Locked Away, Chapter 26
Maybe it was like his mom said after all; Ash was born to be a trouble maker. No matter where he went, or when he went there, he seemed to cause some mayhem, or destruction, or problem. Face palming as he snuggled into the warmth of his sleeping bag past Pastoria City, he cursed to himself mentally.
Misty's words kept flashing in his mind like a radar; you could go to jail, or you could die!
Ash knew this, he really, honestly knew that these were consequences, and yet at the time, nothing anyone could have told him would have changed his mind. There wasn't a single consequence more important than freeing those pokemon. It wasn't like anyone was hurt during the process, the facility was most likely empty, and the pokemon escaped unharmed. Ash had done well, or so he thought.
...Yet the guilt ate at him more than exhaustion pulled at his eyelids.
Aside from Misty being mad at him, he put her in quite the predicament. If she was ever connected to the fire, the league would surely frown upon that, especially if she didn't turn Ash in. Worst yet, he knew that Misty wouldn't.
Glumly, he sat up rubbing his face and grabbing for his back in the darkness to fish out a flashlight and his notebook. Snapping a pen and rolling the notebook open, he started some half-sassed apology note, without out rightly saying "I did this". More than that, he allowed charizard to burn the place to the ground only hours after she lent him thousand dollars for finding his pokemon. So he tried to apologize for that, and yet the only words he could think to phrase were:
"I wasn't thinking, and if I had been, I think I would have still done it."
Because Ash was a lot of things, but a coward wasn't one of them. He wouldn't have been able to sleep at night after witnessing the stress those pokemon were under—maybe it wasn't so hard for other people, people who couldn't hear them. But Ash could. He understood them. Those pokemon were all but happy, and this idea was only reinforced by chimchar, who had been stuck in his holding 'cell' for just under five years.
With the help of chimchar, Ash was able to draw a time line of events as well—according to chimchar, he didn't start developing dreams of Ash until a bit before Paul removed him from his team. Charizard, bulbasaur, and pikachu remembered Ash for just over ten years; which meant that, regardless of the obscurity of his dreams—they were in some form of a time line.
Drawing a line, Ash wrote out the names of the regions, and then a rough guesstimate of the time he spent in each region in his dream. If Sinnoh had been under five years ago, that meant he spent just around the first five years of his coma traveling through Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto and Hoenn, with Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos starting only five years ago. It was only a theory, but it made some sense. He wouldn't know more until he was able to find more of his pokemon.
Rationally, from Sinnoh, the quickest route would be to head east to Unova, which was a part of a large, unexplored continent, where as Kalos was directly west, resting above Johto, but not quite as far North as Sinnoh.
However, because he needed to get a license anyways, his next destination would be the region of Johto, which was south west to Kanto, and only a short flight away from Gary's laboratory.
On top of that, Ash, while writing the time line of events and attempting to write a letter to Misty, he decided that after checking in Pastoria City, he would head back south to Gary's laboratory. Ash would pick up his license so he could put chimchar, bulbasaur, and charizard into proper pokeballs; because right now, chimchar didn't have one, and was currently sleeping beside pikachu and togepi at the trunk of a tree.
Ash also had a sinking feeling that sticking around the scene of a crime he technically started might not be his brightest decision. Yes, he wanted to find buizel, not to mention that he hadn't even started to look for gible yet! But it seemed the longer he looked, the least likely it seemed he would find the pokemon. Besides, he knew that if he stayed in Sinnoh, it wouldn't take long for people to realize he owned a charizard and he just happened to be in Sunnyshore the day that the compound was burnt down. People weren't oblivious; he would be caught in no time.
Thinking made his head hurt.
Everything had gotten so complicated over the last couple of days that he was only grateful to catch a short break where he could relax, sleep, and catch up with chimchar—however, now that he was sitting in the forest, he was restless.
Glancing once more at his sleeping pokemon, he sighed and tucked away his flashlight and journal and then pulled himself out of his blankets to step onto the frozen dirt path they had been sleeping on. Unlike Kanto, Sinnoh's cold weather kept most pokemon at bay in the forest, so he felt safe to wander around and clear his head.
Along with his growing list of arson, he had thoughts and weird feelings that kept popping into his head whenever a certain, not-to-be-named because she would cause his head to implode for his most recent reckless, idiotic behavior, was brought up. It happened earlier with Dawn, in fact, he almost felt protective of her, he cared about what happened, but more importantly, he didn't want Dawn to think that she was a bad person. Again, the rapid beat of his heart reminded him sinfully that he had one, and his stomach lurched with a tingling sensation, mimicking the feeling of soft wings.
