Obstruction

Chapter One: An Interruption

By: Marisa

Hello everyone!

That's right - I'm writing another new story. I don't typically like starting new stories when I have other unfinished ones, but this idea came to me and I couldn't pass it up. I was a big fan of old-school Pokemon and pretty much stopped watching when the show exited the third season, so when I found out Misty had been booted out as a main cast member... I was pretty shocked. However, I got the idea for this fic from that sad fact. Basically, this story is from Misty's perspective on how she feels about her separation from her two best friends, and having to deal with newly developed paranoia, and May. If you're into sad angsty stories, this is probably one for you! :)

I hope you enjoy, and please review. Of course you don't have to but whether it be praise or criticism, it really helps not only to encourage me to keep writing, but also to improve my writing ability.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Pokemon related and am in no way profiting from this story, but I do own this plot.

The sound of a single pair of running shoes hitting against a marble floor squeaked out the air, each step resonating throughout the spacious room. The only sound to accompany it was that of a rickety container of water rolling along behind them. A mop stood within the bucket, the soap in the water forming around it.

I observed quickly over the area I would be mopping up; marble floors seemed to be magnets for the dirt clinging to shoes. I came to a halt and turned to the now stationary bucket behind me. Lifting the mop up and out, a trail of soapy water flung itself at me. Ignoring the splash, I merely jumped right into my work. I began to sweep the mop over the floor tiles, watching the dirty colour transform into a pure white one. The floor always shimmered beautifully when it was wet and rid of outside minerals.

After a while of mopping, I gradually became less and less interested in what I was doing. Almost every day it was up to me to clean up around the gym, and that got old real fast. I glanced around hoping to catch something interesting with my eyes, but as always, everything remained its same boring self.

Boring.

I spread the water around aimlessly on the tile and heaved a deep sigh. The more time I spent within the walls of the Cerulean gym, the more I found myself growing more frustrated inside. I loved living a life of travel and Pokemon related adventures, not one of slavery to my sisters.

I held my weight up with the mop as I leaned on it, peering down at the effortless cleaning job I'd done. With fatigue growing from constantly working, I took every chance I could get to take a break and rest. I could see my face reflected in the water staring back at me. I could feel my sleep deprivation affecting me just looking at the bags under my eyes. "Misty, you are a mess…." I said to myself.

"So is the floor. Like, clean it right." The sudden clanking of high heels against the marble floor that approached me quickly drew me from my thoughts, causing me to jump. The mop that had been supporting my weight tipped over from me shifting my weight suddenly, and caused me to tumble over with it. I let out a groan as I hit the ground, a new pain throbbing in my thigh.

"Daisy!" I snapped from the ground, "Don't just sneak up on me like that… and eavesdrop when I talk to myself." I gave a weak laugh. Slipping my hands onto the wet floor for support, I hoisted myself up to discover my whole side was soaked. "Well that's great. Thanks, Daisy." I said, exaggerating a fake anger. She caught onto the light attitude and laughed as well.

"You shouldn't be like talking to yourself anyway you nut job." She laughed. "And really, you shouldn't be gazing off. Stay focused!" She clapped her hands together in an attempt to harness my attention. I merely glared at her. "Look Misty, this isn't some like pig-pen we're running. It's a theatre!"

"It's a gym." I corrected. Daisy rolled her eyes, her hands finding a home on her hips. Her typical stance. Her face constantly bore her 'I'm better than you' face, and I hated that, but I merely smirked at her attempts to intimidate me. It seemed as though the more fame my sisters attracted, the more irritating and stuck-up they became. But perhaps that was because the more fame they attracted, the more I had to clean, and thus the more they ordered me around. They made it clear that it was a top priority that I do all the cleaning, for I was 'not beautiful enough to be performing in shows,' and I had to 'make use of myself somehow.' But that still wasn't fair, was it?

"Ugh, whatever. It's like the same thing."

"They're not the same thing." I argued, crossing my arms over my chest, rather than collecting the mop that'd hit the floor. I merely glared at my older sister, awaiting her next pathetic comeback. While I was the youngest of the "Sensational Sisters," I still believed I was the smartest by far.

She averted my glare and simply stood at the area I had been cleaning. "Well don't just stand there," Daisy ordered. "Can you like do your job? Clean the floor and pull your weight, hun!"

