Chapter 3-
Months
after her episode of heartbreak and betrayal, Misty stopped trusting
everyone. Heartbreak can make you feel many things, most which make
no sense. She got the false impression that all boys were like Tim,
only caring about themselves. She soon forgot about the boy who
helped her at the dance. Completely alienating herself from the
world, would only communicate with other trainers, then quickly
walk away after a battle.
She wouldn't even listen to her
parents. If anyone was worse off mentally than Misty, it would be her
mother. She would try to see what could possibly be wrong, only to
hear the slam of a door which stopped right in front of her. Watching
your own daughter drown her face with tears is very hard on a mother.
Every mother wishes the best for her daughters. They try to protect
them, make them feel good, and while they wouldn't admit it, spoil
them.
Misty's mother was no different. She would try to
get her to talk, and before she could explain how it would feel
better, Misty would walk out the door to run to her secret spot in
the forest, the big tree that hangs over the lake.
She was
always able to go to her spot and just think. The calm lake cleared
her mind most the times. But, occasionally, while letting her
pokémon swim in the lake, she would look at how much fun they were
having. She looked and saw how free they were. Even though they were
under the control of someone, in a way, they were still free. They
were free from fear. They had nothing to fear, for they knew that
someone was there to protect them.
There wasn't anyone to
protect Misty. No one to protect her from all the evils she feared.
While she was probably physically capable of defending
herself, she didn't have the strength to protect her feelings. She
was very vulnerable to opinion.
And so, after realizing her
self-cautiousness, and how no one could protect her, she would cry.
She would sit their and cry about how defenseless she was. With her
head in her arms, she would cry till it hurt. No one to come and calm
her down, except for her pokémon. But, though they would try, they
couldn't give her words of encouragement. They could only sit and
stare, and watch as she would swipe at them to leave. She couldn't
be cheered up. And
so, she would just sit their alone.
Many
times, when the moon came up, Misty would still be at her spot. Her
mother would get worried, fearing that Misty had killed herself, an
action Misty had considered more than one time. But, she would always
come home, walk right by her by now cold dinner, and march up to her
room. She would turn off the light, and put her head in her pillow.
Often, her mother would come in and try again to find out what's
wrong, only to either be ignored, or
fall for Misty's fake
sleeping routine.
By now, her father, who was never really
interested in Misty, distracted by his other daughters success, had
joined in the hunt to hear the whole story. He too didn't get
anywhere. Not realizing the troubles that women could go through, he
just thought she was looking for attention, and began to pay
attention only to his other daughters again.
Her sudden
loss of love from her father just made it worse. She thought about
suicide many times, but would never come closer than that. Lucky for
her, she would hold on just long enough. Her life would take its
second dramatic turn, but this time for the better.
While
sitting at her spot in the woods, she tried as hard as she could not
to think about her life. She had just filled in for her sisters in
the Cerulean city gym, and had won. She never thought she could be a
gym leader. But, of course, she never would be. That one time was
just an attempt from her family to cheer her up, after a few nights
ago, when she didn't come back until the next morning.
Her
pokémon were swimming in the lake, as usual. This time, she was
staring at them, and thought about how good of a trainer she would've
had to have been to have raised them so well.
Soon, she
heard voices. She thought it was someone of her family, but as they
came closer, one became high and full of joy, the other slightly low
and serious. It couldn't have been her family.
As voices
turned to bodies, she had brought back her pokémon and hid behind a
tree. They were laughing about their latest pokémon victory. Misty
was more confident about herself now, and decided to come out from
behind her hiding spot.
"So, you're a pokémon
trainer?" She said in a raspy voice. Apparently, she wasn't as
confident as she thought she was. Luckily, the trainer was so
surprised he didn't realize how she said it.
"Yeah,
I'm a trainer. My name is Ash. I'm going to become the best
pokémon trainer ever!" At this, his friend rolled his eyes.
Misty had finally been able to talk with other people, and had for
once, laughed.
"Well, come on. I'll…challenge…you."
Misty said, trying to sound as confident as she could. "Staryu,
go!" She threw the ball, and a surprised Staryu came out. It
hadn't seen other humans in this part of the woods in a long time.
"Alright, Pikachu, go!" Ash cried out. The
Pikachu standing next to Ash's leg jumped out, staring down the
Staryu. But, breathing heavily, ran back behind Ash's leg, and
collapsed.
"I think he's too tired, Ash." Said
Brock, the one who was walking with Ash. Ash tried begging with
Pikachu to go, earlier in the week learning that electric pokémon
were strong against water. Giving up, he stood up.
"Alright
then, Butterfree, go!" Butterfree appeared out of the ball
released from Ash's hand. It soared a while, than fluttered its
wings, raising a little higher. Misty admired the beauty of the
Butterfree, but then started to focus again on match ahead of her.
"Staryu, tackle!" She called. She had practiced
Staryu's aim before the night at the dance, but since then, had
forgot about it. It jumped up, and in an awkward way, started to spin
upwards towards the Butterfree. Unable to focus itself at its
target, Butterfree was easily dodged it, causing it to spin
towards the ground, and improperly land.
"Ha.
Butterfree, stun spore!" The Butterfree floated above the
Staryu, and started releasing light brown spores from it's wings.
They floated down and landed on Staryu and the ground around it.
