Disclaimer: Do not own Pokemon. That honor belongs to Japan.
Chapter 2
Ash Ketchum had always found the gentle sea breeze on his face very soothing.
He had first discovered this aboard the St. Anne, a deluxe cruise ship he had taken with Misty and Brock when he was travelling in the Kanto region that had wound up sinking, and fell in love with the feeling.
That was one of the reasons he loved his time in the Orange Islands so much. He got to feel that sensational feeling almost every day while travelling to new islands to battle other trainers.
He remembered a conversation he had with his friend Misty about the ocean once.
This conversation really stuck out in his mind because it wasn't at all like the conservations he used to have with Misty. There was no fighting, no yelling, and not one glimpse of her trademark ( and rather painful) mallet were seen.
(Flashback)
Ash was staring off into the horizon, the last traces of Trovita Island were starting to disappear. He smiled as he fingered his recently acquired Spike Shell badge. This badge had been quite difficult to win. Rudy, the Trovita Island gym leader, was one tough customer. He had even taught his Starmie to do an electric attack which had almost cost him the battle. But, his Squirtle had pulled through and they had won the match and the badge!
However, now that they had left the Island he was beginning to notice something. After they had all had their goodbyes with Rudy, Misty had been unusually quiet. She was just sitting there on Lapras's back staring off into the distance.
Ash never had been good with the whole "talking to people thing" but this was his best friend here and she didn't look to happy. He scooted himself over to her side and sat down beside her.
"Hey" Ash said
"Hey" she replied
There was a bit of a silence after that as Ash didn't really know what to say next.
He was about to ask her what was wrong when she broke the silence.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" She said.
Ash grinned. "I'll say it is! It's gotta be the most beautiful thing ever!"
Misty gasped and looked up. Was this really Ash Kethcum talking? Was there actually some romance in the abnormally thick skull of his?
"You – you really think so Ash?"
"Yeah, Misty look at it!" Then he opened up his hand to show her his new badge. "Isn't it great!? It's by far the prettiest badge in my collection and it was also one of the hardest to win!!"
Misty fell over in the way that all the characters did. Naturally, her first reactions was to take out her mallet, hit him with it, and call him a culturally deprived, un-romantic, immature, little creep but at the last moment decided against it. For some reason she just didn't feel up to starting an argument right then.
So she got up and said very calmly "No, Ash. I was talking about the Ocean."
"The Ocean? What's so pretty about a bunch of water?"
Misty giggled at this "It's just a bunch of water Ash it's a big, blue masterpiece. Look, at the way the sun reflects off of the surface, it makes the whole thing sparkle like a gigantic diamond. It really takes my breath away."
Ash looked out over the ocean. She had a point. Wherever the setting sun touched any part of the surface, the whole section just lit up and sparkled. Maybe this was the reason she liked water pokemon so much.
Ash turned around to tell her that, when all of a sudden something caught his eye. As she was looking out into the ocean Misty's eyes were sparkling just as much the ocean was. Ash had never noticed before but her eyes were the prettiest shade of blue he had ever seen.
Ash stared at her for a few moments longer before snapping himself out of it. He didn't want misty to get mad at him for staring at her.
"Hey, Misty?" he asked
"Yes, Ash?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, Ash. Go ahead."
"Do you remember back on Trovita when you were spending all your time with Rudy, and he invited you to stay there with him?"
"Well, considering we just left Trovita I'd say that does seem to ring a bell."
Ash smiled at that. Misty's sarcasm was one thing he really liked about her.
"Well, um, why didn't you?"
"Why didn't I what, Ash?"
"Stay with Rudy. On the Island."
Misty looked at him for a moment. He really WAS that dense. No matter how many hints she would throw his way never ever seemed to strike a chord in that rock hard head of his.
"You really don't know..do you?"
Ash was taken aback by this question. Of course he didn't know that's why he was asking.
"No Misty, I have no idea."
Misty smiled again. "Well that, Ash Ketchum, is something you're going to have to find out on your own."
And with that Misty lay down on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
Ash was more confused now than he usually was. "What does she mean I have to find out for myself? Why can't she just tell me? "Hey Misty, what does that mean? You can't just leave me here guessing like that!"
But she was already fast asleep.
(End Flashback)
Ash had played that conversation over in his head more times than he could count, and he still had no idea what Misty meant when she said that. It had been increasingly bothering him lately, and he really wasn't sure why. The incident in question had happened well over three years ago so shouldn't he have buried in his mind like he did with everything else?