His knees buckled ever so gently, and he fell to a squat, where his left arm wrapped helplessly around his dancing stomach in a poor tempt to calm himself down. His right palm cradled his forehead and he groaned loudly.
Ash needed to focus on his goal; finding his pokemon, not having thoughts weird, obscure, borderline inappropriate thoughts about his bed friend.
You'll make this weird. He remembered his words and smacked his head before falling back onto the dirt where he stared up at the wispy sky with a loud sigh. He was already making it weird enough for the both of them.
XOXS
As he made his way back to Pallet Town nearly three days later, his exhaustion had not subsided. Sleep was not Ash's friend during his time in Sinnoh; he had been spending every waking hour looking for buizel and traces of gible, only to come up empty handed at every turn. In the end, he determined that it was selfish to spend an excess amount of time on one pokemon—and he could always return later. He needed to, anyways, to look for tuterra once winter was over.
The flight to Kanto was a shorter one than Ash had recalled; traveling at day time was much nicer, since he had the clouds in his hair and could see the land below. The breeze, the smell of the trees as the end of January was setting to close brought a wave of nostalgia through his body as charizard swooped down right above the treeline outside of Pallet town. He could see in the distance the lab in the after noon sun, and his heart twisted.
The last time he had been to the laboratory was right after leaving the assisted living home, before staying at the Cerulean City gym. A part of him wondered if he should stop in to visit with the family that had moved into his old house but.. His face twisted; even the thought of it made his stomach churn.
Moments later, Ash landed on the outside of the lab with charizard gracefully landing with his wings spread outward onto the base of Gary's porch, where the man in question was standing in his lab coat, holding a coffee mug, with a clear look of disprovable on his face.
Ash didn't slide off the dragon, he barely even jumped—instead, he rolled, sliding painfully to the ground where he hopped up to look at Gary. Ash's clothes were more torn than they had been days prior, the bill of his hat was ripped on the sides; his jacket was nicked from obvious travel wear, and as chimchair, pikachu and togepi jumped from his shoulder and pack to stretch their legs, the growing twitch on Gary's face grew even larger. Where did he find these pokemon?
"Hey Gary!" Ash said in a chipper tone, waving at the man as he unzipped the black winter coat. Ash pointed to his new companions he had gained since he started and smiled. "this is-"
"No. I don't want to know." Gary hissed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He knew that Ash was only supposed to have a maximum of two pokemon, and yet here he was, being Ash. "The less I know the better." The less he was accountable for. Gary added shortly after with a loud sigh as he turned back into his house, not bothering to close the door as he shouted after Leaf.
"Leaf, Ash is back." he hollered into the distance as an innocent Ash, and all of his pokemon followed the auburn haired man into his house; only, charizard didn't exactly fit.
The screen door cracked when Ash looked behind him, as Gary did.
"Put him away, Ash! For the love of-"
"Okay, okay!" Ash laughed nervously, tossing the unimpressed charizard an apologetic look as he returned the pokemon to its ball.
Suddenly, as Gary watched pikachu, togepi and chimchar take immediate comfort in the house while Ash tugged off his jacket to place on the coat hanger, Gary could feel veins pulsing on his forehead.
"Do you even think?!" He shouted. "Take your shoes of, you're filthy! You smell like you rolled around in mud!" he swat Ash, using a magazine in the same fashion the old professor used to get onto them when they were children.
"Go have a shower you smell like shit!" Gary hissed once more as he cornered Ash into the bathroom near the porch exit. Ash hobbled on one foot, tripping over his own feet as Gary slammed the washroom door closed behind him.
"It's not my fault!" Ash groaned pathetically as he heard Leaf laughing at Gary's antics. Behind the door, Gary grumbled, cursing his old friend for such behavior—though, a part of him wasn't surprised. Ash was worried about more than personal hygiene...but still..
He didn't even use the front door!
XOXS
Ash didn't take long to shower, he used whichever soaps Gary had available and washed an impressive amount of dirt off of his body. Apparently forgoing pokemon centers for the last two weeks of his journey had been a mistake after all. He simply couldn't afford the outrageous prices trainers were supposed to pay to rent a room—he instead showered in open gyms when they were available, and occasionally if a nurse at a pokemon center took pity on his appearance, he could stay there for free.
