The forest between Viridian City and Pallet Town was a road well traveled but could still be dangerous for careless travelers
"Come on, Misty! Slow down a notch!"
"We have to get to Pallet, Brock!"
The two travellers hurrying at a brisk pace through the foliage had neither the luxury nor the desire to think about the dangers. A single phone call had made anything else irrelevant.
"You heard his mother. Ash isn't leaving any time soon." Brock wanted to see his old friend as soon as possible, but his determination and stamina paled in comparison to his companion.
Misty Waterflower was a woman on a mission.
"I believe that when I see it for myself. It wouldn't surprise me if he already ran off to a new adventure."
She wanted, no needed to see if Ash was okay. After making sure of his well being, she would knock some sense into him for worrying everybody.
"This time it's different, Misty. You saw him in that stadium."
Yes she had, and Misty couldn't forget it for the past week.
A part of her wanted to shake this imposter and bring the old Ash back; The happy little boy from Pallet she went on adventures with through thick and thin.
Some part of her was scared what they would find in the home from Mrs. Ketchum, because Ash had always been an unchanging constant in her life. Misty would never admit it, but she had always admired Ash's tenacity and unshakable will against all odds.
Seeing it break live on international television almost broke something in her as well.
Brock, seeing the dark thoughts play out on Misty's expression, decided to change the subject and might as well address the elephant in the room.
"Why did you decide to wear your old outfit?"
Misty blinked, glanced down on herself and blushed. Her side ponytail probably was the only thing that hadn't changed. Nine years can do wonders for turning a scrawny little girl into a beautiful young woman.
People called her the fourth Sensational Sister without a hint of sarcasm. She had filled out quite nicely, getting curvy in all the right places to the joy of the males in her occasional water show.
Everyone except Brock, who thought of Misty like one of his siblings and couldn't help but feel the need to play the role of big brother. A brother that had to stop his sister from dressing like a streetwalker.
The tight fitting yellow tank top from her youth pronounced her grown bust and left little to the imagination. The red suspenders were thankfully placed on the right angle to cover up anything that could hardened with the flimsiest of cold breezes, making Brock question her decision to forgo wearing a bra with this skimpy ensemble. Her jean shorts seemed equally tight, showing off her butt and long legs as they ended in white tennis shoes.
The whole look had worked on her as a child, but just looked wrong and silly at age twenty. The individual parts of clothing were the same, but in combination they wouldn't fit anymore. It came off more like a slutty Misty costume for Halloween than the real deal.
Brock felt the need to tell her that. "No, seriously. Why did you squeeze yourself into this? Ash's mother is not gonna like it!"
"I don't know!" she exploded into his face, "It seemed like a good idea at the time." With a heavy gulp she noticed Pallet coming into view. "You know... for old times sake."
"Misty…" Brock smiled in lieu of the silliness of the situation. Misty, a twenty year old woman, had squeezed herself in old childhood clothes to increase the chances of being recognized.
The woman carried a torch for Ash that was big enough to be seen from orbit.
"I don't think Ash will complain. He changed too."
"Oh, boy had he…" Misty thought with a swallow. The little runt from Pallet had grown as much as she had. Maybe even more. Her sisters owned quite a bit of posters and magazines with him on the cover, posing in suits and expensive outfits.
And really sad eyes…
"Just hurry, Brock. We are almost there."
Mister Mime stopped his sweeping of leaves and waved at the two gym leaders entering the front lawn of Delia's house. Misty and Brock acknowledged the gesture with a quick nod and stopped at the front door.
A quick intake of breath and three knocks later, they both waited and listened to somebody approach the door and unlocking it.
"Listen, my mom said to not engage with the press, but if you don't stop harassing her I will sic my Charizard on your…"
The deeper but unmistakable voice of Ash Ketchum faltered in the presence of his two oldest friends.
Misty felt silly for worrying about keeping her look. The young man in front of her was Ash no doubt, but not a single thing had remained the same.
