Something that hadn’t changed though, was the mop of jet-black hair 
atop his head. But I couldn’t imagine it any other way.  
“So, top four in the Sinnoh League huh? Not bad Mr Pokemon Master!” that old 
nickname had stuck even after all these years.  
“You were watching,” he looked pleased, proud of himself, and he should be. 
It was only natural that Ash felt like he had to prove himself to me, after 
all those years of me pushing him to be better and stronger. I probably 
didn’t have the best, most supportive methods but hey, they had worked! 
“Of course I was watching. You did great Ash, I’m really proud of you,” I 
felt my cheeks burning a little as I spoke the words, but they were the 
truth, and he should know them. He was everything he had aspired to be all 
those years ago when he had set out on his Pokemon journey.  
“Geez Mist, don’t get all sappy on me or anything,” he smirked playfully. 
“Oh that’s great, the one time I pay you a complement...” I joined in the 
game that was exclusively ours.  
“That’s true, it’s a rare occurrence, sort of like a blue moon!”  
“You’re lucky you’re on the other side of the phone,” I challenged him with a 
threatening glare. He only laughed, that same childlike laugh that I missed 
hearing every day as I had for so many years. 
 “So how are things at the Gym?” he asked a few seconds later. 
“They’re okay, you know, the usual paperwork and bigheaded trainers, but my 
sisters have actually been helping me out a little lately which is nice!” 
“That’s good to hear, because I’m calling to ask if you’d like to partake in 
May and Dawn’s crazy adventure idea...” he trailed off with a smirk. 
“It’s not crazy Ash Ketchum!” I heard a voice in the background Š Dawn I 
guessed Š as his face wrinkled in a cute squirm. 
“Sure...” he turned and murmured quietly, then a pause as something else was 
mumbled, then he added, “Alright already, I’m asking her!” 
He turned back to me sheepishly, and I was wondering what on earth they were 
talking about.  
“So...May and Dawn have been conspiring all morning and have come up with 
this brilliant idea to go into the mountains near Pallet for a week or so, 
just to get some R&R and take a break with our Pokemon. And we were wondering 
if you would like to join us.” 
My instant reaction was excitement at the prospect of seeing Ash and 
rejoining him and everyone else on a little adventure. It sounded like a heap 
of fun. But then, responsibility kicked in. 
“Oh Ash, I would just love to come, but I don’t think I can leave the Gym... 
The Annual Gym Leaders Conference is coming up next week and we need to send 
someone to represent Cerulean City,” I was more than disappointed and I’m 
sure it showed, but he didn’t give up. 
“Come on Mist, surely your sisters can do it just this once. You have to 
come, it’ll be just like old times. And when was the last time you took a 
holiday?” 
“Well, it has been a while...” I admitted. A very long while. 
“Plus...” his voice lowered to a whisper as he glanced behind him, “you can’t 
leave me with those two. They’re crazy. They gang up on me.”  
“And you think I wouldn’t join them?” I winked, and he groaned.  
“So who else is coming?” I asked, whilst silently going over ways I could 
convince my sisters to look after the gym and go to the Gym Leaders 
Conference. Perhaps I could tell them there would be a heap of hot, handsome 
men there Š Lance, Danny, Rudy, Drake, Falkner, Volkner... It could work. 
“Well so far it’s May, Dawn, Kenny, Brock and Gary.” 
“Gary?” I asked in surprise as my eyebrows rose. “Wow, the two of you are 
best buds these days.” 
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Ash smirked, “but he’s changed. He’s actually an 
alright guy these days. He even helped us out a few times while we were in 
Sinnoh.” 
Gary must have changed a lot for Ash to say that. I hadn’t seen Gary in 
years, but I had heard that he was working in Sinnoh. I guessed he must have 
been home for the Easter holidays. 
I must have been pondering in silence for a while, because Ash grew 
impatient. 
“So what do you say, Mist? You up for it?” his innocently hopeful expression 
was impossible to resist Š not that I even wanted to, and so I gave in 
easily. With a smile, I nodded my head. 
“Well...ok, I’m in. I’ll find a way around my sisters, probably with the 
promise of nice looking young men at the Conference.” 
“Sounds like a good plan,” he chuckled. 
“So when do we leave?” 
“Three days. The Easter Show starts in Viridian on the weekend, and I 
promised mum I would spend as much time with her as I could before she goes 
to that. Brock has gone home for a few days to see his family and will be 
back Friday afternoon. So, I think we’ll set off on Saturday morning. What do 
you think?” 
“That sounds great, Ash. I can’t wait!” 
“Me neither,” he said with a smile Š the smile I couldn’t wait to see in 
person in just a few days.  
We said goodbye and hung up the phone. The unexpected surprise had filled me 
with excitement. I hadn’t realised how much I needed a break away from the 
Gym until that moment. 
But as I look back now at that exact moment, I know that had I made the 
opposite decision, my life would be very different. Perhaps in a better way, 
or perhaps I would be worse off. Perhaps I wouldn’t even be here at all... At 
the time, I thought I was setting off on a fun holiday with my friends to 
escape the boring daily routines of life.  
Little did I know what we would find when we returned, or what our lives 
would turn into. None of us could have anticipated what we would come up 
against and what would eventually cost countless lives, including those of 
some of our closest friends. Physical scars are healing but emotional ones 
taunt us not only in our dreams, but even while we are awake. We cannot 
escape from the past just like we cannot escape the haunting memories that it 
gave us. 
I don’t know why they chose me to write all this down, but I do agree that we 
need some sort of recount of what we have been through over the past months. 
I will try to tell it as best as I can, but I won’t hold back. This is the 
real truth of what we went through, what we did, and why we did it.  
This is our story, as told by Misty Waterflower. 
 
To be continued... 
 
Playlist 
Great Companion Š Landon Pigg 
We The Dreamers Š Kate Voegele 
Gravity Š Sara Bareilles 
Hotblack Š Oceanship 
From Where You Are Š Lifehouse 
 
Credits 
Chapter title Š ‘Great Companion’, Landon Pigg 
Fanfiction title Š ‘We Build Then We Break’, The Fray