Spitfire

Synopsis: Ash has finally won the Kalos league, only to discover that his celebration party isn't going as he planned when all of his former companions appear. He will have some tough choices ahead when jealousy meets malicious intent. A tale regarding most of Ash's primary pairings, and how each girl meets her 'match'.

Genre: Humor/Romance

Rating: Teen.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Pokemon anime, games, or the characters involved.

My final note before we get started is for clarification: They are not ten. In this story, they've all aged accordingly; if you want the full layout and reasoning behind my chosen age for each character; send me a PM.

Age 21: Brock

Age 20: Tracey

Age 19: Misty, Cilan

Age 18: Ash, Iris, Gary, Paul, Drew

Age 17: Serena, May, Dawn, Clemont, Kenny

Age 14: Max.

Age 10: Bonnie

Chapter 1: To tell you the truth.

A knock comes to the door of her apartment, subtle, but in every way familiar. The television was playing back to back episodes of Pokemon Soul—a television dramatization of six trainers on a pokemon journey; it was like the soaps her mom watched when she was a kid.

Misty was sitting very still while it played though the episode, only coming out of her stupor when the knock came to the door again. The Cerulean City gym leader blinked her eyes clear and she got up quickly, stepping over a box or two of left over pizzas as she finally reaches her door. She undid the locks, and slid the door open a crack.

"Hello again, Miss Waterflower." The voice was from a young man, no older than her, with acne sprayed over his face. She watched him, and then smiled in response.

"Pizza again?" He joked while handing her two large, delicious smelling boxes. The smell radiated an excess amount of cheese and sauce. Greedy, she snatched the two boxes and placed them on the shelf beside the door. Once she was facing him again she pulled out her wallet from her back pocket, and started to flip through her bills.

"If I would learn to cook, I could avoid this situation..." Contently, she handed him a fifty. Startling the young pizza delivery boy. Her total was only thirty, but the young boy often made sure she had a little extra care given to her pizza—so she made sure that he had a little extra given to him.

"As of now, learning to cook seems highly unlikely, so, I thank you." After handing him his cash, she smiled at him. He gave her a flustered look in return, and offered her a wide grin. One that unsettled Misty's stomach.

"...would it be to much to ask...Well, never mind. I guess I'll see you in a couple of days at this rate!" his voice was chipper as he started down the hall, tilting his pizza at her respectfully. He was enthusiastic, like an old friend she once had; and as she waved him away with one hand, she slowly shut the door with the other.

She locked the bolt and chain on her door, and then grabbed her pizza as she once again flopped onto her green couch. Cuddled by the only warmth she knew as of late, her pizza box. She popped open the lid, and as she had suspected, her normal pepperonis were garnished like a deluxe with no anchovies or peppers, of course; and so Misty grinned like a Meowth. While taking a slice of the cheese smothered bread, she kicked her bare feet up onto the the coffee table, and expressed a sound of appreciation.

"I need to thank him again when I see him again." She murmured to herself happily chewing her food.

Within moments, she was once again pressed into the depths of her green couch, and starting on her second piece. The only thing better than pizza, was pizza on her warm couch with familiar TV shows after a long day at the Cerulean City gym. She licked her fingers after having devoured her second piece within seconds, and liked her lips avariciously. Yep, nothing beat a warm pizza after working at the gym...even though she hadn't been there for three days. She coughed at the memory, and then a sudden, and abrupt rush of depression hung over her head, and she hotly took another slice of pizza, chewing on it as she thought.

She believed her actions to be justified, her sudden inablilty to cope with herself, or her surroundings were totally understandable... or, at least that's what she told herself. because as the television program cut to a commercial, the same incident was thrust in her face again, and she reached for the remote to change the channel, but could not find it right away. She panicked, threw her pizza back into the open lid, and looked for the remote.

"Never before have we seen a Kalos League champion like Ash Ketchum!" Pictured moments after his introduction scene with his Pokemon during the battle, was a photographed picture of who Misty was sure was named "Serena" kissing Ash right after the battle. "A secret love affa-" Misty changed the station to one of the Pokemon battling stations, and snuggled back into her couch, feeling more depressed than the pizza could help her with. Drama: It was sadly the only thing the media was good at presenting. Drama brought viewers, heartache, and ratings. Then again, having the image tossed in her face every few hours was probably the most heartache she felt in years.

Years. And she still felt this way. How pathetic was that? She groaned at herself and tried to become one with the couch.

