Hi! Chapter Four is out! I'm really pleased with this chapter. I think it's my best one. I'm slowly getting the hang of writing! I'll be editing the earlier chapters for grammar/spelling. Thanks for all the support and carry on reviewing!

A Good Day to Cry

A few weeks ago…

Sitting on a lone smooth stone, a lone boy in his late teens sat looking out to the sparkling sea. In his hand he held a little object hidden from prying eyes. Such eyes would be from the people following him around and his so called 'travelling companions'.

The bastards, he thought bitterly. He was tired of his life. He didn't want to travel the world anymore. There wasn't a single real human friend he had left with him. He only had two: a certain beautiful girl and a wise older man he saw as a brother. The former taken cruelly away and the latter had decided he had enough.

He sighed wistfully and studied the figurine in his hand again. He missed them. Especially the girl. He still wasn't so sure about what he had felt that day when she left. Was it grief that his first best friend was gone? Was it the first stirrings of love in his heart? Was it fear that he would be left alone for the first time to the wishes of his dictatorial 'employers'?

Over the years, every day, he had thought back to that fateful day. Originally he had the suspicion that it was a set-up. A set-up to make him more focused on his job. A set-up to swallow the light in his pitch-black tunnel so they, his superiors, could control him for their own success and audience. That suspicion grew into certainty; certainty of they had taken her away on purpose. They did not tell him but he knew. He knew now that romantic attraction was undesirable for his audience that he also loathed too; there was no other reason for why they tricked him and his friend that she had to urgently return home.

He should have realised that it was a ploy when her sisters phoned. He should have smashed her bike again when he had the chance.

He dearly wanted to phone her to come back but as soon as he went to Hoenn, someone during the ferry trip had switched his mobile for another. Every phone in a Pokémon Centre had her number blocked prior to him arriving. It was impossible to contact her. They knew his every move. They were always watching.

"God, I hate them," Ash Ketchum moaned out loud.

"Pikapi?" a little voice squeaked behind him. Ash turned around and gave his loyal friend a brave yet wobbly smile. At least they didn't take him away. I wouldn't have been able to bear it. Perhaps those kids liked him. Pikachu couldn't have done any harm for the company's reputation.

"Oh Pikachu," Ash murmured softly, "I miss her." He indicated the figurine in his hand.

"Pikachupi?" Pikachu asked.

"Yes, her," he looked at his oldest Pokémon friend with brown eyes filled with emotion. "I wish that I could have her in my arms so I can tell her what I really wanted to say to her back then."

"Pi," Pikachu attempted to comfort his friend with a pat on his back.

"Thanks buddy but you know our other companions?" Ash continued. He wanted to bring out all the misery, anger and loneliness holed up in his heavy heart; it had been there for too long. He needed to confide in a friend. "May. Max. Dawn. Iris. Cilan. They were all picked by our managers. They were either much younger than I was or they were here just for the money. There's no-one that I can become close to. It's all pretend!"

After his small rant, he looked down sadly at his hand again.

"Pi-ka-chuu," Pikachu settled down next to his friend also affected by the depressed mood. His ears drooped and joined in staring at the gentle water washing up and down the beach.

"Wanna know why I came here?" Ash winked to Pikachu. Pikachu stared at him blankly. "Water! Don't you see?"

Pikachu face-palmed. Great. Now he's got from being obsessed to being plain weird.

"Don't you remember? It… it re-reminds me of her…" Ash broke down and finally let the tears win the battle.

Pikachu was shocked. Ash rarely cried. He knew he missed her but he had kept it to himself. Before today, he believed that maybe finally he had moved on. He had not mentioned her at all during their travels in Unova yet now he was crying his heart out for someone they had not seen for years.

He clambered up to his shoulder and rubbed his face against his to brush away the tears.

"Thanks Pi-Pikachu," Ash sniffed beginning to calm down. He absent-mindedly scratched the back of his ears.

"Ash! Ash! Come on already! You've been sitting there long enough! Time to go back to your hometown already! It's the last part before Cilan and I can finally quit!" Iris suddenly yelled after half an hour conversing with Cilan over how much money they had made spending those few years with Ash.

"I'm coming," Ash grumbled back. "C'mon Pikachu, we've got to see them off. I wonder what country we're going to be told to spend the next few years in…" Ash trailed off thinking about how long it would be before he was allowed to retire and live a quiet life.

As he pushed himself up off the sand, he thought he saw something drift through the blue sky. He squinted and then wished that he had not for it was a cloud shaped in a familiar face taunting him.

I made a promise to you. I promised I would come back for you and that we would be back together.

I made a promise to myself. I promised that one day I'll tell you how much you meant to me.

I'm sorry I failed you. I'm sorry I failed myself. Please forgive me Misty…

Well that was Chapter Four ladies and gentlemen! Decided that it was time to change POV to Ash's. By the way, PokéstarTheZylar has an awesome fanfic, called The Misplaced Sands of Time and Space, which is more original than mine. Really recommend it 'cause I love it!

P.S. I had a few complaints that this chapter is a bit random! I wanted to make Ash's feelings and emotions behind the scenes visible and to reach out to everyone at his misery that Misty isn't here. I'll develop his confusion and anger in the next chapter and make everything clearer soon!