Still, he had to admit that being clean was always preferred. When he stepped out of the shower, he gave little thought to his appearance. Unlike before when every curve and dip in his body felt uncommon and strange; he was used to his body now. He was used to the scars on his abdomen and the length of his constantly growing hair. Ash knew about his muscles, his dips, his bones; it was all familiar now. Contrast to how he used to think, it felt normal.
A knock came to the door and he wrapped a towel around his waist before shambling slowly to crack the door.
The eyes of Leaf stared back at him.
"I brought you a change of clothes. Gary said you were filthy." but I'm sure he used a much nastier word. Ash thought with a twitch of his eyebrow. He took the articles of clothing and smiled.
"Thanks, Leaf." Ash hummed, and watched her leave before shutting the door, and tossing the clothes on the counter top.
He finished drying, spending extra time to run the towel over his shoulder length hair, and then tugged on a large red t-shirt, and a pair of baggy jeans, courtesy of the Gary, who was a decent five inches taller than Ash.
In Ash's opinion, Gary still had a girlish temper, focusing more on Ash's appearance than the fact that he was alive and visiting. Chucklign Ash rolled his eyes at Gary's behavior. When they were kids, he would have given the older boy hell for acting like such a girl had Ash not been used to a familiar behavior from another redhead... another redhead who was probably beyond words upset with him. Thinking about the event in Sinnoh, Ash slapped his forehead once again, and then collected his used towel and dirty clothes into a pile to remove from the washroom.
As he exited the bathroom, he saw Gary had put his pokemon the floor with a container of poke pellets, and was seated at his couch, sipping his coffee while Leaf sat beside him groaning about the weather. They looked so in sync, natural and snarky together. Like a puzzle piece that made him feel a bit nauseous. Ash watched them for only a moment before he blinked and smiled nervously.
"Where can I leave these?" He asked politely, and Leaf was to her feet once more.
"I'll show you, just follow me."
"He doesn't need to wash his clothes here!" Gary snipped, but Leaf snapped back at him, eyes narrowed.
"Shut up, Gary, it's only one load of clothes..." she paused as she pulled open the door to the hallway. Ash smiled broadly, grateful for her hospitality as opposed to Gary's, though she continued her speech. "Besides... he's technically homeless!"
Ash's head hung at the comment, he should have known better than to think Leaf wouldn't have the same snark as Gary. They were married after all, they had to have something in common. Gary was left laughing in the living room, and Ash blushed at her words. He wasn't homeless!
XOXs
When introductions were finished, or in Ash's case, when the mockery regarding being filthy, under fed, and lacking in manners was finished, they spent the better part of the afternoon catching up. Gary talked about becoming the new pokemon professor for Kanto, mostly complaining about how much work there was, while Ash talked about Sinnoh, and the difference between the regions.
After their time catching up, and a short lunch, compliments of take-out. Gary brought Ash into the lab room where he rolled out a few files of paperwork, and slapped them in front of Ash.
"This is the paperwork you need to sign to verify that you are not some kind of terrorist." he pointed to the next one. "And this one you need to sign to verify you are who you say you are to the league. And finally, this one is to have access to your license."
"Okay." Ash muttered quietly, signing where Gary told him—only skimming the fine print, as he was sure Gary wouldn't try to swindle him for some reason. "I don't remember having to sign anything like this when we were kids." Ash hummed as he wrote his name on the last document. Gary shrugged in response.
"That's because pokemon trainers didn't have to. The league keeps tabs on all licensed trainers now though."
"What? Why?" Ash almost chuckled, thinking Gary was joking, but his stern look said otherwise.
Gary turned to his computer and clicked a few buttons as he plugged a pokedex into the computer. "They like to keep tabs on which type of pokemon are being caught, when, and where. Pokedex also have a built in tracker so if someone goes missing we can find them."
Now Ash snorted; "That doesn't seem to be working."
"I know." Gary snarled, and unplugged the red device, he folded it into a black case, and then slipped the gadget into Ash's hands; all business, with no small talk.
"This acts as a pokedex, phone, and browser. They're not usually issued to newly licensed trainers, but..." he paused, as if recalling a very unpleasant memory. "Misty is very persistent."
Ash laughed nervously at this, recalling her temper for himself; but more than that, her persuasiveness. He rubbed his neck and watched Gary press the 'on' button.