At nineteen years of age, and eight years after the start of 'their' journey together, and after four years of being separated with little contact; she should NOT feel so angry when she finally saw that Ash had found himself a girlfriend. In fact, she should be 'happy' for him, because it wasn't like she gave him mementos, childhood memories, or a handkerchief (As reports came out that Serena did), no, she was just a friend with a ruined bike that followed him around for years. She shouldn't be angry with Ash, they were older, they could make their own life choices...

But god damn it. She was.

Beside her was a half-empty bottle of Jaguar that she took into the palms of her hands after discarding her pizza box and remote. Without a care in the world, she put the bottle to her lips and took a long drink; remembering fantasies of kissing Ash when he was supposed to win the Johto League, or the Indigo League—but nope, he couldn't win any of those.

"Serena, according to one of their traveling companions, is Ash's good luck char-" "For fucks sake." Misty cursed, switching the station again. She no longer felt like watching soaps, no, instead she flicked to the TV guide station which was so seldom watched; and she watched the stations roll by as she took another swig, and another slice of pizza.

Maybe it was a bit pathetic, and a disservice to herself to let herself get so beat up over Ash's choices. Hell, she hadn't seen him since they were freaking kids. She had no right to even assume that he had feelings for her, let alone that she had feelings for him. Maybe what she was feeling was the same feeling people had when their favorite musician turned out gay? Instead of a genuine sense of sadness, she felt possession over Ash? For Mew's sake, they were just kids when her crush started, so why was it that after so many months of believing she was over him, she suddenly felt like her heart got ripped out, then trampled on?

Her whole world felt like a lie—and she let herself get caught up in. One big giant romantic fantasy, that Ash would come to terms with his feelings (someday) and come running back to Misty—but who was she kidding? He discarded her years ago, and after four other female travel companions, she felt...less special than she once was.

She was now cradling her bottle of jaguar; after each bite of pizza she would slurp it down gregariously. The worst of this, however, was that she knew that she couldn't have been the only one upset over this news. She knew to some extent, albeit a small amount; May, would be jealous, Dawn would be furious, and Iris would laugh.

Even those few times when she managed to see Ash in Pallet Town before he left on another journey was just enough to hear about who each female was—Misty looked at her hands and sighed.

May was the traveler, she loved adventures—but she had a girly side which was expressed in her Pokemon competitions. She spent enough time with May to know that she would at the very least be confused about her feelings about Ash—if she still had them.

"Hopefully not as pathetically as me," Misty thought while leaning her head back to stare up at her stucco ceiling.

Dawn, who Misty had only met in person once, and for only a fleeting second, was more girly than May and Misty put together, but she had a sense of compassion and confidence that rivaled Misty's. Dawn knew what she wanted, how she wanted it—and most importantly, when. She would be angry at Ash, no doubt. Misty couldn't quite flesh out what it was about Dawn, but she was very likable, and it was probably due to her ability to understand Ash better than Misty could herself.

Iris was the only person Misty never met in person, the dragon master, gym leader was a bit like herself when she was younger—obnoxious, angry about everything, and hot-headed. She was apparently very tomboyish, but nice as well. She was the only one that Misty could not see getting upset over Ash's news—but being happy for him instead.

Like Misty should have been.

So, in the grade scheme of things, where did that leave Misty?

Well, she thought while twirling her long hair. She was technically his oldest friend, well, so she thought before all the media reports came out about Serena. However, she was the first person to travel with him on a Pokemon Journey, but also the first to leave. As opposed to all of Ash's traveling companions, who would tease him in a joking manner; she decorated their traveling together with ridicule and malicious to cover up her own budding, unnatural feelings. Sure, some of it was teasing, but most of the time, she substituted what should have been Butterfrees with a ragning, confused Gyarados.

So, that's what 'they' were, unnatural. Ash should have been like a little brother to her—not a shining prince. She paused, thinking of that image, Ash would walk down a flight of stares in a tin-can set of armor, with Pikachu tucked under his arm like a foot ball. And at the last step before taking her hand, he would trip and fall over his own feet, causing her drink to spill over her nice dress. She gave a soft chuckle.

Because Ash was many things, but charming, or graceful; he was not.

Wrapped up in the moment, she found herself remembering a lot of their journeys now, with Brock and Tracey, May and Max; and she had to slap her head for getting so worked up about Serena.

