Close your eyes Chapter 2: First Contact, a pokémon fanfic

TITLE: Close your eyes

AUTHOR: Kristina

ARCHIVING: Sure, but please ask before!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the character, except Krystal ,Jessica and Pat. Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and 4kids productions...etc.. I'm not making any money from this, so don't sue me.

SUMMARY: What if Misty didn't meet Ash when they were younger, but years later?

CATEGORY: A/U, Angst, a tiny dark, Ash & Misty Romance

RATING: Pg-13 (violence and bad words)

FEEDBACK: I didn't put my email there for nothing. I'm dying for it. Makes me write faster. ;) Constructive flames are always welcome, but just don't flame me. Explain.

AUTHORS NOTES: Thanks for the reviews! I hope you'll like this part as well!

I'm still looking for a beta-reading, so if anyone is interested to take the job…email me!

~*~*~*~

Chapter Two ~ First Contact

A voice. Far away. Misty first thought she imagined it, but the voice became closer, louder. She opened painfully her eyes, and all she could make out was two blurred shadows in front of her. She didn't understand what was going on, but after what seemed to her an eternity, without knowing why, the pressure on her neck was gone and she fell on her knees, on the ground. Breathing fresh air again. Never she would have thought it would have been so wonderful to breathe!

When she felt a little better, she tried to look to see what was going on. Two men were in front of that Pat guy, a little Pikachu in front of them. The man was red of anger, still holding her bag with one hand. If she could lift her arm, she could catch it. Gathering all the strength she had left, she moved her arm towards her bag and she pulled the bag with her two hands. Beads of sweat stood out on her forehead. He finally let go. She fell on her back, holding tight her bag as if it was a baby she just saved.

The voices were talking, but Misty couldn't hear the words. The shadows were now between her and the man, the little electric mouse in first. She understood they came to her rescue. Well, she hoped so…Even with her troubled sight, she saw a yellow light lit up the sky. She got up on her knees, trying to see what was happening.

The big man glanced at her, then at the two other men and returned to her. "It's your lucky day, bitch…But another day, you won't have that luck…" He threw at her an evil look and ran away on those last words.

"It's you who won't have enough luck!" Misty wanted to scream, but only an incoherent whisper got out of her mouth. She rubbed her hurtful neck and gave a grateful look at her saviors. They were both probably around her age. The first had brown hair and his hair was almost the same color has his skin. The other had spiky black hair and she immediately knew he was the kind of guy girls ran after. He looked younger than she, but the look in his eyes seemed older. "Thank you," she whispered. At first sight, she knew she could trust them.

"Are you alright?" The first man asked, the one with the tan skin. "We heard you scream, so we came to see what was going on…" He kneeled near her and observed her.

The other one nodded, staying up. He scratched his head, pensively. "Pikachu taught him a lesson he'll never forget. Right?" He gave her an encouragement smile, glancing at her with his brown eyes.

"Pika pi!" the little yellow pokemon answered, while he walked closer to Misty. He put his first two paws on Misty' legs. It was his way to comfort her.

"I…I think it's going to be fine…Thanks Pikachu!" Misty caressed the head of the pokemon a moment, to thank him. She felt herself blushing by the intensity of his glance. Cursing herself, she tried to get up, but everything started to turn again, so she fell back on the ground. She now had a horrible headache. She sighed. "What an idiot."

"The world is full of people like him, who steal other's pokemon…And by the way, I'm Brock!" He smiled at her and blushed a bit. "And that's Ash."

"My name is Misty. I…" She got interrupted by someone who cried her name. She looked away and saw Krystal running towards her.

"Hey! Are you okay? I heard you screaming! I was so sure you were behind me! What happened? Why is your neck all red?" Her eyes widen. "You didn't…"

Misty rolled her eyes. "No, of course no! I…"

Krystal interrupted her. "God, what happened to your voice? You sound like…well, not as usual. Like you caught a bad cold. No, don't look at me like that, it's true! Didn't you hear yourself?" She looked quickly at the two strangers and turned back at Misty. "Who are they? Is someone finally going to explain what happened?"

Misty sighed, exasperated. "If you could let me a chance to explain, instead of asking thousands of questions…" She cleared her throat. "I was following you when I noticed that I forgot my bag, so I scream you to wait and I went to get it."

Krystal felt the guilt overwhelming her. "I sweat I didn't hear you at all…I think I was in a hurry to leave this place…I am so sorry…" She sat down next to her friend, put her arm around Misty's shoulders.

