Who Do You Choose?
Chapter 1: Having Misty Feelings
The air was tense, the situation dire. Ash found himself cornered like a Rattata. The only ally he had in this corner was his trusted Pokémon Pikachu who really was of no help in the situation. Ash faced the likes of Lance, the Pokémon Champion, in heated battle, stood face to face with legendary Pokémon like Lugia and even saved the world on more than one occasion. But none of those experiences could prepare him for this. None of them.
There was no easy way out, no escape rope to get him out, but there was this: one question. If the answer he gave satisfied it, he would be off the hook. In itself, the question was deceptively simple to answer.
Ash, who do you choose!?
The question echoed in the young trainer's mind reminding him of the importance of a careful, well-thought, and precise answer he must give. The emphasis on 'who' may have been a particular bit to note. It had been a few moments since he was presented with the question. But Ash calmly took a breath-taking into the tense air and faced them with confidence ready to give his answer. Ash knew the answer he must give, after all, he did think it through. Right?
"I really can't choose." he replied with a nervous laugh.
The room fell silent. But it wasn't that silence of awe or shock, but the deathly silence that foretells worse to come. The sound of facepalms followed by sighs of disbelief could briefly be heard in the silence. What has Ash done?
Let's turn back the clock to an earlier time to see how things got to where they are now.
It was close to noon at the Ketchum residence. The kitchen was busy as Delia Ketchum was cooking a grand meal fit for roughly eight guests. The meal was a part of a small celebration for her son's traveling companions from years before.
It had been nearly two years since Ash returned from Unova. Although he didn't finish number one that didn't stop him. Ash decided to come back and take on his home region Kanto for a second time. Learning from his successes and failures along with his trusted team of Pokémon, Ash placed number one in the Indigo League, defeated the Elite Four, and finally the Pokémon Champion Lance himself some months ago. And just like that, Ash fulfilled his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master and was the Kanto Pokémon Champion. He became something of an overnight sensation as fans far and wide came to know the name Ash Ketchum.
While Ash enjoyed the fame, it quickly became a bother to him. At first, the wave of fans asking for his autograph was fun, but when the paparazzi started to show up almost everywhere he went and sometimes places he was thinking about going started to become a little much for his liking. There was an incident where he was attack by one of his more energetic fans. After "leaking" a rumor that he was planning to go to the Unova region and take on the champion, Ash shook the media and he was finally able to quietly return to his home in Pallet Town. Although a Pokémon Master, he wasn't quite satisfied with being simply a master he wanted to the best, but that was for another time. For now, Ash was content resting back at home particularly in his bed.
"Ash?" Delia called from the kitchen. Silence responded to her. She called for her son once more, but heard nothing.
"That son of mine." she said as she left the kitchen to go upstairs to Ash's room.
She quietly opened the door and walked into her son's room.
Ash's room was a bit of a mess to put it mildly. The floor was covered with shirts and pants making the floor below seem like a myth. Ash was fast asleep in his bed sleeping peacefully under the covers snoring lightly with his Pikachu next to him. Delia took a moment to look at her son sleeping peacefully.
"Ash, wake up." Delia she said quietly into his ear. She heard him mumble something, but he still remained asleep. Delia took her hands and pinched his cheek and well...kind of dragged him out of bed.
"WAAAA!" Ash said suddenly awake as he tumbled off the bed Pikachu and all.
"Ash you're awake. Get dressed and come down stairs." Delia said innocently as she left the room. "But first, clean up your room."
"Yes." Ash said holding his redden cheek. Pikachu crawled out from under him.
"Pika." he said still a little drowsy.
A knock on the door was heard. The first of the guests had arrived.
"Ash, can you get the door?" Delia called from the kitchen.
"Alright!" she heard her son reply as she heard him quickly descend the stairs.
Although he's now twelve, not much has changed about Ash. He still had that familiar spiky black hair that made him stand out in a crowd, if anything it was spikier and a little messier now. He still enjoyed traveling and battling other trainers even after he became the champion. A few inches and little more muscular, Ash was still that same kid on the inside who's amber eyes gleamed with ambition and passion for Pokémon. Ash wore his old Pokémon League hat from his travels in Kanto again with a blue collared vest and black pants.
Ash opened the door and was faced with a familiar orange-haired girl whose hair was partly in a pony tail to her left as the rest went down further a little past her neck. She had viridian colored eyes and wore a yellow top and matching yellow shorts holding a small box in her hand. At first, it took him a moment to recognize the female in front of him, but after a moment the name came to mind.
"Misty, good to see you again!" Ash said smiling happily.
"Good to see again too." Misty said sweetly returning the smile.
"Something's different about you." Ash said staring at Misty a little.
"R-really?" Misty said a little flustered as she started to toy with a strand of her orange hair almost as if to hint that it was her hair.
"Ah-ha! You actually look like a girl!" Ash said jokingly as if he's been waiting to use that line.
Misty stopped toying with her hair and stared blankly at the smiling boy. And just like that, Misty went from sweet to well...
"Jerk!" Misty said angrily as she jabbed the boy in the arm. The punch itself wasn't hard enough to break a bone, but hard enough to leave a good amount of soreness in his arm.
"I was just joking." he said laughing. "Please, come in."
