"Ready to go, Mist?" Ash asked impatiently.
"Ash! I only just got here like five minutes ago!" Misty yelled back at him. "Besides, you're being rude. May's on the video phone. Least you can do is say hi."
"Fine, I'll say hi," Ash grumbled, then made his way to the phone.
"Some friend you are," May complained. "I was looking for you for like two years, and you can't even be bothered answering my call?!"
"I spent most of those two years captured!" he frowned back at her. "That's clearly not my fault!"
"Oh, well then I suppose it's Misty's fault then, is it?"
"No!" Ash held his hands up defensively. "Look, I'm sorry. You look amazing, by the way. I mean...big wow! Your hair looks incredible! I can feel myself blushing already –"
"Sure...my 'hair' looks incredible…" May frowned, pushing her ample boobs together to highlight the transparency of Ash's compliment.
"Stop hitting on my sister, Ash!"
Misty grinned at him, and Ash elbowed her lightly in response.
"Oh you're not coming too, are you Max?"
"Why? Got a problem with that?" Max asked, coming into view on the screen.
"Not at all!" Ash lied, again holding his hands up in a defensive gesture. "Just like last time, I'd be happy to –"
"'Cause if you try anything with my sister –"
"MAX!" May cut him off. "Anyway, it's good to see you're both okay after all this time. Looks like the communications are all up again."
"Yeah, it certainly took 'em long enough,"Misty agreed.
"So, is Brock coming?" May asked.
"Yeah, we're meeting him in Viridian City, then we'll make our way across to you guys from there," Ash explained.
"Excellent! Can't wait to see you all again!" Max exclaimed enthusiastically.
"We'll let you know when we're arriving, kay?" Ash added.
"See ya then, you guys!" May waved.
The video call ended, and Ash sighed loudly.
"She was so pretty before, but now she's just impossibly cute, wouldn't you say Ash?" Misty teased.
"Good for you, not for me," Ash huffed.
"You think she likes girls?" Misty mocked him.
"I think you've got a better chance than I ever did," he answered sadly. "You didn't ignore her for years while you were travelling together."
"Hmm...that sounds awfully familiar…"
"Hey, wait! I didn't mean...ah crud…"
Misty playfully punched him in the arm and smiled warmly.
"You still owe me a bike, Ash Ketchum."
"No way! I paid you back! Remember?"
"No, Nurse Joy paid me back."
"You can't seriously still be mad about that, can you?"
"No, but it's gonna make travelling with May a lot of fun."
Ash sighed, wondering to himself what he'd gotten himself into this time, but was secretly extremely happy to be doing what he loved the most with some of the best friends he'd ever had in his life, and Misty knew it. She too, was happier than she'd been in a long time, and had willingly accepted the offer from Ash to go travelling again. Brock hadn't taken much convincing either, nor had May. Of course, they hadn't realised Max was coming along, but Misty knew Brock would be more than happy to get some revenge on the now teenage Max, by dragging him away from pretty girls by the ear at every opportunity. She was on guard as well, knowing full well that Max would have a hard time staying away from her. She'd even decided to dress more like her eleven-year-old self, just to make the young man that much more susceptible to her manipulations, and also to try and feel a little less mature.
She noticed that Ash was having a hard time peeling his eyes away from her as well, so she knew it was working. She'd packed a menagerie of denim booty shorts, tight jeans, miniskirts, and crop tops, and even a little bit of makeup. But it wasn't just so she could get the boys' tongues wagging. It just felt nice to her to be able to look pretty sometimes, and let down the tomboyish guard she'd kept up for so long. If being with Amber had taught her anything, it's that it was okay to be feminine and tough at the same time, and that sometimes the two overlapped.
That's who I am, after all. A tomboyish mermaid.
In the nine months since Amber had passed away, Team Rocket had completely folded once again. Without strong leadership, they'd simply disintegrated. Cassidy and Butch had lasted less than an hour on the run, while Jessie, James, and Meowth had simply given up and waited for the authorities. Cassidy and Butch were put on trial for various crimes, including murder, but were given a suspended sentence since they promised to help with the identification and apprehension of upcoming organised crime syndicates.