"It's okay. I should have scream louder…" She tried to sound normal, to control the fear in her voice. She didn't want Krystal to worry about her. "So, I returned at the fountain, but my bag wasn't there anymore. I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find it. Then, that guy arrived, Pat he told me, with my bag. He didn't want to give it back to me, so I started to scream your name. They heard me, and they came to my rescue," Misty explained, pointing the two strangers.

Krystal nodded, gratefully. "Thank you so much to help her! I don't know what I would have done if I had find her strangled…" She shivered at the thought. Misty was her only friend, the only person in the world who understood her. Without Misty, she had no one. She would be alone. Never the idea of loosing her crossed her mind before now.

Misty took all the energy inside of her to hug her friend and to get up. "Don't worry. It's gonna take more than that big jerk to get rid of me!" She joked, wanting to sound convincing. But the two men knew very well that if they didn't come to the rescue, she probably wouldn't be standing up in this world. "He took me by surprise, that's all."

Krystal nodded, not totally convinced. "You are sure you feel well?"

"Of course! Besides, we should get going…if we want to arrive to our destination for the morning!" Misty declared trying to be enthusiastic. Without waiting for an answer, she started to walk. She only made a few steps when the pain in her head appeared once again and everything started to turn again. She put a hand on her forehead…and fell on the floor with a groan.

~*~*~*~

Ash, his arms crossed on his chest, observed Misty through the door's window where they transported her after she fell down. Her friend was sitting near her bed and talked to her softly. Brock was next to him, turning his back to the room, his eyes fixed on the wall. Everything happened so fast. Out of the stadium, they decided to go at the neighbor city to see if there were still places to sleep. Immediately after they arrived, the first thing they heard was the scream of a woman. Despite their tiredness and desire to sleep, they decided to see if they could help. They ran, Pikachu leading the way. Brock had been the first one to see the man who was strangling a girl. He had screamed him to stop and the man, surprised, had let go of her after a moment. Ash took the opportunity to ask Pikachu to send him a thundersock. Then, the girl fainted and they took her to the nearest hospital.

Brock gave him a quick look, disinteresting himself from the wall. "What are you thinking about, Ash?"

Ash shrugged. "Nothing special. Why do you ask?"

"Well...Your attitude surprise me, that's all." He saw his interrogated look, so he explained the meaning of his words. "I mean, staying after helping. We habitually left immediately after we made sure the person was safe, so, tell me, why aren't we doing the same thing here? Not that I'm complaining..." he added, murmuring. He thought about Misty's friend. It was probably the cutest girl he had ever met. He felt his cheek reddening at the thought.

"Pika pikachu!" added Pikachu, wondering the same things than Brock. He was perched on his trainer's shoulder and watched the scene with his black eyes. Each time they saved someone, which they did very often, whoever it was, a young lady in distress, an old man or a pokemon hurt, they left when they leaded them in a hospital or a pokemon center or when they simply were out of danger. Pikachu just didn't understand why it was different this time. Sometimes, he wished he could read his trainer's thoughts, so he could understand him more.

Ash let a sight out of his lips and turned to face his longtime friend. "I don't know Brock. I am asking to myself the same thing..." He felt as an invisible force didn't want him to leave…

Brock turned around, to look through the window, in the same position as Ash. For a long moment, they both stayed silent. "We just arrived in time to save her. A minute later, and she was dead." He sighed. "It disgusts me to see that people like that exist." He hesitated a moment. "You know...I read somewhere that there was sometimes a link created between the victim and the savior. And I'm not talking about myself here."

Ash sighed. "I know where you wanna go with that stuff, Brock. But I don't see why it should be different this time. It's not the first time we save the life of a girl and you never said that shit to me before!" He didn't understand why Brock told him his psychological theories now. Nothing was different this time.

"Huh, well...I think she's different," Brock explained. Seeing Ash's expression, he hurried to elaborate. "What I meant was that she isn't one of those groupies who could give anything to simply touch the pokemon master!"

Ash didn't answer. His eyes had turned darker, remembering things that happened in the past. He glanced a last time in the room, and then start walking away. "We should leave now."

Brock was flabbergasted a moment, but finally shrugged and nodded. "I think I'll never understand you, Ash Ketchum..."

~*~*~*~

Krystal looked at her friend, pale, on the hospital's bed. She seemed so vulnerable, but in the same time, so scared. Her eyebrow was frowned and she seemed to be having a nightmare. Krystal sighed and glanced at the door's window. The two men weren't there anymore. Surprised, she ran at the corridor and saw them not so far away. "Hey!" she screamed, not too loud. She rejoined them fast. "You're leaving?"

"I am sorry, but yes. We never stay a long time at the same place," Ash answered, facing her. He saw the deception in her eyes. He couldn't explain to her the reason why they couldn't stay, even if he wanted too.