Misty was after all a memory to what was once the greatest days of her life. Ash has grown a lot since she last saw him—he appeared more mature, level headed, and he wasn't the same boy that she had a crush on; so, if Ash was happy, she was happy.

Misty sucked in the air, committed for a total of two seconds to her idea, before she thrust herself into an aggravated sitting position.

But WHY was she not happy?! She threw her legs down, and sat forward, letting her bottle of jaguar rest on the coffee table. She hunched over, and as the reports started again on the new Kalos Champion; Misty just did what any justified girl would do, and shut the damn television off.

Things could have been different; they could have, that should have been her in Serena's spot—not Serena, or anyone else, damn it! She landed over the coffee table, wishing for the reflection in the TV screen to give her answers.

What if she had told him her feelings before she left that day for Cerulean City gym; what if they had a relationship? Would either of the had been mature enough to sustain it? Misty thought bitterly, and threw her head back, wanting to cry—but unable to shed tears. NO! The answer is no, they would have crash and burned. Most likely, Ash would have rebutted her feelings entirely! She touched her hair and pulled on the long, unkempt strands and threw herself onto her shag carpet.

She hated this! Why couldn't she just stop herself from being upset? She lay perfectly still, taking in the scent of dust, and then after exhaling—hopefully clearing her head, she sat up.

She was...possibly a little intoxicated, which only made matters in her mind worse; because not only was she a raving lunatic—she was a raving DRUNK lunatic. She held her head.

In her last intentional move, she laid on her couch again. She let the pizza boxes fall to the floor, and ripped her soft, purple blanket from the back of the couch, and cuddled with it. She laid for a moment; hoping to get rest, but found that all she could think about, again, was Ash.

Ash, ASH, ASH. And then in the depths plaguing her minds—she was suddenly thinking of Serena, and all the.. oh god; all the...Her face turned a deep shade of scarlet, and in a last ditch effort to drown out the noise, she took the jaguar in her hands, and chugged it backwards.

It was her sisters advice to use alcohol as a crutch...smething she was against on most occasions... but, this one time, this ONLY time, she would just drink until she felt better.

–

The red headed water-pokemon trainer fell asleep on her couch. And the worse thing? Morning came in like an onix parade running over her head. Woken from a dead sleep, she held her aching head. Even with the world spinning under her couch, she managed to pull herself up, and clear her throat. Her head felt like it was on fire, and her shoulders felt like she had gotten hit by a baseball bat repeatedly. She shuddered, gooseflesh appearing as she tried to straighten herself, and her apartment up—just the slightest. She stumbled and stammered, and she started with the pizza box that had fallen fro the table. The open pizza encrusted itself onto her green carpets, and she peeled it off piece by piece before throwing it back into the box. Her next task was the spilled bottle of jaguar that had not only left a puddle on her floor, but also a puddle on her couch. Which, lucky for her, she had been laying in. Her hair was drenched with the alcohol, and the scent made her stomach churn.

"Fuck," She muttered, trying to pull herself together, but found that she could not. Her limbs felt heavy, and she struggled with the smallest tasks; she wasn't ready for the day. She wasn't ready to adult.

So instead, she staggered to the bathroom where she immediately started to strip off her clothes and practically fall into the tub with a twist and a slip. As an expert, with tons of experience, she was easily able to turn on the cold shower with her feet; and it hit her like a damn water fall.

"oh god that's cold!" She shrieked, possibly waking up her neighbors, and sat up shivering in the tub. She moved to quickly, and swipped her head against her bent knees. She grabbed for the dials with her right hand, and rubbed her sore nose with the left. She palmed the dials until the water became luke warm, and then she fell back again with a loud thud of her head hitting the wall. This time, with the intention of falling asleep.

And so she did.

AUTHORS NOTE:

More characters to come next chapter—I couldn't think of a better way to present this information than through the eyes of the first female lead; hopefully, it was enjoyable!

Primarily, I write my stories for myself, and if other people like them, then that's awesome, too.

That being said—to clarify, I am not an amourshipping / Serena hater, and for that matter, I don't hate any of the OTHER pairings either. This is just a little bit of spitfire as to why I support pokeshipping, (or the start of it) even though I know it will most likely never be canon (I honestly don't want any of the shippings to be canon) I think the whole argument over pairings is...interesting, and humorous, and I respect everyone who likes what they like. However, respect what I like as well. If you don't like the story, you don't have to read it. I'm just putting this out there for other people who think like I do.