Suddenly I could feel our light mood switch into tension mode, as no one was showing any hints of smiling or laughing anymore. Her words had struck more of a bad chord in me this time. I was not, and never would be a slave to my annoying sisters. I was not just her pawn to control. And whether or not I was pulling my weight was not even a question, considering I did all the labour and all my sisters did was what they enjoyed - putting on an act.

Out of protest, I kicked the mop away from me, smirking at my defiance. "If you don't like the job I'm doing, how about you do it yourself. Learn some work skills." I laughed as I brushed off my hands as if to symbolize the end of my services to her.

She didn't find it so funny though. "Um, how do you expect someone like me to do this? Like, I just got a manicure. And Lily, Violet and I have to prepare for the show tonight." She flicked her hair behind her shoulder, before examining her nails. "Someone like you, who doesn't have the looks for shows, should definitely be put to some kind of work."

"Because swimming around and trying to attract men is such work." I rolled my eyes. I heard my sister gasp in front of me.

"Attract men?" She repeated, astounded that I would say such a thing. "How could you like say that? Our performances are like serious works of art that the three of us put a lot of time and effort into!" She exclaimed. "I mean, I can't help it if I just have like, ridiculous good looks, and you don't."

I merely laughed at my sister's foolish words. I was used to these insults. Every day a whole storm of them rained on me, but I was strong enough to not let it get to me. But don't get me wrong, it wasn't like I wanted to be reminded of what I didn't have. "Just because I don't cover myself in five pounds of make-up, and don't care about making myself up to impress men, doesn't mean I'm ugly." I snapped, defending myself. I somewhat regretted what I said afterwards, not intentionally wanting to put down my sister. "And really Daisy, you shouldn't even be putting on your shows. You should be helping me. This is a gym, not a theatre."

"Okay, so it's a gym. Gyms still need to be clean."

"But I'm not your slave!" I cried out. "You can't just expect to have everything done for you, you're not some princess." I could tell my sister took offence to this, but protecting herself from appearing stuck-up, she ignored it. Not that it mattered. We all knew she was stuck up anyway.

"Look, Misty. I'm not trying to lecture you but like, if you're not doing this then you'd just be sitting around doing nothing while the rest of us worked. That's totally not fair, you should at least do something."

From merely that sentence alone, I took the liberty of switching tension mode to full on argument mode. "Do something? Do something!" I exclaimed in disbelief, a frustration growing in me. "Every day it is my job to battle the trainers that come here looking for a gym battle." I explained. "I have the gym's reputation to maintain and must constantly fight since you, Lily and Violet are incapable. That is work enough." I paused, taking a moment to prepare my next complaint. "Even though I do that though, I must still sit outside for hours in the cold, so that I can handle your customers. I must sell your tickets to them for your shows, and must handle the crazy people who act up. You don't even have to deal with your customers, you just perform. How hard that must be!" I could not read Daisy's expression, but I didn't seem to have gotten through to her. I carried on. "Ever since you three came back to the gym, you've all been acting conceited and stuck-up - not that you weren't always. But I notice it even more now." I complained further. "You think you're all that. So you gained a little fame with your theatre, do you really think you're that big of a star? You're not." I was starting to lose control of my anger. Sure, I had always had a temper, but only in the time that I'd been working in the gym had I not been able to know when to calm down and take a breath. Usually I'd been able to control my emotions once they got to a certain extent, but it was getting more and more out of hand the more time went on….

"Ok, Mist, you need to calm down a little please, thanks." She said, her tone exhibiting that she was also growing annoyed. Sure, I'd gone off on a little rant there, but I had the right to do so. It wasn't like I was doing anything irrational or acting crazy. I definitely was not crazy, but sometimes my sisters made me feel as though I was.

"While you were gone I looked after this gym for you. For all three of you." I said pointedly, attempting to bring myself back to a calm level. "And what do I get in return? I get this." I stated, gesturing towards the knocked over mop and bucket.

"Um, why are you like so irritable. It's really annoying. You're always yelling and bossing people around. No wonder you can't get a boyfriend." My sister commented, as though she were ignoring everything I'd just said.

That was the last straw. The words she'd just spoken had blown my top off. I could feel myself beginning to hurt inside; intense amounts of anger and sadness I'd been bottling up were rising. Although I was very close with my sisters, I didn't show them my emotions very often. If the conversation continued any longer, I didn't know when I would actually be arguing to really hurt her feelings.

I'd been angry before, but recently I'd become like a ticking time bomb. It was probably the lack of sleep.

