Alter Persona

Chapter XII: Unanswered Questions, Unspoken Care

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It had been over a week since Ash had woken up to find himself in professor Oak's home. He helped out around the house and the two researchers as much as he could, since he decided that he wasn't going to be a freeloader and he had no money on him. Of course, helping with the research enabled him to know more about the different kinds of pokemon, their habitats, life and attacks.

However, his helping with the chores annoyed Mr. Mine to no end since the pokemon saw Ash as taking over his sacred duty.

His interaction with Misty increased since they slept in adjacent rooms, tried to stay out of the way of the Oaks, and made it a daily ritual to visit the balcony during mealtimes and the evenings. Of course, the young gym leader's curiosity regarding his involvement with team rocket was another factor to consider, even though the topic never came out.

Ash knew about it, of course, and avoided telling her too much. Just enough for her to understand and recognize his immense dislike for the organization. Beside the point, he took to consulting her regarding Halgre, since the water and ice were her specialty.

Pikachu stuck to Ash most of the time, trying to find out more about what had happened while he was in his ball, but discovered nothing new. Meanwhile, he also trained with Ash's two other pokemon in order to be able to work with them. Pikachu found both Eidra and Halgre rather enigmatic, but at least he found out a little more about Ash from them. Overall, life was satisfactory. At least, for the moment.

Ash stared out the window, twirling his pen. The day had started off rather promising, but they hadn't expected it to promise rain.

Ash and Misty had decided to take advantage of the good weather and explore the extensive plains around the back of the house in the plateau, the one they saw from the balcony. The Oaks had wanted to document the pokemon living there, but they were often too busy to leave the lab. Furthermore, since this area was so close to the labs, they decided to leave it till the end, when everything was almost done before they visited. So Ash and Misty decided to take an outing while documenting as a favour.

Professor Oak had given Ash his own old pokedex, telling him to take care of it. With that, they had set out. Unfortunately, it wasn't until late afternoon when it started to rain very heavily. Even though Misty had a raincoat (Ash didn't bother with one), they found the rain too strong without any effective shelter nearby and had to run all the way back, getting drenched in the process.

Ash closed his eyes and decided to go next door and ask misty if she was fine. He had been the one who suggested that they took this trip and it wouldn't be his fault if she fell sick. He knocked on her door and waited for a moment. Receiving no reply, he tried the door knob and let himself in, having found it unlocked.

It had been a rather bad habit of his to let himself into a room despite having no reply, since he had the authority to do it, back when he was still in team rocket.

The first thing he noticed about the room was that it was blue. Not just any blue, but a cool sea blue. The walls and ceiling were painted blue, her bed covers and curtains were blue as well. It very much reminded him of the song sung by Eiffel.

The second thing he noticed was that unlike his room which was rather plain, her room was fully furnished and decorated. It looked more like her room than a guest room. But the touch in the way the place was decorated was familiar... as if he had seen it before.

As he wondered how he recognised the touch, he heard the sound of running water. It was only then he realised that Misty wasn't in the room when he came in. Ash turned towards the bathroom, and discovered that his conclusion was correct.

Misty was in the shower, her back towards him. The glass door and wall separating her naked body from Ash was misted completely, but her fiery red hair was still evident.

Feeling his face flush, he spun around quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly. He ended up kicking the chair which was in his way, causing all the books stacked on it to fall onto the ground.

In the shower, Misty was startled by the unexpected noise and turned and wiped away the mist at eye level, allowing her to look out into her room. Instantly, she blushed and switched off the shower, quickly putting on her robe.

Aware that he had been discovered, Ash decided to apologise before she misunderstood the situation. "I apologise for intruding, Miss Waterflower. I was not aware that you were in the shower and the door wasn't locked, so I let myself in," he informed her, still facing away from her.

"I-it's alright," Misty answered, her face burning furiously. "I shouldn't have been so careless, and I know you won't do it intentionally," she entered her room shyly, her hand clutching her robe close to her chest. "You can turn around now. I'm decent."

"I'm sorry, Miss Waterflower," Ash turned to her. And paused in awe. 'God she's beautiful,' he thought to himself. What caught his eye was the way her turquoise eyes shone with energy and trust, even in their current situation, contrasting with her flaming red hair which cascaded down to her shoulder blades.

