Hello everyone! This is my First FanFic here. I love reading them and well decided to put the first chapter to this wonderful story which I have not yet defined in paper, but that will extend to what my imagination pleases to do with it.
BTW... I am not that great at writing... but I will leave you to judge that for yourself. I have no idea what possessed me to write this. I just thought it would be interesting to try out. I know I have made some mistakes and I would like you, as the reader, to point them out for me. I want to become a good writer and some pointers wouldn't hurt. As well, in exchange I will try to update when ever I can.
Now relating to the story... This first chapter is greatly inspired, and starts the same as a great youtube video I saw called "Shell" by WongFuProductions. It inspired me to write this. I give them a lot of credit for the beginning of this story.
As always...
I do not own the rights to Pokémon or any of its characters or fictional locations.
Enjoy amigos. :D
"Did you love him?" It is all he asks while sitting in her apartment looking out the window into the skyline.
The room was warm in contrast to the cold of the outside world. It was a penthouse suite on top of Cerulean City. She loved it and hated it at the same time. Not because of the luxury of the apartment or the view from the huge windows, but because of the memories shared with her ex-lover. All those memories thrown to waste, all turned to hatred and sadness. She hated him now. With every fibre in her body she despised him. She hated the thought of him. She hated everything to do with him or anything that would remind her of him. Every day he would call her to ask for forgiveness and to tell her that she was his everything. No one would replace her in his heart.
She really never did understand why she would answer the phone every time even though she knew it was the same thing over and over again. She did not know why she thought that he was telling her the truth. Some part of her seemed to want to believe in him. Wanted to believe it was different than what she knew was fact. Wanted to change the past and not look at the facts. But the facts were laid out. Everything pointed an accusing finger at him. He was a liar.
Confused was what she felt like for the past two weeks. She wasn't herself anymore. She entered into a routine of sorts, no one there to break her out. Her routine would usually consist of sadness and thoughts rampaging her head at all times trying to destroy her from the inside out. Sleep was her only way out of feeling. Her heart seemed to be shattered into pieces. But was it love she felt for him? Did love cause all this? She was in a conflict with her inner demons and no one could battle them for her. She did love him at some point, but she felt it as a distant memory as if the feeling of love she felt for him was out of her grasp.
"I don't remember," she said. "Isn't that sad?"
"It isn't," he said. Looking out the window, he was contemplating the massive building surrounding them and the lights of the city at night. It looked like maze of lights, every one of them looking unique and special among all the other ones. Every single one of them lighting the city as if trying to mimic the stars in the sky that light the path for the moon to follow at night. He was distracted only for a little while, mesmerized by the lights.
"I think it is okay not to remember," he said still admiring the lights before them. "I think that love can bring about strong emotions in people and can leave them with some love amnesia. That is... until they remember whom they once loved before, after they find someone new to love."
She took in his words. Not only the context of the words, but the way he said them as well. It was unusual for her to hear him speak like this. She knew he meant something deeper with them. She wasn't sure why, but she believed in those words and it brought a glimmer of hope to love again. It would soon dim down and vanish though, only to be found again when she recollected her thoughts in her dark and lonely place.
She could not believe how much he had grown over the past couple of years. Here he was now talking to her about love when in fact he was a clueless boy when they first met. She chuckled remembering all the great times they had passed together in their adventures. How they used to fight all of the time for the littlest things. And how she would always get mad at him but would never leave him.
"What are you laughing at?" he asked. "Did I say something funny or something?"
"I am not laughing at what you said, silly," she replied. "I was only laughing because... well... here I am taking love advice from a clueless boy that didn't even know anything other than his ultimate goal of becoming the Pokémon Master," she kept laughing at the thought.
He started to join her in her laughter, "Yeah... I guess that is kind of funny."
Just then she remembered someone very important to him. "Ash... Where is Pikachu?" she asked curiously.
"He is back at Indigo... stayed to rest, we had a pretty tough battle last night," he replied.
