A/N: Hey guys, I'm pretty new to this site so I not sure how it works around here, but I just wanted to say thanks for the reviews! I do read them all and it's great to hear that you enjoy it so much. ^_^
Chapter 7-The Plan
Ash awoke the next morning with a gentle breeze running around the room. The curtains moved delicately from the window as Ash got out of bed and stretched. He gazed outside at the calm and tranquil day then looked at Pikachu. He was curled up comfortably as he slept at the edge of the bed. He shook him and Pikachu got up slowly and greeted him with a smile. Ash greeted him back and he put on some jeans so he could go downstairs for breakfast.
During the night, Misty stayed downstairs because he knew his mother would have a heart attack if they slept in the same room. He climbed down the stairs and he was greeted by the delicious smell of cooked bacon and fried eggs. A smile spread across his face as he entered the dining room. Misty was waiting for the food to be served as she sat on the table playing around with a fork in her hand.
"So I see that you decided to give up cooking?" Ash said as he sat in the chair right across from her. Misty looked up at him, apparently having just noticed him.
"Yeah, I didn't want to get in your mom's way so I decided I would sit this one out," she said with a faint smile as she tapped the fork on the table. She was still thinking about last night and for a way she could go with him to Muntein. She had a plan already, but it was her last resort and she was trying to come up with other plans first.
"Good thing! I wasn't looking forward to putting out a kitchen fire if you were going to cook," he said. Misty kicked him in the shin underneath the table. He winced in pain as he grabbed his leg and Misty smiled mischievously. Just then Delia came in with two steaming plates of food as she said,
"Dig in you two! I hope you like it!" They both looked at the deliciously cooked meal and thanked her quickly as they began to eat.
After breakfast, they both went outside to get some fresh air. The sky was clear blue and other than a few white clouds, it looked like it was going to be a perfect day. Misty looked over at Ash as he walked through the front door. He had a dark blue t-shirt on with a red stripe that ran across his chest. He had on a new hat that was red in color with a white arc shaped stripe on the front with a black pokeball design in the middle of it and a similar, but smaller pokeball design on the back of his hat. He had on blue shorts that barely ran past his knee with black and white sneakers on his feet. He had his bare hands behind his head as he looked up to the sky, dazing off. She nudged him in the side playfully with her elbow and she said with a wink,
"Since it's such a beautiful day why don't you show me around Pallet Town?" He looked over at her and nodded in agreement. She was dressed in a white t-shirt with her signature blue short shorts on her. Her hair was worn up in a ponytail and he looked at the necklace that he had given her as a present which she seemed to never take off. He smiled back at her then waited for Pikachu to come join them; they left for the small town on the dirt road.
He showed Misty the restaurants, the clothing stores (which he regretted as they wound up staying for three hours even though she didn't buy anything…), and the park. They were reaching the end of the dirt road and it was now about 4 o'clock as the sun shone high above their heads. The wind blew gently from the north as they headed to a big clearing at the beginning of a big forest.
In front of the small park was a big wooden sign that hung over the entrance that read: "Pallet Park." The park was a vibrantly green circle that stood at the entrance of a deep forest that lay close to Pallet. It was completely flat with the exception of a mound of grass that stood directly in the middle of the park; a small tree in the middle cast a shade on the mound. The park was completely empty, due to the fact that it was lunchtime. He explained that everyone in Pallet Town were big eaters just like him and she grinned. They approached the mound in the middle of the park and Ash laid down on it as he looked up at the sky.
"This is what I used to do all the time when I was younger after I stopped hanging around with Gary. I would go to this park, sit back and relax and watch the day go by…" he said dreamily as his eyes glazed. She lay right next to him and she used her arms to support the back of her head. It was completely silent and everything moved slowly: the clouds, the sun, the trees in the wind…
Misty felt herself dozing off so she turned to Ash. His eyes were hidden under his cap, but she could tell that he was taking a nap. She was tempted to crawl up next to him and sleep by his side, but their time apart had caused them to lose a little of that closeness they had before.
