Chapter 5
			Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

“It’s me,.... Ash.”
Misty’s eyes began to water at the realization that her fears have just been confirmed.
“I knew it, I mean I didn’t know that it was you, but I knew that you were here. I knew 
you didn’t want to see me.”
Misty stared at the floor, tears running down her face.
“No Misty, of course I wanted to see you, why would you think that?” Ash said trying to 
comfort the emotional girl before him.
“Oh I don’t know? Maybe because the last time we saw each other we weren’t exactly on 
the best of terms”
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*Flashback- 4 years ago*

Ash just won his 4th badge that was needed for competing in the Indigo Championship 
League.
“Here you go Ash, you’ve earned it, you are an incredible Pokemon trainer,” a pretty, 
brown eyed, blond haired girl, about Ash’s age,  stated as she gave the silver colored 
badge to Ash.
“Thanks Christie, you’re a pretty incredible Pokemon trainer yourself. Plus, I don’t think 
I would have won the match if I didn’t have Pikachu and my other great Pokemon 
fighting for me. It was really their victory, I didn’t really do all that much,” Ash said as 
he blushed, scratching the back of his head nervously.
“Pika, pika” Pikachu agreed.
“Thanks a lot Pikachu!” Ash pretended to be insulted. 
“Hee, hee, you two are so cute.” Christie picked Pikachu up and began to pet him as she 
stared flirtatiously at Ash.
“Chu, chu” Pikachu cooed, enjoying the treatment it was receiving.
Ash stared back, grinning like an idiot at the compliment. He was obviously very 
attracted to her.
Misty sat all the way at the other end of the gym watching the scene. She was blushing 
too, but not out of embarrassment, but out of anger.
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Ash had been invited to dinner at Christie’s house but he declined. Even though he was 
very anxious to accept the “date”, the look on Misty’s face told him that it was a good 
idea if he said no.
Ash and Misty were now on their way to the next city. They both hadn’t really spoken 
since they left the gym. The silence was killing Ash. Even Pikachu began to feel a little 
uncomfortable.
“Hey Misty, I don’t think we are going to make it to the next city today. We are going to 
have to camp out tonight,” Ash said, trying to start up a conversation.
“Well, we could have made it to the next city today if you hadn’t spent an hour talking to 
Crispy back at the gym.” Misty sounded extremely agitated.
“It’s Christie.”
“Whatever,” Misty said in an uncaring tone of voice. 
“What’s with you today? Oh, is it that time of the month again?”
Misty’s face turned bright red as she reached for her mallet.
*BAM*
Ash was lying on the floor with a big bump on his head.
“Is that a yes or a no?” Ash croaked out.
Misty’s eye twitched in anger as she left the crumpled heap that was Ash, and went to sit 
on a log. 
Ash got up and readjusted himself.
“Look Misty I’m sorry if I offended you but you got to admit you’ve been acting like this 
a lot lately.”
“So have you,” Misty mumbled.
“Huh?”
“Nothing, look let’s just go.” Misty got up to continue walking. She got a few feet ahead 
when Ash grabbed her wrist and stopped her from going any further.
“No Misty! We are not going anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong.”
Misty turned around to face Ash. They were now the same height, so she didn’t have to 
look down anymore.
“You want to know what’s wrong?”
“Yes,” Ash answered staring into Misty’s eyes which were overfilling with tears.
“You are what’s wrong. Everywhere we go you keep battling all these girls, and then you 
beat them, and they tell you how great you are, and how cute you are, and...and...”
Ash gave Misty his infamous confused look.
Misty sighed.
“My point is that, you keep getting all these badges from girls and you accept them. I 
don’t get any badges from anybody, and when I do I turn them down because I don’t 
want a badge from them...I-I want one from...you.”(substitute the word badge with 
attention)
“Okay let me try and make sense out of what you just said. You said that I get all these 
badges from girls. First of all, I only fought 4 gym leaders so far for this league, and only 
two of them were girls. Second of all, of course I’m going to accept the badges, I earned 
them. How else am I going to enter the Indigo Championship League. You need badges 
to enter, you know that. Third of all, I have never seen you battle for a badge so I have no 
idea what you are talking about there. And lastly, how do you expect to get a badge from 
me? I’m not a gym leader...... Now that I have gone through what you just said I have 
come to a very important conclusion...........YOU’RE CRAZY!”
‘Did I really expect him to get it? Hell, I don’t think I even get it.’
“I want to become a Water Pokemon Master.” Misty stated bluntly.
“I know that.” Ash was getting annoyed.
“Look, I can’t stand watching you get “badges” any more. I want to get my own badges.”
Ash became extremely excited as he spoke. “Is that what’s been bothering you? Why 
didn’t you say so? This will be great! We could both get are badges together. We could 
compete and see who will become a Pokemon Master first. We could coach each other, 
cheer each other on...”
“No!....no Ash. I-I want to do it by myself, alone.”
“You’re leaving?... You’re leaving us?”
“Pika?”
“You’re leaving...me?”
“You don’t need me anymore Ash. When we reach the next city.....I think we should part 
ways.”
“But why, I don’t understand, I thought we were best friends.”
“We are, best.....friends.”
“Then?”
“Look, I just want to be on my own for a while that’s all.”
“But Misty..”
“I don’t want to be around you anymore okay?!”
Ash was in shock and at a loss for words. It was like Misty just took a sword and stabbed 
him in the heart.
‘What did I do to make her hate me so much?’
As soon as the words left Misty’s mouth she immediately regretted them.
Ash stood their for a second staring at the ground.
“Ash...I”
“Let’s get going, the sooner we get to the next city, the sooner you can get away from 
me.” Ash sounded extremely hurt.
“Ash..”
“Let’s go Pikachu”
Ash walked on ahead as Pikachu stood staring from Ash to Misty.
“Pika” Pikachu stated sadly.
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Ash and Misty decided to walk without stopping until they got to the next city. Well 
actually, Ash decided and Misty stayed quiet. They were both dead tired when they 
finally reached the city at 2:00 am. Ash paid for separate rooms at a hotel since the 
Pokemon center was closed at that hour. During the trip there neither of them said a word 
to each other, and for good reason. There were hurt feelings among both of them.
By the time Misty got up the next morning Ash was gone. All he left was a note at the 
front desk that read as follows:
Dear Misty,
I’m sorry if you feel like I held you back in achieving your dream. But honestly, if I had 
known you wanted to get badges and compete in the league I would have gladly helped 
you. Like I said before, I thought of you as my best friend. I thought you thought of me as 
your best friend too, but now I’m not too sure. I know that you will become a great Water 
Pokemon Master sometime soon, just not before I become a  Pokemon Master. Just 
kidding. I know this really isn’t the time to joke around but you know me, when I’m 
feeling extremely upset I always try to hide my feelings with a stupid joke. Well now that 
the Persian’s out of the bag I might as well tell you that when you said you didn’t want to 
be around me anymore it really hurt. It still hurts actually. But I know you probably 
didn’t mean it, I hope you didn’t mean it. Well, now I’m rambling on so I better just stop 
writing. One last thing, Pikachu’s really going to miss you, and so am I. Good luck with 
your dream..