Ash Ketchum was not a clueless boy anymore. He didn't even look like a boy anymore. What once was a boy had grown up to become a man of great stature. Ash was six foot four. He was tall and had dark skin from being out in the sun so much with his Pokémon. He had great muscle tone and was lean and fit. His hair was dark and wild and would drop almost to his shoulders. It would go all over the place, but it always seemed to compliment his handsome facial features. His voice was a silvery tenor. She loved to hear him say her name. It felt warm and safe like if she was at home in her bed. He had a very soothing voice that would melt any girl anywhere, or so she thought. Ash was more than handsome, or that's what most of the ladies would say. He was everything a man would ever want to be. Ash had it all. All but one thing in his life.
"Oh I see... Well, I bet he is probably having a good time," she said with a smile thinking of his friend's Pikachu.
"I bet he is eating all of my ketchup reserves..." Ash said.
She laughed at that. She had almost forgotten Pikachu's excessive obsession when it came to ketchup. But just as his trainer, there was an endless well within them needed to be filled with food. And in Pikachu's case it had to be filled with red ketchup.
"Do you feel happy at Indigo Plateau?" she asked Ash after they had stopped imagining Pikachu eating all that ketchup.
Not very ready for a question like that, Ash just answered with logic, "Yeah, I guess so... It is a great place to train my Pokémon... I get 18 different training facilities specialized for every type of Pokémon and I can change them into any climate I want my Pokémon to train on. As well, I get my own suite with virtually anything I desire, and I have my own Chef, Mario, who makes the greatest pizza in all of Kanto... Why wouldn't I be happy...?"
That pleased her question and she was satisfied with the answer. She felt that maybe there was something else that he was hiding by the way he answered but she let it go.
"Well, that's great Ash! I never thought that being a Pokémon Master... would lead to such luxurious life," she said trying to tease him.
"Well, you're one to talk..." he said. "Look at your place, It's amazing! How did you even come up with the money for this on a gym leader salary Misty?"
He really did want to know the answer to this question. He was very curious and wanted to know Misty's secret. He was certain that it was impossible for her to buy it.
"Well..." she said with a blush. She was hesitant and embarrassed to say anything else but she told him anyways, "I started doing my own underwater shows at the Gym and I guess... I kinda gained more popularity than my sisters... So I started rising the price of the tickets and voilà! I saved enough for this place and for many other things, I guess you can say that I am some sort of celebrity here in Cerulean."
Ash was very impressed. He knew why she received such popularity; it wasn't that she was an amazing singer or the fact that she was a great underwater swimmer and choreographer. But it was because in fact, Misty turned out to become the most beautiful of the sensational sisters. She was five foot ten with an hourglass shaped body. Her body was composed of lean muscle tone and perfect skin. She had curves to make a man lost for days. She had amazing turquoise eyes that shined even in the dark, so Ash thought. And she had fiery orange hair which complimented her attitude when she had a challenge to beat. She was one of the most beautiful women in all of Kanto if not the most beautiful.
"And I guess that through your popularity you met... Jack?" Ash asked.
"Yeah... He said that he went to one of my shows and seemed to have fallen in love with me instantly..." she answered Ash's question. "And then we started going out and what not..."
Misty sighed remembering how she had met Jack at first. He had come after the show to the back stage area and brought her some flowers. He brought Misty her favourite kind of flower, Tulips. She did not know how he knew what her favourite flowers were, but she didn't think anything of it. Just a lucky guess, she thought. But that was what stood Jack out from all the others. She had never received Tulips from her fans. They would always send her roses. This caught her attention and led her to a relationship with Jack.
"What is one of your fondest memories with him?" Ash asked her.
Misty didn't think that Ash wanted to know that, but she was certain that he was asking in order to help her get through this difficult time and not for his own interest. She thought about her best memories with Jack, not wanting to, but she tried. Not knowing what to tell Ash, she told him the first thing that came to mind at the moment.