The young woman shook her head. "It's alright. And please call me Misty. Calling me by my surname seems… rather formal," she requested. "Why did you come into my room anyway?"

"I just wanted to ask if you're fine. You might've caught a cold after being drench," he answered. "I wanted to make sure that you were fine since I was the one who suggested this trip. Should you have fallen ill, I would've been guilty."

Misty smiled, tilting her head slightly. "I'm fine. What about you? I had a raincoat, but you didn't even bring one."

"I'm fine. After my... training with Team Rocket, a small thing such as rain can't hurt me," Ash told her with a hiss of anger directed not at her, but at the aforementioned organisation.

"That's a relief," Misty smiled a little, her eyes softening. "And Pikachu is fine, I suppose?"

"He's dried of, and watching cartoons in the living room. He's acting as if he has to catch up with ever missed show," Ash commented. "I think I had better leave you to your privacy now," he turned to go, then turned back to face her. "And remember to lock the door."

"Thanks for your concern," Misty saw him to the door. And closed it slowly after him, taking his advice and locking it. One she heard him leave, she turned and leaned against the door.

"Why?"

Ash sat up suddenly, gasping for breath. The dreams seemed to be getting more and more vivid, but he couldn't remember anything else other than what he already knew. He did not know why he was having these dreams, how he knew everything, even though he did not. But he knew that it was important, that it would affect him. And her...

He narrowed his eyes. He had to find out more about the legendaries.

Taking care not to wake Pikachu, he got out of bed and headed for the library section of the house. It was his good fortune that he happened to be staying next to the largest library archive available in the whole of Kanto.

Knowing that the usually used reference materials wielded no information he needed, he skipped them and looked towards the back of the library, which was hardly accessed. He scanned through the spines of the books quickly but thoroughly, picking out books which even hinted to contain a bit of information regarding the topic he was pursuing.

After he felt that he had enough material to keep him occupied for some time, he headed for the desk and began looking through the books. He became rather disappointed when he couldn't seem to find much other than descriptions, sketches and photographs. Most of the information he already knew, or discovered was incorrect.

However, there was some information which he found rather useful, even though he had to refer to many books at the same time to get most of the irritatingly small picture. Apparently, Lugia was mostly unknown and even unheard about in the past. It was said that he would appear if the three legendary birds were awakened and threatened the world; it would make its appearance.

Unfortunately, it would not appear to just anyone. Only the Chosen One would be able to seek it out, and awaken it at his or her call.

Ash had tried to find out more information about the identities of the previous few who were chosen. Sadly, there had only been two other cases. The identities of the two Chosen Ones were kept by the Legendary Creatures themselves, so no one ever found out who they were. The only clue was that they were commonly hailed as the Ultimate Master. Further searches regarding the title ended up in naught, so Ash gave it up.

He discovered that the Legendary Birds could be awakened if their respective islands were subjected to immense climatic changes which went against the properties of their elements. Ash frowned a little at that. He wanted to call the legendaries, but this was too drastic a move.

Ash also found out that the three other legendary creatures, Entai, Raiko and Suicune could be called upon granted that the one closest to the Chosen one could present the Tiles in its correct and specific order. There had been cases whereby others had called them, and they had appeared. But it didn't necessarily mean that they could get the Legendaries to listen to them. As it was, most of the 'summonings' were purely coincidental. And no one had actually been able to call up all of them, despite the fact that the positioning of the tiles and order were exchanged between 'summoners'. That was, except for one. Similarly, his identity was as obscure as the Ultimate Masters

Ash frowned a little at that, not really understanding what exactly was going on. It seemed like there were many specifications to be fulfilled. And many of which he had no idea to where start looking for.

Heaving a mental sigh, he glanced at the clock and decided that he had had enough for a night. It was either very late at night, or rather early in the day. His mind full of new information, Ash returned to bed to catch a couple more hours' worth of sleep.

It had been several days past since Ash had started looking for information which could enable him to know why he had been getting those dreams. Further searches and enquiries to both researchers and the web turned up nothing.