"It's always about guys with you, isn't it?" I spat venomously. "I'm going home."

Before my sister could respond--which would result in me lashing out at her uncontrollably--I turned and started towards the exit. I needed to get out of the stupid gym. I needed to get out of my sister's grip on me. I needed to get out of Cerulean City.

I did not stay to hear her retaliation, I simply exited to get home as quickly as possible.

I exited the gym, and was quickly greeted by the wind brushing against my face. It felt good to be out of that stuffy building and into some nice fresh air. The weather wasn't much colder than the inside of the building however, just less stuffy.

What I really wanted was to just get to my bed, curl up under the blankets, and sleep forever. To be let out of my contract of slavery with my sisters, to forget this fatigue and frustration, and to get some well deserved sleep. With all the work I'd been doing lately, it was rare when I got more than four hours of sleep. When it was actually time for me to be resting, I was kept awake by my thoughts. They were nagging me constantly. They circled around my head and constantly brought up past hurt to the surface.

I wasn't an angry person. Not usually. I mean sure, I'd always had a temper. Maybe I lashed out one or two times… but I was never actually an angry person. But that fact was changing. I was changing, and that fact was killing me. The fact I wasn't the same happy Misty was a fact that was always in the back of my mind, but I couldn't change it. I used to be happy back in the day, and in those days, the only time I was angry was when Ash said something stupid and caused an argument between us.

Ash….

Even though I was beginning to feel lost as a person, there was always one thing I knew for certain. I missed Ash and Brock so very badly. There was never a day where I was left from the thoughts of my friends. How are they doing? or Will I see them soon?

As I approached my home, I dreaded walking through the door. It may have been a rather crazy thing to say, but living in that house was no where near as good as the times when I was camping in the wilderness along with Ash and Brock.

Stepping into the house, I slipped off my shoes at the door, and dropped my bag alongside them. I gave a quick stretch before making my way to my room.

As I made my way down the hallway, a picture caught my eye. It had sat there for a long time, but it was rare when I actually stopped to take a good look at it.

It was a picture of my sisters and I when I was around the age of nine. We all looked so much younger in the photo. It was always a shock to see how much I'd grown. Seeing the smiles on all our faces in the old photo made a small grin tug at my lips. But it was unfortunate that we were not as happy now as we were then. What had happened to us sisters? We still were close and valued each other... but things just weren't the same as they'd been whe we were younger. I loved my sisters, they meant the world to me. However when I was around them, I could see why I left on my Pokemon adventure in the first place. We just… weren't compatible.

I shook my head of the thoughts of my family and made my way to my bedroom. When I saw my bed, I immediately felt better. Just knowing I'd be able to sleep calmed all the anger in me that I'd felt previously.

Without changing into something more comfortable, I simply slipped into my bed, raising the blankets over my head.

Regardless of liking to camp with Ash and Brock, nothing beat my bed.

Ash… and Brock. The amount I missed them was incredible and unmatchable. They were like the brothers I never had. When you grow up with only sisters, you always wonder what it'd be like if you had brothers instead. Due to those two, I knew what it was like. And I loved it.

However, as much as I missed them, I always felt as though they did not miss me. We were like the common childhood best friends in the scenario where one moves away, and the ones who remain slowly forget about their old friend. We went from seeing each other every day, to seeing each other twice a year. My sisters required me to come back to Cerulean so I could watch the gym for them. This would mean that I had to leave my two favourite boys. My family. We promised to meet again, which of course we did. But when my sisters came back, I made no effort to join back up with Ash. When I went to visit him, he had begun to act indifferent towards me, and not even excited that I was there. I was becoming a background memory. He had May and her little brother Max to accompany him now.

What I noticed was how much May was taking my place. She was very fond of Ash, not that fact was bad or anything. He deserved good friends, and Max and May were just that. But she was becoming my replacement, and the fact Ash could replace me so easily was rather heartbreaking… heartbreaking only because Ash is just a dear friend to me, of course.

When I had caught the news of Ash visiting Kanto once more, I quickly became excited. This would be his chance to come and visit me at the gym! He'd be in the region a lot, and probably nearby! Why wouldn't he come to see me?

Well, I was mistaken.

When he did not think to come see me, I knew I was forgotten. I knew that his Pokemon journey was far more important to him than me, a longtime friend. Or maybe it was that I was totally forgotten to his new sidekick, May.

