Weather the Storm
Pairings: Mainly PokéShipping; Ash/Misty, slight ContestShipping; Drew/May, slight RocketShipping; James/Jessie, slight SoulSilverShipping, OC/OC.
Rating: T for language, suggestive themes, and violence.
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I affiliated in any way with the Pokémon franchise. This story is merely for entertainment. I, however, do own my OCs. I also don't own Back to the Future or anything else you could relate this storyline to.
A/N: Let's pretend in this world that the drinking age is 18. And depending on the main perspective in the scene, Ilse will be referred to as Ilse or Alyssa in the 3rd person. You'll understand that after you start reading. Oh, and I have totally been forgetting to thank my BETA readers! Chapters 1-3 were done by Misty Ketchum97 and those as well as all subsequent chapters have been done by the fabulous C'sMelody! Love, love, love ya!
Fish Out of Water
Ilse woke with her cheek planted in the dirt and a bruising pain in her side with a distinct throbbing feeling that only could have meant that she'd been fallen more than a few feet. She closed her eyes, grimacing as she pushed herself up off the ground. She ached all over. Apparently time travel really took it out of you. She attempted to brush the hair out of her eyes, only to streak mud all across her face.
"Great," she muttered under her breath.
A few feet away from her was the GS Ball, which she quickly snatched up. She achingly pushed herself to her feet before looking from side to side for Noah's dark blue hair. Not seeing him, she began frantically looking around for his body sprawled on the ground or any sign of him. Finding none, she breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, that meant that she had managed to push him out of the range of the light.
Slowly she began picking her way out of the forest, not having the faintest clue where…or when she was. This definitely didn't seem like the Ilex forest anymore; there was too much light. She searched for a path out of the woods, eventually finding a small, beaten trail. She followed it, hoping that it would lead her to a town, hopefully with a newspaper, and, with any luck, a payphone.
"Misty, I don't understand why you made me come all the way to Cerulean for this," Ash whined, sulking as Misty made a vain attempt to brush his hair out of his eyes.
"Oh Ash, stop complaining. You know that it only took you maybe an hour to fly here," she replied, whipping off his hat and tossing it behind her.
Ash let out a whimper of protest at seeing his beloved hat strewn on the ground and he finally swatted Misty's hand away from his face. "Fine," he said, reaching and snatching his hat back up, "I'll cooperate. I'll meet this girl, be your buffer for a few days, and then I'll be on my merry way back to Indigo, alright?"
Misty grinned widely at her victory. "Thanks Ash. My sisters just thrust this girl upon me a couple hours ago and I really don't know what to expect, knowing my family. " She rolled her eyes, continuing, "And she talked to my sisters first, so she already has a bad impression of us, I'm sure, so I just want a someone here when she comes, and since Brock, May, and Drew couldn't get here until later…" she trailed off, looking up at Ash with puppy dog eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ash said, brushing her off. "I thought you didn't have any other family?"
Misty shrugged her shoulders, leafing through her closet. "She didn't think so either. She doesn't even have any brothers or sisters, fortunately for—" She glanced back at Ash who was arching his eyebrow at her, and quickly corrected herself, "I mean unfortunately for her. Apparently she's some long-lost cousin, and she just wanted to stop by and meet me. Maybe stay for a while."
"Oh, lucky her," Ash quipped sarcastically. Misty placed her hand on his chest, harshly shoving him backwards onto her bed, unsettling Pikachu, who had been trying to take a nap there. Ash made himself comfortable, putting his hands behind his head and folding his legs. "So, this is your bed, huh?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Ugh! Alright, get out. You can wait for her downstairs now," Misty said, making a face of disgust as she moved over to the side of her bed to roll him out. Not a moment after he hit the floor, she grabbed his shoulders and all but pushed him out of her room, slamming the door in his face. She sighed, leaning against the door for a moment before returning to her closet. She did not want to be labeled as 'the runt' the moment this cousin of hers stepped through the door.
Just as she finished brushing her hair out and smoothing the skirt of her dress, the doorbell rang. She ran down the stairs, anxious to not have the only family she had, other than her sisters, be greeted only by her hat-wearing moron of a best friend slash ex-boyfriend. As she skidded to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, she saw the door wide open and a girl standing behind it, practically gaping at Ash.
