Chapter 9 Today was the day of the play, everyone had gone from excited to nervous in a span of 24 hours. It was 6 am and Pikachu wasn’t happy, he had gotten hardly any sleep the night before, not because he was nervous, but because his master was. Ash spent half the night tossing and turning and the other half pacing back and forth while talking to himself. Pikachu would have thundershocked him if he didn’t feel so sorry for his master. Ash was nervous, about the play, the kiss, the bike, and most of all, about Misty who was involved with all three. “This is it Pikachu, the last day we see Misty” “Pikaa,” even though Pikachu was mad at Misty for hurting Ash, he still thought of her as a friend and didn’t want to leave her. “I know Pikachu, but this is the best solution for everybody. This is what she wanted all along so we should stop pretending and just give her a bike, that way we can all get on with our lives and be happy” “Pi” “Okay, so she can be happy” “But there is still something that I don’t get Pikachu, if Misty was so unhappy why didn’t she just tell me what she was feeling like she normally did and force me to buy her a bike so she can leave” “Pika pika” “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out all night and it just doesn’t make sense. Maybe she really didn’t mean those things she said, but why would she..., and to herself..., and, oh forget it. She wouldn’t have said those things if she didn’t mean them, I just got to stop fooling myself and accept the truth. She never saw me as a friend, she just saw me as a idiot who stole her bike, destroyed it, and had to pay her back. A fool in debt was all I was to her,” Ash refused to cry again since he had done enough of that for the past three days. ‘I can’t wait till this is all over’ “Pi” “Well we better be going Pikachu, the play starts at nine and we have to help the Cerulean sisters set up. By the way, how do I look?” The Cerulean sisters insisted that they all be dressed in their costumes from the morning so as to not rush later on. Ash was dressed in his regular dark clothes but with the long black cape draped over his shoulders. Even though it was just one article of clothing Pikachu had to admit it changed Ash’s usual look dramatically and he even thought it made him look kind of sinister. Pikachu liked that, and it made him wish he was in the play so he could be the evil villain’s evil Pokemon, under the condition that he got to wear a black cape too of course. “Pikachu” Pikachu gave a thumbs up to show he liked it. With that said Pikachu jumped on Ash’s shoulder as they exited the room. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Like, Lilly bring that table over hear, Violet hang that picture on this side of the set, Gary I said to hang that light on this side of the room, it that so hard?” Daisy said exhaustedly. “Um, dear sister, what exactly are you going to be doing to set up?” Violet was getting annoyed and so was Gary and Lilly, they had been doing all the setting up while Daisy had just been yelling out orders to them. “Why I’m doing what I always do of course, directing, people just don’t realize what hard work it is. Watch, right now I am going to direct you to bring that chair here so I can sit down because I’m exhausted” Violet did as she was told but it looked more like she was about throw the chair at Daisy instead of give it to her. Gary didn’t mind the work so long as it kept him away from Lilly. Lilly kept complimenting Gary on how good he looked in the white shirt she chose for him while she constantly touched the material. Of course Gary believed she was touching him more than the shirt. However, that wasn’t the part that scared him, it was when Lilly started to compliment him on his pants, and Gary didn’t want to stick around long enough for her to start feeling that material and God knows what else. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Ash I love you” “Ash you are the most important thing in the world to me and I love you” “Ash I love you and I can’t live without you” “Ash I love you and you better love me too, or else” “Ash I love you and I don’t care if you hate me, can’t stand the site of me, and don’t want anything to do..., Oh My God” Misty had been practicing all morning on how she was going to tell Ash the truth. Of course the more she said it the more pathetic she started to sound. “Okay, Ash I love you and I want you to love me too, pretty please” Misty’s face turned to an expression of misery as her head met the wall, THUD, and again, THUD, one more time, THUD. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ash entered the play area as a loud banging sound made itself heard. “What is that?” Ash asked as the sound echoed through the hall. “Got me. It started just now,” Gary answered. “Well it’s coming from the hallway so it must be Misty doing something,” Daisy said trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. “It sounds like she’s hammering something into the wall” Violet said. (Yeah, something like her head) The banging abruptly stopped as Ash and Pikachu walked over to Daisy. “Need any help” “Well since you asked..,” but Daisy didn’t get a chance to finish her request when Misty walked into the room. Misty was also in full costume. Misty had gotten Lilly to fix her dress so that it wasn’t so tight and now was a perfect fit. Everyone starred at her in awe as she now also had her hair fixed so that half of it was up and the other half was down and flowed