Welcome to PokeShipping Week 2015! So, this whole thing was started on Tumblr (which I now have one of if you're interested) and I decided I'd join in on the fun and write up a oneshot for each day. This won't be easy, but I am determined to succeed! Now then, I won't keep you guys any longer. Here's the first theme: "If Misty never left." I own nothing except the story.
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Six years. It's been six years since I started my journey, six years since I got my first Pokémon and best pal in the whole world, Pikachu. It's been six years since I got my first gym badge, and six years since I first entered the Indigo League...but now, I'm finding myself reflecting on a different milestone, one that has come to mean more to me over the years than all the other ones combined.
It's been six years since I met Misty.
Camping underneath the stars in our sleeping bags, I sometimes find myself unable to sleep, and I think about what it would've been like if Misty had ever left the group. There had been a brief scare when I was thirteen where her sisters had called her back to the Cerulean City gym to take over for them while they went on a cruise, but luckily Misty had told them to shove off. She used slightly harsher language than that but if I used it myself, I swear my mom would somehow find a way to get all the way out here just to slap me.
I was thirteen years old when Misty got that call, and I felt something stir in my heart that was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. The thought of losing Misty and having to travel without her made me feel sick to my stomach and my chest ached at the idea of traveling alone. I didn't really understand it at the time, but now I do. Misty and I had gotten so close from our travels that we were practically connected. There's a special bond that we share that not even Pikachu and I can say we have with each other.
Misty can be demanding, she can be aggressive, and sometimes she can just be one of the biggest pains in the neck you'll ever encounter. I've thought all of those things over our six years of traveling, and there are times when I still think that. But I wouldn't trade her for anyone else in the world.
May was nice, and so was Dawn. I actually enjoyed getting to act as the mentor for once instead of the mentee. Iris was...interesting, and I learned a lot from her as Unova was a region that was the home of all sorts of unique Pokémon that Misty and I never even knew existed. But as much fun as they were to travel with, I'd still choose Misty in a heartbeat.
People don't realize what she's meant to me over our six years together, sometimes I forget myself...of course that's quickly fixed by a swift bop on the head courtesy of Misty's mallet...where does she keep that thing anyway? The point is, she's meant a lot to me. She's been my mentor, my conscience, my comforter, my friend, my rival, my sparring partner, and my landing pad for when I fall. She's supported me - in her own way of course - ever since I started my journey, and to think it never would've happened if Pikachu hadn't fried her bike the first day we met.
I'll be the first to admit, she's gotten on my nerves a lot over our six years together, and the reverse is true for her of course. Bickering has become a very common thing for us and it's practically routine at this point, luckily our arguments nowadays are kept short and they're usually over trivial things like the direction we're supposed to be going and when we should stop for lunch while on the road. In place of the torture we used to put each other through, there's now a deep bond of friendship that would never be broken no matter who came along, and I'm so grateful for that.
But all of those things I mentioned Misty meant to me? Yeah they're all true, and they're really important to me. Misty is a huge reason that I am who I am today. But there's one last thing I didn't mention yet, and it's quite possibly the biggest thing of all and also the one I'm happiest to think about whenever I do. Misty is still my conscience at times, still my rival, my sparring partner, my comforter and friend, she's still all those things.
But as of just a few months ago...she's now also my girlfriend.
Just thinking about how we got together brings a grin to my face, and watching her sleep so peacefully makes my heart swell as this is when Misty is really at her prettiest. I have no idea when I started thinking of Misty as pretty, I know it was before we officially became a couple but I can't pin down when exactly I'd come to the conclusion that I was attracted to her. Maybe I always was and I never realized it.
Here in the moonlight, she looks like an angel sent from above. Her short hair cutely framing her face and a small, content smile gracing her features as she slept. She sure wasn't scrawny anymore, her family genetics had taken hold of her a few years ago and she's grown into an amazing woman since then. I'm just glad I was able to keep up and be a good enough guy for her. In all honesty, Misty could have any guy she wanted at the drop of a hat, but imagine my shock when I found out that she'd been waiting for me all these years.
I told her how I felt about her just before our journey in Unova ended, and she whacked me on the top of the head and started crying with a smile on her face, asking what had taken me so long to say something. After that, we hugged and even took a crack at kissing for the first time. It was a little weird, but in a good way. We're a lot better now though so I enjoy it a lot more too.
Honestly, I wish I'd told her long before Unova. I think I started knowing I was attracted to her when I saw how May and Drew teased each other relentlessly, and Misty would tell me over and over how they liked each other, how obvious it was. I think that was when a light bulb came on in my head, and I suddenly saw Misty in a different light. Strange way for me to realize it I know, but since when I have ever done anything the normal way? But then again, like I said, I can't pin it down for sure.
Six years I've traveled with her and only now am I getting to enjoy the true amount of love and caring that Misty has for me, a passion that I never knew she had until that fateful evening when I worked up the courage to confess my feelings. Brock had tried so hard to get me to do it earlier in Hoenn and even in Sinnoh, I kinda feel bad that I waited until Unova to tell Misty anything and make Brock miss out on everything. He was my biggest supporter during that confusing time, and I owe him a lot for Misty and me getting together.
I love her with everything I am, and I intend to make sure she's mine forever someday. For six years we've been traveling together and I firmly believe it was fate that we met, the connection we have is just too strong for it to be coincidence. I remember telling her it was fate that we met back when I thought she was leaving me to go home, and I remember being ecstatic when she came back and said she was going to be staying. She's my best friend and partner, my rival and my lover, and not a day goes by now that I don't give thanks for Misty being in my life.
Six years together, and tomorrow we'll be heading out on the road once more to explore a whole new region with all new Pokémon all over again. I'm excited about taking on the Kalos Region, but what makes me even more excited is that I'll have Misty by my side through it all. Six years we've been doing this now, and all I can think now is that I can't wait for year number seven.
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A/N: Did you like that? Done in Ash's point of view, I wanted to really go into the mind of Ash Ketchum as he reflects on what Misty has meant to him in his life (and what she WOULD HAVE meant if she'd stayed all along). So the next theme is "Afraid of losing you." Oh doesn't that sound happy? Oy...ANYWAY, if you enjoyed that, please leave a review! And check out my Tumblr if you haven't already, it's real easy to find, just google "echidnapower tumblr" and I'm there. So, thank you all for joining me, check out my profile for more stories that I've written, and as always, I will see YOU...in the next story. BUH BYEEEEEEE! (Markiplier imitation)