Both Pikachu
and Togepi had been asleep in our back packs during our 'talk', that's
one thing I could be grateful for. The fact they didn't wake up was an
act of God. Pokémon Centers doubled as motels for
trainers so we didn't have trouble finding a place to
stay that night, she was glade we didn't have to camp again. She always
had this fear that she would wake up with
a Caterpie staring her in the face whenever we did.
The city's Pokémon center was
empty except for us and the Nurse Joy. Our Pokémon went into the
rejuvenator for the night while we both spent the night on the
couches.
It had taken
a while for her to rebuild her self esteem, but she was back to her normal
hot tempered self. I never realized how much we depended on him to act
as
peace maker. Now our fights were allowed to go into full
scale war where nothing was sacred.
She hadn't
really acted like herself that day. I had a feeling I had struck a nerve,
but where I couldn't tell. After traveling with her for three years I still
couldn't
read her right.
Around eight
she had built up the mental fire power for round two.
"One by one."
She said.
"One by one
what?" She never did say a statement full the first time, I think it was
her way of making me ask, reminding me I didn't know everything.
"Let's go
though them one by one. Each of the Pokémon you've let go over the
last three years. Maybe then your brain will actually work if I just spell
it out to
you."
"Misty you
once gave Horsey and Staryu to your sisters remember?"
"That's different!
They're still my Pokémon, even if they're with Them. And this isn't
about me Ash Ketechum, it's about you."
"Fine! Then
let's get started!"
"Ok, first,
Butterfree, the first Pokémon you let go and one of the first you
abandoned."
"Misty we
were over this before. I heard the joy in your voice when Butterfree found
a mate, I saw the pride you had of me when I did it."
"At the time
I was stupidly thinking you actually intended to go back for him some day.
Instead, you just left him to the winds!"
"Butterfree
was in love Misty, I wasn't about to stand in the way of that. You've talked
romantic more time than you'll admit Misty. You wouldn't either."
"What if Butterfree
went looking for you!? He wouldn't know where to start!"
I flip open
Dexter and it says in it's normal techno voice.
"Butterfree,
this Pokémon can track a sent several miles away and can follow
a trail even years old with flawless skill." Misty's mouth opens not so
much from
the info, but from the fact I knew it was there.
"I'm not that
stupid Misty." I reply at last.
Misty was
getting more and more surprised by me standing my ground instead of backing
down and doing what she said like I usual do.
"Haunter."
She said. "A powerful, rare Pokémon, that's strong against physic
types. And you leave him with someone whose the expert on physics!"
"And needed
him a lot more than me Misty. Without Haunter around I wouldn't revert
to a multiple personality phyco-path with a taste for dolls. You don't
cure
problems of a life time in just one day. Sabrina needed
Haunter to help her more than I needed Haunter to win battles."
"Number three.
Nessie."
"Misty . .
. I only took care of Nessie because she got separated from her pod.
When she found her mother I didn't have any right to keep her."
I was getting
surprised how Misty was moving on from one to another. She looked like
she was being knifed from the inside on my comment with Nessie.
"Charizard,
you didn't want to give him away and he didn't want him to go. And you
still did it! You weren't even thinking!"
"Your right.
I didn't want to. I didn't want to leave him there. I didn't want to give
up a Pokémon that I had saved from death in a rain storm and had
lost and
gain trust after what was a life time for me. I saved
his life three times."
"Three!? I
remember two!"
I used my
fingers for emphasis.
"One, when I found him in that rain
storm after Damien abandoned him. Second, after that ice beam froze him
solid I rubbed my hands raw trying to keep him
warm. Three, I stopped him from committing suicide."
"WHAT?!"
"You keep
telling to wake up Misty, while it's your turn! Charizard's pride was shattered
and his self respect ground into dust after losing again and again to
those Charizard! You may not have a good link to fire
Pokémon but I'm not so picky. I saw the look in Charizard's eyes.
He had every intention of taking a dive in
that valley's lake!"
"But a Charizard's
life force is in it's tail flame, if it went out . . . ."
"Misty. Charizard's
pride was the most important thing to him. And he lost it after losing
to Charla and all the rest. Even if I took him with me and watched
him every minute he would look for a chance and then
take it do himself in. Staying there to build himself up to their level
was the only way to keep him from doing
that."
"Sounding
like Brock doesn't make you him!"
"I'm not Brock!"
"And your
not a Trainer or Master either, your just a Friend to your Pokémon,
do you know that dumb that sounds?"
"I don't care!
The best Trainers I've met considered themselves their Pokémon's
friends before being their Master."
"How could
you know what Charizard was thinking!"
"Because .
. . I . . . was . . . am . . . . his . . . FRIEND!"
"Then they're
Primeape, you left him with someone you barely even knew! What kind of
friend is that!"
"I gave Primeape
to him because he needed a trainer who knew how to train fighter types."
"That's
crud. While I enjoy seeing your excuses Ash, I know it's bull since Primeape
DIDN'T want to go! You just gave him to that guy and WALKED OFF!
