Touketsu Namida
part I - Mysterious Girl Aisu
Narrated by Brock; Fanfic written by Sami, aka Suicune3K

Pre-Fic Notes: This fic doesn’t really fit into a particular timeframe. Yes, I use Vulpix in this story, though Brock gave it away in some episode. I know little or nothing about the Johto series, or even the very first Season of the animé, and I do tend to imagine cities as they are in the GS games...which I try not to show. Enjoy. (Please refer to the Prologue for the content Rating of this fic.)

. . .

   Ash couldn’t help but let out a small yawn, squinting down upon the small screen of his Pokédex with tired eyes.
   “Well..?” Misty was already growing impatient, retying her fluffy bright-orange hair just out of sheer boredom. She looked about ready to unintentionally jab me in the throat with one of her out-turned elbows that fought with the tangled orange mess.
   “Uhmm...” Ash drew the device closer to his face, his nose now almost touching the screen, and pointed to what I assumed to be the Northeast with an outstretched arm. “I..think it’s this way!”
   Without another word, the three of us started off again in the direction he had pointed to. I could tell that Misty was holding back a groan, releasing her lazily-tied ponytail and plucking her wriggling little Pokémon, Togepi, from the ground. I guess we were all short-tempered at that time, having not been getting a good night’s sleep mostly on account of me; even I began to lose my grip when drowned in fatigue.
   For a few treads, there was a silence from the three of us that I found odd, though the murmurs of the mouselike Pikachu were still audible. I was about ready to strike up some sort of healthy conversation, when Misty sort-of did that for me.
   “Ash..” she glanced at the ever-more familiar scenery of the deep forest. “I could have sworn we’ve been here before!”
   “No way!” he didn’t even bother to face her, though she was quickly catching up. “The map on my Pokédex doesn’t say that!”
   Upon a closer look of the device, I finally broke in. “Ash, that map only shows the location of the Routes and which one we’re on! It doesn’t show exactly where we are!”
   Ash stopped dead in his tracks (Misty nearly plowing into him from behind), holding the screen now farther from his face. Widening his tired eyes and blinking a couple times, he let out a hoarse agreement. “Oh...”
   This must’ve finally pushed Misty over the edge; for a moment her mouth remained shut, and then quickly let out in a huff, “Jeez, Ash! Can’t you ever remember to actually buy a real map?! You are as reliable as Brock here judging a beauty pageant!”
   To remain neutral within these squabbles, however, doesn’t get any easier when they start using me as a reference. “All right, as I’ve told you guys a dozen times before: leave me out of your little fights!”
   They murmured in agreement, though I could just barely pick up a tone of sarcasm. As curiosity had gotten the better of me, I couldn’t help but try to sneak a better look at exactly which Route we were on, according to Ash’s Pokédex. “What does that thing say where we are?”
   Ash withheld his answer, squinting down at the small screen once more. “Uhh...err—That doesn’t seem right..”
   He dropped the device into my hands with a puzzled look on his face. It didn’t take much time to figure out just what puzzled him; the screen clearly indicated that we were located on the Route due-South from Ecruteak City. A lot farther North than we wanted.
   “This thing’s gotta be broken!” I hastily muttered, and returned the Pokédex to Ash. “That is, unless you’ve horribly screwed up the navigation this time..”
   Ash had barely opened his mouth to protest when Pikachu abruptly froze in its tracks, Togepi jumping from Misty’s arms. There was a strange cold in the air as a somewhat graceful wind whipped up. A light-blue aurora became clearly visable ahead of us, and there seemed to be something standing within it. A sort of creature, that seemed poised and almost alluring, a mane billowing in the breeze as weightless and elegant as the tides of the sea. I felt nearly hypnotized for those few seconds; the nameless creature had then taken a quick glance back at us, and dashed out of sight with a speed that agitated the present wind before it died once more.
   Misty probably was as stunned as I was; her eyes were wide and her mouth was practically hanging open, though no words came out.
   “Hey! Wait—!” Ash rashly chased after the beast, as predictable as always, before tripping over a small rock and falling flat on his face. Misty and I broke out of our frozen stupor (I now realized that my jaw had too dropped, but absurdly wide) and let out a snicker. Even Pikachu, who had immediately rushed after Ash, emitted a couple sneering sparks from its rosy cheeks.

. . .

   I lazily slumped up against the trunk of a tree with a tired sigh. Finally I had broken away from the “odd couple”, thankfully taking in a deep breath and closing my eyes. My legs were aching, my head again pounded from the everyday bickering. Yet none of that mattered to me anymore. Finally I was alone!
   There was a slight breeze that rustled the lush tall-grass, that was soft and cooling against my skin. Nothing but a small clearing lay ahead, letting in the warm sunshine that was always filtered by the thick forest canopy. I soaked in the warmth with a relaxed grin, before again feeling an odd chill wash over me.
   Hmph..I guess that means I should get a move-on to meet those two, I thought as I got to my feet with a tinge of frustration.
   Then something caught my attention near the edge of the clearing; a dark silhouette lightly glowing with blue mist. It couldn’t have been the thing I had seen before with Misty and Ash, it was much smaller and of a more sleek than graceful shape.
   Doing as instinct told me, I reached for a Pokéball in my belt. Since the creature looked to be more of an Ice type than anything else, I had guessed, I let my Vulpix into the fray.
   A Fire-type attack must do the trick, then. “Use Flamethrower!”
   Searing flames ripped through the air as the reddish-brown Pokémon exhaled a burning breath, waving its curly brown tails furiously. For a moment the mysterious creature ahead vanished within the chaos of red and orange, but quickly emerged, to my amazement, unscathed.
   Vulpix recoiled at an instant, almost as if it knew what was coming. The blue creature let out a howl, arching its back with a menacing glare in its eyes. The downpour it had started seemed to come out of nowhere; rapidly gaining in strength, the wind soon appeared to be doing all of the work of directing the full force at Vulpix.
   I let my Pokémon back into its Pokéball as it was taken literally off its feet, toppling backwards to the ground again. Though it certainly wasn’t the only thing I was thinking of, I was baffled by how I hadn’t seen that kind of attack before. Daylight hadn’t even darkened a shade when the rain was plucked from the bright blue sky!

