Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. I don't own anything at all.
This story takes place in the near future. Ash is an adult, and was madly in love with Misty, who died in an accident. Now he searches for her ghost and a way to contact his beloved. Ash/Misty. Romance/Horror. Expect a little bit of humor too.
Finding Yamask
By Diana Moon Glampers
Chapter 1
Lost in the Darkness
Ash sat among the piles of books, a look of frustration and despair on his face. "How long have I been at this?" He asked himself. "Five years? Six? Seven? Argh! No matter how hard I try, nothing!" He screamed. Pikachu crawled over to his side and rubbed up against his hand. The little guy was used to seeing his friend like this. Too used to it. Pikachu squeaked and squealed in sympathy. Ash stroked the mouse pokemon's fur, from its head to its tail. He sighed, surveying his pile of books, a pile of dead ends and failure. All those books were written by hacks and frauds. They had names like "A beginner's guide to spirit channeling", "Rei's guide to Black Magic", "The Art of the Séance"… So much false hope. So many lies.
"Well, back to the library, I guess." Ash said. He lifted Pikachu up onto his shoulder and shoveled the books into a backpack. He left the pokemon center he was staying at and went for the Fuchsia City library. "That was the last library in Kanto too." He said to himself. He walked toward the book drop and dumped them in, all at once. "It's awful, like I'm throwing away my dreams… again." Ash said to himself. "Yeah, becoming a pokemon master, that was a longshot. I was just a dumb kid… But this… This…" A sudden surge of resolve coursed through him. "No! I won't give up! Not on this! I'm going to find you, Misty! Wherever you are out there, I'm going to find you!"
Tears streamed from Ash's eyes like tiny rivers. "You were the love of my life. The love of my life, damn it! You weren't supposed to die!" He said. The children sitting outside the library started staring at him like he was some kind of wreck. Actually, no, Ash was in fact, a total wreck. He was a young man, but his heart had the burden of an older one, and he looked the part too. He was a dirty unshaven vagrant, broken by years of sadness.
Ash reached for his belt and picked up the pokeball that had his Pidgeot. In a flash, Pidgeot stood before him, tall and majestic. Pidgeot tried to keep up a strong appearance, but he knew well his master's sorrow and madness. It squawked at attention, like a soldier ready to take orders from his sergeant. "Pidgeot, let's go to Cerulean City." Ash said. He climbed onto Pidgeot's back. It was a familiar route, one too familiar to the two of them. Ash went there often.
As they soared through the clouds, Ash gazed at how high up they were. All the people looked like specks of dust, all the houses like tiny boxes. Ash had frequently thought about leaping off of Pidgeot to his death on flights like this, but all of them, Ash, Pidgeot, and Pikachu, knew he would never do such a thing. Joining his beloved Misty in death probably wouldn't solve anything. For all he knew, finding a ghost when you're dead too probably only made it harder. "That's not the answer. It can't be. That's too easy to be the answer. Besides who would look after Pikachu? And Pidgeot? And all the rest? They need me. I can't abandon them, ever." Thoughts like that often occupied his mind on flights like this.
It didn't take long for Pidgeot to take Ash to Cerulean City. It landed in a familiar place, the spot where Ash always wanted to land. They had gone here enough times that he didn't even have to ask, Pidgeot just knew where to go by heart. Ash dismounted his giant bird and gave it a warm hug. "Thanks, Pidgeot, you did good." He said. Pidgeot cooed politely. In a flash, he was back inside his pokeball.
Pidgeot had taken Ash to the Cerulean Gym, now run by one of Misty's sisters. It was here where Ash had met her on his way home from his adventure, the day he surrendered his dreams. He remembered it like it was yesterday. He remembered running up the steps inside, and meeting Misty's warm, happy smile. He remembered the joyful embrace they shared, the catching up they did, that wonderful, sweet, passionate kiss they shared, their mutual declaration of love… Yes, love. That was something worth losing your dreams over. When he gave up his pokemon journey, Ash had reasoned with himself that he was settling down to be with the woman he loved, the one he had always loved from the very beginning. Misty was only too happy to go along with this, since she had been praying on those lonely nights for Ash's return for years. They had lived together as boyfriend and girlfriend in the city, enjoying their happy, peaceful time together.
It was a short time. Too short. Ash strolled down the sidewalk, down the very street where Misty had lost her life. He always choked up and had to keep himself from crying when he passed that fateful spot, the intersection of Park Street and 4th where she had died. He couldn't always hold it in. Sometime he wept like a child when he passed that spot.
"Keep it together, Ash. You can do this." He said to himself. He kept walking a ways and crossed onto Boadview, the street that led to the cemetery. Ash found it painfully ironic that his beloved Misty had died on a street just one crosswalk away from a cemetery. It made him feel like the gods were playing a sick and twisted joke on him.
Ash made his way up the hill to Misty's gravestone. It stood in a row among the many others. He bent down, and reached for a small object in front of the grave. It was a recording device, dirty and weathered from being exposed to the elements, but still in working condition. Ash dusted it off and hit the button to play the recording. An grainy image of Misty popped up on the tiny screen. "Um? What do I say in this? Hm?" She stuttered. "Oh, I know!" She exclaimed. "I love you, Ash! We're going to be together forever, you and me! Nothing's going to keep us apart!" She cheerfully said. The recording blanked out. It was over. The recording was a romantic gift Misty had given him before she died. It was all Ash had left of her now. Misty was like a ghost, a memory and an image among a sea of darkness.
Pikachu climbed down from Ash's shoulder and gazed up at the gravestone like it was the specter of death itself. There was a sad terror in his eyes. He looked at Ash as if to say, "It hurts, Master. It hurts." Ash stroked the fur on Pikachu's head. "Yeah, what happened to 'Together Forever', huh? What happened to nothing keeping us apart?"