Night had fallen.
The gentle sound of the waves splashing upon the island was ever so soothing, its sound being carried upon the cool, salty air.
Tracey had set up a campfire, and went back to sketching the local wildlife as soon as it was blazing with a hot pot of stew warming up over it. Ash had immediately called Lapras back into its pokeball as soon as they arrived early that evening. Misty was setting up everybody's tents.
"Ugh, Ash, you could at least help!" Misty complained as she struggled to keep one up. "Ah...!"
The tent fell flat.
"Ash!" she shouted.
"Alright, I'm coming!"
Ash quickly came to the rescue to help Misty bring the tent back up. Even Pikachu scurried over to try and help as much as a small electric mouse could.
Tracey turned his gaze away from the wild life and began sketching his friends' struggle. It didn't take them long to notice. "Uh Tracey, what are you doing?"
"This is a lot more exciting."
After some time, the tents were up, the stew was ready, and everybody was gathered around the campfire. Everyone had released their Pokemon so they could rest and eat too. Charizard immediately just went to sleep, though. At least he was finally well behaved and not randomly charring Ash's face to, well, ash.
"One more..." Ash stared at the 3 badges he had pinned to the inside of his vest. "Just one more and I can enter The Orange League."
"Oooo..." Misty suddenly felt a chill from the wind and hugged herself, running her hands up and down her forearms.
"You cold, Misty?" Ash asked.
"A little... yeah."
"Here." Without a moment of hesitation, Ash just casually took off his vest and handed it to her. "Just don't lose my badges, OK?"
Not thinking too much into the gesture, Misty casually took it. "Thanks, Ash."
Tracey was already quickly sketching this moment and it didn't take long for the two to notice. What honestly had been an innocent gesture made both their cheeks turn red, and they simultaneously screeched at Tracey. "HEY!"
Tracey dropped his drawing materials and held up his hands. "Okay, okay, I'll stop!"
Everyone continued eating their stew, even scooping out seconds. Tracey went back to sketching what he was supposed to as a Pokemon Watcher, that is, the wildlife. The Orange Islands had many interesting specimens with unique behaviors, and it was really interesting to capture at night.
Ash noticed from the corner of his eye Misty staring into the small jungle that was behind them. "What is it, Misty?"
"I dunno, that forest just gives me the creeps."
"Hey, that sounds like the right atmosphere for ghost stories!" Tracey interjected, putting his sketchpad away. "Why don't we tell some around the fire?"
Both Ash and Misty blinked. It was unusual for Tracey to suggest something so out of the blue, especially unrelated to Pokemon (unless he was expecting stories based on Ghost-Types which these islands seemed nearly absent of).
"Okay." Ash was game though. "I got one. This happened on our journey during the Indigo League before we met you, Trace."
Tracey was intrigued. Misty already had an idea of what event this story transpired around.
"I was up against an incredibly scary gym leader named Sabrina. It seemed impossible to win against her. In fact, it was..." Ash looked at Pikachu, remembering the pain his little pal endured before forfeiting the match. "...a strange man that helped us escape said I needed to find a Ghost Pokemon if I even had a chance at defeating her..."
"Wow, that sounds tough." Suddenly, the full weight of Ash's words hit Tracey. "Wait, did you just say escape?"
"Yeah, how about we skip that part?" Misty preferred not having to remember being turned into a doll.
Ash continued. "So we went to Lavender Town to find one... and boy we did, 3 of them in fact."
"Three?"
"Mmhmm. All 3—Ghastly, Haunter, and Gengar."
"Incredible!"
"Misty and Brock were wimps, so they stayed outside." Ash added.
Misty steamed up. "It was dangerous in there, don't you remember?!"
But Ash ignored her and continued with his story. "So Pikachu and I kept searching, and well, it got really dangerous."
Oh... this part. Misty didn't like this part of the story.
"A chandelier fell, and well... we died."