"It uses satellites from around the world to link you to the web in any location where you have signal, which will give you access to pokemon information and detail. If you somehow catch a new pokemon, the detail will be automatically recorded in your pokedex once the capture is made; which then gets sent to me, where I'll include it into the official database." Gary lifted the screen so that Ash could see, and flipped open a latch on the side. "To search for a pokemon, point this camera lens at it, and it will read off the pokemon information."
As and example, he pointed the object at pikachu, who appeared on the screen of the pokedex. Ash's mouth fell open in awe as Gary closed the lens with a button and pressed the touch screen. "As I said before, it doubles as a phone, but the reception isn't always the best. You can text, and call so long as you're within range of the Kanto satellite. Not only that, you can browse the internet for information you can't find by clicking here, and typing it into the search engine up here."
"Yeah, I know how to do that, Misty showed me."
He grunted, as if unimpressed by Ash's observation, and continued his spiel. "The pokedex keeps a constant live connection to your pokeballs, so if you ever need to transfer a pokemon, you can press the button in the corner to open that screen and switch the contents of your pokeballs without going to a pokemon center. Furthermore, it's a self charging pokedex and runs off a new chip invented by Silph Co. which means that if it dies, you only need to leave it in direct sunlight for a few minutes, and it will start to build power once more."
"That's crazy." Ash hummed, taking the technology from Gary's finger tips and examining it himself. It was smaller than his hand, as thin as a pancake, and possibly the most advanced technology Ash had ever held in his palms.
Gary waited a moment, his business persona passing as a smirking grin fell over his face.
"It's not a toy, either, Ash. Don't break it."
Ash scowled visibly. "I won't."
"So... wow, I can't believe you're traveling so soon already." Gary hummed, sitting back in his office chair. Ash thumbed the pokedex between his fingers and stared at Gary.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Well," Gary scoffed. "Aren't you with Misty, now? She was okay with you leaving?"
Ash blinked once, and then twice ad if Gary's words went directly over his head. With Misty? Sure, he was with Misty for a few months; why would that matter?"
"...so?"
"So you are?" Gary gasped, mouth falling open.
"Yeah, I'm with Misty, why does that matter?" Ash asked quizzically, and Gary snorted.
"How did you manage that?"
Ash blinked once, and then smiled innocently. "Well, because she took care of me, of course."
Gary's mouth hung open for a moment, as if secretly giving his nod of abolsute approval before he snickered. "Is that why she's been calling me everyday since that explosion in Sinnoh, asking about you?"
Ash grew visibly very uncomfortably, fidgeting in his seat and wanting to crawl out of his skin.
"I have no idea why she would call about that."
"Really? Because the news recently said that a charizard was caught fleeing the scene and you own a charizard and you just came back from Sinnoh region." Gary deduced quickly, and Ash realized his snippy personality was entirely justifiable now. Ash rubbed his neck.
"Coincidence?" Ash manged weakly.
"The same way that it's coincidence that Misty keeps calling here, asking for you?"
"Possibly?" Ash squeaked, hearing his pokemon also stiffen at the remark Gary made. Pikachu not so carefully tucked togepi under a table and sat with the pokemon, as if the small object would protect them from the impending doom that would likely rain over their head when Ash spoke with Misty.
"She actually requested that when I see you, I should tell you to call her." Gary offered, watching Ash sweat bullets before grinning and snorting.
"But I think you'd be safer if you didn't call." Garry ruffled Ash's hair like a child with a snide chuckle. "You really know how to pick them, don't you?"
Ash felt his soul slowly leave his body as his shoulders slumped in gratefulness. "Thank you." He wheezed.
"Nope, instead I invited her here while you were in the shower." Gary said while taking a sip of his coffee. Ash's face paled instantly and he shot out of his chair.
"You didn't." he gasped, inhaling to calm his nerves. His hands trembled.
"I really did." Gary hummed, raising his eyebrows.
"You're joking."
"I am most definitely not." Gary said flatly, and Ash could see the serious nature of his face and shuddered.
"Why would you do that!?" He shrieked and Gary sighed. By fast train, Cerulean City wasn't even
"Ash, you burnt down a pokemon compound. She was pretty mad." Gary offered quietly, as if he, himself, was worried for his own sake, not only Ash's. "I wasn't going to be the one to keep that news away from her."
"You don't know that I did it." Ash panicked, grabbing his things while Gary watched comically.
