Misty sat up and yawned, stretching her arms. "It's a new day," she thought. She got out of her sleeping bag and walked over to Brock. One good kick later and he was awake.
"You know, you should stop waking us up that way!" Brock yelled. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and asked, "Is Ash up yet?"
"I forgot!" Misty turned to where Ash's sleeping bag was. It was gone. So was Ash. "Hey, where is he?"
"Ash is gone? Wonder where he could have gone this early in the morning?" Brock wondered.
"It's 10:00!" Misty laughed.
"That's early for Ash!" replied Brock.
"Oh well, let's have breakfast. Ash will be hungry today if he doesn't come back while we're still eating."
So Brock made breakfast. Still no Ash. They ate. He still didn't come. They were starting to get worried.
"Maybe he left a note," Misty suggested. So they searched all over the camp for a note from Ash. They didn't find any. It wasn't until they were packing up camp that Misty found the envelope and note. "Hey Brock, I found a note!" Misty called over to Brock. They both read the note. It said:
"Misty, I have enough money now to buy your bike, you always said you wanted to leave when you got it, so I guess I beat you to it. The money is in the envelope. I will be gone when you read this, so I guess this is goodbye. Good luck on your journeys you guys. I'm off to become a Master. Misty, you got your wish. You don't have to follow me anymore. Goodbye, Ash
Misty sat down stunned. She never told Ash it wasn't the bike she followed him for. Now he was gone. Before she had a chance to make up for last month. Numbly she opened the envelope and took the money out. "What do you know," she said weakly. "He kept his promise."
Ash had been gone for about a week when he came to his destination, Mount Moon. He had decided to go there to raise his pokemon's levels for the oncoming League. And maybe catch some new pokemon. Maybe even a Clefairy! Ash rubbed his hands together. Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder as he picked his way carefully into the tunnel. Ash cringed. It hadn't been easy to convince Pikachu that Misty and Brock were not coming with them on their journey anymore. When Pikachu had woken up, it had immediately demanded where they were going, and where was Misty and Brock. Ash had explained to Pikachu. Several thundershocks later, Pikachu had finally settled into a grumpy silence. It had been testy since. Ash sighed. Leaving his friends was the hardest thing he had ever had to do. But Misty… hated him. Or at least didn't like him as much as he liked her. (But he couldn't admit he liked her yet) It would have been too painful for him to see a person he cared about turn her back and walk away as if he, and their adventures, meant nothing to her. Ash had walked away before she had a chance to hurt him. Ash sat down for a break. He took out a bottle of ketchup for Pikachu absently as he thought.
FLASHBACK: 1 month ago
Ash struck a pose. "Yeah! I'm the greatest in the world!" He had just won a battle. The other trainer came over to him and shook his hand.
"Great battle," the trainer told him before rushing to the nearest pokemon center. Ash turned to Misty and Brock, expecting them to be as happy as he was. Brock smiled and patted Ash on the back. Misty hung back, frowning. Ash looked at her.
"Misty, what's wrong?"
"Are you always so conceited? That victory was sheer luck," Misty told him. She was in a bad mood. You could almost see Ash deflating. He hung his head and said,
"Why can't you ever say anything nice about me instead of being so nasty all the time?"
"Because you are always saying how great you are. I'm tired of it."
Brock broke in, "Misty, why are you picking fights? Ash didn't do anything to you"
"Stay out of this"
Ash suddenly got angry. "BROCK DID NOTHING TO YOU! LEAVE HIM ALONE!!" Misty was taken aback at the tone of Ash's voice. She clenched her teeth and muttered,
"Ash, you are not the best trainer in the world. I doubt you are even the best trainer from Pallet."
This was too much for Ash.
"You snotty mean hearted girl! I never asked for you to be on my journey, I wish I could just buy your bike and get away from you!"
He didn't really mean this. But he kept going in a dangerously low voice. "I am sick and tired of your nitpicking at me, you have been going on about how much I suck at raising, training, and doing ANYTHING well. Well, that's just fine." Ash stalked away. He wasn't seen for the rest of the day. They had begun to really worry about Ash, when he suddenly appeared again. Misty apologized to him while he glowered at her. His feelings had been seriously hurt. That was when he had fallen silent.
END OF FLASHBACK
Ash sighed. He was sorry he had said those those things, but they were the truth. It had been on his mind and finally he had just blown up at her. Besides, she really didn't care for me, he thought. No, she didn't care at all.
Misty hung her head. They were in the nearest town from their camp where Ash had left them a week ago. Which was Saffron City. Misty had insisted that they ask around town for him. Brock bit his lip and kept silent, holding back the remark, I don't think Ash wants to be found. Misty had had faith that Ash would come back to the camp after awhile but after four days even Misty had to admit Ash wasn't coming back. So she dragged them to Saffron to look for Ash and ask around for him. They had just come out of the pokemon center. Misty had left a note to Ash on the bulletin board in case he checked there. But they had been asking around all day with no luck. Ash had vanished without a trace.