Chapter Two

Misty woke up early the next morning, fully aware that her small house would need quite a bit of cleaning before Ash arrived. Normally she wouldn't mind too much about the mess, but today was different for two reasons:

1. It was Ash, and despite what she had told herself all through the night after his call, she had to admit that it was possible that some of the feelings she held for him ten years ago still remained to this day.
2. She hadn't cleaned up at all in several weeks and it was getting to the point where she could barely see the surfaces of her table or her kitchen worktop for the empty takeaway boxes, dirty dishes and month-old magazines.

Once she had sent off the texts that she needed to (one to Daisy saying that she couldn't work at the gym today, and another to Ash telling him exactly how to get to her house) she decided that she should probably make a start on tidying up. She now stood in her dressing gown, looking around her house with her hands on her hips and trying to decide on where to begin.

She eventually opted for the coffee table in the living room, thinking that it would probably be the easiest job to do. She grabbed a large plastic bag from the kitchen and quickly tried to scoop all the old magazines into it. Of course, since she had not quite fully woken up, it proved much more difficult than she had first thought and most of them ended up falling into a pile on the floor.

As she bent down to pick them up, her eyes were drawn to one in particular. The magazine in question was not particularly interesting – some boring celebrity gossip magazine that one of her sisters had probably left during their last visit– but what caught her attention was the banner on the bottom of the cover that read "Win a free holiday to Kalos and a chance to meet the strongest trainers of the region".

She absentmindedly dropped the rest of the pile into the bag before flicking through the magazine to find the competition. The article looked fairly familiar – she'd probably skimmed through the magazine one day when she'd been bored. The page was decorated with a large photo of Kalos' Elite Four standing next to the champion.

The competition seemed to be giving readers the chance to win a ticket to some kind of event otherwise reserved for people who had challenged the Kalos League. It was pretty clear that it was the same gathering that Ash had been attending when he lost his pikachu.

Misty gave the article one last scan to see if his name had been mentioned anywhere, but of course there was no sign of it. After all, it wasn't like Ash had won the league or anything. There was no reason for him to get a special mention.

Slightly disappointed, she dropped the magazine into the bag with the others, carried it outside and threw it into the bin before heading back inside to make a start on the rest of the house. Before she could do so, however, the doorbell rang.

She took one last look at the kitchen, still a hopeless mess of dirty plates and old takeaway boxes, before dashing towards the door. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she yanked the door open.

"Hey! It's been a… while…" She tried to make her voice sound as enthusiastic as possible despite her fairly tired state, but she trailed off when she realised that she was currently staring into a pair of lips.

She took a step back and looked up slightly. He had grown. Of course he had grown, she hadn't seen him since he was, what, fifteen? Still, he'd clearly grown faster than she had, because she could have sworn the last time she saw him they were roughly the same height – now he was about half-a-head taller.

She examined his face, taking in every new detail that had surfaced while he'd been away. He looked so similar to the boy she'd once known, yet so different at the same time. His hair, now no longer hidden under a cap, was far shorter, more tidy and better-kept than it once had been. There was something in his eyes that wasn't quite the same either – they were lacking their usual fire, the determination that had once been there. They seemed almost… sad.

Of course, Misty probably looked just as unfamiliar to him. Her hair was far longer than it had been back then, and she usually just let it hang free now. She also guessed that she'd put on a bit of weight since they'd last met – after all, it was hard keeping a healthy diet when so much of her time was taken up by fighting challengers.

"Hey," Ash said. His voice wasn't quite the same either – it had of course gotten deeper, but it also sounded somehow weaker and less confident.

They stared at each other for a moment, neither of them sure what to say or do next. As she looked into his eyes, Misty felt a strange emotion bubble up inside her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she remembered feeling it a lot back when they had been travelling together.

Suddenly, she realised what it was she was feeling and slapped Ash across the face.

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed in shock as he rubbed his cheek. "What was that for?"

"Sorry, sorry," Misty said apologetically. "I don't know what came over me, I just suddenly felt so… angry. Here, come inside, I'll get you some ice."

Ash laughed weakly as he followed her into the house. "Still the same old Misty, huh. What, did you have a sudden flashback to the whole bike thing?"

"No, that isn't it…" She disappeared into the kitchen as she tried to figure out exactly why she was mad at him.

Ash sat down on the living room's couch as he waited for her to return. After a few moments, she emerged with a large bag of ice which she promptly handed to him.

"I think it's just that… well, none of us have heard from you in so long. No visits, no phone calls, no letters, nothing."

"Yeah, sorry about that…" He lowered his head, still holding the ice bag against his face. "I guess I just… panicked."

"Panicked? Why?" She nervously sat down on the couch next to him, suddenly wishing that she had another chair.

"I don't even really know, to be honest. It's just… I'd been challenging different leagues for a good few years, and I still wasn't getting any closer to winning. And my last challenge… Well, let's just say it didn't end too well. I made some new friends, like always, but I… I guess they weren't who I thought they were."

Misty raised an eyebrow at the news.

"They all left the moment I lost. I ended up stuck in some far off region with no friends near enough to help me out and just enough money to get me to Kalos."

"Why didn't you just call one of us? We'd have done everything in our power to help you." All her anger had evaporated, with a deep concern for her friend taking its place.

"I wanted to, don't get me wrong. It's just that… well, I was ashamed."

"Ashamed? That's a surprisingly complex emotion for you, Ash," she said with a forced laugh. She regretted the pathetic attempt at humour the moment she looked at his face and saw that he didn't look any happier.

"There's a bit more to it than what I've told you, but do you mind if we don't get into all of it just now?"

"Y-yeah, sure." She remembered that he never had been too great at discussing his emotions.

"I went to Kalos in the hopes of meeting back up with some of my friends there, but I found that I was too embarrassed to approach even them. So instead, I settled down, got a job, found an affordable apartment and moved on with my life. I still talk to my mum, obviously, and she's been helping out where she can. I wanted to call you guys so badly, but… I don't know. I guess I kept making excuses, and before I knew it an entire year had passed. After that, I guess it just… felt too late." He lifted his head back up and looked at Misty, a sad smile etched on his face.

"Oh Ash…" she said, trying to think of a way to put him at ease. Making people feel better wasn't something she had ever been good at – that was usually his area. Hesitantly, she put her hand on his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting manner. "You could've called me. You could've called any of us. That's what we're here for. We're your friends."

"Yeah, I guess… Thanks Misty." As he stood up, a smile flickered across his face and he almost looked like the Ash she knew, but it quickly vanished. "Anyway, how about we go get Pikachu back?"

"Oh, right, sorry. I guess we got a little carried away there, huh?" she said as she stood up and started to walk towards the bedroom. "Just give me a couple of minutes to get dressed and we can head off to Celadon. We'll take the car, it'll be quicker."

"Yeah, sounds good… Wait, you have a car?!" Ash asked in shock, but Misty had already shut the bedroom door.