Instead of thinking about him she began to think about her plan of how she could join him on his journey. She would have to make a few a phone calls and upset a few people, but by now she had her mind set. She knew that if she wanted to go on this journey, she was going to be making a big sacrifice.
They had returned home during the late night. His mom was in the kitchen preparing dinner as Ash closed the door behind him with Pikachu on his shoulder. Misty climbed up the stairs quickly to use the bathroom. He went into the living room and lied back on the couch and turned the television on. As he flicked through the channels to look for something to watch, Misty walked down the stairs and asked his mom if she could use the phone. After his mother's approval, she went to the videophone that was in the living room in a corner beside the television.
She began dialing a number and Ash's curiosity began to spark. He raised his head to get a good look at who she was calling, but because it was hidden behind the TV, he couldn't get a good look… She greeted the person in a low voice and the whole time she was speaking on the phone, she spoke only in quiet tones. After she had hung up, she seemed a little shaken up. Ash was very curious by now as to what was bothering Misty and who she had called. She stood up from the chair and Ash stood up as well as Pikachu stayed sleeping on the couch. He approached her as she made her way to the stairs, wearing an expression of utter disbelief on her face.
"Who were you speaking to?" Ash asked as he blocked her from going up the stairs.
"N-No one in particular…" she said as her hand fidgeted with her shirt.
"Then why are you acting so nervous?" Ash asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about Ash… Can you please let me go upstairs, I need to use the bathroom…" Misty said while trying to walk past him. He still didn't move though.
"I thought you just used the bathroom Misty…" She pushed him out of the way and ran quickly up the stairs, closing the bathroom door hard. Now his suspicions were only worse; the curiosity was eating away at him like a parasite.
"Dinner's ready!" Delia said in a cheery ringing voice as she called Ash from the kitchen, disrupting his train of thought.
"Ok Mom…" He slowly walked towards the kitchen as he continued to stare at the staircase.
"Won't Misty be joining us dear?" Delia asked with curiosity.
"She said she had to use the bathroom," he replied while taking a seat at the table. Pikachu looked up at the stairs with worry, mirroring his thoughts.
"I hope she's feeling okay." Ash nodded,
"Yeah, me too…"
During the whole week, Ash and Misty spent most of their time outside, exploring Pallet Town as Ash recounted his old memories to her. They would arrive home very late in the evening to eat dinner and Ash would always sit on the couch to watch TV to catch up on the latest pokemon news. Misty would also make the same mysterious phone call every night.
She would talk quietly as Ash would try to listen in on the conversation, but he never seemed to be able to understand her no matter how close to her he was. And always at the end of every phone call, Misty would be quiet for the rest of the evening. Even when he would confront her and ask her what she was so sad about, she'd always smile and tell him nothing. He eventually gave up trying to force the answer out of her, but he remained quiet whenever she would make her phone call; listening hard, trying to discover who it was she was calling…
The week quickly passed and the day had arrived when Ash would leave on his journey to Muntein. He was first going to visit Brock, partly because it was a while since he last saw his old friend and partly because he wanted to see if he was going to go with him…since Misty had told him she wasn't going to with him to Muntein. The disappointment still stung in his heart but he respected her decision.
After seeing Brock, he was planning on heading straight to Johto so Ash was packing up everything he would need for his big journey. After he finished he walked outside as his mom and Misty walked along with him. Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder and he turned to face his mom and Misty as they looked at each other quietly.
"I have to go to back to Cerulean City so do you think I can go with you?" Misty asked him as the sun shone from high in the sky in front of her.
"Sure," Ash replied with a smile. He then turned to his mom, "Alright, Mom, I have to go now…"
She sighed, but she knew that it was eventually going to happen and by now she was used to it so she gave him a good luck hug and told him to take care of himself and that he should call every once in a while just to check up. He simply nodded and said goodbye as he turned around and began to walk down the road with Misty by his side. They waved back at his mother with wide smiles on their faces. She waved back and saw them off as they walked down the long dirt road to their destination…
During the walk to Pewter City, they passed in front of the lake in which she had fished him out of. Ash was walking closely by the shore which lay to his left with Misty walking by his right side. She smiled as she remembered the first time in which she had first met him. She looked at him to see if he had noticed this as well, but he continued to walk along as if nothing was happening. She was a bit mad that he hadn't noticed, but she decided to try and see if he recognized the lake.
