Don't Try to Rain on Me

The Beginning—Ash

A small girl with vivid orange hair buried her head in her arms which rested on her small legs. It had begun to rain softly, the raindrops hitting her head with a small hollow sound. She sniffed softly and pulled her head up, wiping at her eyes with a balled fist.

She was sitting by a small lake; on a rock. She begun to shiver as the winds blew harder and the rain fell in larger amounts. It was as if someone had punctured a full raincloud... Suddenly, she heard something behind her. It sounded like footsteps…She just tightened her grip on her folded arms and buried her face in them again.

"Hello," said a soft voice. Her head snapped up and she looked around wildly.

"W-who's there?"

"My name is Ash." And suddenly, he was beside her. Like one of the many flashes of lightning lighting the sky like a million fireworks, he was beside her. He blinked and looked over at her saddened face and smiled brightly despite the day's gloominess. She looked him over, trying to decide whether or not he was real. He had bright, brown eyes filled with fire and shiny black hair that was in a spiked fashion and hung in his eyes. A red and white cap sat proudly on his head. Though he was as young as she, his faced looked much older. She squinted when she saw his body, which struck her as rather transparent. He was wearing a black shirt covered with a blue trainers' jacket with white sleeves. A pair of jeans completed the look.

"I'm not a'pposed to talk t'strangers," she said, still suspiciously looking at him and wondering why she could see the trees through him. "Not ones that you can see through, anyways." He chuckled and sat next to her.

"I'm your imaginary friend, Ash!" She scowled.

"There is no thing!"

"Says who?"

"Says Daisy my oldest sister! She said that there are no things as imaginary friends and if I ever talk to one she'll punish me." The little girl looked absolutely horrified at the mention of getting punished. Ash cocked his head.

"Well I am!"

"Are not!"

"I am so! I was created to be your best friend!"

"I already have a best friend," she said, her voice trembling. Ash narrowed his beautiful eyes.

"You do not! I know all about you, Misty." Misty stands up, her small hands trembling.

"H-how do you kn-know my name?"

"'Cause," Ash said, smiling. "And I know you have no friends."

"I do so!"

"Okay. Name one."

"Hoshiko Guyana," she said, saying the first name that came to mind. Ash rolled his eyes.

"Uh-huh." Misty suddenly slumped and sat back down, her eyes welling up with tears. She hugged her knees to her petite body and sighed, a couple tears trailing down her smooth cheeks.

"You're right. I don't have no friends. Everyone thinks I'm too scrawny." She looked up and him and he was taken by her eyes. They were beautiful. Blue-green. They usually changed color when she was angry or sad and right now they were a dark, depressing blue color. "But…I would like it if you would be my friend," she said quietly. Ash beamed.

"Of course!" He took her hand and pulled her off the cold rock. He, on the other hand, was not even damp. She blushed. "Now come on. I know this is a bad time for you to go home, but you must get somewhere warm before you catch chill," he said. She was amazed. He spoke just like her sisters—except, of course, for all the 'like's after every other word.

"Okay." Before he turned, he caught her eye.

They were light blue.

"WHAT!?"

"I said, we're, like, sending you to, like, PokèTech. We can't, like, watch you here at the, like, Gym. We need you to, like, be where we know you're safe."

"I'm safe here!"

"Are not. You're, like, only thirteen." Misty placed her hands on her slim hip.

"I'm thirteen. That's a pretty responsible age!"

"You're, like, just in the range of responsible! You, like, turned thirteen—!"

"Ten months ago," said Misty, rolling her eyes which flashed a vivid green. "I'm going to be fourteen in two months! In almost two years, I'll be able to drive!"

"We've already, like, turned in your application so you, like, don't have a choice!"

"How could you do this to me?!" she screamed. "It's the middle of the school year. I'm not—?"

"I, like, DON'T want to hear your, like, complaints little sister! Now go to your room and, like, pack! We're leaving in an hour." Misty whirled, her eyes a dark, crystallized, forest green and sped up the stairs, her head bowed to keep the tears from showing. She ran down the hall and flung open the last door. Then she ran up the stairs behind it and into a large room. She made her way to the unmade bed and threw herself on it.

"What's wrong?"

"They're sending me away." The voice gasped.

"What? Where?"

"PokèTech. Oh, Ash! How am I ever going to fit in? All the people there are super smart and have well-trained pokèmon! I haven't battled with mine in months." Ash sat on air and sat suspended in the air, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

Both had grown considerably. Misty's legs had grown long and leggy, her waist had lengthened out and her hair was pulled into a side-ponytail which her sisters where making her ditch when she got to PokèTech. To tell the truth, Misty was a beautiful girl.

Ash's hair had stayed the same, which amused Misty at times and was something out of many that she like to tease him about. His features had chiseled out and were very handsome. His eyes and clothes were the only things the same.

