Catching Up To You
(part 1 of 7)

by Maeyan (maeyan@mailcity.com)

DISCLAIMER: While I have traded many pieces of paper for their goods,
I have no ownership or rights to the characters, etc of Pokémon.
If they're looking for new owners, however I get dibs on Gary!

AN: This story took me more than a YEAR to write! And I ended up
butchering huge chunks back out because my betas all asked "why is
that there"... so no Rocketshipper ending this time, kiddos. Maybe in
an epilogue? Or a side story? I still have most of the plot...
Anyway. Any feedback would be nice. Please send it to
maeyan@mailcity.com

SUMMARY: It's been ten years and Ash and Misty are still traveling
together. Will they ever get where they want to be?

---------------------

Part One:

"Y'know what? I quit!" His voice was sharp and not at all like his
normal tone. She turned to look at him and stood transfixed as she
watched Ash fiddle with his belt a moment before finally throwing his
Pokéballs to the ground.

Misty continued to stare as Pikachu ran to catch up with him as he
headed back down the path they'd just traveled. "Ash?" She grabbed up
his discarded Pokémon and hurried after him.

He stopped and turned to her. "What? What now, Misty? Can't I even
quit right?" The look on his face worried her. What was going on? He
seemed so sad all of a sudden.

"Stop it Ash. It's not funny." She tried to hand him his Pokéballs
but he pushed her hands away, shaking his head.

"I'm serious." He took off his hat, looked at it for a moment, and
then placed it on Misty's head. She gasped. His league hat. His most
prized possession since... well, since as long as she'd known him! "I
can't take it anymore. I'm tired of the arguing, the battling, the
walking, sleeping on the ground. I'm tired of it. What does it get
me? Every day- the same thing. I'll never make Pokémon Master, and
I don't know if I even want to anymore."

"Ash! Wait. I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean what I said, You know
that. I..."

He turned away from her. "Take care of Pikachu for me."

"Ash? Ash!" Misty watched as he disappeared from view. What had just
happened? One minute they're talking about setting up camp and the
next minute he's storming off in a snit. "Fine, Ash Ketchum. You can
have your little temper tantrum..." Okay so maybe they weren't
just 'talking'... "I'll just wait right here until you come crawling
back!" Maybe it was more like arguing?

Misty frowned at the empty road. How long had they been traveling
together that he didn't know she was just blowing off steam and
frustration? That she never really meant it when she yelled at him.
Hadn't they discussed that years ago? She was used to yelling to get
her point across. She was, after all, the youngest of four. He'd met
her sisters, even spent a few holidays with her family. He'd claimed
to understand.

But she couldn't shake a bad feeling about this. She'd never seen
that look in his eyes before, for one thing. It was like he had just
died inside. She sank to the ground. Pikachu climbed into her lap
with a soft "pika?" and she plopped the League hat on his head. He
grabbed hold of it and looked at her questioningly.

"He'll be back, Pikachu." I hope, she thought, with a prayer to every
god she'd ever heard of. But then, Ash had to come back. He couldn't
leave Pikachu behind. Could he? After this long?

She didn't know how long she sat there, Pikachu on her lap, just
watching the road. She shivered as the evening's breezes began to
turn cool, shaking her head, she set Pikachu on the ground and stood
to locate a good site for the night's camp. That was what she'd been
yelling at Ash about, but he had been right, as usual. She still had
to find firewood. And cook dinner. And feed the Pokémon. And...

"Ash? Hurry back," she whispered, as it suddenly dawned on her that
she was alone. She glanced at Pikachu who was still staring in the
direction Ash had gone and sighed as his whispered "Pi pi pika.
Pikapi?" floated to her with the breeze.

The sun set just as Misty finished setting up camp. Well, setting it
up as best she could on her own. Pikachu finally joined her and
together they managed the fire, but by the time she was done with
everything, Misty was ready for bed. When Ash comes back tonight, she
thought wearily, as she stretched and reached for his things,
there'll be a fire, but no dinner. "Serves him right," she added as
she laid out his sleeping bag for him. "Leaving his Pokémon and
all this junk for me to watch while he goes off," she fumed softly as
she crawled into her own bag.

"Pi Pikachu?" asked Pikachu as he curled up beside her. Misty looked
at him a moment, smiled, and ruffled his furry head.

