Disclaimer:- I dont own Pokemon or anime...I wish i did...but i dont so boo hoo.
Ash raised his head from staring at the ground to watch the clouds above him as they slowly drifted across the bright blue sky. A glittering silver wind fluttered through his unruly black hair and blew the cap off his head, floating in the wind and landing on Pikachu. May's Beautifly flickered past him, her wings flapping softly, releasing a refreshing silver wind on the tired group. Ignoring the replacement of his cap, Ash returned to stare at the ground, his thoughts swimming round and round his mind, confusing him, while Pikachu balanced himself on Ash's head, leaning over to see Ash's face up-side down.
'Pika?'
Ash shook his head, causing Pikachu to loose stability and fall off, landing head first on the gravely path, the cap now lying a few feet away. Unknown to Ash, May picked up the cap, returned it onto his head and smiled, returning Beautifly to her pokeball.
"Ash? Are you ok?" she asked, stowing the ball away and quickening her pace to catch up with him.
"Why is everyone asking me that?!" snapped Ash angrily. "I'm fine. Let's just get to Petalburg before it's dark."
May raised her eyebrows, before standing still, and waiting for Brock and Max to draw level with her.
'Azurill!' came a high-pitched chirp from beside Ash's left leg, bouncing on his tail and looking up at him, his eyes glistening in the bright sunlight.
"Hey Azurill." Said Ash weakly, picking up the pokemon and letting it clamber onto his shoulder.
"Azu!" he cried happily, watching his tail flutter about behind him.
A couple of paces behind him and Azurill, May was whispering to Brock, ignoring Max's attempts to eavesdrop.
"Why do you think Ash's become more attached to Azurill than Pikachu?" she asked quizzically, watching as Ash smiled at the small blue pokemon.
"Because Misty gave it to him. He'll probably treasure it for as long as he can." Informed Brock with a smirk.
"Misty? That red-head aqua-airhead gym leader?" said May with spite.
"Um…yeah…why don't you like her May?"
"Oh, no reason…no reason…why didn't she take it back when she…ya know…left…?" replied May, looking away to watch Pikachu clamber over the obstructing rock that stood before him.
Without thinking, he jumped up on top of it and stepped over the edge, falling back onto the ground and shocking the rock in anger.
"Coz she knows she never wanted to leave Ash. She just wanted Ash to realise his stupidity and torture him."
"Ah right…Come here Pika." Said May, opening her arms towards Pikachu, who smiled and jumped onto her bandana, surveying the grassy Hoenn area around them with one paw shading his eyes.
Meanwhile, Brock approached Ash and casually walked beside him, overlooking the glares Ash shot at him.
"Do you miss her Ash?" he asked nonchalantly, which earned him a jab in the ribs.
"No." snapped Ash, flaring up immediately.
"Yeah ya do."
"I don't alright? Just leave me alone." Shouted Ash, speeding up towards the dense cluster of trees ahead of them.
After an hour of silence between Ash and the others, they set up their camp in a forest clearing- or rather everyone else set up camp- while Ash disappeared off, saying he'd found a stream. May rolled her eyes at his retreating back, before returning to kindle the campfire, but to no avail. Ash put his hands in his jacket pockets and walked up to the waters edge, staring out over the rushing clear water towards the city on the other side, with a towering mountain range surrounding the furthest side. He fell onto his back and stared up at the sky, once again watching the clouds floating by.
"Azurilllllllllllllllllllll!" cried Azurill, leaping up onto Ash's lap, making the boy jump slightly.
"Hi again Azu." Smiled Ash, petting Azurill's head softly.
"Azu Azurill zu?" he said in a quizzical tone.
Ash sat up and looked at him with interest, before realising what he was asking.
"Yeah, I guess I do miss her Azu." He sighed, lying back down again. "But I can't explain this feeling. I think about her everyday, but I don't know why I miss her."
Azurill rolled his eyes at Ash's denseness, before leaping off him and running back to Max at the camp.
"ASH!" yelled May's voice. "DINNER!"
Ash groaned, and gradually stood up, taking one last peaceful look at the river, then returned to the camp, where everyone was already seated around a large canister of Brock's soup.
"I'm not really that hungry." Said Ash, his voice quiet and non-energetic.
"Alright. I really CANNOT take this ANY LONGER! Ash what the Heck is wrong!" shouted Max, making Brock drop the ladle in shock and May fall backwards off the bench.