The wild and chaotic mess of hair had changed to a neatly trimmed buzzcut. He had a healthy amount of styled stubble on his face, indicating a desire to keep it that way.
Ash wore no hat and he looked naked without one, although it was understandable that he wouldn't wear merch from the Pokemon League anytime soon.
But all the changes paled in comparison to the raw fear and shame in his eyes. Ash stood like petrified, not even budging an inch when Pikachu jumped on his back and peeked at the visitors over Ash's head.
"Pikachu-Pi! Pika-Chu!"
The little pokemon was a lot more enthusiastic about the arrival of his second and third favourite human. He flew like a yellow rocket into the arms of Misty, who was shocked out of her stupor.
"Pikachu, I missed you so much!" She cradled him like a toddler and tickled his belly. "You and your adorable little pudge!"
Delia came into view to see what the commotion was about. "Ash? Who is at the… Misty, Brock! It's so good to see you! Come in for some tea and cake. It's fresh out of the oven."
The invitation rang in Ash's ears like a gong. Every pair of eyes rested on him, watching him standing in the doorway and blocking entrance like a moron.
Delia, Arceus bless her soul, showed understanding to his plight. "Ash, you have to let go of the door. They can't get in otherwise."
"Yes, of course…" He stepped aside against the wall, pressing so tight against it as if he wanted to sink through it.
Brock and Misty entered under a thick cloud of awkwardness, until a loud shriek almost made them jump back outside.
"What are wearing young lady? Did you walk around town like that!?"
The tension broke between the three friends, each of them thankful for the loud interruption. Delia considered herself a mother figure to the parentless girl, and no daughter of hers would present herself like that in public.
"She had no choice, Mom," Ash said quickly, cutting her rant on modesty short. "They encountered some wild Pokemon who ruined her clothes. Her old outfit was all she had as spare in that old bag."
"Oh," Delia replied, seemingly appeased and surprised at the sudden initiative of her son. "Then let me get you some of my old clothes, you poor thing."
Ash watched the two women walk upstairs, noticing how his eyes were naturally drawn to the apple-shaped backside of his former travel companion.
"That was quick thinking, Ash." Brock broke the ice and showed a small smile
"Thank you."
From their close proximity Brock could tell that he only had an inch in height over their former runt of the group and a lot less muscle. Whatever training he has been through over the years, Ash hadn't been satisfied by only getting his pokemon into shape.
"She put on her old outfit for you by the way."
Ash gazed at the ceiling, eyes getting glossy and unfocused. Although Brock had mellowed out significantly in his quest for the fairer sex, he recognized that look instantly as the result of rampant male imagination.
Little Ash had become an adult.
"Is that so? That's nice of her."
Even though, he still was very coy about it.
Delia Ketchum might not own the most exciting wardrobe, but the ensemble she had picked for Misty didn't fail to have an impact.
"We're back! What do you think about the new Mrs. Waterflower?"
A pair of old tight fitting jeans from Delia's youth replaced the skimpy shorts, but nonetheless stuck to her shapely legs like a second skin.
Her side ponytail was undone and her shoulder length orange hair swayed and sparkled with every step down the stairs.
The knockout punch to his senses came from in between. Somehow, his mother had thought it was a good idea to give Misty one of his shirts. An old baseball jersey from the Electrobuzz team to be exact, a farewell gift from Casey when they left Goldenrod City almost ten years ago.
The feeling of nostalgia was overwhelming and yet it wasn't as strong as the pleasant shudders he got from seeing Misty in it.
"You are beautiful…"
Misty almost choked on her spit while Ash went wide-eyed from the words his mouth had produced.
The scheming grin on Brock's face made Ash shudder. "If that isn't a compliment, huh Misty? What do you have to say about that?"
"Thank you, Ash… I appreciate the compliment." Misty mumbled, unable to look at him.
"No problem…" Ash instinctively reached for the visor of his cap to pull it down and hide the blushing, only to realize he wasn't wearing one.