Ash was on the balcony and wondering about the answers to the same old questions he had been asking himself. Where was the place which the legendary pokemon gathered? There was no such place describing that he had seen in his dream despite searches. And how did Misty fit into this? What sort of relationship did he have with her? Why was it that no one seemed to remember anything about him and recognise him? And why was it that other that what he could remember from the dreams, he knew almost nothing about himself?

He looked up at the sound of the sliding doors being opened and was unsurprised to see Misty join him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she sat down next to him, tilting her face to regard him. Ash shook his head. "You seemed rather preoccupied lately and I was wondering if something was wrong."

"Everything's fine. Just some personal stuff," Ash muttered, not willing to tell her what he himself did not know.

"I see..." she murmured in reply, looking out at the mountain in the distance. "Sometimes, I wish the lab was built on the other side, overlooking the sea. Not that I don't like this place. It's beautiful, but the sea appeals to me more.

"If your room was any indication, I would say so," Ash answered, causing her to smile. "You seem to have built a personal haven here," he added.

"Yeah, I have, haven't I?" she spoke softly, seemingly to herself. "Since I actually spent more time here than at home, Professor Oak gave me a room of my own, allowed me to decorate it to my liking and paid for everything," she clasped her hands together and glanced at the floor.

"Won't you rather spend more time with your family?" Ash inquired, his turn to tilt his face to look at her.

A quick flash of pain crossed her face, after which, darkened at Ash's question. "Spend time with my family? With my sisters? Forget it," she muttered, turning away and crossing her legs. "I'd rather go on another journey by myself."

"But why? I thought most people would prefer to spend time with their family."

"Because I hate my sisters!" she scowled. "Besides, why would it matter to you? You and I have no relationship whatsoever so you shouldn't pry into my personal affairs."

Ash continued to stare at her despite not being able to see her face as he considered her words. "You really hate your sisters? That's a good thing for me."

"What!" she snarled, turning back to face him, her eyes narrowed in anger.

Ash shrugged. "I could kill them for you, you know?" He replied. "Could make it look like Team Rocket's work. And I daresay I might want to add them to my list as the next gym leader to fall. Gym leaders make good trophies. Literally killing two birds with one stone."

Instantly, Misty's angry demeanour turned into worry. "What? Why!"

"Because I can, because you hate them," he shrugged again. It was a good thing Pikachu was watching the Powerpuff Girls' marathon on television. "It was my job after all. You ought to remember that it was I who killed Blaine, Koga and Lt. Surge, and I was responsible for the massacre at the museum. One more group of people won't matter."

"How could you talk about killing so easily! We're talking about human lives here!"

"I told you. Because I can. And I don't feel remorse when I kill," he paused. "We're off topic. Give me a reason why I shouldn't -or should- kill them. You would still be alive to handle the gym, without having to care about the sisters you hate so much," Ash crossed his arms behind his head, staring off into space.

"Because they're my sisters, damnit! We don't kill people just because we can or feel like it! Fine! I hate them! I hate the way they shirk their responsibilities! And I hated the way they acted as though nothing happened after my parents died!" she scrambled to her feet, her fists clenched tightly. "But they're still my family! They're all I have left!" her eyes were misted up, almost crying.

"I-I'm sorry," Ash backed off a little, hearing her anger, not knowing if it was directed at him. "What was it that made you hate them so much? And why do you act as if you don't when in front of others?"

Misty collapsed back onto the bench next to Ash, tears brimming in her eyes even though she was trying her best to keep them back. "My sisters used to treat me like a little child since you, even when I turned twelve! So what if they're almost ten years older than I am! They kept making fun of me since I was always the shortest among them, scrawny and not as beautiful as them! And because I didn't have their talent for singing and performing and avoided being part of their performances!"

"I was always left out, always the little runt, not worthy of their attentions, convenient for their use!" she stopped a little, her shoulders shaking. "Because I always went to my parents for support when they made fun of me they started to called me names. And when I was eight, my parents died in a car accident..." her voice became soft, her words coming out in sobs as she kept her face down, her clenched fists on her lap.