"I remember when I was with him at our second date... and your name came up on the TV when we were at a diner. It was a TV broadcast of you winning the Kanto League Championship. It was talking about how you had beaten every other league but the Kanto region and how you had battled every Elite Four from all of those regions becoming their Pokémon Master in the progress," she continued. "And then the broadcast started talking about you becoming the one and only person to ever accomplish such feat in history... It was funny when Jack saw you on the TV, he said 'how I wish I was that guy!' I told him I knew you, and he didn't believe me one bit. I told him that we were best childhood friends but that I didn't talk to you that often anymore... He still didn't believe me... So I told him about your Pikachu and the friendship you share with your Pokémon... and sure enough he started to finally believe me because of something he had read on one of those Pokémon league magazines about the strong bond you have with Pikachu and all of your Pokémon,"
She pointed at a picture she had on the wall by the living room that showed Ash and Misty. They were smiling and Misty had Ash in a choke hold. They were about 12 at the time the picture was taken. It was a cherished treasure of Misty's, a treasure that showed her a wonderful time in the past when everything was much simpler and happy. She also cherished it for another reason.
"I showed him that picture, and then he finally believed me," she told him almost in the verge of tears.
She tried to hold in her feelings. She couldn't stop feeling depressed just thinking about Jack. Every second they spoke about him was a stab to her heart. Every piece of her heart already shattered was shattering into many more pieces. She wasn't sure whether or not it was a good thing or a bad thing. What Misty did know was that she had to forget about him, she had to move on. Looking at the past would hurt more than going through the future without him. She was tired. All Misty wanted was to close down all her feeling and just move forward without having to worry about her emotions acting up. She knew that Ash could help her. She just had to put a bit more trust in him and let her walls down so that they could be repaired.
But I am a bit scared to let him in. I haven't let him in for a long time... not since what happened.. and I don't think that right now is the right time... she thought to herself. She was more nervous and anxious at the thought of letting another person into her world just for a brief second.
"Oh I didn't see that picture when I came in... I totally forgot that you had a copy of the same one, " Ash said trying to lighten up the mood. He knew that Misty was having a difficult time fighting her emotions at the moment."I have mine in my living room as well. I didn't think you would have kept it for so long. It has been a while since that picture was taken hasn't it?" Ash smiled at the thought of those days.
"Yeah... it has been a while... remember when your mom took it? I can't remember what I was chasing you for... It was a fun day regardless, it was just after your first try at the Kanto Championship League if i remember correctly... And what? Did you think I was just going to throw it away or something?" Misty was smiling now, trying to fight her inner self with a different emotion. She was trying to be happy in front of Ash and trying to focus on the good days in the past; the days she didn't think about boys too much. She was trying hard, and she wasn't succeeding because of the look Ash gave her. Ash gave her a look of understanding. He understood what she was going through. She didn't know how he knew... but he just did.
"I didn't say that..." he said simply. "I just thought that after so many years you would have put it in storage, some place... I don't think that your boyfriends would have liked to have seen me with you in a picture since I am the Pokémon Master and all that stuff..." the last bit was a whisper. He said this to her looking down at the ground ashamed that he had even asked her that. He didn't know how close Misty held him in her heart. He didn't know how much of a friend Misty considered him.
He was starting to figure out the relationship they had currently. And he was looking for a bit of hope for the future, but he was just getting ahead of himself.
She is only a friend. And even if I was considering more than that, it wouldn't feel right after such a short time after her break up... I don't want to be her rebound... I want what I lost so long ago... he thought.
They had been apart for so long and this was the second time they had seen each other in a long while. The first time recently was about 4 weeks ago when he visited Cerulean City for a conference. He was in town and decided to stop in and say hello to the Sensational Sisters. He hadn't seen her in a very long time and at first he was astounded at how much she had changed. He couldn't keep his eyes off her the whole time they were getting a bite to eat. She told him about her boyfriend at the time, and how she thought he was the one. She was madly in love with him, or so it seemed at the time. He knew it from the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about him.
He was very jealous. Ash was envious of the man that would get to marry Misty. He knew that she would make a great mother some day and a great wife as well. He left her his phone number and told her to keep in touch. Misty only called him 3 weeks later to tell him the news of what happened to her and Jack one week after Ash and Misty had gone to eat. When Ash heard about the break up... he knew that he had to help her out. He used to be one of her closest friends and still felt that he was. Even though they hadn't talked in a long while, Ash still felt like he had a duty to help Misty at her time of need. And this time it was different.
