Pokemon: 4 Years After
Chapter 3. Surprise in the Night
"Okay Ash, we're here," Brock put the car in park. Ash looked up and saw his mom's house lit up with lights coming from the inside.
The three went up the walkway. Ash took a deep breath and gave a knock at the door. A few seconds later, he heard someone coming down the stairs. He got a bit nervous and looked back to his friends.
"Wish me luck!" He said.
Misty pretended not to notice, but Brock gave him an encouraging smile. The doorknob suddenly turned and the door began to creak. Ash turned his head back towards it. He expected to see his mother, but instead he had to look down a few inches to see Mr. Mime.
"Hey there," Ash said to it. Mr. Mime, however didn't seem to recognize him.
"It's me, Ash." Mr. Mime tilted his head a bit, but after a few seconds it realized that it WAS Ash. It began to jump up and down. He then quickly ran off, up the stairs. Ash could only laugh as he watched his mom's favorite pokemon panic at the sight of him. He pushed open the door all the way and stepped in, along with Brock and Misty.
Suddenly, Ash saw his mother come into view as Mr. Mime tugged her by her wrist from upstairs. He could hear her saying things like "What's going on Mimey? Did something happen? Who's…." She looked down at her visitors and pulled her wrist free from Mr. Mime. Her hands covered her mouth when she got a good look at Ash. She recognized him immediately. Mr. Mime continued to cry out.
"Ash…" They all could see tears beginning to swell up in her eyes. Delia came running down the stairs and took her son into her arms. Ash was waiting for this and smiled deeply, almost crying himself. He had missed her so much. After all, he had been gone for 4 years and hadn't called or sent her an email during that whole time. Brock was touched and no matter how hard Misty tried to fight it, even she gave in to a smile.
"So where have you been!" Ash's mother pleaded to know.
"Here and there. I traveled a lot," Ash said calmly.
"I see. Well, I'm sure you heard what happened to Professor Oak. I can even bet that's the reason why you came back. Am I right?"
"…yeah…" Ash seemed somewhat ashamed to answer this truthfully.
"Well, I'm just glad to see you back dear," Delia gave out a big smile.
After a few minutes, of observing, as they talked, Ash's mother could see a tension between Misty and her son. Delia had known about their situation, since Misty had explained the whole thing after Ash's departure. She and her had gotten to become very close during the four years. And she had thought that the whole thing between the two was cute, but apparently her son was still oblivious to the entire thing.
Eventually, Delia noticed Ash's dirty clothes and how bad he smelled.
"And I can bet you haven't been changing your underwear everyday huh?" She folded her arms as she looked at him. Ash's face turned red. She smiled and told him that he if he hopped into the shower she would clean his clothes. He smiled widely and ran up to his mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then ran up the stairs and disappeared around the corner. Misty then got up rudely and opened the front door.
"I'm going to go for a walk," Misty said in a stern voice before she went outside and closed the door behind her. Brock and Delia looked at each other and shrugged.
Ash opened the shower door and turned the knobs of the shower on. He felt as the water turned warm and waited until he was satisfied with the temperature. Ash then took off his hat and placed it on the bathroom counter. He stripped off the rest of his clothes and laid them outside by the door. Ash stepped into the shower and closed the door. He gave out a deep sigh as the warm water started to spray onto his dirty hairy.
Outside, when Misty closed the door behind noticed that a full moon was beaming from the sky above. She placed her hands on the white fence that surrounded Delia's garden. The moon was so beautiful. She remembered all the nights she spent looking at it thinking if Ash was okay. She sighed then kicked the dirty under her.
"Why do I keep thinking about him!"
She was mad at herself, not knowing what she was feeling at the moment. She needed time to think. She turned her head, and from her angle, she was able to see a swing set in the backyard. She took her hands off the fence and walked towards it.
Ash planted his hands on the shower wall and went into deep thought.
"Was my training really worth it? Maybe I shouldn't have gone at all," he started t regret his decision of ever leaving. Sure, his training had made him stronger, but that was only what it did for him. But what about everyone else? From what he had seen so far, everyone was miserable while he had been gone. Brock seemed tired and stressed. His mother had been worried sick about him. Professor Oak had been attacked. Team Rocket had grown bigger than he ever thought possible. And Misty wouldn't talk to him, let alone look at him.
"Argh!" he slammed one of his fists against the shower wall.