"Yes I do. I've known you since we were kids." Gary said sardonically, watching Ash collect togepi and pikachu and then turn to the clock. Ash would buy pokeballs on the road, he could battle for money—he could move and change his name.
"Damn it, you didn't have to tell her!"
"She already knew, she was calling me, wanting to know when you came to see me for your license so she could talk with you. She's reasonable, why are you freaking out so much?"
"Gary." Ash stopped, looking directly into Gary's hazel eyes. "Forget everything she told you. She will kill me."
"But you two are dating, she can't be that mad."
"Dating-?" His face turned red as he gasped. "What? Where did you get that idea?"
Gary smacked his head, and pointed at Ash, "You said you were with her."
"...Yeah, with her not like... like that! No!" Ash choked, slapping his face for missing Gary's meaning, Gary followed the same face palm and looked worriedly at Ash.
"When did you call her?" Ash asked, stuffing togepi into his backpack, as well as tucking his clean clothes into the largest pocket and throwing the entire case over his back.
"When you got here.. so a little over three hours ago."
Ash's face paled, mentally counting the time it would take for her to reach Pallet Town, and unwilling to think that she was already here.
"Uh, Gary. You know. It was really nice to see you again but..."
Gary looked flabbergasted, eyes wide. "Are you just going to run?"
Weakly, Ash nodded with a squeak. "Yeah..."
"Wouldn't that make things worse?"
"...Yeah, but I choose life."
"She's not that bad, I'm sure." Gary tried, and Ash could only throw pity at his friend's unfamiliarity with the youngest Waterflower—he didn't have to live with her. When her temper flared, it was luckily never at Ash, but he saw it—he was a witness, and it was not pretty.
When a knock came to the door, Gary's attention was draw to it, but Ash's adrenaline ran through his entirely body and he raced through the second half of the house as if it had caught on fire. His legs carried him through the house, past the porch, and down the steps where he lunged charizard's pokeball out and carried chimchar in his arms. The ape pokemon never knew Misty, so it watched Ash quizzically as he hoped onto charizard's back without words.
"We need to leave." Ash hummed into the dragon's ear, and charizard, who was exhausted still from the flight into Pallet Town, could only grunt in response before kicking off the porch slowly.
"You're leaving already Ash?" Leaf called from the open window.
"Yep! Thanks for everything!" Ash called in a sort of panic while the brunette woman raised her eyebrows.
"Well, be safe!" Leaf said cheerfully. "And if you come to visit again, call first!" She added menacingly with a complete flip of her personality that made Ash question if all women were crazy, or if it was just the ones that he knew.
He was twenty feet in the air when charizard took off over the forest towards Johto, but her voice carried. It always did.
"Ash!" Misty screamed from the porch of Gary's laboratory, she would have only been the size of an ant in his vision, but he refused to look back; fearful of what he would have seen staring back at him.
Moments later, when no further screaming was included, he swallowed and bravely looked back, only to see what he thought might have been concern where anger should have been, and fury was replaced by disappointment on her face. His heart flipped, and he tucked his head into charizards neck to protect himself from the wind and looked glumly at the forest below.
"Sorry, Misty." he muttered pathetically, and sighed.
XOXS.
Running away probably wasn't his best idea—but what was he supposed to say to her when he did see her? He was stuck somewhere between apologies, thankfulness, and something else entirely. He had no idea which one would have bubbled out when he saw her at Gary's laboratory, and he refused to take such a chance. The last thing he wanted to do was mess up their friendship because he wasn't making the best decisions. Misty had every right to be mad at him, but he wasn't exactly in the mood to be scolded for something he felt was the right decision; no matter how silly it was.
When he landed about a mile outside of New Bark Town so that charizard could rest, he heard the continuous, persistent sound of a vibration mixed with a beeping noise, and he feared the worst as he pulled the new pokedex from his back pocket, and looked at the numbers that flashed angrily at him.
Ash had no doubt it was Misty.
The call ended with one more ring, and Ash tucked the phone away while sloppily tying his hair back into a pony tail and pulling out his winter jacket. Beside him togepi frowned disapprovingly.
"Toge briiii." The pokemon chirped at its trainer while it waddled beside him to stare into his face. Ash grimaced.
"I know I shouldn't have ran away." Ash said pathetically. "But I didn't want her to.."
"Toge!" The egg yelped and Ash's shoulders slumped as he zipped his back.