"This sure is a beautiful day isn't it? The warm sun, the calm wind, the beautiful lake…" Misty said. He merely looked around and smiled in approval. She frowned and tried again,
"There is just something strange about that lake… You know as if I had seen it somewhere before," she said hinting at the lake yet again. He looked at the lake with a vague hint of curiosity and then he looked back at her. Misty stared at him expectantly, waiting for his answer.
"If you say so…" he said as he turned to look forward on the road. Misty sighed in exasperation, amazed at Ash's denseness.
"What's the matter?" he asked as he looked at her. She didn't answer and instead shoved him into the lake with one hand. He fell into the chilly waters and was shivering as soon as he surfaced.
"W-what d-did you do th-that for?" he said annoyed at Misty. She continued to walk on, so frustrated with him that she ignored him. He looked at her sourly,
"Who can understand her?" he muttered to himself as he climbed out of the water of the lake in which their lives had been intertwined.
They approached a fork in the road that divided it into to two paths: one that lead to Pewter City and the other lead to Cerulean City. They stopped at the fork and they each faced each other. The sun was quickly coming down in between them and they looked at each other, embedding the other's image into their mind.
"I have to go back to the Gym, but you're going to visit me again before you leave right?" she said looking him straight in the eyes with a small grin. He smiled back at her,
"Sure Misty, no problem. Brock will probably be with me by then so you can say goodbye to him too. It'll be just like old times," he said with a wink. She smiled widely and nodded her head. She didn't want him to leave, but if her plan was going to succeed, she needed all the extra time that she could get…
He sighed as he began to turn around. She stepped forward to him to give him a hug, but she stopped herself. He faced the road to Pewter City without noticing her and she stepped back, staying still as he walked down the road. She then turned around to go to Cerulean City after watching him disappear behind the hilly road. What Ash didn't know was that Misty's plan was already in effect and he would be in for a rude awakening once he came back to Cerulean…
Two days later, Ash was already on the road to Cerulean City. He had invited Brock along to the journey after their reunion, but he surprisingly turned it down. Brock simply said it was because he had to take care of his siblings now that his parents were gone. They had left for vacation, leaving Brock to care of all of his siblings, much to Ash's dismay.
At least, that's what Brock had toldAsh when he was in Pewter. In reality, Brock's parents were still in Pewter City and they weren't planning on leaving any time soon…
Brock waved goodbye to his old friend as he began his voyage back to Cerulean City. After Ash was out of sight, Brock entered the Gym to make an important phone call. From the videophone in the main lobby, an old man looking identical to Brock down to his squinty eyes, appeared on the screen and greeted him.
Brock told him that Ash was gone and it was safe to come back to the house. His father Flint smiled happily and said he would be returning shortly and he hung up. Brock turned off the screen and dialed Misty's phone number. Her image appeared on the screen and she greeted Brock warmly.
"So what did he say Brock?" she asked, her curiosity eating away at her.
"Well he wasn't happy, but he accepted it so he's on his way there now," her spiky haired friend replied.
"That's great it's going just as I planned then!"
"What's this plan of yours anyway, you keep mentioning it but you haven't explained it to me yet." She hesitated and looked uneasy.
"Alright I'll tell you Brock, but it might shock you…"
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It was cool and getting darker as the afternoon was coming to a close. The orange sun readied itself to crawl back into the horizon as Ash reached the hill that overlooked Cerulean City. He stopped for a moment to observe the surroundings. He continued to walk towards the center of town with Pikachu walking beside him. As they began to get closer to the Gym, he could see a huge crowd gathered around it. Ash looked on curiously and he got closer to the crowd.
