Hello there everyone, allow me to introduce my first, full-scale fanfiction project. Pokemon is my oldest fandom, and I figured I'd say happy twentieth anniversary to everyone. As such, this will be super old-school. I know enough about the anime post-Johto, but it's true that I stopped watching after that, so this won't really have much material based on the later series. I'm open minded though, so there should be enough room to fit most arcs and events from the anime at large as you please, but at least for Misty this is considered somewhat AU.
As this is, again, super old-school, so will be the pairings. We're gonna have good ol' Pokeshipping, along with Breedershipping, Rocketshipping and Handymanshipping. There might be some minor ones we'll squeeze in.
There will be the following prologue, then a bunch of interspersed events to lead up to the main plotline some four years down the line.
~Iggy
Misty trembled under the light of the setting sun, the sun that now spread shadows across both the Johto Region and her days with Ash and Brock. As she slowly mounted her new bike along the mountainous path that would return her first to Celadon City followed by Cerulean City the breeze stung her eyes with tears.
Or maybe there was some other reason for them.
"Well Ash Ketchum, now I know how you really feel about me..."
Three years it had been since she'd pulled that pathetic kid out of the river and he'd stolen her bike to save his Pikachu.
How cruel it seemed now, for her to finally realize how much Ash valued her, that it wasn't just about some stupid bike, only to have it all come to an end.
Misty sped faster on her bike, absently noting how much easier it was to ride than she remembered.
She, Ash and Brock had all grown in many ways since then, although she wondered if Ash would ever yet be taller than her.
Then she wondered, how long before they met again? Ash had promised it would happen, and oh how she trusted him.
When they met again, who would be taller this time? He would have outgrown his old clothes, right? Maybe even that precious hat of his.
What would she look like? Would she be taller? New clothes and longer hair? Would she have the same prized looks her sisters had?
Oh, her sisters.
She hadn't been very old when her parents had both left the family. Her memories had faded with time. She hadn't understood why they'd left, and had asked her oldest sister Daisy about it. She remembered only seeing the blotchy, teary eyes on her twelve-year old face as Daisy replied to her innocent question.
"Misty… M-mom and Dad… well—they're going away. For… a long time..."
"Bu' why? Dey wun da gym, wight?"
"...Well… your sisters and I are gonna be the gym leaders from now on… okay?"
"Bu' you said you di'n wanna be da weader..."
"I did, huh… well Misty, sometimes things don't always go our way..."
Later in life Misty came to understand more about how her parents had left, and how her older sisters had begun to change following that day.
Lily seemed to have taken it the hardest. She was the closest to Misty in age, but still had a good six years on her. No small amount of torment from her would come. Lily had a tendency to always let Misty rile her up, with Violet joining in for good measure. And while Misty had gotten along best with Daisy, she could never prevent the other two from picking on her on top of being the gym's chief operator. Eventually, ribbing from all three older sisters would become the norm, and Misty grew up rough around the edges in order to get the things she wanted.
Yet, despite all that, Misty never stopped believing in what remained of her family. Even broken, siblings were always a child's best friends and worst enemies, and Misty loved her sisters through it all.
She'd honestly thought things had been getting better lately, but another upheaval in her life had her mind spinning to and fro.
A world cruise? What were the odds, seriously?
Misty was only too glad to be in charge of the gym. It was her right as a Cerulean Sister and as the most capable water Pokemon trainer.
She just wished it didn't mean having to leave Ash and be her sisters' tool yet again.
Her mind churned with upset thoughts until a large rock set in the path jarred her bike and herself into the present.
The sun had set by now. Brock was surely approaching Pewter City, while Ash was making his way towards home before leaving for Hoenn and away from her. The new light on Misty's bike led her along the path, easing out as she approached the limits of Celadon City for a restless night.
Misty groggily shifted as Nurse Joy gently nudged her awake next morning.
"I'm sorry to wake you so early, Misty, but you have a call from Cerulean City in the lobby..."
Misty waved her off in annoyance.
"'M comin'..."
Nurse Joy bustled off to attend to some incoming Pokemon while Misty made sure Togepi was sound asleep and slowly shunted towards the video phone.
"Hey~ Misty, up and at 'em sunshine!" Daisy's cheery and distinctly feminine voice made her cringe.
"Yeah, whatever, what d'ya want?"
"Were just letting you know that we're all packed up and ready to tour the world, so make sure you make it up here today, alright little sis?" Violet chimed in. Misty grunted, already in a bad mood from an early start after a tough day.
"What? You mean you're not gonna at least wait for me first? What about taking care of the gym?"