Mrs. Ketchum had mercy with the two. "Let's get to the kitchen before the tea gets cold. We have a lot of catching up to do."
Three humans and a pokemon followed her to take a seat at the kitchen table. Ash listened intently to the questions his mother asked and the answers she got from his friends. On several occasions he felt like asking something himself, but every time the words got stuck in his throat.
Delia was thorough enough for Ash to get the gist of what he had missed in the last nine years.
Brock was preparing his brother Forrest to take over the gym in Pewter City and studied for his degree in pokemon breeding. He had a few promising offers for an internship and a lot of great ideas for his graduation thesis.
Misty was very busy with her gym, because her sisters worked now full-time at their show. She participated as fourth Sensational Sister on occasion and sold it as a special event. The newest development was the retirement of Agatha from the Elite Four of Kanto and rumours of Misty in the short list of possible candidates.
She sounded genuinely excited about the prospect, but Ash couldn't stop his expression from darkening. The Elite Four were a sore spot for him and he took a deep breath to cool his temper. The real culprit was and always have been the Pokemon League. It enabled all the bad practices and laziness for the sake of profit.
Besides, didn't he leave all of it behind at the stadium? What did he care if the whole sport of pokemon battling went down the drain?
"Ash, you are awfully quiet. Is everything alright?"
"Just thinking about stuff mom."
"Care to share, Mr. Pokemon Master?" Misty had said it in jest, trying to rekindle some of the playful banter from their past. She realized her mistake the moment it came over her lips.
"Don't call me that."
Her heart froze from his icy tone and screamed at Misty to apologize, but the petty part of her mind didn't listen. "Lighten up, Ash. It's not the end of the world."
"I am hesitant to take advice from somebody whose dream is a smaller version of mine, Mrs. Water Pokemon Master."
Misty grabbed a pokeball from her belt and expanded it with a button push. "Is that a challenge? You never beat me or Brock during your second round through Kanto!"
That was true. Ash had battled one of their siblings in each gym. At the time, he had planned it as such to keep a shameful secret about his reign.
It was time to come clean with them.
"You can't beat me. Please don't force the issue. You are the two trainers I won't insult by holding back."
The pokeball slipped from Misty's grasp and fell into her tea cup. "What do you mean?"
Ash fell silent and avoided her gaze.
"Ash, look at me!"
"…"
"Ash!" Misty pulled him over the table by the collar of his shirt. Nose to nose she stared him down for answers. All he could think of was how soft Misty's quivering lips looked and how sweet her breath smelled.
"... for the last three years I've been fighting with self-imposed handicaps to make it more interesting."
She let go. "What kind of handicaps?"
The dam of silence broke and Ash burst forth with anything and everything on his mind.
"Whatever I could think of at the time. Always fighting on type advantage, only using basic moves, leaking my team and order of usage to the public… the list got longer and longer over three years.
"The former champions realized it first and never forgave me for it. Paul almost went insane over fruitlessly trying to prove how foolish it was to gamble with my success. He thought I would slip up eventually."
"And?" Misty noticed Ash's shaking hand and took it. It was large and calloused, her own hand vanishing in it as he responded by grasping her fingers.
"It got easier to win. I haven't used a second pokemon in months."
"Nobody is that good Ash." Misty mumbled with a hint of bitterness in her voice. She still couldn't grasp the problem of being too good at something.
"That hope kept me from breaking much faster. I'm tired of waiting for a challenge." His thumb stroked gently over the back of her hand. "What frustrates me the most is what this useless endeavor has cost me."
"What would that be?" Misty had a beet red face from his tender touch and apt interest in the softness of her skin.
He looked up at her and swallowed the lump in his throat. "You."
The simple statement left the rest at the table speechless. Ash figured he'd been too forward and let go, pulling away from the table and further into his chair.
It took a lot of restraint from Misty not to dive over the table and grasp for his retreating hand. She hid her desire by crossing her arms and coughing.