"Well…I don't know what to do, Mist."

"You'll come with me, won't you?" She looked up at him with tearful eyes that were now a dark blue. He smiled, his heart aching.

"Of course I will."

"Thank you," she whispered. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and with a panicked look, Misty jumped up and ran to get her suitcase. The youngest of the trio, Lily, walked in and sat on the corner of Misty's bed and watched as Misty scurried around the room, trying to get everything dear to her in one small suitcase.

"Um Misty? Daisy said that since you will be, like, staying there until we, like, finish collage, you might want to, like, pack more then one bag." Misty dropped the contents in her arms and whipped around.

"Until you get out of collage?!" she yelled. "That's like, five years!" Lily flinched and nodded.

"I know and I'm, like, sorry little sis, but—"

"Don't call me that," said Misty in a cold voice that made Lily shiver.

"Alright. As I, like, said, I'm really, really, sorry we have to, like, do this, but—"

"Are not," mumbled Misty.

"Would you, like, stop interrupting me?" said Lily, her voice rising and growing shrill. "You're so selfish!"

"I am not! You're the one's sending me to school so you can go to collage! You don't even trust me alone here!"

"That's because we want you safe!" Lily yelled back. "I, like, came up here to try and, like, make you feel better."

"You're doing a sucky job," said Misty coldly. "If you want me to feel better, stop trying to make me feel better!" Lily opened her mouth to say something but shut it abruptly, her lips thinning. She whirled around, in a flash of pink hair, and stomped out the door. By this time, Misty felt like she was about to explode. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply and returned to removing clothes from her drawers. Ash, who had been observing the scene from a chair by Misty's bed, got up and emitted a low whistle.

"Do you feel better?"

"Shut up!" she hissed. Ash raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"Fine. I can tell when you need to let off some steam." Her eyes narrowed but her mind pleaded for him to stay as he shimmered and disappeared from sight. She groaned and buried her face in a pair of jeans. Unexpectedly, Violet poked her head around the door and glanced at Misty burying her face in the jeans.

"Y'know, you won't, like, need those. There's a uniform you have to, like, wear."

"GET OUT!" Misty screamed in surprise and anger. Violet's eyes widened and she slammed the door shut. Misty let out a shrill, frustrated scream and buried her face back in the jeans.

Misty looked out the window, the scenery passing by like a transitory dream; her bags lay on her lap, at her feet and in the trunk behind her. She picked at invisible dust on her gray pleated skirt with the two ugly red stripes on the bottom. After the jean incident with Violet, none of them had spoken to each other except for an occasional whisper or murmur spoken within the trio. Misty blinked her tears back and bit her lip. She hadn't cried since that day. The day she had met Ash. It had been the day her sister and mother had died in that freak accident.

Misty fanatically shook her head. Thinking about that will only make her cry.

"I've read, like, a lot about this place," said Lily, quietly, and surprising everyone. "It's not a new model. It's, like, a lovely old school with, like, ivy running up the sides and, like, everything."

"Sounds lovely," said Violet, quiet as well.

"We're here," Daisy announced softly. Misty jerked her head up and frowned.

Before their car, loomed a large white building with six tall pillars in the front. As Lily said, the sides and some of the front were covered with lush, green ivy. Misty narrowed her eyes, which were now swirling to a livid green. No more words were spoken as they got out of the car. They each took a bag or two and walked up to the forest green doors that loomed many times above their heads. Daisy took a deep breath and rung the doorbell. A tinkling sound filled the air and the sound of footsteps could be heard. The door swung open and a young women in nun's attire opened the door with a hearty smile.

"Welcome! You must be Misty." Misty nodded curtly, her eyes blazing. "Come in. I will show you to your room and introduce you to your schoolmates and teachers. May I take a bag?" Lily, who was holding two, smiled and gratefully handed on to her with a small thanks. "Now come this way." They followed her through the hall, its walls and ceiling covered with elaborate paintings of angles in white attire and its floor covered in a rich red carpet swathed with decorative designs done with dark colors and gold.

"This place is, like, beautiful…uh…"

"Sister Mary," she said, raising an eyebrow slightly at Violet's valley girl accent.

"Right."

"You may call me Sister," she said, addressing Misty. Misty only nodded, looking around with sheer terror and bewilderment. "Ah! Here's the main hall. This room leads to every other room in this whole house eventually. Now, up the staircase ahead of us in the dorms. You see where the steps split and go to the left and right? The one to the left is the girl's dorms and the one to the right is the boy's." The whole room was lit brightly with three chandeliers hanging from the tallest ceiling Misty had ever seen. It was covered with pink angel babies with rosy cheeks and sleek, white horses with huge wings; they were covered in glossy, lustrous white feathers. All flying in a midst of fluffy white clouds with sliver and blue lining, contrasting to the flushed sunset in the background. Misty looked up, her head cranking back, and twirled around, trying to take in all of the magnificent pictures on the ceiling.