"Well, see we've got to like, get a full makeover treatment so that we're at our best to show ourselves off in the big life when we get on board, so we need to leave at least a day early~"
"But… the gym and… what if I-"
"Oh don't be such a downer Misty," Lily snarked, "you've got all your water Pokemon there, I'm pretty sure you have everything you need, right little miss 'great Pokemon trainer'?"
Misty grit her teeth. If Lily thought she could just-
"I mean, this is what you're good at, after all. Just leave the fame and looks to us and you can have the boring old gym! Pokemon battles get me all sweaty anyway-"
"Lily, come on, quit it..."
"What? Is that a problem?" Lily's condescending had been just barely normal, but now her pretty face morphed into a sneer Misty hadn't seen in a long time. Misty didn't register the receiver giving a creak from her furious grip. "We've got our own lives to live, you know, we can't be stuck in this lame gym-"
"Just… shut… UP!" Misty shouted. Other patrons in the lobby glanced over nervously. Lily stared blankly from the screen for a second before instantly shifting to match Misty's red-faced glare.
"What did you say to me you little-"
"You heard me you loser deadbeat! You think you can just run my life for me!? Gonna walk out and leave me with it just like Mom and Dad, huh!?"
"Oh, you wanna go there, runt!? You just stopped sucking your thumb when they ran off, and you know why they did? Because they couldn't stand to look after you on top of the gym!"
In the corner of the feed Violet's nervous grin slid off her face alltogether. Daisy cringed, but could not get a word in.
"You think I don't know that by now!? That I'm still too—too ignorant to figure it out!? Well you know what!? Forget the gym, how's that, huh!?" Misty's ears were ringing from the blood pumping through her face. Never had she been so livid. Not every stupid thing Ash did, not Brock's pathetic slobbering over women. A red haze dwelt across her mind, controlling her mind, her body. Words and resentment that she'd thought had been easing out of her mind lately streamed forth with a vengeance.
"Misty-" Daisy started.
"NO Daisy, I'm DONE! So you don't want to look after the gym!? Well then just get rid of it already if it's such a burden to you!"
Lily, every bit as incensed as her younger sister, began to open her mouth in retort, but was shoved out of the way by Daisy.
"Misty, please..."
"YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT ME TO GIVE UP FOR THAT!? I'M NOT GONNA DO IT, SO SCREW YOU!"
Click. Misty slammed the receiver down. Nurse Joy looked on in concern as Misty stormed back to her room, eyes facing down. She threw herself into the bed and pulled the pillow over her head as furious tears stained the sheets.
"Prri?" Togepi had woken up at it's mother's sounds of distress, and walked over inquisitively. It wormed itself under the pillow and nuzzled Misty's neck.
She held Togepi close and cried, too overwhelmed to return to the world outside.
"That selfish—little-" Lily shook her fist at the blank screen on the video phone, her face taking on the complexion of her hair. Violet edged away from Lily's flaying nervously and then interjected in a somewhat snippy voice.
"Well, I mean, if you hadn't goaded her so much-"
"Oh so you're saying it's my fault now?" Lily whirled at her. Violet stared at the finger brandished in front of her nose for a moment and roughly shoved it to the side.
"Don't yell at me! And yeah, maybe it is your fault!"
"What-"
"You pushed her! You wanted Misty to get upset! You guys haven't fought like that in years, what's wrong with you?"
Lily backed down, but still looked all the ready to hit something.
"Well, it's true, I mean after that time she wandered around that… Gyarados Mom and Dad were-"
"Lily."
"… Such a nuisance after that and-"
"Lily!"
"What, you too!?" Lily turned the other way after hearing Daisy use her voice for the first time since pleading with Misty. As soon as Lily caught sight of Daisy's murderous expression she cowered.
"You… you've always been a bit easy with Misty and-" Daisy narrowed her eyes dangerously, issuing a chilling aura that instantly made Lily bite her tongue in fear.
"...Lily, go inside and swim until you calm down." Lily didn't meet Daisy's eyes, trying to hide her encroaching shame.
"But..." she began slowly, but was cut off.
"Now." Lily shuffled towards the pool without another word. Daisy turned around, slowly folded her arms, and exhaled. Violet sadly looked over at her and away from the door, knowing that Lily would not want any eyes on her right now.
"What should we do?" Violet asked softly, "do you think Misty will still..."
"...No," Daisy replied. Violet saw her raise her head at the clouds. "Lily crossed a line... no; we all crossed it."
"But… you don't want to close the gym, do you…?" Violet whispered.