That thought always caused my blood to rush, no matter how many times I thought it. It was always like a blockade that was preventing me from getting to sleep, but it was inevitable for me not to think those thoughts. Every night I was consumed with my feelings of being forgotten.

Maybe Ash was trying to forget me. Perhaps when I visited him, he was secretly cursing my name for consistently following him to wherever he went that was in my reach. When he saw me, perhaps he just wanted to wish me away.

I could feel my eyes beginning to sting; I had been letting my thoughts affect me too much. But the more I thought, the heavier my eyes became, and eventually I drifted off to sleep.

I'm not sure what the time was, but shortly after falling into my unconscious state, I could feel myself being drawn from it due to a shrill noise. At first I tried to block it out, but the noise continued going off and overpowered my need for sleep. When I was fully conscious and pulled from my slumber, I realized it was the phone that was going off. Probably someone calling for information about my sisters' show. That very thought caused me to grind my teeth together, almost painfully.

I stumbled to the phone, quickly running my fingers through my hair in attempt to tidy it. I then turned to the monitor and picked up the phone. The face on the other end surprised me. Seeing her was almost too coincidental. Stopping myself from gawking in disbelief, I collected my thoughts and greeted her.

"Mrs. Ketchum!" I exclaimed. It was unexpected, but rather fortituous for her to be the person calling me considering how much I'd been missing the group lately.

She gave me a heart warming smile, although I could see her inspecting me. I must have looked like a mess.

"Hello dear." She said happily. "Did you just wake up?"

"Yes, actually, I did." I confessed. Her question confirmed what I'd just been thinking - I must have looked as bad as I felt. "Is something the matter?" I asked, trying to get straight to the point and taking all the focus off of myself. And as much as I was interested in what Delia had to say, and what everyone was up to, at the moment I found sleep more important. I got cranky when people woke me up.

"Oh, yes." She said, recalling what she called for. "Ash is stopping into Pallet sometime this week, I was thinking maybe you should come down to meet the gang since I know how you miss them." She smiled.

As she spoke the words, I felt an emotion akin to shock take over my mind. It was kind of like a prayer of mine was answered right at that moment. The chances of Ash coming back, just as my thoughts were consumed of how he left me here… it was strangely coincidental. And it was a perfect way to get away from my sisters.

I smiled, "I would like that very much, Mrs. Ketchum." As the words rolled off my tongue, I could feel my previous thoughts coming back into my mind. My thoughts of betrayal, and how the group had wanted to forget me. "But, maybe it's better if I don't come. After all, Ash and I haven't seen each other in a while, so it might be awkward or something…." I wanted to kick myself as I spoke the words. Why would I say that? I knew inside Ash must not want to see me… But did that mean in order to follow his wishes I had to sabotage myself? But if I'd learned anything, I knew it was to set something free, rather then hold on to it forever….

"Oh dear," She replied, not receiving the answer she was expecting. "Ash would most likely be expecting you!" That fact made me feel worse, almost as if he always had to deal with me. Probably before he would come, he would make a bet with Brock and May that I will be there, awaiting his arrival. How pathetic I must have seemed.

"I'm sure Ash would be pleased just to see you, Mrs. Ketchum. He doesn't need to add more people to his life right now as I'm sure his journeys are tough. He just needs to focus on his Pokemon," and his real friends.

I couldn't tell what she was thinking at that moment, but I could tell she was coming to a conclusion.

"Misty, it could be a long while before you have the chance to see your friends again. You should take advantage of the opportunity." I weighed my options. She was right. Ash only had to deal with me twice a year. It wasn't as though I was still camping with him and annoying him every night. It was twice a year. Besides, maybe I just wanted to see Brock! I'm sure he'd appreciated my presence….

Maybe not.

I flashed her a doubtful smile, attempting to display my happiness… if I had any. "You're right." I nodded. I could see her face light up to my words. "I'll just pack some stuff and be right over, since I might have to stay a day or two." She nodded along, pleased with my decision.

Our conversation went on for several minutes more, before I retreated back to my room. I didn't know what I had just gotten myself into, but I was dead tired. As I collapsed on my bed, and prepared for some sleep, one thought kept reoccurring in my mind.

I was going to see Ash Ketchum.

Hope it wasn't too bad. And thanks sooo much for reading. :D Although this was the first chapter, and it may not have been amazing, it will get better with time! So hang around, and please REVIEW!