"I'm sorry, Pikachu. You're no bother. I'm just upset with Ash. I
hope he's okay out there." She pulled her sleeping bag close and
drifted into an uneasy sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I... I'm afraid." She covered her face
with suddenly trembling hands. "What if
he doesn't make it?"

Ash pulled her into his arms with a soft
"shush" and crooned softly as she finally
let loose the tears she'd been holding back
for so long. "It'll be okay, Misty. It'll
be okay. I'm here. Don't worry, everything
will be fine."

He was still rocking her when Professor
Oak came back into the room. "Joy and I are
doing the best we can," the professor said
wearily as he removed the facemask. "but
you should probably be prepared for the
worst." He nodded to Ash. "Take her home,
Ash. There's nothing you two can do here,
and you both need rest."

Misty barely put up a struggle as Ash
helped her into her coat and walked her
down the stone path to his house. Mrs.
Ketchum was waiting at the door, looking
anxiously in their direction.

"Oh, Misty. I'm so sorry... He's gone."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, James?" Jessie stuck her head up
from the bushes and shook her hair free from the scraggly branches.
Her partner's head popped up next to her; the dim twilight backlit
the twigs sticking in all directions from his head as he grinned
inanely. She smiled; he looked like a ten-year-old, resisting curfew
and getting ready for a prank.

"Yes, I am, Jessie. He-he hehehe! The twerp is finally gone and
Pikachu is all ours."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But first things first!" came a third voice, and
Jessie turned to look behind them.

"Huh?" Heads rattled as they searched for their partner in crime.
Nothing was in sight.

"I'm right here, you numbskulls!"

"Meowth? Where are you?" Jessie was getting irritated. She was tired,
and this was their big chance to catch Pikachu; she wasn't going to
pass it up. The Boss had given them 30 days before they were to
finally be reassigned. She had doubts that a 'reassignment' was going
to be a good thing.

"Up here! Look up!" She followed the direction of the voice and
located the feline fiend. Meowth had apparently taken it into his
head to climb a tree and was now hanging from the branch just above
their heads.

"Meowth! What are you doing up there? Get down here at once!" Jessie
was moving past irritated and well into "angry." They still needed to
come up with a plan to actually capture Pikachu - what was Meowth
doing climbing trees?

Despite the fact that he was a cat, or maybe because of it, Meowth
had never been too great on getting down from trees.

"Meowth," James sounded confused. "What's more important than
catching Pikachu?"

Meowth sighed his 'I can't believe you're so dense' sigh. "I'll tell
you what's more important than catching that Pikachu! GETTING ME DOWN
FROM HERE! That's what!" Meowth shook and mewled softly, "I'm stuck."

"Ouuhh." sighed James as he stood to try to rescue their
Poképartner,
Pikachu temporarily forgotten in the midst of their own little
Pokécrisis. Jessie looked back towards the campsite where they had
seen the twerp leaving Pikachu and the girl. It was getting late-
they would have to plan tonight and then capture Pikachu tomorrow.
She clenched her fist and wondered briefly whether the next day would
bring about the victory they'd been chasing for the past decade or if
they would indeed fail again. Tomorrow was Day Thirty.

-----------------

Misty woke early and stretched to remove some of the ache from her
body, a smile on her face despite the bad dreams she'd had all night.

"Mmmm. Time to wake up, Ash. We've got to..." She looked over at his
sleeping bag and saw that her friend wasn't there. The bag hadn't
been slept in, which meant that Ash hadn't come back during the
night. "Ash..." Misty whispered, afraid. Maybe Ash wasn't just having
a temper tantrum; Maybe he was really gone. What would she do?

"Prepare for trouble!"

Misty looked up in time to see the two most familiar members of Team
Rocket swing from a vine onto a large rock in front of her. They were
dressed in green tights and feathered hats.

"Make that double!" James' pose included a rose, despite the Robin
Hood theme.

Strange, Misty thought, with a soft shake of her head. I never
thought seeing *these* idiots would make me feel better. But it's
almost comforting that they're still around. Even with Ash not
here...

"To protect the world from devastation..."
"To unite all peoples within our nation..."

Misty yawned and climbed out of her bag, forcing a sleepy Pikachu to
wake as well, and

"To denounce the evils of truth and love..."
"To extend our reach to the stars above..."

Ignoring the now familiar motto, Misty began to roll her sleeping
bag.

"Jessie..."
"James..."