He was only invited to her place because she needed someone to talk to at a place she felt comfortable, or so that is what she said on the phone. It was one of the very few times when Misty opened up to him, and he wanted to help her through this tough time so that maybe he could learn more about her. And it was also one of the very few times Misty invited a guy over to her place other than her boyfriend. Ash wanted to become a better friend.
"Yeah you are right for the most part about the boyfriend reaction... but it's not like I bring anyone up here to my apartment. And to tell you the truth I haven't dated that many people, only about two before Jack," she said.
At the sound of Jack's name coming out of her mouth she couldn't take it anymore. She started tearing up. It felt like a waterfall was erupting through her head and she couldn't stop what was coming. She started to cry.
Ash knew that she needed someone's shoulder to cry on. So he let her cry on his shoulder as he put his arms around her. He was trying to hold her close, and Misty responded by wrapping her arms around his waist.
It was a very sad moment for Ash to see Misty in such state. He didn't want to hurt her more with what he said or asked her, but Ash knew that if he didn't help her through the hard part she would only get worse. He wanted her to get over him and he was willing to do anything. Misty wanted to forget Jack as much as Ash didn't want to see her cry. Then, as if Ash knew what Misty wanted he whispered something in her ear.
"Misty... do you want to forget?"
Misty didn't know what to say. That was one of the many strong questions in her head that were tearing her apart. She didn't know if forgetting was an option. It was humanly impossible to erase something from the mind regardless. Plus, she couldn't forget Jack. Not after having such strong feelings for him.
"I don't think it's an option... It pretty much impossible," she whispered. Ash only held her close and whispered another question into her ear.
"What if it wasn't? What if you could change your memory from the past? What if you could imagine up your own past?"
Misty was starting to get confused and mad now. She wasn't sure where Ash was going with this.
"Why would I want to do that? If I haven't lived it, why would I want to remember it? Why would I want to make up my own past if it's not something I had already lived before? You aren't making any sense Ash... and it's really not helping!" she said the last part depressed but also mad at Ash. He wasn't helping the situation with asking her these ridiculous questions. She didn't want to get mad at him though, because she knew that he was only trying to help.
"Maybe you could imagine me instead of him in your memories. Make me appear in every single one of your memories with him... I wouldn't have done this to you Mist. Would you have wanted it to be me instead of him?" he asked her still whispering into her ear and holding her tight. He really wanted to know how she would react to the question, how she felt about him now long after they had been apart.
Misty immediately remembered how close she was to him. She forgot that she was crying on him just a few minutes ago. She started feeling self conscious and started to notice were her hands were and Ash's breathe on her skin, tickling her ears slightly after every exhale. She wasn't sure how to answer. All that came to mind was one time long ago when Ash and Misty were in this same position.
"You already know the answer to that Ash! You know it! Why do you ask me? Why are you doing this now?" she raised her voice to almost a yell now. Misty was angry at Ash for bringing those feelings up.
Ash looked away. He wanted to forget that time when he let her slip; the time he had no control of his decisions. It was right after the first time he had won his first Pokémon League Championship. He was 18 then. And he didn't want to remember the sacrifice he had to make to say no to her. He didn't want to remember all the years he spend thinking about her.
Ash stood up from his position next to her on the sofa. He didn't want to make eye contact with her. His instincts were yelling at him to leave that very moment.
She doesn't know how many tears I've shed for her... or the sacrifice I took to keep her safe. But now I can keep her from harm. I can protect her. I can protect her from him!
Ash turned around quickly to spot her and jumped to cover her from the explosion that happened right as they hit the ground together. BOOM! The windows shattered. Ash used his body to protect her from the debris. And after everything was settled, he stood up and vanished with a bright light. Misty stood up stunned. She was disoriented and had a headache from the explosion. It felt like her head was being squished by a ton of bricks. She couldn't hear. She didn't know whether or not what she saw Ash do was real or fiction.
And then she saw Jack.
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