Ash moved aside gesturing her to enter his home. As the girl walked by, Ash rubbed his sore arm with his free hand. He felt that one.
Ash and Misty were now in the living room sitting by each other and catching up on each other's lives since they've went their separate ways. A lot of things have happened in the two years Ash was training and looks weren't the only thing that changed.
"And just like that, Lance's Dragonite went down!" Ash said triumphantly as he finished telling the story of his victory to become the Pokémon Champion.
Misty only stared in amazement at the passionate look on Ash's face as he told the story. It didn't take a genius to tell that Ash had told this story more than once to people who weren't his friends, but the passion and excitement in his voice made the story far more lively than what was televised. With each moment of the story, his eyes gleamed with a fire of ambition that showed how passionate he was for the battle.
For the last two years, Misty had something of a crush on the young champion. Okay, it was far more than a mere crush. She wasn't entirely sure when she started having feelings for the boy, but the time she traveled with him she saw him mature as a trainer and well...as a person. Was it his drive to become a Pokémon Master that she admired? Or maybe it was his amber eyes that gleamed with ambition that she could lose herself in? Maybe it was that child-like personality that drew her to him? Whatever it was, Misty's heart was Ash's to have even if he didn't know it.
"Um, Misty? Are you okay?" Ash asked breaking Misty from her thoughts. "Your cheeks are a little red."
"W-what? T-they are?" Misty said realizing that she was sort of blushing only causing her to blush even harder from embarrassment.
"You're not sick are you?" Ash asked concerned.
"No! I'm fine!" Misty said quickly turning her face away from Ash's to avoid making eye contact.
Ash wasn't convinced, but decided that its best he doesn't pry any further. He turned his attention on the small box Misty had set on the coffee table in front of them. He was rather curious of the contents of the box. He noticed that Misty looked at in an odd way while they were talking a few times.
"So what's with the box?" Ash said changing the subject.
"It's a gift..." Misty said still with her face still turned. "...For you." she ended quietly, but Ash could still hear it.
Ash took the box and started unwrapping the box. With the unwrapping done, he opened the box and it revealed a golden rounded coin of some sort.
"An Amulet Coin?" Ash said a little surprised.
"Yeah." Misty said looking back to Ash. "I heard they bring good luck so..."
"Thank you." Ash said with a giant smile. Misty's face started to turn red again.
It was something about that smile that Misty couldn't resist. It was so genuine and heartfelt that she couldn't help but blush even harder. He really did like her gift.
"Misty, your face is red again." Ash said once again breaking Misty from her thoughts.
"What?" she said a little flustered being caught once again blushing. "Oh, i-it's nothing." she ended trying to laugh it off.
This time, Ash was sure she was sick. He placed the gift back on the coffee table and faced Misty looking rather serious.
"Ash what are y-"
Before she could finish Ash placed his forehead on Misty's. Misty face heated up at the closeness of the two.
'This isn't happening!' Misty thought in panic. Her mind began to race and heart rate practically skyrocketed. She saw the distance between the two and notice how close their lips were from one another. She had enough!
"Misty, are you sure you're not sick?" Ash said. "You head is really hot." he said before he lifted his forehead off of hers. But somewhere between he stopped and stared into Misty's eyes.
Something about her eyes seem to catch Ash's attention. He never noticed how beautiful they were. Wait, why was he thinking of something like that?
"Ash..." Misty said almost like a whisper.
"Yes?" Ash said nervously at her rather...meek voice.
"Can you check my temperature again?"
"I don't know how that'll-"
"Just do it." she said almost impatiently.
Ash wasn't entirely sure, for obvious reasons, what was going on, but he did as Misty requested. He once again rested his forehead against hers and she still felt the about the same.
"Misty, I don't think-"
Ash was cut off as he felt Misty's lips lightly brush against his in a small, quick kiss before she broke away. Though it was quick, it seemed to last longer to Ash. The kiss was soft and light almost hesitant, but with a touch of conviction.
'What's going on!? What just happened!? What!? WHAT!?' Ash thought with his mind running wild. He was frozen with his face inches away from hers.
Nothing really made sense with him at this point. Ash could feel his face heating up to the point where steam was coming out of his ears. He tried to collect his thoughts trying to make sense of what his friend just did.
"Ash..." Misty said in a whisper like tone as her face was still red. "I really missed you over these last two years..."
Wait, where was this coming from? It's naturally to miss a friend, but what just happened here...was that normal between friends? As much as Ash wanted to get to the bottom of this, he was still focused on what Misty had to say.
"I missed traveling with you, being by your side, watching you become a better trainer..."
At this point, her voice was filled with longing and hurt. But for him? I mean sure they were close, but did he mean that much to her? Ash wasn't sure what he was feeling, but he felt something.
"Ash...I...I want to be more..." Misty said choking on her words.
Ash waited anxiously for the answer. More than what? What?
"More than...just friends." Misty finally said as she turned her eyes away.
Ash didn't know how to reply. I mean sure he liked Misty a lot, as a friend, but she wanted to be more than that? What did that mean exactly? What did that kiss mean? What did any of it mean? What was this feeling he was having?
"Misty...I...well...I..." Ash said unable to find the words.
In the middle of him trying to find his words, a knock was heard...