loosely behind her back. She also had makeup on, something she didn’t usually where but when she did it made her seem even more beautiful, if that was possible. Unfortunately, even though Misty had stopped the banging before she got a bump, she still ended up with an extremely red mark on her forehead. Misty walked over to Daisy who felt the need to compliment her sister who seemed very distraught. “Like Misty, you look beautiful, except, you seem to have gotten a little blush..” Daisy said while trying to wipe off the red on Misty’s forehead but stopped when Misty shook her head as if to tell her that it is not going to come off. Daisy looked at Misty confused but decided that it was best if she didn’t ask. “Okay everybody, I think we’re done” Lilly said as she looked at the sets. There were three different sets. A forest, which is where Ash and Gary have their scene and open the play. A bedroom, where Ash kidnaps Misty, and a castle where most of the play will take place. The Cerulean Sisters arranged it this way so they wouldn’t have to do much work during the play and everything would be easier for everybody. “Wow, everything looks great guys,” Misty said as she rubbed her head which was still in pain. At that moment the phone began to ring. “I’ll get it,” Violet ran to the other room. “So, I hope everybody knows their lines because if you mess up you will be held personally responsible for ruining the reputation of the gym and us and will cause us to become the biggest laughing stocks in the entire Indigo region” Lilly said as she looked at the horrified faces of the three stars. “I’m kidding, you know, ha ha..., oh forget it, just do your best” Violet walked back in. “Who was on the phone?” Lilly asked. “Oh, it was just a wrong number” “Okay, well everybody the show starts in an hour and a half so lets see if we can get one last rehearsal in before we start. Gary I think we should rehearse the scene where your supposed to meet Ash in the forest. You know, that part in the beginning where your talking to yourself about how much you hate Jake but keep saying Ash” Daisy stated as Ash glared at Gary. “Heh, heh, I know the lines, I was just kidding around” “Yeah but now you are going to pay for that kidding around by rehearsing the scene correctly” Gary really wished he had done the scene correctly the first time but he couldn’t resist calling Ash an contemptuous asinine nincompoop. ‘All in one sentence too’ The reason Gary didn’t want to rehearse was that he wanted to talk to Misty before the play because it looked like she going to chicken out. “Okay, but could you wait one second, I need to talk to Misty” Ash looked at Gary and Misty, gave a irritated grunt and turned around ‘looks like those two are getting along, maybe after she gets her bike she can travel with him’ “Pikapi?” Pikachu asked Ash in worry as he saw the reaction of his trainer, but the only response he got was a tender pet behind the ears which was enough for him. “Fine, but hurry up, the play goes on in 1 hour 25 minutes” “Are you going to announce the time every five minutes” Lilly asked fed up. “Oh, heh heh, sorry,” Daisy said shyly. “What’s wrong?” Misty asked Gary as he pushed her over to a corner of the room so they could speak in private. “Nothing, I was just wondering if you were okay?” “Most of me,” Misty answered referring to her throbbing head. “Huh” “Never mind” “So, you are going to go through with it aren’t you?” “.......” Misty looked at the floor ashamed at what she was going to tell him. “Aren’t you? Misty? I can’t believe this” Gary was now getting aggravated ‘And after that talk last night, I can’t believe her’ “Gary I...” “Gary get over here right now, we only have an hour and...,” Daisy was about to state the time again but then saw Lilly look at her and decided not to. “Well you know how much time we have, it’s five minutes less then the last time I said it, so come on” Gary didn’t have the time or the energy to argue with Misty anymore ‘if she wants to lose Ash it’s her problem, I give up’ Gary gave one last look at Misty as he shook his head in disappointment and walked away. She felt horrible for disappointing Gary and herself. But she just couldn’t do it. “I’m sorry,” Misty whispered as Gary walked away. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was 8:00 and there were crowds of people waiting to get into the gym. “Wow, I can’t believe it, there must be over 500 people here” Lilly said excitedly. “Actually I believe we sold a little over 700 tickets” Daisy stated proudly. “Do we have enough seats for that many people?” “We should but I asked Gary to bring the fold-out chairs that we have in the basement just in case” “Oh that reminds me, save three seats for Ash’s mom, Professor Oak, and Brock” Violet said. “What? They’re coming to see the show?” Daisy questioned. “Yup, Mrs. Ketchum called and told me she saw the advertisement in the newspaper and decided to come see it. She also said that Brock was visiting and he was going to come too along with Professor Oak” “Is that who called before?” “Uh huh” “Why didn’t you tell us?” “Because Mrs. Ketchum said she wanted it to be a secret, she wanted to surprise Ash and Misty” “Okay, well, I definitely think they will be surprised” Daisy confirmed. “Surprised? Hell they’ll be flabbergasted” Lilly said picturing Ash and Misty kissing and then all of a sudden he sees his mom waving at him. Lilly giggled to herself at the thought. “This should be interesting”