It was a wonderful morning in
As the Pokémon brushed over his face once again, Ash
jerked up, half jumping into the air.
Breathing very fast, he stood there in the middle of
his room, staring at the smiling Pokémon.
“What do you think you’re doing? Can’t you just clean
up the floor? I don’t need to be brushed!” Ash shouted.
Brock, who was woken by this one sided argument,
dizzily looked up, then spotted Ash and Mr. Mime.
“Oh no, not this again”, he mumbled quietly and fell
back down into his bed.
The door opened and Misty walked in, obviously
overhearing the argument.
“You sure you don’t need to be brushed, Ash?” Misty
asked teasingly.
But before Ash could reply, she continued.
“Actually, it’s already late. Mr. Mime should have
woken you two much earlier.”
Ash sighed and gave up the argument with Mr. Mime.
Even Brock finally opened his eyes and sat up.
“Hurry up, your mom and I already got the table set
for breakfast.” Misty said. “Although it’s almost time for lunch now.”
With those words, she left the boys and went outside
to check the mailbox. As Misty and Brock had already been staying at the
Ketchum’s house for some months now, their mail was delivered there directly,
instead of first to the gym they called their home, and then forwarded to their
new address.
On her way to the mailbox, she was interrupted by Mrs.
Ketchum.
“Misty-dear!” she yelled and waved at the read haired
girl. “How are Ash and Brock? Have they gotten up yet? You know, Misty-dear, I
have an excursion planned for this afternoon!”
Misty smiled back at Mrs. Ketchum.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Ketchum. Ash was woken by Mr. Mime,
just like always. And Brock couldn’t sleep over that argument. I bet they’ll be
ready in some minutes.”
“Oh, thank you very much, Misty dear!” replied Mrs.
Ketchum with a broad, relieved smile on her face.
Misty nodded and continued on her way, smiling to
herself.
Finally, she reached the mailbox and opened it. Inside,
she found what seemed to be a mountain of letters, postcards and small parcels.
She took them all into one arm, closed the mailbox and
went back inside. There, once arrived in the kitchen, she went through the mail
and sorted it by receiver.
Mrs. Ketchum got lots of vacation postcards and some
thin letters Misty assumed to be bills. All this was followed by a postcard for
Ash and a letter for Brock, seemingly from either Prof. Ivy, whom he had left
some months ago, or from his father and his whole bunch of sisters and
brothers.
And one single letter for her.
Misty frowned. Hopefully not one from my sisters, she
thought. I really don’t need one of their bad jokes or teasing comments right
now.
She turned it around several times before she
recognized the stamp on it. Curiously, she opened the envelope, unfolded the
letter in it and read the written lines.
It was not from her sisters, neither from anybody else
she knew.
It was something more important.
Something she had always wished for before she stated
wandering around with Ash and Pikachu.
But she actually hadn’t expected it.
Not now.
Not at this very moment, when she was happy with
everything just the way it was.
She folded the letter and put it back into the white
envelope.
Leaning her back against the wall, she hung her head
low and closed her eyes.
Why now? She thought. If she had received this news
two years earlier, she would’ve gladly taken the offer without any second
thought. But now, everything had changed.
“Hey Misty, what’s up? Got any bad news? Any letter
from your sis?” Ash asked, walking in, now fully dressed and with Pikachu
sitting on his hat. As he saw the concerned look on Misty’s face, his face
showed deep care.
“You alright, Misty?” he asked again.
Misty woke from her daydream and simply nodded, hiding
the letter in the back pocket of her jeans.
“Ok then.” Ash shrugged and sat down at the table,
taking a donut and a cup of milk.
Misty tried to look like she always did, but she
didn’t succeed. One still could see the worried look in her eyes.
Soon they were joined by Brock and Mrs. Ketchum. While
everybody was eating, they checked their mail. After Mrs. Ketchum hat read her
postcards with a smile growing at each line read, after having opened all her
bills with sighs at each one, she turned over to Misty to see that she was just
sipping her coffee, seemingly absent-minded.
“Didn’t you get anything, Misty dear?” she asked, the
almost always-present smile on her face fainting a bit.
Misty looked up, forcing a smile.
“No, Mrs. Ketchum. This is all the mail. There wasn’t
anything for me.” She replied.
At least nothing I wanted to get.
***
The whole afternoon, meaning the excursion to the
beach Mrs. Ketchum had planned, went pretty well. Once they had arrived at the
beach, Misty had been able to forget about the letter she received and just
enjoyed the wonderful weather and had fun with Ash, Brock and the Pokémon.
But in the evening, when they had had dinner and
everybody was getting ready for bed, Misty sat down in her room alone and once
again took the letter out of her pocket. Slowly, half hoping that the content
had changed, she read it over and over again, just wanting to be sure she had
gotten everything right and didn’t misunderstand anything.
She didn’t. No matter how often she read those words,
they just didn’t change. They still made a great offer that threatened to
change everything she was now so proud of.
“Hey Misty”, Brock said, opening the door to see the
girl sitting on her bed, hugging her small egg Pokémon tightly.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
Misty nodded, putting away the letter and turned
towards Brock.
“Sure”, she answered, hardly pulling up the strength
to force a smile and raise her voice without sounding quivery.
Brock now fully opened the door and joined Misty.
“Misty, what’s up? And now don’t tell me it’s nothing.
You’ve been behaving totally strange the whole day since breakfast.”
Misty looked down for an instance, wondering if she
should tell him about the offer she got.
I just should do, she thought. So I have somebody to
give my advice. And I surely can’t go to Ash.
She unfolded the letter and handed it over to Brock.