Misty finished with her bag and walked over to Ash's. She paused for
a moment, looking around. Team Rocket was posing as usual, and Misty
ignored them. It was silly, she knew, but she hoped that Ash would
suddenly appear if she just waited long enough. She shook her head
and started to slowly roll up his sleeping bag as well.

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

Misty looked up just as the missing member of the team came swinging
in with his rhyming "Meowth! That's right!" His entrance sent his
teammates sprawling to the ground..

She gave a small grin but it died as she turned back to face Ash's
sleeping bag and pack. "Ash," she muttered wearily. "How did you ever
get this in here with all this junk?"

"Meowth! You knocked me down! Watch where you're going!"

"Yes, Meowth! That hurt!"

"Shut up youse guys, and let's get that Pikachu. We've gotta get back
on the Boss's good side or we're all gonna get hurt!"

"Right!"

"Let's do it!"

Misty finally gave up and threw Ash's things to the side. Turning on
her heels, she looked up at the three posturing Rockets, frowned, and
blew her unbrushed hair from her eyes. "Look guys. I'm sorry, but I
am not in the mood to deal with you today. Could we do this some
other time?"

"Oooh," Jessie cooed, swooning a bit. "The little girl *isn't in the
mood* to deal with us." Like lightening, she straightened and struck
a threatening pose. "Well, we're in the mood to take Pikachu! So deal
with that, missy!"

James laughed, mirrored his partner's pose and reached for a
Pokéball. "Yes. And when Team Rocket is playing, every deal is a
dirty one."

"Meee-owth! So *hand* over that Pikachu!"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu struck his favourite battle pose, sparks of
electricity gathering at his cheeks as Misty took a deep breath and
slowly rose to her feet. This was too much. Ash hadn't come back
(Ash? Where are you?) and now these idiots wouldn't go away. No
longer comforting, they were definitely going to get a taste of her
temper.

"My name is *Misty*, not missy. After all these years, you should
know *that* at least! I said I'm not in the mood for games. I've
asked you nicely, now I am telling you: LEAVE ME ALONE."

Jessie and Meowth laughed, while James giggled and pretended to
cower. "Ooooh. I am so scared, MISSY." He tossed his
Pokéball. "Wheezing! Smoke Screen!"

The ball struck the ground, releasing a beam of light as Wheezing
appeared between Misty and Team Rocket.

"Whee...zinguh..." the Pokémon muttered as it began spouting
clouds of dark gas from its body. Misty coughed, reaching to her belt
while she listened for Pikachu beside her. She knew all too well that
the smokescreen was just to allow Team Rocket time to sneak up and
take him. How many times had they done just that to Ash? Doesn't
really matter right now, does it? she thought, releasing her own
Pokéball. "Staryu, spin and watergun."

Misty reached for another Pokéball, keeping close to Pikachu as
Staryu's aerobatics cleared away Wheezing's smokescreen, the watergun
attack sweeping the opposing Pokémon into the brush. She strained
to see through the dissipating smoke, and caught a glimpse of the
terrible trio out of the corner of her eye. She turned quickly in
their direction and threw a second Pokéball. "Starmie! Tackle
attack, now!"

"Hyah!"

The attack sent Team Rocket flying backwards through the trees and
out of sight. Misty recalled her Pokémon and sank to the ground,
tears beginning to sting her closed eyes.

"Piiiiiii?" cried Pikachu, and Misty opened her eyes, looking about
wildly.

"What is it, Pikachu? Is Ash back?" No, but Pikachu was staring at
her, his small yellow shoulders drooped and tears in his own eyes.

"Pipi pik pika Pikachu?" he whispered, pointing at himself and then
looking in the direction of the vanquished bad guys. Misty was
confused for a minute, but suddenly it dawned on her: she hadn't used
Pikachu in the battle and he was feeling left out - Ash always used
him to finish off Team Rocket. She swept him in for a hug and
apologized.

"Oh Pikachu. I... I just didn't think... Ash would've... I mean... I
was worried about losing you too... and... and..." She couldn't
explain it to herself or to him, so she just held him close and
cried. "Dammit, Ash Ketchum, what am I going to do now?"

To Be Continued...

-------------------------------
DISTRIBUTION: Please respect my (limited) copyright and ASK
permission to borrow this story. This will be posted to my website
(http://draxonious.tripod.com/), fanfic.net, fanfic.org, the AAMRN
yahoo group and the PFFML yahoo group.

Please send any feedback to maeyan@mailcity.com