Links to the Past ¤ Chapter 9: Revelation ¤, a pokémon fanfic

Welcome to chapter 9! Told you this one would be up quicker than the last! I am determined to finish this story SOON! Only a couple more chappies left! Ok, here are my "thanks":

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Ages:

Ash-- 21

Misty -- 20

"..." Spoken Words

italics Thoughts

~~~~~~ Scene changes / flashbacks / change in P.O.V

(...) Author's Notes

Disclaimer: None of the following characters used in this story belong to me, k? Only the plot is mine, the rest....belongs to good ol' Japan ^-^

Links to the Past

Last Chapter review:

"Oh Ash, Misty, I'm so glad you're both alright now." she squeaked, "We were just talking about you two. Ash, Misty, I don't know if you remember him, but this is Professor Oak." she said pointing to an older-looking man.

"And this," she continued, pointing to a younger-looking man who looked oddly familiar, "is his grandson, Gary."

Almost immediately Ash and Misty put two and two together and they hurriedly looked at one another; this was the 'Gary Oak' they had been searching for in Cerulean.

Chapter 9: Revelation

Ash and Misty looked away from one another and then back at Gary, who looked quite confused himself.

"Uh, hello." Ash greeted nervously.

Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum exchanged silent looks of amazed confusion; it seem that, basically, everyone was confused in one way or another.

Gary half-smiled and held out a hand to Ash.

"Hello....Ash?" he addressed questioningly.

Ash nodded and took his hand.

~~~~FLASHBACK~~~~

Ash is standing at the bow of a cruise ship next to a young man with brown hair (AN: Who we now know to be Gary).

"I don't understand why you would do this to me, Gary. I thought we'd put this childish rivalry behind us." Ash said, hurt evident in his voice.

Ash heard Gary sigh heavily and turned to face him.

"It's not rivalry, Ash, I promise. It was a total and complete accident. She and I can both vouch for that, just ask her. I only happened once --"

"It shouldn't have happened at all." Ash interrupted.

Gary sighed again.

"You're right, Ash, it shouldn't have happened at all. But the point is that it did and there's nothing we can do about it now. But I know I can speak for Misty and myself when I promise it will never happen again." Gary said, lightly placing a hand on Ash's shoulder. "She doesn't love me, Ash, she loves you, so I don't understand what your problem is."

"My problem," Ash cried, throwing Gary's hand from his arm, "is that you came on to my girlfriend, who I was about to propose to, and did God knows what! That's my problem, Gary, all right!" Ash breathed heavily and swallowed. "I thought you were my friend, man." he concluded, shaking his head and turning back to the front of the ship, leaning on the railing. Staring out over the water at the sunset, he hears Gary sigh, but misses the almost relieved look on his face.

"Ash, I am your friend, which is why I'll do anything to make it up to you, anything, just name it."

Ash sighed once more and closed his eyes momentarily.

