Hey everyone! So it's been awhile since I've posted anything, just over eight months, actually. It's also been awhile since I've been doing any reading or reviewing on this site. I had a rough semester this fall. But I'm back now, and I have a belated Christmas gift for you all (Yes, I know it's already New Year's Day, but I got Skyrim for Christmas and it consumed my life, excuses, excuses). So I hope everyone's had a happy holiday season and I wish everyone a happy New Year. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon. If I did, it would be nothing like it is now.
It was cold outside. Cold enough for snow to fall, yet none fell from the gray skies. The air nipped at her exposed nose, making it tingle with a sharp sort of pain. Even her hands felt some of this sensation, and they were covered by gloves and stuffed into the pockets of her red woolen jacket.
She sighed as she looked ahead of her, seeing that she still had a fair way to go before she reached the Cerulean Plaza Mall. Her insides felt as though they were freezing over as she inhaled the frosty air, prompting her to sharply exhale. Her breath appeared as a fog in front of her face, billowing like a cloud, rushing toward the sky, in front of her face, as though it were trying to join it's fellow clouds.
This place is going to be so packed today, Misty thought as she trudged on through the city streets, toward her destination. It was Christmas Eve today, and she was going shopping, along with everyone who had put off buying gifts until now. A surprising number of people, in her opinion anyway, did this every single year. She liked to have thought people would learn that it always ended in a stressful rush, where what you wanted to buy was nowhere to be found amongst the throngs of other people trying to buy the same things, but every year she was disappointed.
She, of course, had already bought her gifts, the ones that would be given the next day, anyway. She had a slightly different purpose there. The gift she was looking for would be for someone who probably wouldn't be receiving it anytime soon, someone who never came home for Christmas, let alone to visit her.
She had bought him a gift every year on Christmas Eve since they parted ways. For some reason, it seemed fitting to do it on Christmas Eve. She didn't know why, but it seemed right. She never went with anything in mind, and always came back with something that would fit under the category of a "meaningful gift." The first year she had done this, she bought a locket necklace, in which she put a picture of the two of them. She had intended to give him this gift, but he stayed in the Hoenn Region, continuing his grand journey. She supposed he viewed Christmas presents as a distraction, and decided not to give it to him.
Every year, this happened, and four Christmases later, she had come to expect nothing less of him. She understood that he had his dream, but she missed him so much, and was always disappointed when the only thing of his to turn up was a Christmas card.
She tried not to feel down or depressed about him on Christmas, it was supposed to be a happy day, but it always seemed to overshadow her mind. Memories of him flashed through her head, his visage constantly occupied her mind's eye, more so than usual, and it all just made her feel a little bit empty inside. It wasn't nearly as bad as it was a few years ago, but she still felt pangs of sadness every so often. At least she wasn't curled up in a ball in her room, fondling the little locket she bought him, crying her eyes out like she did that first year.
She shook her head, as if she were shaking those memories out of it, and refocused her mind to the task at hand. She could see the mall, just a block or two ahead of her. There were hordes of people, just as she had anticipated. She sighed again. People never learn, she thought. As she neared the mall, everything became louder, snippets of conversations flew by her, taxicabs beeping their horns at the endless lines of pedestrians crossing the streets, the incessant Christmas music coming from the mall's speakers. She could have sworn she had heard that "All I Want For Christmas Is You" song that was playing fifteen times in the last week.
She resigned herself to following the current of people, as there was no other way to get into the mall. It got her there eventually. The mall was basically a long, two story hallway, lined on each side by stores, with an atrium in the middle. There were lights everywhere inside and the whole place seemed to glisten with color. Every pillar had a helix of fake fir branch, woven with multicolored lights, winding up it, every railing had semicircles of that same stuff hanging from it. Lighted wreathes, complete with red bows, were placed every twenty feet down the whole length of the place. And then there was the massive Christmas tree in the middle of it, densely packed with ornaments and lights of every color imaginable, ringed by arches that appeared to be made of candy cane, and of course, the ornate, red velvet throne, occupied by none other than Santa Claus himself, with a sleigh parked next to it, complete with a sack of perfectly wrapped gifts. Of course, she couldn't see all of this, but she knew it was there. It was always there. The music remained the same, sometimes punctuated by other stores' music. The sound of everyone inside echoed off of every surface, creating an undecipherable droning sound that permeated the entire mall. It was also heated, which was nice. The tingling in her nose started to fade and she no longer had to stuff her hands in her pockets to stave off hypothermia. She tried to stop to take it all in, but quickly discovered, as someone bumped into her back almost immediately, that the sheer number of people that were all moving in the same direction wouldn't allow her to do that.
