~*~
CHAPTER SEVEN
~*~
"What is your problem?!" Ash's publicity manager screeched, making Ash's still slightly alcohol-induced headache twinge sharply. Ash just stared at him blankly. Even if Ash explained, he doubted this man would understand. This man was nothing but a suit; a suit with muddled priorities.
~*~
Misty lazily scratched her stomach and then yanked down her white wool jumper back down.
"Okay Togetic," she yawned, stretching her arms above her head. "Show me a Psychic attack on that tree stump over there." Togetic chirped gleefully at her Trainer, who was laying on her back on the soft grass. Togetic was happy, because for a change, Misty herself seemed happy and perfectly at ease. She hadn't been like that in a long time…not since they left the pretty white house where Pikachu had looked after her.
Togetic did as she was told, and released a strong wave of pulsing violet energy towards the rotting stump, obliterating it in seconds. Togetic fluttered her transparent wings and rose slightly into the air, twirling around to receive praise from Misty; but the red-head made no movement, and on closer inspection, she was asleep, her even breathing gently making her chest rise and fall.
Togetic fluttered around, unsure of what to do. Quietly, she hovered above her Trainer's familiar face. Her Trainer…it had been so long since she had last thought of her as her "mother". Evolution - it had been so traumatic. The moment she was, as a Togepi, engulfed in the light, and felt her molecules transferring, and her wings sprouting out of her back, realisation had hit her…Misty was a human, and she was a Pokémon…Misty wasn't her mother. But that didn't mean that Togetic loved her any less. She enjoyed the solitude in her Pokéball, and seeing her place in Misty's arms refilled by Pikachu's Trainer.
Settling down on the grass, Togetic yawned widely. She wasn't the cleverest of Pokémon, but she knew that there was something wrong. She remembered. Back in her life in the pretty white house, where Misty had placed her tiny hand on her stomach, and Togetic had felt something moving inside, and had tried to attack it.
Misty had patiently explained that a little version of her and Ash would come out of her stomach soon…but for some reason it hadn't. Togetic looked sleepily across at Misty, then walked over and hooked the wool of the jumper in her long thin fingers, and placed the other hand on Misty's stomach. There was no movement, until Misty herself sat up abruptly. Togetic looked at her Trainer, confused.
"Oh, sorry Togetic, I didn't get much sleep last night. Okay, good girl - return!" Togetic allowed the red beam from the button on her Pokéball to hit her, and was sucked back into confinement. Misty stretched out her sleepy muscles, and released Quagsire from it's ball. "Okay Quagsire," she began, standing up. "Rock Smash that boulder."
~*~
A few days later, Misty walked into the sitting room, to find Anju pounding the television set desperately.
"What's wrong now?"
"The damn thing's not working," Anju cursed. "I guess we're lucky it didn't go on the blink before the League finals…oh yeah, you didn't see them did you! It was SO-"
"I don't want to know," Misty said, sternly.
"But sugar, it was so unexpe-"
"NO!" Anju, startled by the force in her friend's normally placid and warm voice, visibly shrank back.
"Okay point taken…" Misty rubbed her temple and murmured an apology, crossing to the front door. "Where are you going?"
"Jyou's…to um, watch TV. See you later Anju." The front door slammed, leaving Anju even more confused. If Misty had a crush on that Ash Ket- something or other, then why didn't she watch the League Finals? It wasn't just the fact that Anju had a noisy nature that led her into Misty's dark bedroom, but also the fact that she was worried about her friend.
Misty's room was tidy, and had various Water Pokémon posters, and articles about Lorelei, the Ice Master from a few years back, whom Anju knew as sort of an idol to Misty.
"Where is it…" Anju mumbled to herself. She could picture the scene perfectly. Misty unpacking after she got the job here…Anju was sitting on her bed, and Misty unpacked a box which she had… "…kicked under the chest-of-drawers!" Anju recollected, triumphantly. Falling to all fours, Anju grabbed the large wooden box and heaved it from underneath the piece of furniture. Anju's perfectly manicured fingers practically trembled with excitement - in this simple box - would she find all the secrets of Misty's secret past?
~*~
Misty returned Lapras, and sauntered along the mainland shore of Olivine City. Discreetly, she waved at Jasmine, the highly respected GymLeader there, who waved back. Misty made her way, walking quickly to Goldenrod City, and from there took the Magnet Train to Saffron City. A 10 minute walk from the station, and she was on the outskirts of a place very familiar to her.
Cerulean City.