"Yes. It is amazing, isn't it?" Sister's voice jerked her out of her daydreaming with a rude yank and she blinked, her eyes changing from placid blue to a bright green and to a dark green. She 'humphed' and looked away, cheeks burning. "Well enough of that! Let's go upstairs and show you your room. We might meet some neighboring girls along the way." Misty said nothing and, her cheeks still tinged red, followed the Sister.

They made their way up the stairs and turned and went up the long, winding ones leading to the girl's dorm.

"Here we are." They stopped at the door at the end of the hallway. "This shall be your room. Here are your keys." She handed Misty two shiny keys connected with a thin metal band. "I would keep one and hide one just in case. That's what all the other girls do. Now, why don't you open the door and look inside? This is where you will be staying until your sisters come back." Misty scowled, not needing the remembrance, and smashed the key into the lock. When it was open, she twisted the knob and pushed the door open.

"Oh, my…" came a breathless reply from Daisy. The other two just stared. Misty, for a moment, marveled over the room, but stopped once she realized she was letting her guard down.

The room was huge. The walls were a maroon color with forest green and gold wallpaper. The bed was a queen canopy with maroon, gold, dark blue and green silk bedding. The floor was hardwood, a few small elaborate rugs dotting it. The bureau was a rich mahogany, as well as the nightstand, and had a wide, clear mirror over it.

"It is beautiful, isn't it? One of our smaller ones, but you came on such short notice—in the middle of the year, too (Misty shot Daisy a look but Daisy looked straight ahead)—but it's one of our more decorative. And it's an older one too, which just adds to it.

"Now, this room right here leads to a bathroom. A small one, but there's a bathtub, which you might enjoy; it is an antique. There is also a toilette, a sink, and a closet for storing your personal items."

"Well, like, Misty. I think you'll be, like, comfortable here." Misty still said nothing. She had decided not to speak at all. Maybe they would send her home.

"Let me show you three to the door and Misty, here are your bags. Maybe you want to start unpacking?" She left the suggestion as a question and led her sisters down the hall.

"Bye kiddo! See you soon!" they called as their good-byes grew rather faint.

"Soon my butt," mumbled Misty as she slammed the door shut, the wood gleaming.

"So, you adjusting?" Ash's voice rang in the quiet room. He appeared and sat on her bed, bouncing a little. Misty chuckled and sat next to him.

"I guess."

"You didn't talk once. I know 'cause I followed you up here. Beautiful place," he said, ducking as Misty threw herself back and grabbed a fringed pillow, throwing it at him. Ash laughed and floated into the air. "You even have your own bathroom. How convenient. Are you going to play mute for five years?"

"No…I don't think so." Ash wrinkled his nose.

"Well, tell me how dinner went."

"Dinner?" said Misty, staring off into space. Ash waved a translucent hand in front of her face. "Oh! Yeah. Is it dinnertime already?"

"Yeah," said Ash, glancing at the digital clock on her nightstand. It seemed rather out of place in this ancient room. "It's six. You eat dinner at six thirty."

"In a half-hour," said Misty, raising an eyebrow. "What, you got a hot date?" Ash blushed a dark red.

"No! I just thought you might want some time to let off some steam and unpack."

"You can stay if you want. I could use the company." Suddenly, there was knock at her door, making a hollow sound.

"Hello?" Misty glowered and walked to the door, pulling it open. A girl with blue hair pulled back into pigtails stood before her. She cocked her head and blinked her green eyes as she studied Misty. Misty's frown deepened. "Hi. I'm your neighbor, Shako Timijaro." Misty nodded in response. "You're Kasumi Yawa, right?" Misty's cheeks burned and shook her head, pointing to her bags. "Oh! Misty. You'd rather be called that, then?" Misty nodded. "Are you mute?" Misty narrowed her eyes in thought and beckoned Shako into her room.

"No. I'm not. But…"

"There's no need to be shy around here." Misty breathed and somewhere in the room she thought she heard laughter. Misty bit her lip to keep from smiling.

"Oh. Thanks."

"It's almost time for dinner. You can sit by me and my friend, Kat. I'll bet you can guess her real name. She hates it, so if you want to make a good first impression, call her Kat."

"Alright."

"Come on!" She grabbed Misty's hand and began yanking her down the hall. "I'll show ya around."

"A-alright." She jogged down the hall, still being pulled by Shako.

The next night, Misty yanked off her nightgown.

"Cripes Mist! Wait until I have my eyes covered." She chuckled.

"Aw come on Ashy boy! Ya know you like it," she teased. "It's just that these things are so itchy!" She rummaged through her bag in nothing but a pair of underwear and a bra. "Here we go!"