"You what?!" Tracey's jaw dropped, and Misty's even more.
"Yeah. Pikachu and I found ourselves floating above our bodies. We had become ghosts ourselves so that the Pokemon could play with us."
Ash didn't seem to realize Misty was unaware of this particular event.
"It was really kinda fun..." Ash sort of laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Pikachu and I were flying around outside the tower. I saw Brock and Misty still waiting below. Misty seemed worried about something..."
'Yeah, about you.' She thought to herself.
"Neither of them were able to see me, so I decided to have a little fun. I grabbed ahold of Misty and swept her up into the air!"
"Whoa, cool!" Tracey's eyes widened in genuine amazement, but Misty's eyes (and mouth) were wide in utter shock, her face flustered.
"Misty had no idea what was going on and started screaming, ahahaha! She was squirming so much, I decided to drop her back down. Don't worry, Brock caught her."
"So... how did you guys survive? I mean..." Tracey tried to clarify his wording better. "You were ghosts, but only temporarily seeing as you're not dead anymore."
"Well, Pikachu and I had to say goodbye to them. We were able to be returned to our bodies." he explained. "I remember waking up, feeling my whole body aching... Misty looked upset for some reason—"
Smack!
"AH...!" Ash yelped in pain, putting his hand against the cheek Misty had slapped. "What'd you do that for?!"
"You jerk! We could've lost you, and you..." Misty's face was angry, but her eyes were moist with tears. "I can't believe we almost..."
She sharply turned away, walking over to her tent.
"Misty..."
She curled up inside her tent, still wearing Ash's vest. The memory played in her mind again. Suddenly being lifted in the air without any explanation, in fact, didn't she feel almost as if Ash was there even though he wasn't?
And now she knew why.
Seeing him lie there, motionless, the chandelier crashed on the ground. She was so scared. She was so close to losing him that night, but she had no idea just how close. She was scared that he was dead. And it pains her to know he had been.
"Hey, Misty?"
Ash opened the tent, Pikachu peering inside.
Misty turned over, not wanting to look at him. "Yeah, what is it?"
"I... just wanted to say..."
"Oh, yeah. You want this back, right?"
She took off his vest and threw it at his face. "Uh, hey!"
"I'm going to sleep..."
"Misty—"
"Goodnight, Ash."
Ash sighed, withdrawing from her tent.
"Is everything alright?" Tracey asked as Ash took a seat by the campfire again.
"Misty doesn't want to talk to me."
"Oh..." is all Tracey could say.
"I don't get it. Is she really that mad that I messed with her like that?"
"I think Misty's disturbed to know that you actually died."
"Huh?"
"Think about it. Imagine seeing your best friend lying on the ground, motionless. She was obviously relieved to find you alive and that it was only a close call. Only now she knows it wasn't a close call at all... it actually happened, even if it was only temporary."
"That's true..."
Ash never really thought of it that way, but that would be pretty upsetting, huh?
"But why is she mad at me?"
"I can't say for sure... but I don't think she's really mad at you, Ash. She's just scared at how close she came to losing you."
"Huh?!"
"Misty seems to care about you a lot."
Remembering the many times she's smacked his face, he begged to differ.
But remembering that moment when he woke up on the ground, seeing the worried faces of his friends. That relieved smile on Misty's face, the quick wiping away of tears. He had scared her half to death, not once, but twice.
Ash looked back at Misty's tent and decided to try one more time.
"Hey, Misty?"
No response.
"I'm really sorry for worrying you..."
She was probably already asleep.
"I know I made fun of you guys for being wimps, but... thanks for coming back for me."
He closed her tent and proceeded to his own.
Misty heard everything, and gently smiled. Pressing her face into her pillow, she muttered...
"...Try not to do that to me again..."
A/N: Day 2 of Pokeshipping Week! I am using one of the 3 available free days to substitute today's theme. Instead, I am using one of the alternate prompts "Ghost story".