Misty in Kalos - Kinda? Bonnie wakes in the middle of the night and finds Ash talking to someone on his PokeGear.
-Car
oOo
Bonnie wasn't sure at first about what had woken her up. Everything seemed normal; her brother was snoring softly in his sleeping bag, Serena was breathing softly in her's, and Ash-
Where was Ash?
"Wow, are you serious?" she heard, but just barely, off in the distance, and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. The voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere deep in the woods, and it sounded like Ash. But who on earth would he be talking to at- she checked her watch, three o'clock in the morning?! In the middle of the woods?!
Careful not to wake up her other two sleeping companions, she slipped from her sleeping bag, tiptoeing in the direction she heard the faint voice, feeling even more confused when she noticed Pikachu was at camp as well, sleeping soundly in Ash's sleeping bag, where Ash himself should have been. She mentally crossed him off in her mind as the last remaining suspect for this middle of the night conversation Ash seemed to be conducting and made her way into the trees.
"No way," Ash said, a bit louder and clearer this time, meaning Bonnie was headed in the right direction. "You're lying."
"Swear on my life!" came a different voice. A much higher pitched, more electronic voice, but unmistakably a new voice.
So he was talking to someone. At least he wasn't crazy.
"And you haven't told this to anyone else yet?" Ash was asking, and if she wasn't mistaken, judging by his volume, he was right around this tree…
"Just you."
Bonnie blinked, pushing aside the low-hanging branch she had found herself instinctively hiding behind, to get a better view of Ash, who it turns out, was on the ground in a small clearing, leaning casually back onto a tree and holding-
Since when did Ash have a PokeGear?
"Not even Brock?" he asked, rolling a small twig around in his fingers absentmindedly and grinning. And it was a grin that Bonnie was unfamiliar with. Almost… mischievous? Sneaky? That didn't seem like the Ash she knew.
"Especially not Brock!" cried the PokeGear, and Ash broke into a fit of giggles. "Are you crazy? If Brock found out Tracy of all people was dating one of my sisters…"
Ash beamed, and Bonnie felt both unnerved, and for some reason amused, to see her companion acting so… she couldn't even put a word to his actions. And yet…
If she never really saw him acting in such a way before, was it weird that he seemed more at ease and natural than she had ever seen him?
"What'll you give me to not spill the beans?" he asked, still grinning.
There was a scoff on the other end of the PokeGear. "I wont give you a concussion, how about that?"
Ash snorted, biting his lip as if trying to contain his laughter. "What?!" he gasped, in mock surprise. "You expect me to withhold his very important information from my dear old friend Brock?!"
"I most certainly do, Ash Ketchum!" the Gear shrieked, "You don't get to frolic around on the other side of the world and leave me to deal with that nutcase by myself, you hear me?"
Ash and the voice quieted after that, apparently hitting a sore subject, if the suddenly downcast face Ash was making was anything to go by.
He cleared his throat after a few tense moments. "Hey, um, Mist?"
"Yes, Ash?"
He bit his lip, "I… I do miss you, you know."
The voice let out a breath Bonnie wasn't sure how to interpret. "I know that Ash… I miss you too."
"Thank you for the PokeGear, by the way. This is…really neat."
"Of course. And thank you for staying up to call me. Time zones are the worst."
Ash closed his eyes, leaning back against the tree and tilting his face up to the branches. He ran his hand through his hair, a small smile twitching back to his lips. "Oh, and Misty?"
"Hm?"
"I do not frolic."
The voice snorted out a laugh, seemingly happy to break the tension. "Oh you don't? Maybe prance is a better adjective?"
"Neither!" he laughed. "I prefer the word strut."
"Ash, you have never made a movement that even kind of resembled a strut in your life."
"I have so! I happen to be super suave."
"Do you even know what that word means, you dolt?"
"It's like, a shampoo, right?"
Bonnie smiled at the scene, and feeling suddenly like an intruder on something very personal, returned quietly back to camp.
The next day, when Ash spent most of the morning complaining about how tired he was, she kept her mouth shut. She couldn't place her finger on why, but she knew she needed to keep what she had seen a secret. If Ash wasn't going to share, what gave her the right?
Maybe she would understand when she was older.
oOo