   “Hey! Wait!” a voice had suddenly echoed back from within the trees.
   A girl, who was likely my age, came bolting into the tall-grass with obvious difficulty and came to rest at the calming strange creature. Her words were muffled, as she was facing the animal when she spoke, her back turned to me. Oddly enough she had barely even caught her breath before she abruptly froze, and turned to me in a sort-of shock. For a moment she stared me in the eyes, wide-eyed and hardly dared to breathe. Her jaw flat-out dropped, even as she covered her mouth with her hands. It was almost as if she was afraid of me.
   Slowly she began to back away, only before collapsing to her knees, a hand to her chest.
   I rushed to her even before I could comprehend anything that I had seen. “Hey! Are you all right?”
   Breathing hard, she only flicked her eyes up at me for a second, then looked away once more. There seemed to be an odd, glazed emotion deep within them. “Yes..I’m f-fine...”
   “Are you sure?” I continued. “If you’re ill, I can find a doctor or something—”
   “No!” she repeated slightly louder, shakily trying to pull herself up. “I’m fine! I..I’m always like this. It’s normal...”
   Her short, bright-orange hair rustled in the soft wind, shimmering in the daylight like liquid gold as she softly sighed. A thick, somewhat scratchy black turtleneck sweater loosely draped over her frail build, having a fairly loose collar and sleeves that nearly reached her knuckles. The color sharply contrasted her milky white, pale skin, which lacked color most of all on her face.
   I gave her a grin, and held out a hand. “I’m Brock.”
   Startled, she paused for a few moments, then reluctantly gripped my hand. “I..I’m Aisu...”
   As I helped her to her feet, our gazes met for a single, electrifying moment. I had hardly noticed before how deep those dark-brown eyes were. They were filled with compassion, and yet also seemed somewhat cold and mysterious; I almost felt as if I was being drawn into them, like the depths of the sea.
   Aisu then quickly turned away and blushed. “Ohh..dear, I’m sorry ‘bout all this! Ryouki gets lonely and wants to play sometimes...”
   The mist had long since cleared, which to my astonishment, that creature had turned out to have been a Vaporeon. It seemed friendly enough; it purred and smiled affectionately as Aisu stroked its rubbery blue fur.
   “It’s fine!” I insisted. “No harm done! But..err, it plays like that?”
   Aisu forced a small grin, which melted a bit of the ice within her eyes. “Uhmm..yeah. Ryouki kind of enjoys to act tough, and puts up this whole show with the fog and such..”
   I lightly chuckled. “Every Pokémon has its own personality!”
   Aisu shared a small laugh, a bit of color returning to her cheeks. A blush upon that color of skin seemed to be nearly pastel, like the first dab of deep watercolor upon a sheet of paper.
   Just as suddenly as it came, the color again drained from her face as a sullen look overtook her, her eyes widening. I couldn’t even get the words to ask what was wrong out before she dashed into the brush and out of sight, her Vaporeon scuttling close behind. For such weakness she was fast; but it was stuck in my mind like a riddle I couldn’t solve.
   Who, exactly, was she?

. . .

   “What in the heck are you doing now?” Misty scowled at Ash, who still held his eyes close to the screen of his Pokédex.
   Ash, of course, was caught in the daze of trying to find a navigation feature. “Uhmm...huh?”
   “Turn that thing off!” Misty snapped, trying her best to restrain herself from snatching the device right out of his hands. “We need to meet Brock, remember? Well, unless you’ve planted some sort of tracking device on him..”
   “Oh, right,” Ash finally came back to the real world, realizing that his hair was (even more) messed up from running his fingers through it so many times in frustration. “Where did he say, again?”
   Misty perked up, practically dropping Togepi. “What? Didn’t he tell you?”
   “I thought he told you!”
   “I thought we didn’t even go over this,” I interrupted as I fought my way through the brush, listening in on the whole thing. “Hey, guys.”
   “Hey, where have you been all this time?!” asked Misty as she helped me out of the bush. A leaf or two had become caught on my shirt sleeve, and I plucked a small twig from my hair.
   “Would you believe that I just came from a clearing?” I replied with a small grin as I brushed some of the remaining leaves from my clothes.
   “Ehrrm..yeah..” Ash looked me over with curiosity at the brush I was covered in. “But what were you doing?”
   I let out a small laugh. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you!”
   “Try us.”
   I had slowly pieced together the details in my head; the creature enshrouded in mist, and the sickly girl who seemed to have been terrified of me. Her name had hardly slipped my mind, but somehow I didn’t even mention it.
   “You’re right,” said Misty once I had finished, wearing an unenthusiastic look. “We wouldn’t believe you.”