And she was gorgeous. She had the same eyes as Misty but her hair was long and black, cascading down her back in voluminous waves. Instead of Misty's pale skin that was so light it was blinding, her skin was a golden tan. And of course she had the same tall and thin yet curvaceous figure of her sisters. Another sensational Waterflower to feel insignificant to.
Ash too was staring at the girl. She looked oddly familiar, like he had met her before. He chalked it up to her having all of Misty's features, right down to the enormous green eyes. Yup, definitely a Waterflower.
As Misty stepped out and into the girl's vision she began staring between Ash and Misty like she'd seen a ghost. Abruptly, the girl shook herself out of it and extended her hand to Misty, smiling and saying, "Hello, I'm Alyssa. Alyssa Waterflower."
Misty smiled back, shaking her hand in return. "Hi, Alyssa. I'm Misty, and this is my friend Ash Ketchum."
At that, Alyssa visibly started, face falling as she continued looking between the two of them. Misty threw her a slightly confused look.
Ash stood awkwardly between them, just looking at their strange expressions. "Uh, why don't we show you to the kitchen," he offered.
Misty sighed in relief, happy for the suggestion. "Good idea, Ash," said before turning to her guest. "You must be hungry. Lord knows this one always is," she added before thwacking Ash on the back of the head. With that, the trio headed to the kitchen.
It had been surprisingly easy to end up in Cerulean under the pretenses of being Misty's cousin. Once she stumbled out of the woods she had landed in, she realized that it was the Viridian Forest. She had made her way to a Pokémon Center and immediately made a beeline for the video phones. Well, after cleaning up a bit.
If she remembered right, her aunts were incredibly gullible, to put it kindly, when they were young. Not much had changed since. She had called, made up her story and then made her way to Cerulean, hoping to Mew she would figure out what to do once she got there.
When she first saw her parents she couldn't help but stare. They looked almost the same, yet so different. Her mother had short hair tossed up in a ponytail, rather than the longer hair she had now that was usually loose down her back. Because her dad liked it that way. He had a boyish handsomeness now, rather than the rugged maturity she saw in her father when he was alive. But they still looked like her parents.
Ilse looked around in awe. So this is what the Gym used to look like. It was so different, yet so familiar at the same time. She guessed that maybe this is kind of what it looked like when she was young—she recognized some of it from pictures. Since then the Gym had been remodeled a couple of times. Right now the Gym seemed to be mostly filled with cool-toned neutrals, which she presumed was what was modern. It had a calming effect and she had to admit that she quite liked it.
Once she finished taking in her surroundings, she went back to staring at the backs of Ash and Misty. Friends? She realized that she knew how her parents met—she had heard that story more times than she could count—but they had never told her how they got together…
"This is the kitchen, or Ash's homeland as you'll probably come to know it," Misty said while smirking at Ash, taking Ilse out of her reverie. The kitchen was relatively dark. All the wood was a almost ebony brown and all the appliances were brushed stainless steel. It looked high-tech but it also showed that it was rarely used. Her mother never had been much of a chef. "I'll show you the rest of the house later, but from the sound of your stomach," Misty said pointedly as Ilse's abdomen let out a loud growl, "I'd say that you're in the mood for a snack."
Ilse nodded enthusiastically. She'd probably lost ten pounds in the last week from all of the eating she hadn't done, not to mention the stress that had been constantly plaguing her. Now that her father was alive and safe and her mother was no longer heartbroken, she was absolutely ravenous.
Misty grabbed something out of the fridge and quickly popped it in the microwave. Moments later she took it out and placed it in front of Ilse and Ash, sweat-dropping as she watched both inhale their food. "So, where are you from, Alyssa?" Misty asked, attempting conversation.
It took a moment for Ilse to recognize that she was being spoken to. She gulped down the food she had just shoved in her mouth and wracked her brain. Maybe she should have taken a moment longer to work out her back story. "Uh, actually, I'm from Hoenn." Yeah, that sounded good. It's far away.
"Really?" Ash asked, perking up. "We have a couple friends from Hoenn. They should be in town later today, too."
"And Ash traveled there for a year," Misty added.