"My sisters were around twenty at that time. When my parents died, they simply paid for the funeral, attended it, but left the organizing to other people! And they didn't even cry during the funeral... A few days after that, they were out dating, partying, like nothing had happened. For me..."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Misty," Ash told her, trying to be as comforting as possible as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I... My life was shattered then," she went on, despite the painful reminder of her past. "I lost my pillar of emotional support. With my parents gone, I had no one else to turn to no close friends to confide in. to fend off my sisters, I began to become tomboyish and more rebellious. Finally, when I was eleven, I had enough of my sisters and left to travel, trying to be an expert in water pokemon. When I was with Brock, I… I envied his family. And I returned home several times, but I always pretended not to hate them. I dreaded going home all the same," she had become more composed as she revealed her life to Ash.

"But for those, I can forgive them. The real reason why I hate them is because they were the ones responsible for my parents' death! Because if it wasn't for them, my parents won't have had to leave home that day! It was because they were drunk! At a nightclub! And so my parents had to fetch them!" She ended, her voice loud and hoarse, her lower lip trembling, like her body.

Suddenly, she burst into tears.

Momentarily surprised, he didn't know what to do. Since he had Awoken till now, he had never encountered such an incident. At a loss, he didn't know what he should do at such a time. So he decided to follow his heart.

Slowly and gently, he pulled her into a hug, allowing her to cry onto his shoulder. Even as he did, he was reminded of what the leader of Team Rocket had told him regarding his mother... He felt a slight discomfort as his chest felt a slight pain. But quickly pushing it out of his mind to the current situation at present, he wrapped one arm around her back, the other hand caressing her hair softly and comfortingly, as she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly.

Countless minutes passed, the brightness of the day turning into the orange-red of the setting sun, but neither seemed to notice the passing of time. Misty knew only to seek comfort for the moment, and Ash looking to provide.

Finally, still sniffing, Misty pulled away. "S-sorry about that," she looked down, leaning her forehead against his shoulder. "I shouldn't have exploded like that, but you were the first person to actually ask me about my past. So you were the first person I ever told about my past."

"I should be the one to apologise. I shouldn't have pushed you so hard," Ash replied, placing his fingers under her chin, tilting her head up.

Her eyes still a little watery, Misty shook her head. "You don't have to apologise. I needed to do this, to tell someone and let it all out. I never expected that you would be the one though."

When Ash appeared unaware of what she meant, she smiled a little, albeit still sadly.

"You were so uncaring when I first met you. Then, in the museum, I expected you to do everything you could to protect yourself, but you didn't, and kept me safe. Now, here I am, telling you about my past which no one else had ever known. And I swore never to cry again, yet I just did, in front of you, no less. Funny, isn't it?"

Ash shrugged. "Perhaps I am learning from you. You... showed me things I did not know about," he answered enigmatically.

Misty sighed and smiled a little. "May I borrow your shoulder again?"

The way she looked at him made Ash catch his breath, the way the setting sun bathed her sad features in orange, her eyes shining at a point between relief and sadness. Odd, it seemed to Ash, that it was so much like a drama movie, even as he nodded.

"You know," she spoke up again as she laid her head on his shoulder, "this is so odd. I feel comfortable around you. Like I can trust you... like I have since long before we met. And I feel as if... we've done it before," she glanced up at him. "Sounds crazy huh?"

Ash smiled a little but shook his head no, before resting his head against hers.

No more words were exchanged after that. Together, they watched the sun continue to set, mist glad that she had finally released a burden from her soul and Ash thinking that as long as the one next to him was happy, he would be content.

And as it remained, they knew not about what was to unfold before them, in the future.

Author's Notes: Sorry it took me this long to update. I got myself killed and it isn't easy for me to find someone suitable to possess who could actually type this out without going 'What kinda crap is this' and still go on typing.

Kidding.

Anyway, I've just got my O-Level results back sometime ago and I had been busy with work, preparing for Polytechnic, and getting over my gaming obsession. Very Nasty Business. XD Anime Rocks! XD

Like stated previously, I'll work on the fic when I feel like it. Won't abandon it though I've got my sonic fic which I've been neglecting too. Gomen nasai

Please read and review. Offer suggestions too, if possible. I'm kinda stuck at the moment. . Flames are appreciated. I'm becoming a reptile or something. Can't seem stand the cold nowadays. Thanks for reading this awful piece of work done by an amateur! Arigato Gozaimasu!

PS. Chapter title sucks ne?