Misty was very worried. She hadn't met someone like this. Everyone
else she would battle would've been starting to look upon Misty's
pokémon as superior beings by now. Now, she looked at her Staryu,
realizing that it could barely move, urged it on.
"Staryu,
jump in the water!" she directed. The Staryu jumped in the
water, staying down their for awhile. It was able to regenerate it's
strength while the tingling feeling from the spores finally started
to wear off. Once again, it went up for a tackle, feeling that he
needed to take control of this battle into his own hands. Misty had,
in a way, neglected her pokémon, and the Staryu felt that she had
lost a little of her training skills.
Ash couldn't help
but be surprised by what had happened. He never seen a pokémon doing
something on its own. He was so awe-stricken, he called Butterfree to
do a move, but the only thing that came out was air. He couldn't
think of a move, and that pause caused Butterfree to be unable to
move, still waiting for a command. The Staryu hit the Butterfree
right on, and soon Butterfree fell onto the ground.
"Staryu,
water gun, now!" Misty called out, also surprised. The Staryu
landed, and unleashed a spray of water, soaking the Butterfree,
sending it back to Ash's feat.
Ash knelt down, and bent
over the fallen pokémon. He gently shook it, trying to see if it was
ok. Brock also came over to see if it was ok. They both knelt over
it, waiting to see a sign of life.
"Come on, please,
Butterfree, wake up. Please." Ash begged. Misty, who at
one time stood triumphant at her quick victory over the Boy who she
thought was a very good trainer, had now started worrying for the
Butterfree, and for what would happen to the trainer. Normally, she
would see a trainer that would say 'Get back up' or calling it
names. But this trainer was different. He was very caring towards his
pokémon. She thought about how he was such
a caring pokémon
trainer. He was probably caring in real life too. As the Butterfree
opened its eyes, and let out a long silent of sorrow to his master,
Ash replied. "Hey, it's ok. Calm down, you're ok now."
Suddenly, Misty realized something. It was like having
Deja-vu. That caring voice. That sorrowful, yet caring voice. Was it
him? Was he the one at the dance? No, what were the chances. But she
had to find out.
"Where are you from?" Misty
said, before realizing that Ash was still sheltering his Butterfree.
Brock looked up, and was about to talk about the timing of the
question, till he too remembered that face. That happy, yet confused
face. After Ash put Butterfree back into the pokéball, he realized
Brock was staring at Misty, and Misty at himself.
"Hey,
what's wrong with you guys.?" Ash said. He still didn't get
it. Soon, Brock whispered something loud enough into Ash's ear for
Misty to hear, but so full with wonder, she didn't.
Finally,
Ash understood. He stood up, and stared Misty in the eyes. Misty
stared back, and a slight smile grew on her face.
"Are
you the…" They both said at the same time, placing the final
piece of the puzzle. Misty's eyes started to tear, but she didn't
care. They weren't tears of sadness…
She ran up to Ash,
wrapped her arms around him, and leaned her head on his shoulder. She
cried more than she had ever cried before. Ash put his arms around
her, not even realizing the tears running down his arm, too moved
over the joy of it all.
She had felt something she had been
dying to feel for such a long time. She had finally met the person
who she had always loved, not even knowing who he was. She had longed
to meet him, thinking about him till she couldn't even remember his
blurry image.
Ash had the same things come to mind also.
Ever since the dance, he had always been thinking about meeting her
again. She was beautiful through his own eyes, with her hair done,
and dress all nice or not. Now or before, he was thankful to be
able to be this close to her now. He put his chin on the head, and
thanked God for this moment.
The two stood their for what
they would remember for hours. Brock lacked the ability to break the
two up, feeling happy that his best friend had finally found the girl
he had been talking about and had dreamed about all this time.
The sun
soon fell. After a few hours of discussing how they both longed to
meet the other, they both decided they had to go. Her arm wrapped
around him and her head on his shoulder, she stared at the fire Brock
had made. They both talked about how they wishes that the moment
could last forever. Brock put his stuff together, put out the fire,
and knowing Ash and him they had to get back to their houses soon,
and started along the way. He was ready to
turn to tell Ash that
it was getting late, but Ash would know better than to stay the
night. He left the two alone, and headed down the trail.
Misty,
seeing Brock leave, knew that Ash would have to leave soon. She
picked her head off his shoulder, and held his hands.
"Well,
I think you have to go. I wish you could stay longer, but…"
Misty's voice trailed off. Ash knew what she meant.
They
stared into each others eyes. They both had finally met real love.
This was a feeling they had never really felt before. They both stood
up, Ash helping Misty to her feet. She didn't want to leave. She
wanted to stay there forever. But, she had to let him go. While she
knew she wouldn't be able to get to sleep, she knew that if she
did, she would probably see Ash the next day.
Ash, leaning
over to Misty, kissed her on the cheek goodnight. And with that, he
picked up his stuff, and walked down the trail.
Misty stood
there for a few moments after he was out of view with a smile on her
face. Not for what had just happened, but what would still be to
come. She knew that her life had started a new beginning, and this
time, she would live it to the best of her abilities.
The
spot she stood would no longer just be her spot. Misty's secrets
are rarely exposed. Whether it be the location of her spot where she
goes to be alone, or who she longed to meet, they aren't told
often. But when they are, the result would always point towards the
best.