"…why am I crying?" Misty felt a tear fall down onto her arm as she sat on one of the swings. She then took her arm and rubbed it against her cheek to wipe away her tears.
Ash stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He ran it across his body a few times and then began to dry his hair thoroughly. He looked into the mirror as his hair stuck up in every possible direction. He then wrapped the towel around his waist and opened the door to shout to his mom for his clothes, but before he let so much as a breath escape from his mouth, he looked down and saw his clothes. They had been washed, neatly folded, and placed by the bathroom door. He picked them up with a smile and went back into the bathroom to change into them.
"I have to go talk to her. Gotta find out what's wrong…" he thought as he changed. He pulled up his pants and latched on his belt. He buttoned up his black dress shirt and then walked out of the bathroom. He took his extra hat and stuff to his room, which he laid on his bed, but then noticed something out of his window. He looked outside, to the backyard, and saw Misty sitting on one of the swing sets, alone. He took a deep breath and then ran out of his room before he could even think about what he was doing.
"This is my chance. Can't screw this up Ash," he coached himself.
Ash ran slid down the stair banister, and jumped off once he was all the way down. He was about to run out the door when his nose brought him back a few feet, leading him to the kitchen. The scent of something cooking caught his attention. He went in and saw Brock and his mom by the counter cutting up vegetables and dropping them into a big stew.
"Ahh Ash, I thought you were gonna drown in there," his mom joked.
"We're making one of your favorite dishes. It'll be done in about half an hour," Brock said as he looked back to Ash.
"In the mean time maybe you should go see how Misty's doing…" Delia mentioned.
Ash remained silent. He turned around and left the kitchen. He went through the front door and started making his way down to the backyard when he saw Misty – she was looking down at the ground as she swung weakly off the ground. He approached her slowly, but when she heard a noise (he kicked a rock across the ground accidentally) from his walking, she looked up and saw him. The moment she saw him she stood up and began to walk away.
"No-Wait!" Ash held his arm out, motioning for her to stay.
She stopped.
"I wanna talk," he added.
She kept her back to him. He stepped forward.
"Misty…I-" he found himself not knowing what to say. What could he say that would make her feel better? "-I- I'm sorry." He took a breath and looked to the ground. "I'm sorry that I left. And I'm sorry for taking this long to realize that," he looked up to her. "If I had known that all of this would've happened just because of me…I wouldn't have gone," his eyes found the ground. "It's just…I was selfish. I was selfish because I really wanted to become stronger. I had gone through so much…but no matter how hard I tried I-" he gritted his teeth, "-I always came out second best." He felt a surge of anger go through him. He knew that perhaps if he hadn't of gone then everything would be the way it used to be. He looked up to her again. She remained motionless.
"If I had stayed then I wouldn't have hurt you…" his voice faded. Misty folded her arms and covered her mouth with one of her hands. "That's the last thing I ever wanted to do you. You were always with me, even from day one when I started my journey. I spent 4 years thinking about you and wondering if you still meant the words you said the night I left," he walked a bit closer to her. She felt him coming but she still didn't move. "And now that I've come back, I've felt something I hadn't when I left. And if I had felt it back then, then I know I wouldn't have left," he took a deep breath. Misty was left hanging on those words for a few moments. So many memories and thoughts ran through her in those seconds of silence, until Ash broke her concentration. "Misty…I- I love you…" She raised her head as if hearing something shocking. She turned her body around and looked into Ash's eyes. He looked back at her and saw tears running down her cheeks. His heart was in his throat and he felt his stomach sink. She threw her arms around him and held him tightly. He felt lifeless for a second, before slowly putting his arms around her as well.
"Ash…" Misty lifted her head up from his shoulder and looked up with her tear-filled eyes. "I've missed… you so much..." she kept sobbing. "I thought…you were…never coming back…"
"How could you think that? Of course I was going to come back," Ash told her as he looked into her eyes. She gave a smile and leaned in to kiss him.
Suddenly, Ash then heard something rustle in the bushes in front of him. He lifted his head to see what it was. Misty let her grip on him loosen as she heard the noise come from behind her. She turned to see what it was. Ash slowly gripped one of his pokeballs on his belt as his eyes wandered around the bushes.
But instantly, out of nowhere, two ninja stars flew toward Ash and Misty. In a second of reaction time, Ash threw down Misty behind himself to safety and blocked one of the stars with the ball in his hand. The other star went flying and hit the wall. The bushes broke open as someone came jumping out. Ash took a step back as a dark robed person landed a few feet away from him. Ash gritted his teeth, waiting for anything as the smaller statured person stood up from her kneeled position.