"Oh." Ilse smiled, trying not to make any sign that she already knew both those things. "That's nice."
The conversation flowed pretty easily from there. Ilse was a fairly decent liar and didn't have too many problems answering their questions. Luckily, they were steering clear of any questions about her family for the time being.
Ilse couldn't be happier. Both her parents were right in front of her, so close she could touch them. She wanted so much to hug her dad. It took every ounce of restraint she had to stay seated and not reach out to him and say how much she had missed him.
Just then, the doorbell rang and both Misty and Ash got up to get it. Ilse stayed seated at the counter, shoveling the last of her food down her gullet before getting up and trailing after her parents to see who it was at the door. She saw just over the top of her parents' head the tips of some spiky, gravity-defying brown hair.
He waltzed right into the front foyer before pausing a moment and looking right at her, eyebrows raised. "I see she's already here."
Her mouth opened with a puff of air as she began to call out for her Uncle Brock, but she caught herself just in time and instead said, "Who's this?"
Misty introduced the two of them and Ilse couldn't help but smile. Uncle Brock had always had an almost calming effect to her family. However she felt an uncomfortable prickle on the back of her neck when she saw how much he was smiling back at her.
"Hey, how about we get on over to the bar? What better way to get to know each other better?" he suggested, giving Ilse a wink that made her shiver imperceptibly.
"Sure, why not?" Misty chortled. "Pikachu can babysit the Gym, can't he?
Apparently not only did Cerulean have a bar, but a pretty packed one at that. Everywhere were people dancing and flirting and generally having a good time. The four of them walked in with the firm intent of putting them all to shame.
Ilse headed straight for the drinks. It had been a crazy day to add on to a week where she hadn't had nearly enough alcohol. She was going to take full advantage of this situation under the pretense that she was just trying to be social with her new friends. Ilse walked up to the counter and hopped up onto a barstool, making herself comfortable. She tapped the counter, trying to get the bartender's attention. When he turned to her, she winked and smiled flirtatiously, while oh-so-subtly pressing her breasts together. "Something fruity," she ordered, sitting down as she waited for the rest of her party to join her. While Ilse had her mother's wit and her father's passion, she also had her aunts' skills of male-manipulation.
"Rough day?" the bartender asked, respectably only glancing at her chest for a moment.
Ilse scoffed. "More like rough week."
"Here," he said, handing her the drink. "It's on the house."
Bingo. "Thanks," she purred.
Ash walked up and took the stool next to her. Ilse looked at him in confusion. "Where did Mo—Misty and Brock go?" she asked, hoping that he didn't catch her brief slip.
"Brock went chasing after some girl with a belly ring and Misty is undoubtedly pulling him by the ear in the opposite direction," he answered while gesturing for a beer. "Brock is kind of known for being a gigantic Casanova. You get used to it."
Ilse laughed freely. She was feeling high on relief. She came back up for air only to find her father giving her a strange look that was so much like the one that he always gave her when he was proud of her. "What?"
"You just look so much like Misty."
"What's going on here?" Brock said cheekily, his ear only looking a tinge red as he reached over and finished off Ash's beer.
A flash of anger flickered over Misty's eyes. Neither Ash, nor Ilse noticed because Ash was too busy trying to snatch his drink away from Brock and Ilse was looking longingly at Ash. Misty faked a happy smile and said, "Yeah, looks like you guys are getting along great. Hey, Ash, let's go dance!"
"Always bossing me around," Ash joked as he let himself be pulled off his stool and disappeared into the crowd behind Misty.
Brock took Ash's seat and signaled the bartender for another beer. "So, you seem to be growing fond of Ash."
Ilse couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, he seems like a great guy," she said wistfully.
Brock arched an eyebrow at her. This was beginning to look familiar. "Well, don't get any ideas. I swear, Ash and Misty have so much sexual tension that you could crack their skulls if you hit them over the head with it, and believe me, they have incredibly hard heads."
Uh-oh. Ilse began shaking her head vigorously at Brock's ramblings. "Oh, no, that's not at all what I—wait." Ilse cut herself off. Something Brock said had piqued her interest. "Sexual tension? Have they been together before?"
"Of course," Brock said, shrugging his shoulders. "They were together for nearly a year when they were younger, but then they just broke it off all of a sudden a little after Ash became Champion. I guess they weren't ready for that stressful of a relationship."