Primeape didn't even ask if he wanted to go and was CRYING
ABOUT IT!"
"What's for
the best isn't always what we want Misty! It can be painful! You don't
do something because you WANT to, you do something because it's for the
best of the person your doing it for! Friendship for
pain or happiness, for sorrow or joy, you do what's best for them!"
"In Pallet!
Just before we went to the Orange Islands.
Pidgeot didn't decide to stay either; you decided to
LEAVE her BEHIND so she could "protect" wild Pokémon from a beaten
Fearow. Hello? He was already beaten!"
"That Fearow
was willing to wait a year to get back at me. He holds a grudge. It doesn't
matter if he loses a dozen times he'll still come back for more! And
those Pidgy would suffer in her place if she left with
me. She needed to stay there to protect them."
Misty was
breathing deep with rage. My spine turned to ice but I still held my ground.
I was surprised the Nurse Joy hadn't had her sleep disrupted by our shouting
contest.
"And now
. . . ." She said in a dangerously low tone. "How about Squrtle? You left
him right back where you started. With the Squrtle Squad."
"Is he back
were he started? Can you really say he's the same as before? The Squrtle
we met had no respect for humans or Pokémon that did. Can you really
say
he's back where he started? Pokémon training is
supposed to be a two way street Misty. 'You'll teach me and I'll teach
you'. The Squad needed their leader. I won't
ever know. But I may of saved some lives by having Squrtle
join his group when it became a fire fighter division."
"You don't
know that!"
"Neither do
you! And that's the real point of all of this. Neither of us know what
he world would of been like if I hadn't let them go."
"You'd probably
be a League Master by now."
I smiled.
"So you admit
I managed to make them pretty strong then huh?"
"Which is
why it was so dump to just release them!"
"Misty, even
if your right, it wouldn't be me with that position or power, it would
someone who saw there Pokémon as things and not friends."
"What the
blank ever!"
"WHAT'S WITH
YOU MISTY?! What set you off to start all this? I'll admit you see your
Pokémon as yours more than I do with mine, but you more or less
always held most of them with respect."
"I don't know
what your talking about!"
"The hell
you don't!"
"So you have
a dirty mouth after all! Maybe I should tell your mom so she'll come all
the way out here just to wash it out with soap!"
"Maybe I should
do the same with yours!"
"My mom? .
. .. " Misty's voice for a moment is so small, so painful. Then the dragon
returns. "Shut up!"
"No way! We're
finishing this right now!"
"Pokémon
battle?" She smile wirely.
"You want
one?" I said, for a moment I see Gary in front of me instead of Misty.
Maybe because we had had the same debate a week before we got our starters.
She replies
clenching her fists. "No, do you?"
"Let's go!"
We grab onto each other, we fall to the side of the hard polished floor
neither of us notice the pain, the world becomes a blur, we punch and scratch
at each other, I wonder if this is how a Pokémon
using Struggle feels like. I hear Misty screaming, I scream too, I feel
her finger nails cut into my flesh, I feel my
fist go straight into her abdomen, for the all the times
she hit me, calling me stupid, thick headed, ignorant of what I was doing,
why did she care what I did with my
life? Why did I care about defending myself to her? What
did it matter what she thought? She was just following me for that dumb
bike anyway. . . . . but at Pallet,
she never even mentioned it to my mom, I also said when
I was champion I would pay her back, but she didn't even talk about after
I won the Orange League . . . .
was there something more? Something neither me or her
were willing to admit to? Something we hated ourselves and each others
for? For not being able to humble
ourselves enough just to say a simple truth?
"WHAT'S GOING
ON HERE!!!" Nurse Joy. She's in her night gown and is wearing her glasses
instead of her contacts, her red hair is out of it rings letting it
flow down her chest.
We stop. We
both become aware of the pain coursing though us. I feel like a convict
at the execution of a thousand knifes. Misty has the start of a bruise
over
her left eyes and blood drips out of the side of her
mouth. Bloodstains dominate both our cloths.
"Who started
this?" She looked at us both, we're equally injured, equally human beings,
equally fools, who when it gets right down to it prefer to solves things
with a fight when words fail or they're not giving you
the answers you want to hear.
"We both did."
We say in unison with no humor in our voices. Another time, we would of
thought saying things together might be funny. But it isn't.
Nurse Joy
didn't call the police. Thank God. She asked us both to leave in the morning.
But still being a nurse, even a Pokémon one, she patched us up.
I feel shame
building up inside me. Another friend. I lost another friend because of
my views were so different, because I was so determined to stand by them.
Hadn't I said today, (yesterday it was midnight) that
even though I started this journey for battles, and soon just to get another
shot at Gary, that I realized the
ultimate goal was to learn? Three years, and I hadn't
learned anything. I still resorted to solving a problem with fists when
all else failed.
She and me
looked like rejects from the movie of yester-century called 'The Mummy
Returns'. No broken bones besides some loose teeth. When it had been me
and Gary we had to have some
bones set.
