I do not own Pokemon or any of the characters in this story. The storyline is my own. :D
You would think I'd become a Pokemon Master.
It's all I ever talked about when I was younger; inexperienced. "I'm gonna be a Pokemon Master!" I was rash, loud, obnoxious and irritating. My friends liked me for me, though, and I was crazy to lose them... Twenty years on, I reflect on what happened to me that day in Mt. Moon. The day I lost everything.
"Come on!" I cried, my faithful Pikachu balancing on my shoulder as I hared down the road leading to the jagged cave entrance of Mt. Moon. My two best friends, Misty and Brock, followed me at a more leisurely pace, Misty holding her Togepi, Brock daydreaming about whatever new girl had caught his eye and wondering why she didn't like him.
I reached the cave entrance and gawped in amazement at the stalaglites crusting the ceiling; the wild Pokemon scuttling around inside the dark interior. I waited, impatient, for Misty and Brock to catch up to me, and raced inside without a second thought, though my Bulbasaur was low on health and Squirtle had been paralyzed. I heard Misty note the Pokemon Centre outside and thought, I'll go later.
Brock smiled as he looked around, clearly more at home in a rocky cave than outside in a grassy meadow. "Ash," he called, and I looked back to see him crouching over a curious growth of mushrooms, fiddling around in his backpack for a jar to store them in. "Look at these," he marvelled, and I barely glanced at them.
"Cool, yeah," I nodded, and hurried away to find some innocent little trainers to battle.
Misty was sitting on a rock, her chin in her hands, watching Togepi parade up and down, chirping.
"Hey," I said, as I ran past her. She raised her head and smiled at me, and scooped up Togepi before I knocked it over.
I came to a sudden stop as the part of the cave I was now in was engulfed with blackness. "Woah," I breathed, as Pikachu's cheeks lit up and glowed light yellow in the darkness. I was standing in the middle of a huge ring of rock; like an amphitheatre. I looked around, eyes big in the gloom. Pikachu slid down my back.
"Pika," it said. "Chu, chu."
I took that to mean that it was uncomfortable with this strange rock formation. "Me too, buddy," I muttered, but was enjoying myself far too much to turn and run back to Brock and Misty.
I spun around, marvelling at the high chalky rocks surrounding me and Pikachu.
"Piika," Pikachu said insistently, patting my shoulder. Sparks flew off its tail and singed the back of my jacket.
"Hey," I snapped, lifting Pikachu from my jacket and setting it down on the floor. "We came in here to explore a little," I reasoned with it, "and to find some Pokemon for you to battle with. So stop being so... babyish... and we'll look around!"
Pikachu looked at me, hurt blazing in its big black eyes. "Pii," it snapped. "Piia chuu kiki chu pi."
I deciphered that as, "shut up Ash, and let's get out of here," and rolled my eyes.
"Pikachu!" I cried, nudging it with my foot. "If you're so upset about it, we'll go."
"Chuu," Pikachu said quietly.
We walked back the way we'd gone, Pikachu now crouching on my hat. The light weight was comforting as my footfalls grew more and more hesitant, as I began to wonder how long it had taken me to get to the amphitheatre-like rock formation before...
I was running, I thought desperately, so it will seem like it takes longer if I'm walking.
I eventually heard Misty's voice. She sounded passionate, but slightly choked up as if she was trying not to cry. I stopped - even though I was eleven years old with minimal social skills, I could tell I shouldn't intrude on her if she was upset.
"Brock," she was saying. I heard his voice mumble something and felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. What were they doing? I had been gone for at least fifteen minutes - why weren't they worried about me?
"Misty... he's gone to explore. He won't be back for a while. We can be ourselves right now. Come on."
I winced as my foot splashed into a muddy puddle but continued listening. I was standing in the light now, but I was round a corner, so I was invisible to them. Pikachu made to leap from amy shoulder, and I reached out and grabbed it round the middle and put a finger to my lips.
I looked hesitantly round the corner. My heart thumped wildly for a moment as I saw Misty twining herself around Brock, their lips touching lightly.
They were kissing. My best friends. Misty. Brock.
