The next
day, Ash was the first one who woke. He looked down on his chest to see Pikachu
snoring soundly. Misty and Brock were still asleep. So Ash quietly got up,
trying not to wake anybody else. He changed into his regular jeans and black
t-shirt, and went outside, alone.
The sun had
just risen to banish the moon from his nightly reign and began to fill the sky
with the most incredible shades of red Ash had ever seen.
But still,
even this mighty view could not satisfy him. Ash felt uneasy, and, strongest of
all, guilty.
He cursed
himself for the things he had done to Misty the day before.
How come he
could be so dense sometimes?
He had to
smile at this thought. Usually, it was Misty who called him dense, and this was
always followed by a long and senseless argument. And mostly none of them
really won, because they were always interrupted by Brock, who must be sick of
all the arguing by now.
But still
he seemed to tolerate it as Ash and Misty tolerated his drooling over beautiful
girls – or actually all girls.
Ash sighed
and sat down in the slightly wet grass.
Sure, it is easy to say “I’m sorry”, but what if she doesn’t accept that? Yes, I could tell her about my feelings, but I’m not quite sure if that would really improve the situation. Maybe it would just make everything worse. Maybe she would reject me…
With
another deep sigh, Ash sat down on the grass and stared at the sky.
Wonderful,
warm rays of orange light invaded the sky and drove away the clouds that had
predominated before.
That simple
natural beauty seemed to literally stab his heart.
He had to
think of the way the ancient Egyptians had explained the sunrise: Apophis, a
god, serpent-shaped demon, who reigned the sky at night, was attacked by Ra,
the sun god, and the demons blood spread over the sky to color it in all shades
of red.
Simple,
maybe even naïve, but fascinating, he thought.
But none of
those thoughts could really drive Misty out of his mind. She was still there.
Always in the center of his attention.
He couldn’t
even imagine it another way. It had always been like that since she had fished
him out of the water on the first day of his Pokémon journey and had shown such
deep care for Pikachu – though he at first thought she was asking if “he” was
ok.
As time had
passed, she had become a truly good friend, and most loyal. Although they were
almost always arguing, none of these fights had been real, not from his point
of view. He had just been arguing about senseless stuff, things he didn’t
really care about. Just to prevent she noticed his interest towards her.
But
nevertheless, he regarded her as his best friend – beside Pikachu, for sure –
and wouldn’t want to miss their friendship for anything in the world.
He had to
say sorry, as soon as he could talk to her in private. He had to explain his
reaction to her, though he couldn’t really explain it to himself either.
I just can’t risk our friendship. No matter how humiliating it might turn out to say sorry, I simply have to. Even though she won’t be around me anymore, I wanna stay her friend. And then, for sure, we will meet again.
Someday…
***
Misty woke
up from an uneasy sleep. Nightmares had troubled her that night, nightmares for
being left alone, of being hated and abandoned.
She wiped
the sweat from her forehead and slowly sat up in bed.
After a
short glance at her clock, which showed
With a sigh
she got up and noticed that Ash was not in his bed anymore.
Misty
frowned. It surely wasn’t normal for Ash to stand up that early. He could sleep
through the eruption of a volcano and would be very pleased about the extra
warmth he’d get w/ the lava.
Millions of
thoughts rushed through Misty’s mind, and she finally decided to go look for
him, no matter if he was still mad at her or not.
***
Brock
stirred. Some rustling noise from the bed below his had woken him.
He
carefully opened one eye (a/n: I know he never does,
but it just serves as a dramatic device) and peered around the room, his view still
blurry.
Ash? He thought. Wow, he gets up early
today.
Still half
sleeping, he shrugged and lay back down on his bed. Well, let him do what he
wants.
Brock
obviously was still out of it, his brain hadn’t started working yet.
A few
minutes after Ash had got up and left the room, the older boy heard another
sound. He sighed in his mind and – as if still asleep – turned around to see
Misty putting Togepi down on her bed and getting out of it herself.
A
frightened look appeared on his face.
Then, he
finally remember the events of the past days and with a click in his brain I’m
sure you could have heard, a broad grin came to his face.
Taking a
last look at Misty, he lay back down and grinned at the ceiling.
So, he thought. Seems like somebody
has a bad conscience, huh? Not that I hadn’t known before, but would any of you
two listen to me? Ever?
Well, I
bet they’re gonna work it out now. They just can’t be mad at each other.
Sure,
they can fight and argue a lot, but, come on, who ever believes what they say?
They
have strong feelings for each other, since the day they first met, they just
don’t admit it, or maybe they don’t know themselves.
But it’s
just sooooo obvious…
What was
this old saying about fighting a lot and love each other again? He thought and, grinning like he had
mastered to over the past few years, he fell back into a deep sleep, full of
Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys – and any other beautiful girls you could imagine
(a/n: sorry, just too tempting:>)
***
Ash still
sat in the grass staring at the cloudy morning sky, his mind somewhere else.
The cool midsummer’s breeze ran through his hair, driving strands of black into
his eyes.
Unaware of
his motions, Ash pushed the strand out of his face and resumed his otherwise
motionless and expressionless position.