On more than one occasion he had been tempted to call or e-mail Misty and ask her himself, but two things were holding him back. One was that he wasn't one hundred percent sure how to use all this technological stuff, that was more Dawn's forte (and he wasn't about to ask her for help). Another was that he didn't think really wanted to talk to him anymore. He hadn't seen her since that little adventure she they had in the Mirage Kingdom. It was about that he started Misty…differently.
He didn't know how to explain it, but for some reason he no longer saw her as feisty, short-tempered, best-friend, he saw her as....well he wasn't sure what he saw her as. He had tried to ask Brock one night but Brock response was just as vague as that one from Misty.
"It's about time." He had said. "I was beginning to think you were NEVER going to grow up and realize what was really going on."
"What are you talking about?" Ash had responded "What's really going on?"
Brock just chuckled "That's something you're going to have to figure out yourself."
Ash frowned to himself. He looked over at Brock who was talking excitedly with Dawn, Pilpup, and Pikachu. He glared at Brock. Why couldn't anyone give him a straight answer? Was there some piece to this puzzle that he couldn't see but that everyone else could?
He thought that he might have to talk to his mom about it next time he saw her…
His mom.
All of a sudden Ash was thrown out of his thoughts as remembered the reason they were on this boat bound for the Kanto region in the first place.
Earlier that day, he had gotten an urgent call for Professor Oak saying that his mom had been hit over the head by some nut job and had torn their house completely apart.
Worry filled Ash for a split second only to be instantly replaced by anger and hatred. If he ever found the son-of-a-bitch who had done that to his mom there would be absolute hell to pay.
Ash's angry thoughts were interrupted by a voice over the loudspeaker
"Now docking..Now docking…Vermillion City…Kanto Region…Now docking, Vermillion City, Kanto Region."
Ash stood up. They had made to the port in Vermillion and the plan was from there to go straight to Viridian City where his mom was in the hospital. Dawn and Brock maneuvered they way over to Ash.
"Allright Ash, here we are." Brock said "Do you want to stop and get some food before we head out."
For once in his life Ash was not in the mood to eat. "No Brock" he said "My moms in the hospital and I wont stop until I see for myself that shes allright."
Dawn and Brock exchanged worried glances. They knew that there were only two people Ash would refuse food for. His mother…and a certain red-headed gym leader.
"Okay Ash. Were with you!" said Dawn "Right Pilpup?"
"Pip, Pilpup!" said Pilpup.
"Chu!" said Pikachu, Ash's best non-human friend. Which everyone took to mean "I'm with you all the way, amigo!"
"Thanks you guys." Ash said "It really means a lot that you came out here to do this with me."
"It's our pleasure." Said Brock "After all, what are friends for?"
Ash nodded toward them, not wanting to talk for fear of his emotions giving him away.
And with that the three trainers and their pokemon headed off to Viridian City.
Misty Waterflower had just left Cerulean City after what seemed like hours since Tracey's phone call.
It had seemed to her that ever since she had hung up the phone everything had started going wrong.
First, she had to go about locking up the gym and closing it for a few days, which proved to be difficult because she had to go about the task rounding up all the pokemon and cancelling any major appointments.
Once that was accomplished she left the gym and was about thirty paces out when she realized she forgot to pack any extra clothes. She didn't know how long she was going to be in Viridian City and didn't want to be in the same old outfit for very long. Upon thinking this, she began wondering why all of a sudden it mattered what she wore now, even though she was travelling with Ash it seemed like they always wore the same outfit day in and day out.
Brushing these thoughts aside she quickly packed some extra clothes and headed out the door.
This time she had made to about the Cerulean City limits when she realized she left her Azurill at home. She quickly dashed back to her house, picked up her little blue water mouse pokemon and her gym for the THIRD time.
"So far this trip isn't turning out too great" she thought "I really hope it gets better when I finally see Ash again."
She looked out over the landscape of the land she was just about to traverse and thought to herself: I'm going to see you soon, Ash Ketchum. I only hope you'll like what you see.
Finally she made it once again to the Cerulean City limits and, without looking back, she walked off into the sunset.
So this is Chapter 2…I actually wrote this about a five months ago so I have about three or four chapters I never published…just in case you were wondering.
Everhere Everthere