"Oh," Ilse said thoughtfully. Damn. It was starting to look like she might have to keep two goals in mind on this little mission.
Apparently, Brock mistook her contemplative tone for one of disappointment and he reached out to put his hand on her shoulder in what he thought was comfort. "Don't worry, I see this all the time. You're not alone. Girls fall all over him all the time. I mean, he's the Champion after all; that gets chicks like nothing else. I'm just saying that Misty can have a bit of a temper, and you don't want to be on the other end of that," he said, pointing to his still red ear. "I, on the other hand," he continued, smiling suggestively, "am very much available."
Oh, shit, no. This was not happening. Her Uncle Brock was not hitting on her. Ugh, maybe coming to the bar wasn't such a good idea.
"I couldn't help but notice that you have every bit of beauty that the Sensational Sisters are known for around the world and in my hear—"
"Hold it right there, Brock," Misty interjected, grabbing his other ear and yanking on it. Brock cried out and jerked up out of the barstool. "No hitting on my cousin. The last thing she needs is being smarmed on by you, I'm sure," Misty said playfully. "At least not while I'm around."
Ilse let out a very relieved sigh. Thank Mew she got there, otherwise Ilse may have screamed. And thank Mew she had only heard that part of the conversation.
Ash smiled at the spectacle in front of him. "Anyway, look who we found!"
Beside Ash and Misty was a drunken brunette who was sloppily trying to keep her balance by holding onto an attractive green-haired boy.
"Drunk May!" Brock cried out, obviously joyous at this little discovery.
"Woo!" May cheered, thrusting her drink in the air.
"Oh, Alyssa," Misty exclaimed, "this is Drew." Misty gestured to Drew, who waved casually.
"And this is inebriated May." May let out another whoop. "We found them making out in the corner," Misty explained, arching her brow at the couple.
"These are the friends from Hoenn that we told you about," Ash added.
Drew nodded. "We're only in town to compete in a contest. We decided to blow off some steam here." He proved his point by turning May's face toward his and resuming making out.
The others continued talking and Ilse sat silently, staring only slightly awkwardly at Drew and May. Her whole extended family was here, just eighteen years younger and drinking with her like they were her friends. Her Aunt May looked even more beautiful, with long brown hair rather than the short, professional bob she kept as an adult and she had to admit that her Uncle Drew was actually quite cute as a teenager. Nowhere near as handsome as her dad, but who could be?
"Drew, I thought that you had more class than to take advantage of a drunk chick. You're not Gary," Ash joked.
Drew held a finger up. "Rule number one: it's never taking advantage if she says yes." Drew winked. "Got it Ash?"
Brock leaned over to Ilse. "These two just got together a few months ago after years of liking each other, so they're still in the peak of their 'new couple stage'," Brock explained as the couple continued kissing.
Ilse nodded. Seeing Drew and May happy and in love just made her miss Sophie. And wish that her own parents were in the same place.
Misty grimaced at the couple's tongue action. "Ugh, maybe we should have left them in the corner, Ash."
Eventually, they made it back home, dropping May and Drew off at the hotel they had gotten a room in, and decided to give Alyssa a tour of the Gym. Ash had taken it upon himself to say that she could stay at the Gym as long as she needed to and Misty reluctantly agreed. So naturally, they had to show her around. The Gym was relatively large, so it would be easy to get places confused if you didn't know the space.
Alyssa hung close to Ash. It was as though she didn't want to let him out of her sight. It put a burning ball in the bottom of Misty's stomach that she didn't like, and it tightened every time she would see Alyssa laugh at something Ash said, or touch his arm, or asked him a question. Misty was used to girls throwing themselves at Ash, but he never paid them any mind. But whenever Alyssa did anything, Ash would smile almost lovingly at her and it was like a punch in Misty's gut.
Once they were done showing Alyssa the Gym, she said that she would go wash up and get ready for bed. Misty offered a pair of her pajamas for her to wear when she admitted that she didn't have any bags with her. The two went upstairs and started going through Misty's clothes.
"Thanks for letting me borrow your clothes," Alyssa said.