But then, his
eyebrow shot up.
Footsteps, he thought. But who will be up
this early?
He stopped
himself from turning around and looking the person into the face, and just
waited.
A few
seconds later, a slender figure gently sat beside him on the ground, hugging
it’s knees, staring at the sky as was Ash.
Misty, he thought, and his heart missed a
beat.
There was a
long silence between the two teenagers, so silent that Ash was afraid Misty
would notice him breathing heavily.
As he was
just about to open his mouth and finally talk to Misty, she turned around to
face him, not wanting to bear that heavy weight on her shoulders anymore.
“Ash, I’m
sorry!” she spat out so fast that he wasn’t really sure afterwards she had
really said it.
Ash just
looked at her in confusion, thoughts build and fell in his mind like pictures
in a kaleidoscope.
But then,
it all stopped, as he saw something.
A tear.
Misty was
crying again, and once more it was his fault.
The red
haired girl misinterpreted Ash’s silence and slowly got up, turned around and
started to walk away from her confused friend.
Though Ash
was aware that it was his fault she just left crying, anger started to break
through again.
No, not
this time, he
thought. No more, I won’t hurt her ever again.
As if been
held back by an invisible force, Ash pulled himself to get up and followed
Misty.
She sped
up, running now.
Ash finally
caught up with her and stood in her way, not letting her go on.
Misty
turned away from Ash, trying to hide the tears that were streaming down her face
like rivers freed by sunshine after a long, cold winter.
Ash
realized he held his arms out at his sides and let them sink down, hanging his
head low.
“Misty…I…”,
he started, not knowing how to voice his thoughts without making her want to
flee again.
She turned
around to him, looking into his deep brown eyes.
Ash forced
a comforting and apologizing smile.
“You’re not
the one who has to be sorry, Misty. I know it is unusual for me to say sorry,
cuz I normally don’t admit I ever make mistakes at all, but this time I made a
really big mistake…”
Now it was
Misty’s turn to be confused. She looked at Ash like she was about to test if
that was really him or some alien that had taken his form.
Ash had to
smile at that look, it was one he didn’t see very often, but loved about her.
“No, your
ears don’t fail, and yes, it’s still me, Ash, in here. And I really meant what
I said. I made the biggest and densest (he smiled at that one, as did Misty)
mistake ever. I shouldn’t have been that stupid. It is your choice whether you
stay with us or not. And, to be honest, you got a great, and maybe even unique
offer I myself would have taken without any second thoughts. I was just
freaking out because I was afraid that I… umm… that I would… lose you…”
With each
of Ash’s words, Misty’s face lit up, and the tears in her eyes could easily be
recognized as tears of joy now.
A heavy
weight was lifted from Ash’s heart as he saw that Misty was happy. He had been
so afraid to tell her, but now, it all seemed so easy, like things had done
themselves.
The two
teenagers stared at each other for an instance, the warm summer breeze blowing
past them.
“Ash, I…”,
she started, but never finished, as Ash lay his index finger onto her lips and
took the slender girl in his arms.
Misty was
stunned. Though she hadn’t expected Ash to do a thing like that, it felt
incredibly comfortable, and familiar.
She rested
her head against his shoulder, as did Ash against her shoulder.
They felt
far too comfortable to break up their embrace and stood there for endless
minutes, giving the two kids feelings they had never felt before, so strong, so
warm, so pleasing, so… perfect.
“I knew
it!” a voice sounded from the direction of the Ketchum’s home.
“So you two
finally noticed, huh? Just go on, I’m gonna be quite and won’t disturb you.
Awwww… young love…”
Brock.
Ash and
Misty jumped away from each other like nothing had happened, blushing
furiously.
“YOUNG
LOVE???” they yelled at once, like two bodies, one voice.
Brock got
up and slowly retreated to the house.
“So you are
in denial again? Ok ok, I won’t disturb you.”
“BROOOCK!”
Ash screamed, now even redder than before. “You gonna pay for that comment!”
Before
Misty could even try to hold him back, Ash dashed towards his home, like a heat
seeking missile, aiming for Brock.
Misty
giggled softly.
Some
things never change,
she thought.
Though
he kinda surprised me today…
As she
thought of their loving embrace just a few minutes ago, she blushed again,
still smiling.
Misty
smiled and followed the two boys, one sentence ringing in her ears, causing her
to feel like walking on clouds.
I was
afraid I would lose you…
***
As Ash and
Misty were now back to their regular teasing, fighting, being shocked by
Pikachu-cycle, days went by pretty fast. And finally, that day had come, the
day the two teenagers feared most…
The day of
departure.
After about
eight hours of packing up Misty’s things, which Ash had had his own comments
to, Ash, Misty, Brock and Mrs. Ketchum were finally standing at Pallet’s port.
Misty’s
suitcases had already been brought on board of the ferry that would take her
past the
As Ash’s
mom hugged Misty, tears spread from the adults eyes once again, like so often
since Misty had told her about her plans.
Mrs.
Ketchum took out another handkerchief and wiped away her tears. A senseless
effort, for as she took a glance at Misty, rivers of tears started to flow down
her cheeks again, as persistent as a little baby’s cries.