He pushed his way through until he got to the front where it was blocked off by a metal guard rail to prevent anybody from getting any closer. There was a big opening that separated the crowd and the Gym and in this gap was Misty and her sisters gathered in front of it with sad and serious expressions on each of their faces.
"What's going on?" Ash wondered as he looked at them; meanwhile the crowd was complaining loudly at him for pushing his way through.
"Hey Misty!" he yelled loud enough so he could be heard over the noise of the crowd. She looked back at him slowly and saw him waving his hands in the air. She signaled to the police officers controlling the crowd to let him through and they nodded as they went to let him in. They opened the rail just enough so he could pass through and the crowd began to protest.
"Who's the loser in the red cap?" one of the guys in the front said. Ash turned to look at the guy,
"Who are you calling a loser?" Misty placed her hand on his arm and held him back,
"He's my friend so mind your own business!" The guy sneered as he nudged the guy next to him,
"I think he's more than just a friend if you know what I mean!" He burst out into laughter along with a few people who giggled along with him. She blushed in embarrassment and turned away from them as they shouted and jeered at the two of them. Ash walked right beside her and asked with concern,
"What's happening here?" She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped as she couldn't find the words to describe the situation. She lowered her head but faintly smiled for him. He was confused by now and turned to ask her sisters what was happening when a large truck came barreling down the road and stopped in front of the crowd.
It honked impatiently at them to move and so the police began to part the crowd to give the truck space. It passed before the people slowly casting a black shadow on the front entrance of the Gym. A chill ran down Misty's spine and she shivered as she saw the truck.
Tears began to well up in her eyes and the smile had disappeared from her face. Ash was focused entirely on her and was going to ask her again when a wide and muscular man with a yellow construction hat on his head stepped out of the driver's seat. His light blue jumpsuit was stained with sweat and he wiped his rugged and wrinkled forehead with a massive and hairy arm. He looked over at the smaller red pickup trucks that stopped behind his as various men dressed in the same blue jumpsuit walked out of the cars.
"Start unloading this truck! We need to be out of here in ten minutes to be able to make it in Vermillion City by 6 o' clock!" he barked back at him. He walked closer towards Misty and said in a rough voice,
"Are you Miss…" he glanced at the clipboard in his hand, "Misty Waterflower?" She nodded slowly without uttering a word. "Good; I need you to sign this contract of liability before we can begin any type of demolition."
Ash's eyes widened in shock as Misty signed the paper that would knock the Gym and her house down. She dropped the pen to the floor after she finished signing and she clenched her shaking hand tightly with a sigh. The man picked up the pen with a grunt and he addressed his workers,
"OK, let's do this! Open up those crates and let's get started!" One by one, they opened up the crates loaded on the back of the truck. Each of them held an Electrode and they rolled out of the opened box as they were guided by a demolition man to a predetermined spot on the plan. A few of them entered the Gym as the rest of the Electrode surrounded the outer wall, waiting for the boss's command.
He glanced at his workers who had all returned from moving the Electrodes around. The green truck was completely empty, the crowd was completely silent, and the sun had already made its way halfway down the horizon. He looked over at Misty and he spoke,
"Are you ready?" She nodded as tears began to roll down her eyes and her lip quivered. Her sisters were standing quietly to the side of them as they held hands tightly waiting for the ordeal to be over with. Ash moved closer to Misty as the man yelled,
"OK THEN! ON THE COUNT OF FIVE! 5…4…3…2…" Misty latched onto Ash's chest as she closed her eyes. Everything had gone completely silent as she blocked everything out with the exception of her own heartbeat that pumped loudly in her chest.
The man bellowed "ONE!" and at that exact moment all the Electrodes glowed in bright light. They prepared to simultaneously use Explosion as they had practiced countless times before. Misty clung onto Ash closely as her heartbeat began to beat deafeningly fast in her body until the deafening explosion that shattered her mental soundproof barrier and her heartbeat sounded.
