Written: July 2006, re-vamped October 2009

Disclaimer: Would something this skanky even happen in the cartoon world of Pokémon? I think not.

Only Place

Her bike wobbled slightly as her arms shook. Soon her whole body trembled again, and her feet would no longer turn the pedals. She clumsily stopped and dismounted, walking the bike along the path to Viridian.

But she stopped completely when tears slid out from under her sunglasses. She stopped to impatiently wipe them from her eyes, which did nothing when more took their place.

Hours before, she could smile. She felt safe and warm and happier than ever.

As she always did when in Pallet overnight, Misty stayed at Ash's house. He was actually in town this time, and with help from his mother, Misty took his bed. They turned in after watching movies and cartoons together, catching up on his journey. Ash must have been restless on the couch because he snuck upstairs an hour or so before dawn.

She was awake as soon as the door creaked open. They were silent as he climbed in next to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. She didn't mind and only hugged his hands to her body. They stayed like that for two hours at least, both too frightened and excited to sleep. Or even to speak. Instead they watched the sunrise illuminate the fields outside.

Ash's arm shifted, and Misty's slipped out from under the covers to hold it to just above her stomach. His fist rested just brushing her breast, but her hand didn't guide it away. His hand relaxed and held hers, caressing it and effectively rubbing against her chest at the same time. Pikachu had stopped scratching at the closed door by then.

Misty gasped and just then realized how quickly they both had been breathing when his hand fell away just to come back, this time under her nightshirt. She submitted as he rolled her onto her back and pulled off the shirt before his own. Her stomach lurched and she pushed his hands away. Ash only pressed on, making her feel silly for being scared.

Kisses feel on first her lips and then every other bare spot. He returned to her lips over and over, a hand splaying out on her belly and sliding under the waistband of first her pajama pants, then underwear. "Ash..." she whimpered, pushing him away by the shoulders. But he continued.

Finally, she reacted just in time to stop his fingers from going inside her. Her hand pulled his back up by the wrist. "Don't you want to?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

And she nodded shortly, lying, before taking his head gently and telling him she needed to use the bathroom first.

After she did, she stared at her empty eyes in the mirror as she tried to figure out what could be making her feel so sick. As quietly as possible, she checked every cabinet and cupboard for any sort of protection but stopped when her insides barreled over again.

Eventually, she returned to Ash's bed, where he was lying on his side, half-curled up and waiting. Timidly, she covered her breasts with her arms as she approached and sat down next to him. Out of instinct, she hugged a pillow to herself as soon as she could, body racked and gasping with fear.

Again came his quiet voice, "Are you okay? I thought you—"

She shook her head and was thrown her shirt.

"I'll cover my eyes," he told her as she put it back on. "Do you want to go home?"

"Yes," she squeaked, not looking at him as she gathered her things and went back to the bathroom to change. When she got out, he was gone. She shouldered her backpack and headed downstairs.

They stood face to face in the kitchen just as the morning sun was pouring in its windows. Ash finally stood taller than her, she noticed as he rattled off excuses: they had stayed up too late, had eaten too much junk food, and drunk too much pop to be properly aware of their actions.

Misty still hadn't made eye contact with him. On a whim, her arm reeled back and she slapped him hard across the face. Just as quickly, she reached up to kiss him lightly on the forehead.

"I deserved that. Well, the first part." A pause. "It's probably a good thing I'm leaving again tomorrow. Then at least we'll have some time to think about this." He kept sounding too hopeful. She knew it was ridiculous, but she felt whatever had happened would be impossible to fix. Anything else he said was lost as she stepped outside and loaded up her bicycle to leave.

Now she was immobile on the grassy path out of town, looking back at the one building still in view, the lab's dome an obelisk against the gray sunrise. She choked; she didn't love Ash anymore, and she hadn't for a long time. At least she could see that now.

Professor Oak came to the door, first spotting Misty's bike set neatly against the mailbox at the gates and wrapping her in his robe as soon as he saw her shivering form. Tracey came soon after to usher her inside, hair still disheveled from sleep. "My god, what happened?"

Misty collapsed into Oak as he helped her arms through the sleeves of the robe, and he held her firmly, as though she were another of his grandchildren. Tracey stood by, watching her silently. Slowly, she stepped back from Oak and broke down again when Tracey hugged her. His handling of her was similar to that of a broken bird. And as they pulled away, his brown eyes were full of their share of sympathy for what he didn't even know as he took her sunglasses off for her.

Misty sucked in several breaths before she could form a coherent sentence. "Can I sleep here? I'll go home this afternoon, I promise," she said almost silently, and Tracey almost took her in his arms again at her dying voice.

"Of course you can. Follow me," said Oak as he turned to lead her upstairs to a guest room.

Tagging behind was Tracey, who gently asked, "What happened, Misty? Are you okay? You're really pale."

Misty stopped walking with a quick glance back at her friend, and continued along behind the professor. Oak sent his assistant a firm look as he stopped at the guest room. "Quiet now, she'll tell one or both of us if and when she's ready." And to Misty, "Are you going to be all right here?"

"Thank you."

"Anytime," Tracey answered with a worried but comforting smile.

He and Oak retreated as Misty closed the door and pulled the still sleeping Azurill from her backpack. Fighting wave after wave of nausea, Misty curled up with Azurill in the unmade bed. An almost silent cry escaped her lips when something under the covers began wriggling. Upon freeing itself, Misty recognized it as Tracey's marill; this wasn't a guest bedroom, but Tracey's.

Marill cuddled close to her baby and Misty, cooing reassuring things to the girl as they fell back asleep. It would have taken her hours longer to drift off if Ash's smell on her hadn't been cloaked by Tracey's and his pokémon.

When Misty woke, it was a little after eleven. She left the still groggy Marill and Azurill lazing in the sun.