She looked to her right for potential places to shop, knowing that there was a river of people moving in the opposite direction to her left that she would have to ford if anything over there caught her fancy. The current of people would take her on a loop of the mall anyway.
The first bit of this side of the mall only had upscale jewelry stores and clothing boutiques, nothing he would be interested in getting or Misty would be interested in buying, so she didn't pay too much attention. She knew the store she would be visiting first, the Brookstone, which was the first store at the end of the row of designer suits and diamond rings. Brookstone sold basically whatever looked what she could only describe as "neato," which seemed perfect for him. She always went there figuring there might be something that was both sentimental and kind of cool.
She ducked between a few people as soon as she saw the inside of the store, escaping the migrant herd of people as soon as she could. The store was pretty populated, and filled with things like electric wine bottle openers, memory foam pillows, vibrating massage chairs and the like. She couldn't help but ogle at the pokeballs with built in smart phones. She picked one up and smiled at the novelty of it. He might have liked it, she thought, but there were many reasons for not buying it, the first being that he already had a phone. After walking around for a little bit, she decided nothing suited her fancy, and left to move on to the next store.
Soon she passed by the Christmas tree display, and inevitably, "Santa Claus." Of course, she knew it couldn't be the real Santa Claus, whom she had met on her travels with Ash and Brock, because he would be far too busy to bother coming to a mall. A bitter feeling welled up in the pit of her stomach at the sight of it all. When she was young, she and her sisters would come here for Santa, and they wouldn't let her talk to him, saying that it was useless because her only presents would be hand-me-downs from them anyway. She quickly shut these memories out of her head and continued her search.
The next store that caught her eye was this cute little place that sold an eclectic assortment of trinkets, jewelry and crafts that at least appeared to be hand-made. It was the same store in which she had bought that locket those few years ago. Suddenly memories came rushing back to her, the excitement she got from picking out the romantic little gift, the anticipation she felt from waiting to give it to him, the nervousness from planning to confess her girlish crush on him. And with those memories came feelings, feelings of love, of sadness, of missing him, almost as though she had lost him. She began to feel a hole opening up in her heart, an empty space that was all too familiar to her. She hadn't felt in in awhile, she had been too busy lately to think about him too much, but now that she was doing this, she couldn't help but think of how much she missed him.
Heat began to rush to her face. She began to feel a dull anxiety rising in her chest. She didn't like it when she felt this way; it reminded her of how she used to feel, when they had first parted ways. The days when she could hardly get out of bed, when she could hardly muster up the motivation to battle gym challengers, when all she wanted to do was sit in her room and be alone came back to her. She began to fear that it would happen to her again. But all she could think about is how much she missed that laugh of his, those eyes of his, all of him. She even missed their fights, at least they were entertaining, though frustrating.
"Hello, miss," a voice suddenly said to her, shaking her from her thoughts, causing her head to jerk upwards, "have you heard about our Christmas sale? Buy one, get one half-off." The saleswoman smiled at her, her hands clasped and her head tilted to the left.
"Oh, that's cool. I'll keep that in mind," she replied sullenly.
"Were you looking for anything in particular?"
"Uh, no, I was just going to look around."
"Okay, if you need anything, just let me know." The saleswoman walked away and Misty recommitted to her search for something nice.
She walked up to one of the shelves. Necklaces with stylistically carved pokemon pendants lined it. Some of them were hard to recognize, but it didn't take much to figure out what they were. She noticed that the ropes on each necklace were decorated differently according to the type of Pokemon on the pendant. Fire types had flames lining the rope, electric types had bolts of lightning, water types had cascades of water, and so on. They were nice, but they didn't give her that sentimental feeling that she wanted from her gift. Not even the one with the pikachu pendant did it for her.
She went to one of the tables in the center and looked inside one of the wicker baskets. Inside, she saw a little red wire-frame bicycle, with a basket attached to the front, and inside the basket, a little felt pikachu was smiling up at her. She couldn't help but be reminded of the day they first met and she started to feel a little of that feeling. She went to pick one up, but her hand collided with another hand. She began to lift her head up to apologize, but the other person beat her to it.