Misty was
sitting next to me. A patch over one eye to help it heal. Our expressions
were mirrors of each other, defeat, shame, pain, but not from our infantile
brawl, though our skin and insides were on fire. She
looked at me and herself. She whispers.
"Mom . . dad."
I play the fool one last time. And dare asked her to talk about it. She
doesn't respond. I beg her. I plead with her. Finally, eternity and a day
later, she opens her mouth. Her voice is horse, and her
speech a little off from her loose teeth, but it convey someone who doesn't
want to be alone.
"Mom and dad
. . . . they didn't . . . . agree on how to run the Gym, they . . . . sometimes
didn't use words." She didn't need to say it. They physically attacked
each other. Like we had.
"Finally they
split up. They both said that they simple had to let each other go. And
though it was painful for them both. They said the right thing wasn't always
painless. I decided right there I would never let anyone
go. Ever. That way, I would never be alone."
"Is that why
you don't ever release any of your Pokémon? Even Phyduck? Your afraid
you'll end up alone?"
"Yes . . .
. and I'm afraid you'd end up that way how you were going."
"Misty, just
because friend aren't always there doesn't mean they stop being friends.
Remember Charizard DID come back to help me save Mom and Molly from
herself. It was bliss to see him again Misty. I saw him
fight Misty, that old flame he had in his eyes from before was back."
"Then why
didn't you ask him to stay?"
"Because he
had a new reason to stay. It's name is Charla."
"You mean
Charizard is in love?"
"Before he
left, he said he planned on purposing to her as soon as he proved he was
as strong as her."
"But didn't
that woman say Charla was the strongest one there?"
"Charizard
is like me. He loves a challenge as long as he knows he can win."
"Ash, I'm
sorry, I-"
"Misty, I
was as much jerk as you tonight when we decided to just pound each other's
face in."
"I guess so.
I just feel so-"
"Stupid?"
"Yea.
. . . When dad left, he took his starter Pokémon with him, it was
a Blastoids." That explained a lot.
"So when I
let Squrtle go you saw life replaying huh?" Why did I find it easy to read
her now?
Misty only
nodded.
"Ash, tonight,
I didn't know who I hated more, you, or me." How much the same were we?
"I promised myself, that as long as I kept it small, that I wouldn't
end up like Mom. But here I am, doing the same thing.
I didn't learn anything." A knife stabbed, it was like looking into a mirror!
"Maybe .
. . maybe you did . . . . maybe you just . . . forgot the real lesson."
"What's the
good of a lesson if you forget it?"
"Maybe that's
why we need friends. To help us remember them."
"Ash, I have
to say something before I change my mind. Before my pride reminds me that
I'm not suppose to do this sort of thing."
"Same here."
We talk in
unison.
"Ash/Misty
I love you. Huh? You love me? I thought all you cared about was your Pokémon."
Again in union.
"Misty my Pokémon are my friends, you are too! I would never forget
you."
"Ash my Pokémon
have been my companions but so are you! But your more than just a friend.
You love your Pokémon Ash. You feel the same empathy I do
when I see a Master abusing a Pokémon he thinks
just isn't good enough for him. Ash, my sisters, Gary, none of them care
for there Pokémon like you do Ash."
"Two of a
kind should stick together?"
"Maybe it's
the little differences that make us right for each other. Ash I do love
you. It's just after reading so many cheap love novels and movies I forgot
that
love was a real emotion, and not just something you see
at the movies. I guess I felt I was part of a movie all those times when
I talked about romance."
She was just
going on. Giving herself to time rebuild her defenses, soon this would
be a moment neither of us would ever speak of again. One of us had to do
it
fast before either of us changed our minds! With my finger
I gently moved her face so we we're looking directly into each other's
eyes. Her eyes are blue. I never noticed before. She stopped talking. I
kissed
her. Why had something so simple been so hard to do?
I'm careful not to hurt her, we had both done a good job of trashing the
other.
Her books
were right, the world did fade away, we were the only two people in the
universe, and that was all we needed. That was when we both feel asleep.
The next morning
we found ourselves on separate couches, if not for bandages we both of
thought last night was a dream. We collected our Pokémon from
Nurse Joy without a word between us. Pikachu and Togepi
were both shocked to see us the way we were. Pikachu could take it, but
we weren't so sure about Togepi,
Misty said she would tell her when she was older.
Pikachu showed
no reaction when I told him about our fight, he fainted when I told him
about our kiss, the possibility of us admitting we liked each other was
as
likely as me catching Mew, but he recovered soon enough.
The sun was
rising, it was a new dawn. In spit of our injuries we both felt lighter
than yesterday.
Finally I
whispered in her ear.
"Love you."
"Love you
too." We walked to wherever the road might takes us, we didn't know what
lay ahead, but we would met it, together.
~There are no strangers, only friend yet to be made.
Alex Warlorn
Flames, comments, suggestions, corrections, objections,
and the occasional constructive crittizem all welcome.