“Remember
what you promised, Misty dear: you have to write at least once a week”, Ash’s
mom said, and added playfully, with a warm smile on her face, “or I will get
very angry with you.”
Misty
nodded approvingly, trying hard to contain the tears that swelled up in her
eyes as well.
Why did
farewells have to be so watery all the time??
Next to
Misty, Togepi was standing on the ground next to Pikachu, hugging her buddy as
if dear life depended on it. And, like so often, she cried.
It made
Misty chuckle to watch Pikachu’s hopeless effort to calm Togepi down and hide
his own tears as well.
Then the
girl turned over to Brock.
He seemed
to be in a good shape, rational and wise like always…, well, at least like when
no beautiful girls were around.
Misty
smiled at him and the wave of memories he brought with him and gave him a
little, friendly hug.
“Take care
of yourself, ok?” he said, caring, like the older brother she’d never had.
Again Misty
nodded.
“Sure I
will, Brock. I promise. Though I will miss your good food.” Misty said with a
smirk.
Brock
grinned.
“Yeah! I’m
the best cook and houseman of all!” he responded in his figurehead pose, one of
those pink aprons that had appeared out of nowhere covering this front.
For one
instance, Misty was sure she had seen a tear glistening in the tall boy’s eyes,
but when she blinked, it was over again.
Just a feeling, maybe.
Pikachu and
Togepi seemingly had finished their saying goodbye, as the small egg Pokémon
toddled over to Misty’s bag pack.
“Piiiiiiiikkkkaaaa!”
the small yellow Pokémon cried, jumping into her arms.
Misty smiled
and hugged the small electric Pokémon tightly.
“Sure I won’t
forget you, Pikapal.”
Pikachu rub
his cheeks in Misty’s chest and cried.
Misty tried to
soothe the Pokémon and gently placed a hand on his small head.
“I will miss
you, too, Pikachu. Just take good care of Ash while I’m away, ok?”
Pikachu look
up at the red haired girl, tears in his eyes, nodding furiously, but already
showing a small grin on his face.
With this, the
Pokémon jumped from her arms again and onto Ash’s shoulder.
Ash…
Now it was
his turn…
Misty
turned around to him in a swing and, as she took a quick glance at him,
reddened at least 4 shades and began to rub her knuckles nervously.
Ash seemed
at least as nervous as Misty, as he constantly stared at the ground before him,
which seemed to reflect a red light upon the dark haired boy’s face.
“Ash…”,
Misty started hesitantly, not knowing what to say in this very moment.
Ash look up
at her and though sadness was written all over his face, he forced a winning
smile to show her not to worry about him, at least not in the first place.
Misty was
grateful for this attempt, and thought of it to be cute, as she searched for
the words to say.
Why hold a speech of thousands of words if you can express all your feelings in just a short sentence?
She smiled
and looked up into his hazelnut colored eyes.
“I’ll miss
you, you know”, she said, blushing slightly.
Ash’s smile
grew wide.
“I’ll miss you,
too.”
He plugged
up the courage and leaned forward to give her a long hug.
It was
almost like the one they had shared just a few days before, but this time, it
was a lot more emotional.
Maybe it
was because both of them knew they probably wouldn’t see each other for a long
time, that it was farewell this time.
Misty
pressed her head onto his shoulder to hide the tears flowing from her eyes
again.
Finally,
they broke apart and look at each other for what seemed like a lifetime.
Sadness was
the predominating expression in both pairs of eyes.
Then, Misty
blinked to banish the salty tears from her eyes and went back a step, waving at
the others for goodbye.
“I’ll miss
you all! Please take care of yourselves until I’m back. And Brock”, she turned
over to the older boy “have an eye on Ash. Make sure he doesn’t do any dense
things!” she added with a wink.
Ash already
opened his mouth to reply with a smart comment, to start another of their
seemingly senseless fights, as he heard the ship’s horns blow to signal the
passengers to come onboard.
Misty waved
once more and then turned around to walk towards the ferry.
Yet after a
few steps, she suddenly stopped, turned around once more and slowly walked
towards Ash.
“Sorry”,
she told him. “I forgot to give you this.”
With these
words, she placed a gentle kiss on his left cheek, spun around and ran onto the
ferry leaving behind a startled Ash.
He put his
hand up to his cheek and touched the spot where she had kissed him, the spot
that felt so warm, like ants were running around under the skin.
The spot
Ash wouldn’t wash from now on.
Ok ok, he thought about it a second time,
maybe I will……
One day, he grinned.
The sound
of the ferry’s horn pulled him out of his daydreams just in time to notice
Brock grinning at him.
But today
Ash wouldn’t care about him.
His only
motion was to turn back to the ship and make out Misty standing on deck, still
waving the trio.
Things
will change from now on, he thought to himself.
Little
Pikachu on his shoulder nodded approvingly, as if able to read his best
friend’s thoughts.
“Pika pika
piiiiii!” He said with
a sigh, glancing sadly at the departing ship.
Yes, Ash thought as he petted his
Pokémon’s head,
I
already miss her, too.