"Sorry about that." The sound of the voice made her heart skip a beat. A spike of what felt like adrenaline shot through her stomach. It sounded exactly like him. She looked up, just to confirm that she was hearing things, but what she saw did just the opposite.
"Ash?" she asked, not sure if she was asking herself or him who he was.
"Pikachupi!" A high pitched voice squeaked from behind him, as a pikachu shot out from behind him, presumably out of a backpack, and jumped into her arms.
"Misty? Is that you?" he asked, almost incredulously.
She removed her hat, assuming that it was why he didn't immediately recognize her. "Yeah, it is. Wha- what are you doing here?" She felt a smile coming onto her face as her disbelief began to slowly be replaced by sheer happiness.
"Well... I was supposed to be surprising you for Christmas -" He started scratching at his head, "- but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised I ran into you here. Ya know, 'cuz you live here and all." That goofy smile of his began to creep onto his face as he stood there.
She started laughing, not because she thought what he said was funny, but because she felt like the joy she was feeling was beginning to overflow, and that it was now spilling out of her mouth in the form of laughter. Pikachu jumped out of her arms, back onto Ash's shoulder, almost as if he could tell that all she wanted to do was hug Ash. And she did exactly that, bringing him into a tight embrace, which he returned. A warmth entered her soul that she hadn't felt since the last time she saw him, since the last time he held her like this.
"I missed you," she said to him.
"I missed you too, Misty."
She felt a soft patch of fur rub up against her face.
"Pika..." she heard next to her ear. She giggled a little bit.
"Yes, I missed you too, Pikachu."
"Chu," Pikachu replied, satisfied.
Eventually, they broke the embrace. She looked back at his face. He had gotten older, that was for sure, but he was certainly still Ash. His eyes still had that ambitious fire in them, though something seemed a little bit different about them, maybe the ambition was burning for something other than Pokemon-Masterdom, she could not tell.
"So what brings you here? You don't seem like the last minute shopper type," he commented.
"Oh, uh, I-I was just... trying to take advantage of the sales that they have." She cringed inwardly at her own bad acting. While it wasn't a lie, it was only a small part of the truth. Surely he would see right through that display.
"Oh, well there are a lot of them." He didn't seem to have picked up on anything at all. I guess I forgot this is Ash I'm dealing with, she thought.
"Yeah, there sure are. You know, I'm getting kind of tired of this place. Why don't we head over to the Gym to catch up on old times."
"Sure! Sounds great! Just give me one second." He grabbed one of the little bicycles and walked over to the cash register. Misty couldn't help but hope he was buying that for her. It would be such a sweet little gift. Her heart fluttered as he walked back over to her. His hands were behind his back, as if he were trying to hide the presumed gift.
"Ya know, I never really did get you that bike. So I figure this'll do," he said as he brought the little bike out from behind his back. Misty felt her heart melt a little bit as a weird satisfaction permeated her body, like a hole in her soul had finally been filled. He cheeks began to heat up; she was blushing, though it didn't feel large enough for him to notice. She reached out for it, and as she grasped it, a smile crept onto her lips.
"Merry Christmas, Misty. Sorry it's been so long."
"It's okay. You're here now, that's all that matters. And thanks, it's a sweet gift." With that, they started on their way out of the mall and to the Cerulean Gym.
"You're welcome. But yeah, I've always viewed the whole pokemon thing as the most important thing in my life, but something got me to realize that I've been a bad friend, and friends and family are what's really important." Ash looked down, obviously disappointed in himself.
"It's okay, Ash, I understand. It's your dream."
"Yeah, but what's the use of a dream if you don't have friends to share it with, and at this rate, I won't have many friends left."
"You'll never lose me as a friend. I can promise you that much."
"Thanks, Misty. That means a lot to me... So you're not mad at me?"
"No. I've felt like getting angry at you for not showing up, but now that you're here... I'm just happy. Maybe I should get angry and start yelling at you, for old times sake."
"I'd rather you not." Misty smiled at him and giggled a little bit. They were nearing the exit of the mall. Then she realized she never got him a present. Maybe I could just give him one of the old gifts, she thought. But that just wouldn't feel right. It almost felt like cheating to her. She supposed she would think of something. Suddenly she realized that the silence that had formed between them was lasting a little longer than it should have.