"...Give me a moment..." Daisy leaned on her right hip and looked back down in the ground in thought. In the fog of the past few minutes, Violet suddenly wondered just how upset Daisy was. Misty and Lily's anger had been great, but palpable; normal, even. Violet realized that, compared to the other two sisters, she'd never seen this tranquil fury that Daisy was capable of. She jumped as Daisy spoke again without turning around.
"Misty's right, and we're doing the same thing Mom and Dad did."
"Then… our trip and… what about our future plans? There are the first three months that would immediately lead into contracts… can we really afford to just drop it? It could be years before we can come back here full time, or else who knows how long it could take to get another opportunity like this..."
Daisy finally about-faced and Violet caught sight of her dull eyes, her face lacking its usual comforting smile.
"We can't close the gym. It's not right. And we can't leave this trip in the air, either."
"So then..."
"We'll take turns."
"Huh?" Daisy sighed.
"While someone stays here to maintain the gym, the other two will be on the cruise and then whatever comes after that. We can keep in contact to make sure nothing on either end dries up." Violet eyed Daisy fearfully.
"But… none of us has ever worked the gym by ourselves… and putting our careers on top of that? Can we really do it?"
"We have to, Violet," Daisy said firmly, her gaze burning with determination, "not just for us and the gym. For Misty." She flipped her hair, trying to look confident, but her hands were trembling.
"What if Lily apologizes to her?"
"That's up to Lily, but this isn't just about her and what just happened," Daisy stoutly replied, "I said this was everyone's fault, but..." her shoulders slumped.
"It's my fault." Violet motioned as if to put her hand on Daisy's shoulder, but faltered.
"What do you mean?"
"...Lily was a lot older than Misty when Mom and Dad left… she could understand it better, sooner. But she was also still younger than us. Looks like she got the worst of both worlds on that, and..." Daisy wiped her eyes in shame. "Lily picked on her the most, but you and I both did it too, and… I did… did nothing to stop it..." she sniffed. "I should have done better with you and Lily. I should have understood that this would happen eventually, but I was too young and..." Daisy attempted to dry her eyes. Tears slipped under her hands. Violet completed her move to try and comfort her only older sister.
"Hey, come on, don't blame yourself, if Mom and Dad hadn't left-"
"No, I'm not gonna throw around blame—not at me, or at them. That's pointless." Daisy shook her head. "I'm gonna go first."
"Huh?"
"The gym. I'll be the first to stay behind. I'll get this… this all straightened out," she smoothed her blonde hair for emphasis.
"Will you be okay? Taking challenges, keeping the budget, making sure the Pokemon are fine and-"
"Violet," Daisy interrupted, "don't forget, we were about to shove all that on Misty. She's thirteen." Daisy huffed and went to grab her suitcase. "I know what I have to do now… so it'll be fine."
Violet fell silent, pondering how quick they'd been to leave Misty by herself.
Daisy headed back towards the stairs of the gym's interior. "Now, Violet- you have a way with words when you put your mind to it, go tell Lily what I said and what the plan is. Once she's all tuckered out she's gonna turn that anger on herself—I'm sure—so keep an eye on her for awhile, then you two get going before you're late. Tell the cruise I'm staying behind for now because of a 'family emergency'. You don't need to tell them anything specific. We'll be able to coordinate what's going on between here and there while I'm at the gym. Once I figure it all out, it should be easier for you guys to do it..." she trailed off, suddenly feeling exhausted as she dragged the suitcase up the steps.
As Violet watched Daisy return inside the gym, somehow, shamefully, a sense of relief washed over her; at her elder sister vowing to take up the burden of everything that had transpired.
During the first day in Celadon, Misty felt a rigorous sense of trepidation as the minutes that she was not leaving for Cerulean City passed by. As night fell, a hot thrill went through her; her sister's plans were well and truly foiled. So long as she stayed away, they couldn't do anything. Misty darkly imagined them running about the gym in panic. But, as more days passed, she'd received no more calls, as Nurse Joy would repeatedly tell her.
She wondered for awhile. By all means, seeing as she'd denied them so suddenly, they'd continue either trying to negotiate or rag on her case.
But nothing happened.
Her Pokemon were growing antsy at this point from staying in the center without any understanding. She also knew that the Pokemon Center wouldn't allow her to stay indefinitely.
She stewed in misery and mutinous thoughts for nearly a week until she'd started thinking about what her next course of action was.
Her immediate thought was to return to Ash, but as soon as it came to her something about it made her squirm. Like she wanted something else.
Of course, there was the idea of explaining the change of plans to Ash, and the thought of it distressed her. Although, she thought fondly, Ash would surely be fine with any reasoning or circumstance she offered him, something inside her would hesitate.
As she'd tossed and turned on the eighth night, she figured it out.
