A/N: alright, I got sick of playing my guitar (I can't get the cords right for the chorus of Brick Wall…) and was staring off at my all blue room, searching for inspiration for the semi-doomed Human series… when it hit me. No, not an idea, my little cousin's stuffed kitty. But I did get an idea… for an entirely new story. And just so you people know, I'm on an angst run this… century? So though I can guarantee no sad ending, the thing's pretty depressing at first.
Ocean of Tears
Lyra Kamiya
Misty sat on the bank outside of Olivine City, gazing at the sparkling waters of the ocean. The ocean… she'd loved it her whole life, loved all water. But now… she hated it right now. All she could do is curse at it, for what it had done, for what it had taken from her. The one thing she loved more than the water had been lost to it...
"Ash…" she whispered his name again, stroking the fur of his sleeping Pikachu as she struggled to hold back tears. She'd sat, hoping against all hope that he'd come back, riding happily on his Croconaw's back just as gleeful as he had been when he'd left, claiming he'd be back within an hour. He was off to search for the quickest route to their next destinastion, searching out an island they could camp on for the night. But as he had neared the horizon… the wave, and the current… she wasn't fully sure what had happened. She'd done all she could, to try to get out far enough and save him, but… All she'd found, was a very sad, confused looking Croconaw and Ash's backpack.
Then, the next morning, it had washed up on shore. His hat, his most prized possession.
She looked at the bag on her back, and the hat to her side, and silently cursed herself for keeping them. The bag was waterproof, so everything inside it had stayed as it had been… and it all smelled of Ash. It would have been surprising, to anyone else, to have found out that she knew his smell, but…
So, so many cold nights, more and more since Brock had left them a few weeks earlier, she'd either laid down beside him in their tent after he'd drifted off to sleep, or they would voluntarily have curled up together to keep warm in the cold, as winter was setting in in the more northern areas they'd been travelling through. She'd familiarized herself with his exact earthy aroma, and memorized the contours of his face. So she could still smell his soft scent on the contents of the pack, and it severely agitated her… It brought his face to her mind every time she got too close to it. It seemed to be of some solace to Pikachu, however, just a small reminder of what his old owner had been like.
They were the only two who knew, that Ash was gone. Her other pokémon, and Croconaw, had been told he'd be back soon enough. She knew, though, that eventually they'd figure out that he wasn't going to return.
But would she? Would she ever give up and go back to reality… face the fact that he had been lost to the sea, that he was… dead. Gone forever. She'd have to tell his family, and their other friends too…
"Pikachu… Pikachu, wake up," she whispered, a lump forming in her throat as she contemplated her next move. "Listen, Pikachu, I'm gonna go for a little walk along the beach, alright? I'm taking some of my stuff with me… I might camp out. If I do, I'll be back tomorrow morning, you take the stuff and hide it somewhere safe until then, ok?" Pikachu nodded slowly, and Misty started to walk slowly across the soft sand, the tide dancing around her ankles in the moonlight.
"Pikachupi?"
Misty turned back around and looked at Pikachu for a moment, staring at the small rodent and trying to avoid crying. "No, you stay here. I need to get away from the thought of Ash for a little while, and you'll only make me remember him, sorry…" she kneeled and let him nuzzle her leg, and she sighed heavily as she ran her fingers through his coarse yellow fur. "You're lonely, aren't you…" she sighed. "I could let Togetic out, you two could play…"
"Pika… Pikapi, Pika…" Pikachu looked out over the water, tears shimmering in his tiny brown eyes.
"Ash isn't the only one you miss, is he… You miss Bayleef too, right, and that's why you said her name too?" Pikachu nodded slowly at her, and climbed into her outstretched arms, rubbing the top of his head to her chin in an attempt to cheer himself up. Misty rocked him gently, gazing up into the dimming twilight at the first few stars of the night. "We both lost love to the ocean, Pikachu… But even if Ash isn't, I know Bayleef is out there somewhere, waiting to be let out of her pokéball to see you again," she said softly, smiling weakly as Pikachu's eyes shone lightly with the smallest glimmer of hope. "Hey, maybe I'll even find her as I walk along the beach? So, you stay here, and guard Ash's stuff. I'll be back ASAP…" she forced a smile on her face and set off across the barren sandscape, towards an outcropping of small cliffs beside the ocean. She would set her plan in motion, as soon as she was behind those rocks and out of sight. She glanced behind her slowly, lowering her head in defeat at Pikachu's sad face a ways back now. Much as she had tried to hide it from him, he probably knew what she was planning. She quickened her pace as she felt the evening chill increase.
I'm sorry, Pikachu, but I won't feel right until I've done this… she sighed, marching along the sinking tide like a soldier off to battle. To a battle she knew she would not live through…
She gazed out at the ocean one last time, taking her shoes off slowly and placing them and her backpack above the tide line, out of sight as well. Not that she expected to return to them. She walked towards the water, feeling it cover her feet and then ankles, as she walked deeper and deeper into the calm, slowly rolling water, and then shivered lightly as she realized her decision fully for the first time, and plunged her head under the water, swimming off towards the horizon, at which she expected death but was honestly unsure of her destiny.
Pikachu heard the soft splash a short distance from his location, and sighed as he watched Misty's form moving slowly away over the gentle waves. He no longer had a master, for all he knew, for he knew Misty did not mean to return. But still, he would sit, watching, waiting, beside the ocean.
o.o' that was fairly depressing… my ho-oh, to be continued, I promise! Oh, and this is supposed to take place later on in the show, and anyone who does their research knows that Chikorita evolves, and moves on to Pikachu instead of Ash. Croconaw… I needed Ash to have a pokémon worthy of surf. Review, please! Ja ne!