"Who are you?" Ash demanded.
The person standing in front of him wore ninja's garb and didn't make a noise. A slit in the face portion of the outfit was the only skin he could see. The ninja reached behind him self and took out two pokeballs. Ash reacted again instantly and pecked another pokeball from his belt.
"Kill him!" A girl's voice came from the ninja. Ash's eye twitched. She threw her pokeballs with an evil grin. In a flash of light, a sneasel and ariados appeared before Ash.
Ash smiled at the sight.
"So a battle huh? Well, you already made a mistake by letting me see what pokemon you're gonna use first…but it really doesn't change my decision on what pokemon I'll use," he said seriously.
"Absol, Go!" The pokeball he had out first flew out of his hand and in a burst of light came out an Absol, which gave an eerie shriek once it was released. Ash put away the pokeball he had in his other hand. The ninja's eyes squinted in anger.
"Sneasel, metal claw!" The ninja commanded.
"Absol, dodge," Ash said calmly, almost as if not even taking time to think. Absol shrieked as it bolted aside from the oncoming glowing claws of Sneasel. It moved each time Sneasel swung, every time hitting nothing but air.
"Ariados, constrict!" With a loud sputter, the spider-like pokemon spit out a string of webbing out of its back and it hurled towards Absol. Ash watched with his arms folded.
"Dodge and lure it's attack away," Ash said calmly again. This time Absol got away from the attack and also jumped in front of Sneasel. Almost as if knowing exactly what Ash was thinking, Absol got Ariados to shoot out its webbing toward Sneasel.
"Get out of there," Ash commanded. Absol jumped out of the way of the attack, letting it hit Sneasel instead, wrapping it in the unbreakable webbing. Ash took his opportunity during the ninja's shock.
"Absol, quick attack Ariados, then double team around the girl," Ash gave a fist.
"Wha-!" The ninja jumped in surprise.
"Ash, no!" Misty cried, but before she knew it, Absol had tackled the Ariados into a tree and was now hurdling its way over a bush to get the ninja. With a loud cry into the air, Absol then began to multiply itself into many copies and run circles around its opponent.
"Huh-" the ninja was confused and looked up at Ash in fear.
"Slash!" Ash yelled out. The ninja looked back down and saw Absol pouncing at her. She tried her best to jump out of the way but Absol's claws managed to slash her across her face. She still stood, but with her face looking to the left. Absol landed behind her. Then after a second, the veil and top of the ninja outfit feel off the girl's face and made its way to the ground. Misty looked at the girl then at Ash.
"What's gotten into him? He even attacked her!" She thought.
The girl took her hand and rubbed it against her cheek, and pulled it away to see how bad the bleeding was.
"So who are you?" Ash asked. The girl then turned to face him as she panted. Ash's eyes widened when he saw her face. A large letter R was marked underneath her right eye, above her bleeding cut.
"Ariados, Night Shade!" the Rocket agent called out fiercely.
"Perish Song!" Ash yelled out immediately. Ariados was beginning to attack but stopped when it heard Absol crying a song.
"What are you doing!" The Rocket asked. Ash smiled and then pointed towards her.
"Absol, quick attack!" Ash ordered and Absol charged towards her. She didn't have time to call out an attack. She was on her belly before she knew it.
"Absol, return," Ash held out its pokeball and recalled it.
"Arghh…" the girl struggled to crawl, "…A-Ariados, tackle!" Without a second to delay the pokemon began to make its way towards Ash, but he didn't flinch. Misty watched him and wondered what he was doing.
"Call out your pokemon you idiot!" Misty cried to Ash. He didn't move. The ninja girl grinned as her Ariados was about to crush him. Ash watched it carefully then suddenly when the pokemon was about to jump and make its move, it fainted in its tracks.
"What the hell!" The Rocket yelled out.
"Perish song…" Ash said and the Rocket agent dropped her head onto the ground. Ariados returned to its pokeball.
Immediately following the end of the battle another rustle came from the bushes. Ash grabbed one of his pokeballs ready for anything. But instead of another Rocket, it was Gary, wearing his trademark cloak.
"Wha-" Gary looked at the scene, first at the Rocket then at Ash. "Is that you…Ash?"
"Gary?" Ash asked.