I was confused. I knew that Brock was a little women-obsessed. I knew Misty was a girl. A pretty girl, at that. They were together and that's what shocked me.
I swallowed, feeling my heart thumping against my chest. I put my hand to it, feeling the beats against my hand.
I stepped out of my corner. "Hey you guys," I said loudly. They leapt apart, blushing furiously, smiling nervously at me. I acted oblivious.
"Just been for a bit of a wander," I said blithely, setting Pikachu onto the ground and grinning at them hugely.
"Oh, right," Misty smiled, running a hand through her hair and cuddling Togepi against her. Brock clapped me on the shoulder.
"Found anything?" he asked.
"Nah, not really," I replied. "A great big stage thing."
Brock nodded wisely. It was one of the things I admired about Brock - he was so clever. Even at fifteen, he knew more than I ever hoped to.
We ate in the 'great big stage thing'. Brock had cooked; a thick floury stew filled with vegetables. Misty ate appreciatively, but I sat quietly and stirred my stew around with my spoon.
"You OK?" Brock asked me, concerned.
"Huh? Yeah," I replied. "Fine."
Misty patted me on the arm. "Puberty," she mouthed at Brock.
I rolled my eyes. "Just 'cause I'm younger than you two doesn't mean I'm... you know... a little boy."
"As opposed to a little girl?" Misty laughed, taking a sip of the warm bottled water that was the only drink we had.
Misty and Brock helped each other pitch their tents. I sat moodily on the fringe of our camp.
Even Pikachu and Togepi were happy. I felt my eyes swim with tears.
They're together, I thought. They might... They might leave me. They might go and live in Pewter City. Or Cerulean City.
"Ash! Come and help us," Misty pleaded, waving the bag of guy ropes at me. One tent was already pitched, giving me the impression that there would be a lot of tent switching going on later. I got up heavily and slouched across the stone floor to where Misty and Brock were now having a play fight with tent pegs. I snatched one off Misty and stabbed it viciously into the moss they had chosen to sleep on.
We went to bed at the same time. I had been almost propping my eyelids up as Brock and Misty made awkward small talk.
"Right," Misty sighed, defeatedly, at around half eleven. "I'm going to bed."
"Me too," Brock said. "I'm going to go get washed," he added, holding up the water bottle and rummaging around in his bag for his sponge.
"Oh yeah, me too," Misty said quickly, fishing a bubble-patterned towel from her rucksack and following Brock over to the lowered part of the stone stage, where we had established we would wash. I sighed and crawled into one of the tents.
I woke up at around seven. Brock wasn't in his sleeping bag. I sighed deeply and peeped out of the tent flaps. There were two shadows in the other tent.
I crawled out of my own tent, being careful not to wake up Pikachu. They had moved the tent away from mine.
"I can't believe this," I muttered to myself. I suppose I knew, really. Misty was fourteen, Brock fifteen. I was eleven. I knew that they would eventually find someone to 'bond' (as my mother would say genteely) with, but I never dreamed they would find each other. I tried not to look at the shadows projecting to me just what they were doing inside the tent as I washed myself and found an apple in my bag. I turned my back on the lovebirds in the tent and closed my eyes, feeling hot tears drip down my face.
Misty and Brock emerged two hours later, holding hands, pink-faced and shaky. I smiled at them, feeling strained.
"Oh, erm, Ash," Misty gasped, as they dropped each other's hand and grinned at me.
"Hi Ash," Brock mumbled. He set up his little portable stove and cracked a few eggs into his blackened frying pan. Misty washed her face and fed Togepi, then sat down next to me on the ground.
"Are you alright?" she asked me quietly. I looked into her face - her sweet, pale, earnest face. Her eyes, sapphires in the morning light, shone into mine. Her hand rested on mine.
"Yeah," I whispered.
"Good," she smiled. She tightened her fingers over mine momentarily and then got up and walked over to Brock.
We ate quietly, but without silence. Occasionally I would crack a joke and smile and Misty would beam at me over the table. Once I felt her foot snake around mine and threw her a quizzical glance. She withdrew her foot and I saw Brock suddenly look at her, his whole face softening.
I looked over at Misty then and, to my horror, felt my face grow warm and tears spilled down my cheeks.