Ash had decided to make a fresh start in Hoenn. Without her and Brock, without his Pokemon, even without his official hat. Only Pikachu would stay with him, the same as it was when he was ten, before anyone else, before even her.
She didn't want to ruin that. Not so soon.
There was more. She dug deeper.
She'd once vowed to be a great water Pokemon trainer, hadn't she?
Maybe, like Ash, she wanted her own new beginning.
She slept more soundly and in the morning immediately headed to a computer in the center where she could perform transfers for her Pokemon.
As she checked the status, she saw that Horsea and Starmie were both available. Her listed status as a full leader of the gym was also unchanged, which gave her access to the Pokemon listed under the gym's ownership. The thought of her gym status remaining made her head buzz. Her sisters were either long gone or remained at home by now. If they'd wanted to, they could have revoked her status as one of the gym leaders. If they'd closed the gym, even if temporarily, she would know by looking here, but that wasn't the case. That had to mean they'd stayed. Misty's chest clenched.
If she was still free to take her Pokemon, then she could take them and go anywhere she wanted.
It occurred to her that if the gym was still open and she was still one of the leaders then maybe her sisters still actually had some kind of trust in her.
She tried to force the thought out, but it stuck to her like a lost Growlithe.
Misty reached into her bag and called out Staryu and Goldeen. The looked up at her inquisitively. They were two of her oldest Pokemon, and put their foremost trust in her.
She knew they could do what she couldn't right now.
"Listen you guys… I don't… I don't think I'll be going back home for awhile. Me and Lily… had a bad fight."
"Hyaa?" As she'd told Ash, Misty was able to feel Staryu's concern for her.
"It looks like the gym is still open, but I'm… worried, okay? I don't know how Daisy and the others will handle it from now on. I… told them they should close it, but I still don't want them to."
She took a deep breath.
"You two have a lot of battle experience now. I want you to go back to the gym for me and… and help keep it open and respectable, alright?"
"Gol… deen!" Goldeen did its best to salute her, and Staryu gave a sort of full-body nod. Misty hastily tried to wipe the tears that were forming.
"I'll be taking Starmie and Horsea in your stead to get them to being the best water Pokemon they can be, so please… please take care."
She hugged them and sent them on their way.
Daisy had been through a difficult week. It was all she could do put the gym in full working order, and each day of planning and execution was all too tiring. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she completed the last of the morning Pokemon feeding. It was fortunate there hadn't been any challengers since she'd taken up the gym so Lily and Violet could leave on the cruise and then begin their collective career planning.
In her current state, Daisy wondered how she'd possibly be able to face upcoming trainers and give them the true gym battle to test them for the Pokemon League.
She tiredly got to her feet and walked outside to retrieve the mail. She tossed most of it aside and stopped at one with an official-looking Poke Ball seal. It was labeled "Official Pokemon League: proposal for regulation changes". Daisy made to pop the seal but stopped as she heard the Pokemon roster change notification coming from the pool. She threw the unopened proposal aside and hurried over. She panted in, her blonde tresses disheveled, in time to see Horsea and Starmie recall into their Poke Balls along the sides of the pool and then disappear into the system connection.
It didn't take long to understand that Misty had actually made some form of contact. Distractedly, she thought to go check the PC to see if any messages had been left, but was jolted away by the emergence of two other Poke Balls from the transfer.
"Of course," Daisy thought absently, "Misty has six now, she'd have to return two of them here..."
She slipped a little in her haste to reach the Pokemon as they appeared in the pool. Staryu and Goldeen.
"Hey you two… Misty sent you here, didn't she?" They offered nods of affirmation. "How… is she doing?" Daisy asked worriedly. The two Pokemon looked at each other, downcast and unsure. "I see..." Daisy sat back, feeling every bit the failure Misty must think her. "Did she say anything… when she sent you here?"
"Hya!" Staryu swiftly rose out of the water and spun over to the giant Cascade Badge emblazoned along a wall. It halted in mid-air to tap the symbol a few times for emphasis.
"Goldeen, goldeen!" Goldeen bobbed enthusiastically in agreement.
"So… so she wants you to… stay here and battle for the gym?" Staryu returned to the water where it and Goldeen splashed their confirmation. Daisy slowly sat down at the pool's edge and dipped her feet in.
"Oh..." Her eyes watered, causing Misty's Pokemon to draw closer in concern. She leaned forward and rubbed their heads in gratitude.
"When you see Misty next, do your best to tell her… 'thank you', and… 'I'm sorry', okay?"
Daisy's tears fell unabashedly upon Misty's Pokemon.
Stay tuned!
~Iggy