The Gym imploded into rubble from the explosions and the dust blew into sky. Her sisters huddled together as they cried silently and Ash stood in disbelief as he saw the Gym fall to pieces right before his eyes. He wrapped his arm around Misty and began to comfort her as she couldn't bring herself to look at what remained of the Gym.
The blue letters that used to be displayed at the top of the Gym proudly were now scattered in pieces amongst the rubble, with the only visible letter being the 'U' in the name 'CERULEAN.' The crowd began to scatter slowly after the dust had settled and soon the officers began to shoo away any stragglers so they could leave the group alone. The truck drivers picked up the fainted Electrodes, packed them back in their crates, and drove off to Vermillion City without another mention to the women.
Misty was still in Ash's arms and slowly a tear slid off her cheek and fell onto her Mystic Water necklace. The jewel glowed brilliantly as the tear slid down slowly against the side. It dripped off the end of the jewel and fell to the floor with a loud splatter, twice the size it was when it fell off Misty's eye…
They were in a wooden cottage by the outskirts of Cerulean City above the city on a hill after leaving the site that used to be home to the magnificent Cerulean City Gym and the Sensational Sisters. They had all gathered downstairs in their new home as Misty explained to Ash what had just happened:
During the first night that Misty had spent in Ash's house, she had come up with the idea to put the Gym on sale. Tired of solely being with left with the responsibilities of a Gym leader while her sisters traveled around, she persistently tried to convince her sisters until they finally gave in.
A short boy in his early teens with blue-green hair in a bowl cut style who had eyes that matched with his hair had approached Misty's sisters the very next day with an interest in the Gym. He offered to take over as the Gym leader, but he wanted to build his own Gym, not the buy the one that they had made. He agreed that he would pay for everything; all they needed to do was agree to sign the contract.
Misty's sisters were hesitant, but they knew they had no real say over it as Misty was the true Gym leader of the city. She agreed with the deal in reluctance, knowing that he was probably the only person that would buy the Gym on such short notice even though it was at the cost of its demolition.
After the deal was settled, the media had gained coverage on it and soon it was all over the news in Cerulean. She sold the Gym and used the money to move everything out of the Gym and bought a new house on a hill by the vigilant river that overlooked the city.
After their dinner meeting, Misty was upstairs in her room crying silently as she held the remaining letter from the rubble in her hand. She was going to keep it as a reminder of the old Gym now that construction of the new one was going to begin. Ash knocked quietly on the door and she wiped away the tears.
"Come in…" He opened the door and entered the room slowly as Pikachu closed the door behind him. Misty was sitting on her new bed in her new room that had a window that faced the new location the new house was situated in. It was completely dark outside with the exception of the moon that shone brightly through the window with the lights of the city shining back at it. He smiled at her gently,
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine I guess…" Her voice was quiet and her expression was enough of an answer for him. He took a seat next to her as she continued to look at the concrete letter in her hand. He took off his backpack and began to rummage through it as Misty was lost in thought. He pulled out a shiny black box and stole her attention as he opened it carefully.
"I'm sorry Misty, especially because I can't really say much since I've never been in a situation like this before…" He slowly looked at her with a gentle look in his eyes that melted through her icy cold depression.
"But I want you to have this…" He unclenched his hand to reveal the Cascade badge that she had given to him many years ago. Her eyes widened in shock,
"Ash… I can't take this… It's yours…" He shook his head.
"I want you to have it Misty. I want you to have it so you can remember the Gym and the memories that we had in there together." He smiled as he placed the badge in her hand. She looked at it as it shone in under the lamp light without saying anything. A strange feeling went through her stomach though, making it feel as if it were doing flips and a tear slid down her cheek as she smiled. He smiled back at her and exited the silent room to give her some time alone.
He closed the door behind him as Pikachu exited beside him, leaving Misty in silence as she sat on the bed. She turned off the light and sighed happily as she clenched the badge close to her chest. What he didn't know (and she didn't plan on telling him either) was that everything she did was for him.
She placed the badge by her alarm clock and began to drift off into a dream in which she revisited the Gym for one last time…