"You...you mean you don't want to wait until Misty wakes up? I'm sure she's going to be disappointed to see you left while she was sleeping!" Krystal added, wishing they would stay. For a reason she couldn't explain, she felt they needed to stay with them. It was stupid, of course! But she was so rarely wrong with that kind of feeling.

Brock sighed. "We'd really want to stay but...we have certain things to do somewhere else. I am sure she'll understand."

Krystal shrugged, defeated. Too bad! At least, she tried. "Ok, fine. So, humm..well...thanks again to save Misty's life. If we could ever help you in any possible way, don't hesitate to come to us! We'd be glad to help."

Ash smiled. "Thanks. I think..." A scream interrupted him. A long scream, agonizing and piercing. A scream full of horror, mixed with tears and fear. A scream coming from Misty's room. Krystal was the first one to start running, soon followed by Ash and Brock. She opened brusquely the door, the worst case scenario in mind. She stood in the frame of the room, Ash and Brock near behind her.

Misty turned her eyes at them at the sound of the opening door. Krystal, guessing immediately the reason of her friend's nightmare, went to hug her. "Tell me," she simply asking, hugging her tightly.

Misty nodded slowly, controlling the trembling that was shaking her. "I...He was here...I...I saw him...He..." With all her strength, she stopped to tremble and smile weakly to her best friend. "It was stupid. A stupid dream, that's all."

Krystal frowned, ready to protest. Misty wanted to be strong. Krystal could simply admire for that, but trying to run away from reality wasn't the right solution. "Misty...I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work, sweety."

Misty looked at her, interrogation in her blue eyes. "What are you talking about? I...I don't see what you mean!"

Brock coughed softly in the frame and made a step in the room. "You almost died, it's normal to have nightmares in that kind of situation," Brock tried to explain. Sometimes, he told himself that he should have become psychologist instead of gym leader. Or psychanalyst.

Misty shook her head. "It wasn't really a nightmare...it was...stupid." She looked down. Who was she trying to convince? Them or herself?

"If it was so stupid, why did you cry?" asked Ash, softly, leaning against the wall near the door.

Misty staying silent a moment, not knowing what to answer. They were right, she knew it, but admitting it wasn't so easy. She opened her mouth to talk, but changed her mind and closed it and kept her eyes down.

Krystal sighed. "It must have been a very traumatizing experience...With time, everything will be fine, sweety!" She gently combed her redhair with her hand. "You need to sleep now, okay?"

Misty nodded and immediately hide her head in the pillow, until she heard them leave. Then, she sat in the bed and started to cry. She didn't cry for...years. Probably since she was a baby. She jumped when the door reopened itself. She looked up with her tearfully eyes. Ash. She took a corner of the blanket to dry the tears.

Ash pointed his black coat he left on a chair. "Sorry...I simply wanted to take it back..." He observed her eyes, redden by the cries. "You don't have to stop for me. My mother always told me that sometimes, it felt good to cry."

Misty tried not to smile. She didn't know him for a very long time, but it was kinda hard to imagine him having a mother. "I...It's stupid, crying. I...I don't even know why!"

In a sigh, Ash sat on a chair next to her bed. "You know it. If you don't want to be honest with me or with your friend, that's fine. But at least, be honest to yourself. It won't make you weaker to admit that you're scare..."

Misty stayed numb a moment, a violent reply on her tongue, that she held back at the last moment. He maybe saved her life, but he didn't have to act like her mother. Especially since he looked younger than she did! "Aren't you a little young to do psychology?" she snapped.

Ash had a mocking smile. "Probably. Brock told me that stuff. Anyway, you must become mature fast if you wanna be a good pokemon trainer."

"I know that well. But it's not everyone who succeed." She shrugged. "Since I left home, I had to learn that you have to be strong to survive in a world like this. I cannot allow a simple and stupid incident weaken me or make me vulnerable."

"An incident where you almost died...but I think I don't have to recall it to you..."

Misty took a deep breath. "I am full aware that I could have died. But it isn't a reason to become a softy. It's not the first time that I'm confronting death and I never had nightmares before."

"So, you admit that it was actually a nightmare." His mocking smile appeared again on his lips.

Misty bit her tongue. She didn't know why she kept those acid remarks that came through her mind. He deserved them! Instead, she started to yawn. "I feel tired. I...I think I should sleep now."

Ash nodded and got up, his coat pending on his arm. "Sweet dreams!" He left, closing the door behind him.

Misty took long breath. He...No comments. She closed her eyes, and tried not to think at all.

Tbc…