Tracey found her seconds after she exited his room. "Good morning," he tried, bending a little to catch a glimpse of her bowed head.

"Hi. I feel better now," she answered with an empty smile. "I should have punched him, though."

"What! Ash?"

"I only slapped him."

"Misty, you've got to tell me what happened." His hands warmly pressed down on her shoulders, his gaze determined. "I mean, unless you're not ready," he added, as if remembering what the professor had said.

"I am. But I should tell you and Professor Oak at the same time."

"Okay. That makes sense. Oh, are you hungry? Ash and his mom are going to come over soon and she'll be making lunch."

But eating didn't sound halfway possible right now. Even though she felt a little more at ease about the whole episode with Ash, she was still sick to her stomach. "I'm not hungry. Come on, I need to tell you guys before they get here."

An eyebrow raised was the only protest as they went downstairs to the living room. Typing stopped as Oak pushed away from his desk and reseated himself on one of the couches. Misty and Tracey took the other. "Good morning, Misty. Did you sleep all right?"

"Yes. Thank you again."

"You're no trouble at all, and you're always welcome here."

"I think I'm ready to tell you what happened last night," she said, looking down to the carpet between her feet. "But I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Ash's mom."

"Of course," Oak said, smile waning.

Sighing heavily and exhaling shakily, Misty felt relieved at Tracey's hand on her back, sliding up and down soothingly. He stopped when Misty looked at him, pulling his hand back quickly. "Sorry. Go ahead."

She gave a small laugh to show she didn't mind before taking another deep breath for her story. "I slept in Ash's room like I always do when I come here. Except this time he came up to his room and started touching me. His hands were everywhere..." She was surprised but relieved that she hadn't begun crying again. "I got him to stop eventually, then I hit him and left."

"Good for you!" Tracey said, but was shushed by Oak.

"I'm glad you didn't try to continue all the way to Cerulean, and I'm glad you felt safe coming here. But Delia is going to wonder why you left so early only to come here."

"I can tell her I got sick and tried to go home, but you stopped me before I left town. It's practically true."

"Sure!" said Tracey, "When I was getting the mail."

Oak scooted forward a little on the couch, clasping his hands with his elbows on his knees. "Are you sure you're okay for now?"

"For now."

Leaning to see her face again, Tracey ran a hand through his hair. "Positive? You're still pale. Maybe you should eat something."

"That sounds like a good idea," provided Oak, standing.

But Misty shook her head slowly and looked up with still fearful eyes. "I don't think I'd be able to keep it down. Sorry."

"Maybe a cup of tea would make you feel better," suggested Tracey, rising as well. Misty followed his lead.

"No, but thanks." Another weak smile made its way to her lips.

Tracey gestured over his shoulder with a quick jolt of his head. "Do you want to go take a walk? Talking more might help. I can see there's already a lighter load on your shoulders."

Sometimes his wisdom amazed her, especially its contrast of his obvious or goofy observations. Blinking, she nodded, and he led her outside to the lab's massive backyard. They began down the hill to the pond, Misty going into greater detail of what happened. She recapped the things she'd never be able to tell anyone but a peer, not leaving out a single feeling or thought she had.

"Are you really going to be able to look him in the eye again?"

Funny that that had been exactly what Misty was thinking at the time. "I don't know. I guess not. We can't really be friends anymore, can we?"

"Maybe you could try to at least be on good terms again? I can't really say anything totally objective, though. I wouldn't know..."

"I guess I want to try, but it's going to take a while. He'll probably leave soon and it'll be up in the air."

"That's really too bad. To have to lose him like that. I hope it'll turn out better."

"At least he knows he screwed up. I think."

"Misty?"

"Yeah?"

"You know I'd never—"

"I know, Tracey. I know you'd never do anything like that to me if you liked me like that."

Frowning, "I should probably tell you something. I want you to trust me, so I should let you know everything." His voice grew unstable as he spoke. "You need to be able to trust your friends."

Misty stopped walking and looked at him for the first time since she arrived at the lab and saw only nervousness and. Was he blushing? Had she been embarrassing him horribly this whole time? No, he would have acted differently, not so relaxed. "What is it?" she prompted.

"I just— I want you to know that I'm really happy to know you feel safe with us. I don't know if it has anything to do with me or it's just the lab in general, but it makes me feel really good. Not to mention you can tell me all of this. And you're right; I would never do anything like what Ash did to you. I feel bad hugging you when you don't know because you might not let me do it if you know." Finally, he raised his brown eyes to meet hers. "I don't want you to feel threatened or afraid, but... I do like you. I'm sorry." But they closed almost right away.

Taking a step back, Misty turned to watch Tracey's reflection in the pond. With all that had just happened, his declaration didn't shock her as much as it otherwise might have. Of course, it still caught her off guard and kicked her heart around. Not raising her head, she spoke carefully, "Thank you for telling me. I'm happy I can trust you too, especially now." Tracey turned away from her with clenched fists and looked ready to head back towards the lab. "And I think I like you too."

"What?" he gasped, spinning back and gaping at Misty.

It earned the first real smile from her all day. "I like how you're looking at me like I have corphish crawling out of my ears."

"You might as well!" cried Tracey through an insane grin. "What's the matter with you?" Giggles erupted from Misty as she watched his flustered words and face. Once she quieted, he ran his hands through his hair again, pulling his headband off this time. He stretched and pulled at it.

Misty stepped closer and she suddenly realized he was right; she didn't want to hug him or even let him touch her just yet. The thought turned her insides. Eventually she would but not now. So she settled for hesitantly taking his hand.

"You okay?" he asked, stuffing his headband in his pocket with his free hand. They both began walking back up the hill, and Tracey squeezed Misty's hand warmly.

Giggling again, "I will be if you stop asking me that."