Chapter One
A Photographic Memory
Ash and Pikachu were sitting in the comfortable lounge of Brock's new Breeding Salon in Pewter City. They looked up as Brock re-entered the room with drinks on a tray.
"Hey Ash, thanks for coming down and helping me sort out all these pictures. They're coming out of my ears! I really need to get them into albums!" Ash's long-time friend Brock Flint laughed and set the tray down.
"No problem Brocko! We haven't spent any time together recently – and we practically grew up together!" Brock was about to remark on who else they'd grown up with, but decided against it.
Ash leaned over and grabbed a packet of photographs from a huge cardboard box marked 'Journey Box 1' whilst Brock tackled an even bigger one marked 'Family Weddings'. Ash smiled at the first picture he pulled out. It was him at 11, showing off the 6 badges he'd already won to Brock's camera. It seemed like 5 decades ago; not years. He sighed and put it in the pile marked 'Ash singles'.
He skimmed through the pictures of all the pretty girls Brock had seen during that camera film, putting all the Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys in their piles. When the stream of girl pictures had stopped, he came across another one with him in it. His face was quite near the camera, and Pikachu was in the background playing with Togepi. Misty was in the picture too. Her arms were around his neck and her head was on his shoulder. Ash's prized Pokémon League hat was resting on her bright orange hair.
Brock had finished his first packet and was reaching for another when he noticed that Ash had been staring at the same picture for about 5 minutes. He read the writing on the back of the photo, realised which one it was, and sighed.
Ash and Misty's relationship had always been a strange one before she died. In the almost 5 years they had travelled together they had never mentioned having stronger feelings for each other. They had always argued about everything but sometimes, like the day that picture had been taken, they had been happier together than a married couple. They had really been the best of friends - Ash had been so broken up at her funeral and to this day, a year later still believed she was alive somewhere. Ash had woken up, and put the picture into the 'Ash/Misty' pile.
The rest of the pictures in that packet were mainly of Togepi and Ash finished them quickly. He reached lazily over and grabbed another packet from the top of the box. He chucked as he recognised what film it was. The first picture was of Misty's sisters in identical ball-gowns, but Daisy's was yellow, Violet's was blue and Lily's was pink. This was the film from the party Professor Oak had thrown Ash to celebrate him winning the Jolt League, and for his 15th birthday.
Ash flipped through the pictures, not bothering to put them in their piles, until he found the one he was looking for. It was a picture of him dancing with Misty. Her sisters had pestered her to wear a dress like theirs in orange, but Ash had gone out and bought her a white dress, embroidered with blue patterns. That night, Ash thought, was the most beautiful she had ever looked.
The picture was of Ash dipping Misty. Her hair was falling out of its pins and they were both laughing. Ash leaned back against Brock's couch with his eyes closed, and remembered.
[…=START FLASHBACK…=]
She felt so light, and his arms felt so right around her waist. Misty laughed as Ash pulled her back up into his embrace and they once again began swaying to the music. They grinned at Brock who had just taken their picture. Misty batted at him playfully.
"Shoo you! God Brock, Todd should have never given you that camera!" Brock was about to retort when he spotted a very much-matured Duplieka waving at him, and quickly vanished from Ash and Misty's sight. Ash laughed at his friend and turned his attention back to Misty.
The song stopped and the DJ put a slow one on. Misty stopped. Ash moved his head closer to her ear and whispered in it.
"Tired already?" Misty smiled, and threw her arms back around her friend's neck.
"Nope. I could dance all night! Why – you tired Mr Pokémon Master?" Ash shook his head and then pressed hers to his chest and they both started moving slowly to the music. Ash regretted it immediately. His heart was beating abnormally fast – from the dancing, he told himself hurriedly. What if she heard it?
"Hey, Myst?" he asked, and her head raised from his chest. "You know that was the first time you've called me Mr Pokémon Master, and it was true!" Misty giggled and put her head back in its comfortable position.
"I'm happy for you Ash" she murmured into his dinner jacket.
"What?" Misty, almost reluctantly, pulled her head away again.
"I'm happy for you Ash" she repeated. "And proud. You're my best friend. You let me tag around with you for years; you saved me."
"Saved you?" Ash asked. "From what?"
"Being alone. Thank you Ash." She fell silent then, and Ash had to blink back tears. He awkwardly moved his arms from around her waist to her upper back and pulled her close to him; in a real hug, not a dance move.
"My pleasure" he whispered into her hair.
[…=END FLASHBACK=…]
All of this had been surging through Ash's memory as he sat on Brock's floor. He felt broken inside, but there was a smile on his lips. That night…there had maybe, sort of, almost been…something. He had felt so close to her that night he had almost…
He shrugged off the memory, but found his eyes drawn back to the picture. They looked so happy together. As he continued through the packet, Ash wondered if that night would have been different if he had known that in less than a weeks time, Misty would be…dead. No, he shook his head. She's not dead. She can't be.
Author's Notes:
Okay, that was…short. I promise that the rest of the chapters will be much longer 'kay?