Ash shook his head again, clambered over the seat of the bench and dived quickly into his tent, zipping the plastic sheet door closed.
"Well done Max." scolded May, sharply jabbing Max on the arm.
"What?" retorted Max angrily.
"Guys! Please." Ordered Brock, stowing the ladle away and putting a lid on the canister, before walking over to Ash's tent.
Behind him, May was whispering furious insults at Max, who folded his arms and came out with a load of comebacks, forcing May into silence. Max smirked and made his way into his smaller tent, his Ralts following him, singing softly into the night.
"Ash?" whispered Brock, unzipping the sheet door and climbed into the tent.
It was a fairly big tent, large enough to fit at least three people, but most of it was empty, except for Ash's sleeping bag, his rucksack and his pokeballs, scattered across the ground sheet. Ash looked up from his sleeping bag, glared at Brock and turned back to face the side of the tent, his hat falling off his hair and onto the ground sheet.
"Go away."
"No. Not until you talk." Replied Brock, sitting at the foot of Ash's sleeping bag.
Ash kicked his foot at Brock's leg angrily and pushed him backwards, before dropping his leg back onto the sleeping bag and rubbing, what Brock thought to be, tears from his eyes.
"I mean it Brock. Just leave me alone." Snapped Ash when Brock didn't leave. "Let me be alone with my thoughts."
"Thoughts of Misty?" asked Brock interestingly.
"I SAID LEAVE!" yelled Ash blushing as more tears dropped down.
Brock didn't need to be told again. He knew when Ash was really angry, and he did NOT want a shock from Pikachu.
"Any luck?" questioned May when Brock returned from the tent.
"No. We need to find some way of getting Misty's leaving out of his mind." Said Brock, tapping the side of his head as he thought.
"Maybe he just needs a girlfriend?" suggested May hopefully.
"If the girlfriend's NOT MISTY THEN I'M NOT INTERESTED!" yelled Ash from inside the tent.
"Well that's outta the question." Sighed May, defeated.
"What if we went to visit Misty?" recommended Brock, his eyes lighting up. "Ash's battles have been so poor, he's loosing all of them, even to the really young trainers!"
"Alright then. But can we please go and see my parents first?" begged May.
"Yeah, that seems fair." Shrugged Brock smiling, before waving goodnight and turning back to his own tent.
May nodded, and watched the glowering embers of the dieing fire flicker in the moonlight. She turned her head around to face Ash's tent and smiled weakly, her Eevee following May's gaze.
"Eev Eevee eev?" smiled Eevee, looking up at May's face with amusement.
"Eevee!" cried May, before covering her mouth with her hands and talking quieter. "Eevee! I do not. I just like him."
"Eeeeeveeee…" said Eevee slyly, bounding off May's shoulder and ran off into her tent.
Back in Ash's tent, Ash lay staring up at the ceiling of the tent, his thoughts swimming, going over the same memory over and over…
START FLASHBACK
"Ya know Ash? I don't even know why I even bothered to save you from the water! My life wouldn't be so miserable if you hadn't been so stupid and careless!" screamed Misty from one side of the forest clearing.
"Well if I'm so stupid and careless then why the hell are you following me every single place I GO!" yelled Ash, on the opposite side.
"Coz in case you hadn't noticed, I have no way of getting home!" retorted Misty angrily.
"You could WALK!"
"I've been doing that for three flippin' YEARS!"
"WHO CARES?"
"I CARE!"
"WELL I DON'T SO WHY DON'T YOU TAKE ALL MY FLIPPIN' MONEY AND BUY YOURSELF A BIKE."
"FINE I WILL THEN."
"GOOD, NOW WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE AND GET ON WITH YOUR STUPID ASH-FREE LIFE AND STOP BUGGING ME!" roared Ash furiously.
"FINE I WILL." Repeated Misty, turning away from Ash and running off into the dense forest.
"Why the hell did you go and yell at her like that Ash Ketchum?" snapped Brock, fuming.
"Coz I'm sick of a stupid little girl always complaining by my side." Glared Ash, storming off into his tent.
END FLASHBACK
"Why the HELL was I so stupid Mist?" yelled Ash into the night. "I miss you every single second of my life and I can't live without you as my friend!"
Ash rolled over to stare at the wall of the tent and wiped away more tears as they dropped onto his non-water proof sleeping bag.
"Please forgive me someday…" he whispered sadly, as his eyes fell slowly into a deep sleep, letting him dream.
Hope ya like it!
R&R please!!!!!!!!!
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