Jessie, James, and Meowth were also put on trial, but given their previous work with the Kanto Federal Police and their subsequent deception, they were given no leniency. All three were given multiple life-sentences – even Meowth. Meowth had pleaded innocent due to his status as a Pokémon, but the court decided against him, as he had chosen to represent himself, thus proving his ability to think and act independently. He had, however, been able to reduce his sentence to a single lifetime imprisonment term after agreeing to assist with Pokémon research. His assistance had proven invaluable, contributing to major advancements in Pokémon healthcare, psychology, battle research, and trainer knowledge. As Professor Oak understood it, he was now looking for sponsorship from the Kanto government for a fellowship so he could continue his studies on a much larger scale.
The rest of the world had been slower to recover, particularly Kanto. Everyone was still recovering from Team Rocket's first invasion – which Amber had been counting on to make the biggest impact – not to mention the second wave of invasion, which seemed to be isolated mainly to Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn. The third wave hadn't had such a big impact on the rest of the world, but Kanto had been devastated. Their biggest contributor to industry, Silph Co, had all but been completely annihilated, and their communications network was in complete disarray, in need of a complete rebuild in order to bring it back to acceptable international standards.
To make matters worse, the Kanto Elite Four had chosen to disband. Sabrina had decided to travel on her own, neither turning down nor accepting Brock's offer to travel with him, Misty, and the others. Gary and Erika had decided to settle down in a distant property west of Viridian City, where they could start a family without feeling pressured to become involved in anything overly intrusive. Erika hadn't been terribly fazed, but Gary had wanted to get as far away from the action as he possibly could, at least for a little while. Though he had promised Ash, Misty, and Sabrina that they would all keep in touch regularly – and like Sabrina, hadn't confirmed nor denied that he and Erika would join them on their journey.
Ash's first goal had been to go on another journey, feeling as though he'd gotten too soft in his time away from the Pokémon League circuit, and attributing that to his constant failure during the Rocket United/Team Rocket saga. He'd taken a while to come to terms with the fact that Misty had done most of the fighting during that time, and he'd been reduced to at best a spectator, and at worst a prisoner. Ash being who he was though, hadn't taken this realisation harshly. He'd realised his faults quickly, then promised himself and everyone else that he'd work as hard as possible to get back to his best.
That was what Misty admired the most about him. Even though she and Ash butted heads quite a lot, and had very opposing personalities, she knew he was always striving to be the best he could possibly be. He'd chosen again to only take Pikachu with him, as Misty and Brock had also chosen to only take Starmie and Onyx with them. Misty saw it as an opportunity to start anew, to move on from the tumultuous past few years and thread a new weave in the tapestry of her young life that would help her develop into the woman she so desperately wanted to be.
So much had happened to her, so much that threatened at every opportunity to tear her apart. She'd experienced the most devastating losses, the most heartbreaking sorrows, the hardest decisions, and the most trying calamities, only to come out on top every time. But it had come at a horrific cost to her. She was such a long way from the pretty young tomboy that had followed Ash on his journey to the Kanto Pokémon League, she barely recognised herself.
It's only been ten years...it feels like thirty.
She felt like she was forty years old, but whenever she looked in the mirror, she saw her now twenty-year-old self, and she didn't recognise herself. Every day, she'd hear Amber's voice in her mind telling her how beautiful she looked, and how proud of her she was, but she just knew in her heart that she really desperately wanted to believe it herself.
And I couldn't do that in the Elite Four...I couldn't keep patting myself on the back, receiving the empty platitudes of everyone around me while I experience the suffering of everyone first hand…
She knew as well as everyone in Kanto that the Elite Four had done a spectacular job of keeping the entire Kanto region on its feet during the Rocket saga. But it was one thing to live alongside it, witnessing first or second hand what had happened, and quite another to feel directly responsible for it. She knew she wasn't to blame, any more than Ash, Gary, and Sabrina were, but it didn't help quell the thought that she needed to reacquaint herself with reality in the aftermath of it all.
She felt Ash's hand take her own, and it shocked her out of her introspection. At first she was extremely apprehensive about Ash holding her hand, then she realised that this was a young man that she'd been friends with longer than anyone, who knew her better than anyone – whether he liked it or not – and would always be there for her, no matter what happened to either of them.
She squeezed his hand tightly, then gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Ash...I just want you to know, before we go...that I love you. You're my best friend – you always will be. And thank you for everything."
Ash was dumbstruck. He stood limply for a few seconds while he processed what Misty had said to him, then squeezed her hand in return and smiled warmly at her.
"I'm sorry about your bike," he said, then winked at her. "But as long as you'll travel with me, I'm never paying you back."
"I'm counting on it, Ash Ketchum."