"It's no problem," Misty replied curtly. She looked over to Alyssa and smirked slightly. This was a perfect opportunity to put this girl in her place. "You know, Alyssa, there's something I think you should know about Ash."
Alyssa's eyes widened and she tilted her head in confusion. "What?"
Misty sighed and turned back to her closet. "Oh, it's just that he's the kind of guy that loves his Pokémon more than he could ever love a girl," she said offhandedly. "I kind of feel bad for you, actually. He's an easy guy to fall in love with, but then he'll just pay you no mind."
Misty faltered when she looked back to Alyssa, expecting to see her almost in tears, but found her smiling instead, and looking right at her.
"You like him," Alyssa said, grinning ecstatically.
"Wha—I never—"
"You think he's cute," Alyssa continued.
Misty continued to stutter random syllables, and her face turned more and more flushed with each try. It didn't help that she happened to notice that when this girl smiled, it took over her whole face and almost looked like…no.
"You love him."
"Stop it!" Misty fumed, tearing herself away from studying the girl's face. "He's my ex, I don't even like him, and I was just trying to do you a favor."
Alyssa paid her no mind. "Oh, don't worry about me, Mist," she said, dropping the nickname only Ash used. "He's all yours."
Misty harrumphed and turned back to her clothes, leafing through them in silence.
"Your room is very…blue," Alyssa observed, trying to change the subject. The walls and carpet were blue and there were little detailed paintings of various Water Pokémon bordering the room. "Water Pokémon are my favorite too."
At that, Misty jerked around to look at Alyssa, eyes sparkling. "Really?" she asked eagerly, their previous conversation forgotten.
And just like that they started chattering on and on about Water Types as Alyssa chose a pair of pink pajamas covered in little Horsea. Misty smiled. Maybe she could like this girl, even if she did seem to have a little crush on Ash.
Misty headed back downstairs to join the guys after leaving Alyssa to take a shower.
"So, what do you think of her?" Misty asked.
"She looks just like you," Ash observed as he mentally compared their faces.
Misty furrowed her eyebrows at him, dismissing the idea with a wave of her hand.
"No, he's right," Brock agreed. "It's just the hair. If you were both bald, you would be interchangeable.
Frowning at the thought, Misty acquiesced, "Alright, I see a little family resemblance, which I guess is impressive considering how little I look like the Sensational Sisters," she spat in a mocking tone.
Brock and Ash exchanged a look. Misty had actually grown to resemble her sisters more and more. Of course, the hair wasn't particularly long and wavy, but her face had matured and her body…
"Sure, Misty," the boys said.
They had continued talking a little while longer and were just about to call it a night when the doorbell rang. Sharing a look of confusion with Ash and Brock, Misty went to go answer the door. She pulled it open expecting to find May and Drew back for round two, but instead found an exhausted looking boy standing across from her with shocking navy blue hair. He was looking at her with wide brown eyes, like it was strange to see her. "Uh, may I help you?"
"I hope so," he started. "I'm looking for—"
"Noah‽"
Alyssa had been making her way downstairs to see who was at the door and saw an all-too-familiar face in the doorway. She crossed her arms trying to look nonchalant and hide the look of utter disbelief on her face. "What are you doing here?"
"You know this kid?" Misty asked.
By that point, Ash had walked up beside her. "Obviously she does."
Misty saw that this 'Noah' was no longer paying any attention to her or Ash. He was staring at Alyssa and giving her a look that she knew very well—it was the kind of look that would put butterflies in your stomach and send shivers down your spine. Smiling gleefully, Misty gave a quick tug to a handful of Ash's hair. "Why don't you come in, Noah?" she offered genially.
So little Miss Alyssa had a boyfriend. This should be fun.
A/N: Woo! We've finally made it back in time. What do you think? Like the story? Hate it? Wish you could change something about it? Are things starting to make more sense? Tell me everything in reviews!
Oh, and do you understand why sometimes she's Ilse and sometimes she's Alyssa? I tried to make that painfully clear, but if not, here's the low-down. Both names are referring to Ilse but I'm am telling this story from a 3rd person limited viewpoint, with the person who's view the story is being told from changing at nearly every scene break. So a person who knows her as Alyssa wouldn't call her Ilse, yeah? Just ask me if you're still confused!