Ash raised an eyebrow but she signaled him to continue. "I wasted years running after a pointless dream. Years I could have spent with people I love instead of pushing them away."
This time she couldn't resist taking his hand again. "Ash we forgive you. None of us would have bothered with searching for you otherwise. Brock and I have only been the closest to Pallet when the call of your mother came. Expect a lot more of them to show up."
Ash was touched, but also visibly confused as if the thought of somebody still caring for him was ludicrous. "I'm sorry for causing you trouble. You all surely had better things to do than wasting your time on me."
"You are important to us Ash," she said softly, feeling her insides get all gooey from the hopeful expression on his face. "But if you feel so bad about it, there are a lot of chores waiting to be done at my gym for a guy with a lot of free time. See it as an extension for the bike you still owe me."
Of course, Misty wasn't serious about her offer. It was meant as a small inside joke between them. They would bicker a bit, laugh about it and move on.
Only Ash didn't see it that way. "I'll pack my stuff. If we hurry we can be in Cerulean City by tomorrow."
Misty grabbed him by the arm to stop the enthusiastic man from leaving. "Ash wait, you want to work for me?"
"Why not? Is there a problem with me helping around at your gym?"
"Well… not really but…"
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
Delia and Brock had been careful to this point not to interrupt the much needed talk while Pikachu was busy devouring the delicious cake. That situation changed instantly with three spittakes, two tea and one crumbs, flying across the table.
The only people not showing much of a reaction were Ash and Misty. The former looked like he had asked about the weather and the latter didn't seem too confused for big reactions.
"What?"
"I figured your boyfriend might object with another man living under your roof."
"Ash, I'm still single."
"Ok."
The growing smile on his face was the biggest any of them had seen since Ash had come back. Pikachu nodded knowingly at his two favourite humans. When he couldn't help Pikapi anymore, Pikachu-Pi always knew to make his trainer happy.
Although she never seemed to realize it. "Ash, do you really think doing menial tasks for me is the right thing for you?"
"What? Did you think working in a gym is beneath the great champion?" Ash asked with a frown.
Another ring at the door cut off the opportunity for an answer. Ash excused himself from the table to deal with the interruption.
Misty was left confused while Delia and Brock exchanged knowing looks.
"Misty," Delia said slowly to the baffled woman, "my sweet but sometimes a little dense son has offered to help you out and asked if you're in a relationship with somebody."
Some inner mental blockade didn't allow Misty to come to the logical conclusion, so Delia had to spell it out to her. "I think my Ash is showing romantic interest in you."
Misty's eyes bugged out in shock.
"Congratulations Misty, seems like the outfit was good for something..."
"Brock, shut up!" Misty gave him a hearty slap over the head, before turning back to Delia. "You must be wrong Mrs. Ketchum. Ash has not a single romantic bone in his body. He's too focused on becoming the best to be interested in anything else."
It has always been that. The thought alone was absurd and challenged one of her fundamental truths she knew. The grass was green, the sky was blue, Ash Ketchum only had pokemon on his mind.
And Mrs. Ketchum shattered her world view with one sentence. "You mean the thing he gave up without a second thought almost a week ago?"
Misty paused and Delia smiled like a Meowth at the girl's thoughtful expression. The youngest sister from Cerulean City was such a sweet girl behind the rough exterior and Mrs. Ketchum had always believed that they would make such a cute couple together.
Thinking about it further, she noticed that all of his female companions would be wonderful choices. Maybe this disaster could have positive outcomes on her chances to have grandchildren someday. A somewhat selfish thought, but she wasn't getting any younger!
"He's still figuring things out, so there's no reason to rush. Just enjoy each other's company and keep an open mind to the possibility during his stay at your home. Would you do that for me?"
Misty was about to answer but loud shouting from outside startled everyone on the table.
"GET OUT OF MY FACE GARY!"
"PIKAPI!"
In an instant, everyone was made aware of Gary Oak's arrival in Pallet Town and hurried to prevent a possible bloodbath between two old rivals.