"So... you came here to get me a gift did you? That seems so un-Ash-like," she teased.
"Yeah, you'd think that. But this year I've decided I'd buy all of my friends gifts for Christmas. May, Max, Dawn, Brock, my two new friends who travel in Unova with me, even Gary."
"Wow, Where'd you get the money for all those gifts?"
"My mom," he answered, giving a bashful grin, scratching the back of his neck.
"So why are you here?" she asked.
"Uh... You're not happy that I am?" he asked in return. She could tell from the tone of his voice that this question made him nervous.
"I already told you I was. I just want to know why you're here out of all the places you could be."
"Uh, well... I guess it's because you're the one I haven't seen in the longest. Maybe because I feel like I owe you the most in terms of lost time," he said almost dismissively.
"'I guess,' 'maybe.' You don't even sound convinced of your own reasons."
"Okay, so maybe you're the one I wanted to see the most... because I miss you the most."
Misty felt her insides begin to well up with a strange mixture of satisfaction, validation and delight that she could only describe to herself as "gooey." It was the sort of feeling that she got while watching the two main characters in a romantic comedy finally get together, only it was real, it was salient to something in which she was truly vested.
"That's... really sweet, Ash. I missed you a lot too. More than you know..." Her voice trailed off as she accidentally let out that last bit. She felt herself getting nervous as to what is response would be.
"Ya know, you can always come traveling with me again. You'll always be welcome," he offered with a smile, and maybe a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
"You know I can't do that. Believe me, I want to, but my place is here, at the Gym. If I'm ever confident that one of my sisters could take over for me, then I might take you up on that, but it doesn't seem likely." Her voice was sullen. She wanted to go with him more than anything, but she couldn't possibly forsake the Gym.
"I understand, but just let me know and you can join back up with me... How are things at the Gym anyway?" And with that they started catching up with each other. The whole way to the Gym they told stories, Ash of his travels, Misty of her dealings with challengers and her sisters. As they talked, she began to remember why she had fallen for him. Talking to him, being with him just felt so right to her, so natural.
When they arrived at the Gym, they sat down in her living room, where they kept the Christmas tree. Pikachu went off to play with Misty's other pokemon.
"That's a nice tree you guys got there."
"Yeah, Daisy and I decorated it. Lily and Violet... well, they're off in their own little world."
"You guys have a lot of presents. Any of them for me by any chance. I got you one, after all." She was fairly sure she was joking, but she could hear that a small part of him was serious about it.
"Well, most of those presents are for my sisters, from fans. And to be honest, I was going to the mall to buy you something, but then you showed up..." She looked down and away from him.
"Don't worry about it Mist. Just that you were even thinking of buying me a gift that you thought I would probably never get means a lot to me." Mist, she felt more of that gooey feeling every time he used that name. She fancied it his pet name for her, like they were a couple, just how she imagined it to be.
Misty took a second to think. Should I give it to him, and tell him how I feel, will he accept my feelings, will he return them? She found herself lost in such thoughts. A whirlwind of anxiety began to whip up in her chest at the thought of telling him of her love for him. She decided that she wouldn't get anywhere by waiting to do it, so she got up and walked over to the closet. As the fear began to congeal in her stomach, she consoled herself in the thought that not telling him would be just as bad as a rejection, because either way, she wouldn't be with him, though it didn't do much to stave off the terror of it all.
Her fingers trembled when they reached the doorknob to the closet. She shut her eyes tightly, attempting to brace herself for what was to come, and grabbed the knob. A tingling feeling started to manifest in her fingers, accompanied by a strange, almost unpleasant warmth. Her face got hot when she saw the silver oval locket, on it's silver chain. The heat in her face and hands was quickly replaced by an unsettling cold when she grabbed the locket and turned around.
"What've you got there, Misty? Is it a present?"
She froze where she stood. Time seemed to halt before her and the whole of existence, save for Ash, the locket and herself, seemed to fade from existence. She could feel her heart beating as she stood there, numb with fear. Negative thoughts spread through her head like a virus, infecting every part of her mind it touched. He's going to reject you, he's going to laugh at you, he's going to say that he hates you, he's going to tell you to get out of his life. Hardly any of it made any sense, but that didn't stop it from getting to her.
"Misty?" Ash's voice broke her trance.