								Your Best Friend,
								Always and Forever,
								Ash Ketchum

P. S. I promise I will pay you back for your bike someday.

Misty began to cry as the tears dropped onto the letter in her hands and blotched the ink. 

*End Flashback*

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“You think I would still be upset about that? Misty, that was 4 years ago. All is forgiven.”
“Really?” Misty asked hopefully.
Ash nodded his head and smiled sweetly.
“Well if that’s true then why didn’t you come and see me?”
“I-I...uh, um, well I just couldn’t.”
“What do you mean you couldn’t?”
“I just couldn’t.”
“You’re not making any sense, Ash.”
“Why don’t you just drop it okay?!”
“No I won’t drop it. First you tell me that you are not mad anymore and now you won’t 
tell me why you didn’t want to see me!”
“Misty!”
“Just tell me the reason!”
“Fine! It’s because it would hurt too much!”
Misty was taken aback.
“Look Misty, I’ll be truthful with you. In a couple of weeks I have to leave on a errand 
for Prof. Oak. Actually it’s more like a quest. I didn’t want to see you because I knew 
that I wouldn’t be able to stay with you......The last time I left you it was like a piece of 
my heart got left behind. I couldn’t go through that again. I didn’t want to have to leave 
you again.” Tears flowed down Ash’s face as he looked at Misty, afraid of what she 
would say.
“Oh.... Ash.” Misty was crying too, but not out of sadness but out of joy.
‘He feels the same way I do.’
“I won’t do it again Misty, a can’t...”
At that moment Misty brought her lips to his. The kiss was intense and passionate. It 
seemed as though they were two lovers who had just been reunited after many years of 
separation.(wait a minute!) Ash savored the taste of Misty’s lips on his. Ash’s heart was 
screaming with joy but his head was telling him that he was making a big mistake. 
They finally separated from the kiss, both craving oxygen.
Misty put her hand on his cheek, stroking it gently while searching for his eyes with her 
own. Their eyes met. “Ash, I love you so much. I don’t care where you have to go. I will 
go with you, no matter where it is.”
Ash stared at her intently. The love he felt for Misty was written all over his face. He 
kissed her fingers as they danced along his skin. 
“I love you too Misty,” Ash sincerely told her as they kissed once again.
‘You can’t do this to her, you can’t do this to yourself. This can only end in heartache.’ 
His conscience screamed at him, but the love and desire he had for Misty was too 
overpowering as he deepened the kiss.