Opening them, he say says, "I don't think there's anything you can do."

~~~~END OF FLASHBACK~~~~

Ash quickly returned to reality, breathing quickly. Everyone was looking at him in confusion, everyone, that is, except Misty. She had a pretty good idea of what he'd seen.

Ash looked at Gary, who was looking more confused then ever, and realized he was still holding his hand. He quickly let it go and look over at Misty who was, for the second time that day, avoiding his eyes.

He sighed and turned back to Gary who was looking between the couple with an eyebrow raised.

Ash cleared his throat and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Sorry, man." he said to Gary,

"Oh it's alright, no sweat." he responded, wetting his lips. Then he looked over at Misty for a moment and furrowed his brow.

"Are you alright there, Miss?" All eyes turned to Misty, who looked down at the floor and blushed at all the sudden attention.

"Oh, um, I'm fine, thanks." she responded, wringing her hands.

Ash narrowed his eyes. Was she still 'sorry' about doing 'things' with this guy? Because right then it looked more like she was embarrassed to see him because she has feeling for him, no, because she's ashamed that she has feelings for him.

Keeping his eyes narrowed, he looked back over at Gary who was now looking at the menu.

"Ash, dear," Mrs. Ketchum said, "why don't you and Misty have a seat, huh?"

Ash snapped his head toward his mother.

"Oh, okay, Mom." Ash said, pulling out the chair beside Gary to sit in.

Misty sighed silently, pulled out the remaining chair and sat in it.

She bit her lower lip and cautiously looked over at Ash, who was staring in the direction of Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum's conversation.

She lightly nudged him with her elbow to get his attention, but he merely scooted farther away from her.

Misty sighed heavily and clenched her teeth; she refused to cry even a tear of frustration.

Meanwhile, Ash was thinking about his vision, his memory. But was there more to it then what he'd seen?

Misty had said she'd cheated on him. Kissing a guy once doesn't qualify for cheating...but then again, he'd just assumed she'd only kissed him. She'd never actually stated how she'd cheated on him.

*Maybe there's more to then situation then she's letting on, or more that I have yet to discover,* was on thought.

*But what if she's just over exaggerating? Maybe she is so ashamed about kissing him that it filled her full of that much guilt.*

Uh, the first was definitely more likely.

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After lunch and a superfluous conversation between Ash and Professor Oak about Fire Pokémon, Ash, Misty and Mrs. Ketchum said their good-byes to Oaks.

Ash then discovered that this Gary character only lived up the street; he was definitely going to remember that.

Once again, Misty claimed the front, so Ash lounged in back, mentally preparing himself for the confrontation that was about to take place.

Ten minutes later, the car pulled into it's quaint, gravel driveway, beside Misty's car, and was pulled to a halt by a happy Mrs. Ketchum, who sensed no tension between her son and his girlfriend.

Ash quickly removed himself from car and slammed the door, while Misty purposefully took her sweet time; she was in no hurry to start a brawl.

Ash stormed into his house after his mother and let himself out into the backyard. He stalked across the yard hastily and plopped down on one of the bigger rocks in the rock garden. (AN: remember that?) A few minutes later, Misty emerged into the backyard. Ash, knowing who it was, didn't look up.

Misty took one look at him and gulped. What actually had he seen? It obviously had something with Gary and herself, but what was it exactly? Misty pondered this as she cautiously made her way toward Ash, who still had not acknowledged her presence. Finally, she reached him.

"Um, Ash...Can we talk?" she asked in a small, quiet voice.

"What about?" Ash responded tonelessly, still not looking at her.

He heard her sigh.

"I know what you saw, Ash. And...and I think we need to talk about it." she stated quickly.

"What is it you think I saw?" he responded, again sounding emotionless and not looking at her.

Misty gulped and lowered herself onto the ground before the rock garden, sitting cross-legged.

"Well...I-I think it had to do with...um, something that happened between Gary...and-and I...but, um, I'm not sure...what."

This got Ash to look at her.

Her heart plummeted with one look into his eyes; there was immense pain and a look betrayal...then those narrowed.

"So there was something you didn't tell me then. Enlighten me, Misty. What happened between the two of you that you failed to mention?" he said, his voice trembling with suppressed anger.

Misty bit her lip and averted her eyes to the ground.

"W-well...Uh, I-I --"

"Ya know, forget it. I think I've got a pretty good idea of what really happened anyway." he interrupted, his voice cold biting.

Misty looked up at him, shocked.

"Ash, I think I've got the right to tell you what really happened, okay." she responded, her voice getting louder by minute.

"Yeah, well then tell me instead of stuttering about it, all right? That doesn't get your point across any faster."

Misty shot up from the ground like a rocket; then she exploded like one.

"Ok! You wanna know what really happened, Ash? Fine! I'll 'enlighten' you! You probably don't remember this but my brother had just been killed rabid Dragonite while working at a Dragon Pokémon ranch up North." she started hastily. She stopped momentarily, trying to regain her composure. "We had both just returned from his funeral and I was depressed and told you I wanted to go out alone. You said okay, though not willingly, and I left and went to a bar."

She stopped again, taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself. "While there, I ran into Gary. He came and talked to me, and I wanted to be alone, okay. He sat down and we talked for a while about my brother, our places of employment, and other meaningless crap I don't remember. We kept on ordering drinks for a few hours, not realizing how intoxicated we already were." she halted again, snatching a glance at Ash, who was looking at the ground intently.

She continued.

"By the end of the night, we were all over one another, not even comprehending who each other were, of course. I don't remember anything else, except..." she stopped again, biting her lip and halting her pacing. "...except that I woke up next to him." she concluded quietly.

Then she couldn't hold it in anymore.

She fell to her knees and cried her eyes out, not expecting Ash to even care. She kept bawling for another five minutes, but halted abruptly when she felt strong arms encircle her, pulling her shaking form into a comforting hug. Misty looked up in astonishment and saw that it was Ash.

He said nothing, only kissed her head, wordlessly comforting her.

Misty lowered her head and cried on and on with Ash just cradling her.

"I love you, Misty. I'll always love you, no matter what happens between us." he said, once her crying started to calm.

He heard a chocked sob as she abruptly stopped crying and hugged him tightly.

"I love you, too, Ash. I love you, too." she replied in a shaky voice.

~~~~~End of chapter 9~~~~~

To be continued...

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Kinda mushy there at the end, eh? *lol* sorry, couldn't resist.

I KNOW Misty doesn't have a brother in the game or the Animé, but in this story, she does, that's why it's an AU ^_~.

Ok so, school's started for me 2 weeks ago, so I've been super busy. I meant to finish this chapter before I went back, but I got tied up, oh well, here it is now.

SO....

What didja think?

Email: silverserenity2000@yahoo.com

ttyl!!

See ya next chapter (A LOT of things happen in chapter 10...it'll be the plot wrap up...it's almost over guys!! *sobs* try to continue living, okay? ..like that'll be a problem..)

MOVIES TO RENT:

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Rudy (an older movie, with Sean Astin) and The Lizzie McGuire Movie.

MOVIES TO GO SEE IN THE THEATER WHEN THE COME OUT, IF THEY HAVEN'T ALREADY:

Freaky Friday and The Order (Sept. 5).

*lol* ok bye!