“I got it this morning. It is a letter from the
At first, Brock simply stared at Misty, frowning,
unbelieving, then started to read the letter.
Dear Ms Yawa (a/n: that’s Misty’s last name in Japanese),
As you certainly remember, you applied for a place at
our university approximately two years ago. But due to your young age and the
high amount of applies we received over the past years, we have not been able
to accept you into our facility yet. As you have now reached the appropriate
age and have earned an impressive reputation as a Pokémon Trainer, we are now
very glad to be able to offer you a place for your studies. Hopefully, you will
take this great chance, which opens new paths for your future life and career
in Pokémon business. We all wish you the best and know that you have the best
requirements needed not only to become a Pokémon Trainer of the first grade,
but whatever you wish to accomplish.
If you should accept our offer, we would be glad to
welcome you at
Yours sincerely,
Prof.
Sycamore
Brock slowly put the letter down and looked at Misty.
“I see”, he said. “This has been your dream for a very
long time, hasn’t it?”
Misty nodded, sadness showing on her face.
“It has. And I really would love to go to that
University, you know, but…”
Brock obviously knew exactly what she wanted but
couldn’t say.
“It’s just that…”, Misty continued. “I’ve gotten so
used to travel around with you two and our Pokémon. I just don’t know if I
could make it on that University for five years without seeing you everyday or
getting lost in the woods just cuz Ash reads the map upside down again…”
At those words she smiled, remembering all the times
they had been on track for a certain destination, but had totally lost their
way and finally ended up somewhere in the exact opposite direction.
But somehow, it had always been lots of fun. And she
would never wanted to miss anything of that, though she surely had complained
about it more than necessary when they had been lost, just to start up another
fight with Ash.
“Well, Misty”, Brock replied, waking her from her
daydream, “It’s your choice. Nobody of us could make this decision for you. As
you know, I’d love to go on traveling around with you like we use to, and I bet
Ash thinks the same. But I also think that this is a great chance for you I for
myself would not deny. And I would never be angry if you did. So, whatever
choice you will make, you can be sure of my support.”
Misty smiled thankfully, but hesitated. Actually, she
had made this decision years ago, even before she had written that appliance.
All she had to do was plug up the courage to tell everybody. But even if she
didn’t want to admit it, she was afraid. She was afraid of everybody’s
reaction. Especially of Ash’s.
When it came to things like this, he could be really
stubborn and selfish.
But though she liked Ash, and she knew this was even
more than simple liking, a lot more, she couldn’t always base her life on him,
could she?
No.
She definitely couldn’t.
She had to live her own life.
And this was the first step to start.
Misty looked up at Brock, but now a lot more self
confident than before.
She was going to go to that university.
And she had four days left to get used to it.
***
The night was over very soon, or at least it seemed so
to Misty. She had decided to tell everybody at breakfast. Though she somehow
still feared the reactions, she was sure about it, wasn’t she?
From the kitchen, she could hear Mrs. Ketchum
preparing breakfast, and, as it seemed, Ash and Brock were already up.
Misty sighed and sat up in bed, waking Togepi at the
same time.
“Toge Priiii?” the small, sleepy Pokémon asked, gazing
up at her mommy.
Misty smiled and petted Togepi`s head.
“It’s time to get up, sweetie. Today I’m gonna tell
everybody.”
“Togepi?”
She smiled again, then got up and dressed in her casual
clothes. She left her room and entered the kitchen where she met the others. It
seemed that Ash and Brock hadn’t had problems getting up that day. Maybe Mr.
Mime has just started cleaning their room a bit earlier today, Misty thought
smiling.
“Pika Pi!” Pikachu shouted, greeting the red-haired
girl.
“Good morning, Misty”, Mrs. Ketchum said. “Did you
have a good night?”
“Oh, sure, Mrs. Ketchum. Thank you.” Misty replied and
took her seat at the table.
Ash greeted her between his constant yawning-inhaling
pancakes circulation.
Brock looked over at Misty a few times, obviously
waiting for her to tell everybody about her decision.
Although his eyes were still half closed cuz of
yawning, Ash noticed Brock’s quick glances.
“What’s up, Brock? ‘S anything wrong?”
Brock shook his head and returned his attention to his
breakfast. At the end of the meal, Mrs. Ketchum just wanted to stand up to
start cleaning the dishes.
“Umm, Mrs. Ketchum, could you please stay for another
few minutes? There’s something I would like to tell everybody.”
“Uh, sure, Misty dear.” Mrs. Ketchum replied and sat
down again. Ash looked at Misty curiously, wondering what she would tell
everybody she hadn’t told him yet. He even stopped eating – and yawning – for
some minutes.
“Well… yesterday I got a letter”, Misty began. “About
two years ago, I applied for being accepted into
Mrs. Ketchum’s face showed pride and joy, and even
some tears could be seen sparkling in her eyes.
“Oh Misty dear! This is wonderful! It’s such a great
chance for you, such honor! I hope you accept the offer?!”
Misty nodded, more confident now.
Ash’s face froze. Misty was gonna leave them? Why?
And, even more important, when?
“So when will you depart?” Ash asked, his mouth dry.
Misty looked over at him, and as soon as she saw the
look on his face, she felt bad, really bad.
“Umm… they’re expecting me at
Mrs. Ketchum started to cry more now.
“Oh Misty dear, do you really have to leave that soon?
We will miss you so much! You have to phone me every day!”
All those tears also affected Misty and the two women
hugged while Ash was still in a daze.
Pikachu and Togepi were looking at each other,
obviously not wholly understanding what was going on.
Inside Ash’s head, wheels began turning and thoughts
ran through his mind.