"Ash, I may not have gotten you something today, but I have something I want to give you." The words started spilling out of her mouth, and as they did, so did the fear spill out of her mind. Her life became a mere play, and she simply watched as she said her lines that she had been practicing for so long. She felt suddenly felt devoid of anything, even control over her own actions and words, she left that to her well practiced mental vision of what she wanted to say to him when she confessed.
"What is it?"
"Here." She watched as he took the locket from her hand and opened it.
"It's a picture of us," he said plainly with a somewhat blank face.
"It's something to remember me by. I don't want you to forget me... because I'll never forget you. You've changed my life in so many ways. And-"
"Misty, I'd never forget you," he said, interrupting her.
"Just let me finish what I have to say. And we've been through so much together, -" She sat down next to him as she said this. His face looked as though he were in awe, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly agape. "- I don't know if I'd be who I am today if it weren't for you. So I want to thank you for everything you've done for me. Hopefully, I've changed your life at least a little bit too, and maybe this locket will remind you of that." She placed her hands on his and gently closed his hand on the locket. She saw a blush begin to form on his cheeks.
"You've changed my life too, Misty. You definitely kept my ego in check when I needed it. And-"
"I don't know if I've changed your life in the same way you've changed mine."
"Well, how did I change yours then?"
"Ash, when I'm around you, I feel... different, like something is right that isn't otherwise. I feel good, no, I feel great. Even when we argue, through all the frustration, I feel right being around you. You make me feel special. And nobody else makes me feel that way, either. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel... well, I wouldn't call it love, because we're only sixteen and I don't have anything else to compare it to, but... I feel something like that for you." Her voice began to trail off as her consciousness began to return from it's dreamlike state, but she didn't feel the dread she was expecting. She supposed that she accepted whatever fate had in store for her, whether he returned her feelings or not.
"Misty... I-" She interrupted him.
"And I don't expect you to say or do anything now... I just wanted to say that."
"Misty, this whole time, I've wanted to say something about that mistletoe we're sitting under, because I've always wanted to kiss you, but I haven't been able to pluck up the courage to say anything until now," he blurted out quickly.
"Huh?" she asked, a bit dazed from his fast response. She looked up and, sure enough, there was a mistletoe, hanging directly above them. Suddenly, she felt something warm on her cheek and Ash's face was now quite close to hers. It then registered that Ash had pecked her on the cheek. She quickly transitioned into another dreamlike state, but this one was more pleasant. She could hear her heart begin to thump as she lowered her head and her nose brushed against Ash's, making chills run down her spine at the contact. All she could see were his eyes. She could see that fire burning brighter than ever before as she sat there, frozen in that moment. His eyes started to close and as they did, so did hers. She started to be able to feel Ash's nose again, sliding along hers tantalizingly slowly as she inched her head forward.
Then, as their lips touched, for the first time in her life she knew what the movies were talking about when "the fireworks" came up. It wasn't something visual, it was something internal. She could feel the adrenaline blazing out of her heart, rushing through her veins and exploding in bursts of flame, like fireworks. She could feel her soul being lit up, a hundred different colors, as she sat there in awe. She moved her arm and held his face in her hand, pulling him a little bit closer into the kiss. That adrenaline continued pumping out of her chest as their lips swept past each other. In what seemed to be an eternity, but was in reality only a few moments, they pulled back from each other. She felt a huge smile come onto her face as she started to giggle out of pure happiness. A smile began to form on his face as she opened her eyes.
"So does this mean you feel the same way about me?" Misty asked coyly.
"I think so... By the way, you didn't have to give me a present. Being with you is the greatest gift I could ask for. And that kiss wasn't so bad either." Misty chuckled at that.
"Not so bad? Is that all I get?" she asked playfully.
"Okay, maybe it was awesome," he replied, grinning.
"Well, same to you too, about the gift and the kiss."
"Oh, just you wait. I have another gift for you for tomorrow."
"Oh, really? Well, I guess I'll have to get you something too."
"Another kiss would be nice." The playfulness of their banter delighted her to no end.
"I can do that. I can do that right now, in fact." With that, they kissed again. This time, the only thought that went through her head was this: I've really gotta train Daisy to run this Gym...
So there it was. I hope you enjoyed it. Review it if you so choose; I appreciate all praise and I'm open to criticism, provided it's constructive. If there are any mistakes, feel free to point them out so I can edit them out for future readers.
Thanks for reading,
Sardonicus