Misty suddenly turned even more paranoid, looking all around her in case she was spotted…she didn't know why anyone from her old life, excluding her sisters, would be walking around Cerulean City at 8 in the morning, but you never know. She didn't even know why she'd come - wait, yes she did. The Medicine Man on Cianwood was friendly enough, but she needed a real doctor, and she knew that she could trust her family doctor not to tell anyone anything.
Cerulean General Hospital. Misty gulped, and entered the cool white building, asking for Dr Warner.
~*~
Anju sat crosslegged in the middle of the sitting room, with Misty's box in front of her. Carefully, she lifted off the lid, and grabbed the first thing she came to, which was a wad of pictures, kept together with a kid's purple hair tie, with a few orange hairs stuck to it's fabric.
The first one was of a young girl, no more than 13, with startling teal eyes and orange hair pulled up into a tomboyish lopsided ponytail. It was obviously Misty, but there was something different about the eyes. Misty's eyes were pretty, but the eyes in the picture sparkled in a way that Anju had never seen the present ones do.
Clutched in the laughing girl's arms was a Pokémon, that Anju guessed to be the unevolved form of Togetic, as it looked similar, and in the background was a boy, slightly older, with longish green hair pulling a stupid face. The overall background to this picture was a sparkling tropical ocean.
After gazing at the picture for several moments, Anju went to put it to one side, and noticed a version of Misty's cursive handwriting on the back of the photograph. "Me, Togepi and Tracey - September 1999 - taken on an island off the coast of Mandarin."
Curiously, Anju put that picture to one side, and looked at the next. It was of a couple Anju easily recognised as Misty's parents. The next set of photos were all of Misty's family.
Then, suddenly, the pictures became newer again; and had the same sparkling eyed Misty with various Pokémon or people. The green haired boy appeared again, and a tall boy with slitted eyes and spiky hair appeared frequently too. Sighing, Anju placed the pictures to the side. What was she expecting? Some magical picture that would clear up why Misty was such a nutcase sometimes?
She picked idly through objects that obviously had great sentimental value to Misty. But meant nothing to Anju herself; such as the receipt for some expensive dinner at a French restaurant in the Indigo Pokémon League Village from about 5 years ago.
Pokémon League Village? Had Misty been in the Pokémon League as a younger Trainer? Just as she was about to give up, Anju found a tattered and dog-eared, large brown envelope, with one simple word written on it:
ASH
~*~
Dr Warner finished prodding and probing Misty, and turned to jot down some notes. Misty sat on the cold table, dreading the fact that he hadn't asked her, and dreading the fact that he would. Sure enough, Dr Warner turned to the young girl he had treated as a baby, and who's sisters he still treated to this day. He cleared his throat and tried to look even more compassionate.
"Misty?"
"Hmmm?"
"Where's your baby Misty?" Dr Warner didn't know what answer he was expecting, but was answered with tears.
~*~
Anju could have sworn the world had slowed down - Ash? As in…Ash Ket-something or other? Had Misty known him? Or had she done something crazy like stalked him? Cautiously, she reached in, and grabbed yet more photos. The first one was very old, and bent in many places; the white fold lines crisscrossing and ruining the effect of the picture.
It had two figures in it…one was Misty. A very young Misty, only about 10 or 11, with her hair down, and above shoulder length, and wearing a pretty pink kimono with various patterns. The other figure was a boy with spiky and untidy black hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a mint green kimono and looked about the same age as the young Misty. He had one arm looped loosely around her waist, as it the photographer had caught the two in the middle of dancing, and with the other hand was being used to make a rather rude gesture. But the boy's face was happy and kind looking, and his smile was wide and genuine. Misty had one hand clasped around the fingers of the hand around her waist and her response to the photographer was to stick out her tongue.
As Anju searched through the photographs, the couple grew older, and soon Anju, even with her limited League knowledge, could recognise and verify the boy as Ash Ket- something or other, and from some scribbled notes on backs of the pictures, it was Ash Ketchum. About a quarter of the way through the pile, when the kids looked about 14 or 15, they seemed to get closer. In many of the younger pictures they were hitting each other or yelling, but in these pictures they would have arms around each other, until soon, there was a picture that verified Anju's suspicions…a Misty only slightly younger than she was now sitting on a sofa with Togetic and a Pikachu either side, and Ash standing behind the sofa, leaning over and kissing her. There were several other people from other photos in this picture as well.
Anju didn't understand. So Misty had dated Ash Ketchum? They had known each other from a very young age? Then why was she here? Why didn't she watch him on TV? Why didn't she tell anyone, even Anju? Anju packed the stuff neatly back into the box and replaced it under Misty's bureau. Suddenly, she wished she'd never looked in it.