"I know she's probably worried." beside togepi, pikachu chirped in.
"Pikachu-pi pika!" the grunted, chattering beside togepi, berating him with such a drastic decision. It was Misty after all, she was probably just full of a lot of hot air and once she got it out, she would have been totally normal.
He would have liked to see normal Misty. His face turned a deep shade of red as the pokedex pinged in his pocket once more, and he stared at the numbers.
"Chim, chim char." the monkey told Ash while the trainer hummed, staring at the number before very nervously swiping to answer the call.
"Hello?"
A pause, a long, shaking breath followed his introduction, and he looked away painfully, waiting for the fireworks.
They didn't come, instead, her voice radiated a calm ooze. "Why did you run away?" She hummed, tapping her fingers against a solid surface.
"...I..." He started, though he wasn't entirely positive himself. A part of him simply wasn't prepared mentally to see her, and another part of him was simply terrified that she was actually mad at him for the compound. He was confused about the weird feeling in the pit of his stomach which was the reason he kept terrible contact to begin with; and because of the short notice, he just... panicked.
"I panicked." he deduced, hoping the answer would suffice.
Luckily, it did.
"Why did you panic?"
He chewed on his lip, not liking the calm tone of her voice. "I thought you would be mad." he lied, rather than spewing and stammering over the full truth.
"Mad is an understatement." She admit, the shrewd voice he was familiar with taking tole and he exhaled calmly.
"I'm sorry..." he tried but she snapped, he figuratively heard her snap.
"Sorry?" She hissed. "Ash, you said that you wouldn't do anything stupid!"
"I didn't...I." He inhaled, flopping onto his bottom to put his elbows on his thighs and hold the phone to his ear while his pokemon watched him sympathetically. "I didn't mean to, Mist."
"Don't you 'Mist', me, Ash Ketchum! How do you accidentally burn down and entire pokemon compound!?" she yelped into the phone Ash shirked away for a moment but remained firm.
"Because it was cruel, and a horrible place to keep pokemon! You should have seen the place!"
"Arson is a felony offense and that makes twice for you, Ash!" Misty shrieked and he could feel his blood boil.
"You don't think I know that? I'm not stupid, Misty!"
"Obviously you are!"
Insulted, he flinched. "I am not!" He shouted in his defense. "What would you have done in my situation?!"
"Literally anything else?!" Misty shouted back at him; a moment of growling silence passed between the two of them. Ash clutched the knee of his borrowed pants and grit his teeth.
Simmering down, her voice carried. "I was worried." She said in a hushed, meek tone that didn't suite her at all. Filled his chest full of guilt and his temper and frustration was gone.
"I know."
A pause.
"Stop doing that! I'm going to get gray hairs!" she shrieked, the anger lost.
"You're not that old yet." He laughed awkwardly inspite of the situation and then Misty's sigh carried him into her next topic.
"I guess I can't tell you what to do anyways, even if I should report you." She muttered with a pitch to her voice that convinced him that she was contemplating just that.
"...Please don't." Ash mumbled weakly while she scoffed on the other side.
"Anyways, I actually had some things I needed to talk to you about and thought I could catch you here before you left; but." She hissed at him. "Apparently you think I'm too scary to be around."
Yeah, make me feel worse. Ash thought bitterly while rocking his head back to look up at the sky. "What did you need to tell me?"
"Dr. Abby called me, asking specifically about you. I told her I didn't know where you were, so I would fill in for you at the assisted living home, apparently it's some kind of follow up appointment."
Ash hummed. "She never mentioned a follow up appointment before." Ash uttered while looking down at his hands.
"I know she didn't."
He thought for a moment, and then his lips curled into a grin. "You went all the way to Pallet Town just to tell me that? You knew I was getting a pokedex already, you could have called."
Misty stammered for a moment. "It's been awhile since..." She coughed. "I haven't seen togepi in months."
Ash grinned at that. "It's okay to say you miss me." He teased and she all but choked on her words, sharing in the familiar dance, throwing her words she used on him when he was staying in the assisted living home back in her face felt rejuvenating to some extent.
"I do not!" She hissed, while he laughed, glad to have the conversation on his side for once.
"Okay. Togepi misses you too." there was a long silence that followed, as if she were expecting him to say something else, but the confession never came, instead, she sighed.
"I guess I'll deal with Dr. Abby then, since you're already off wherever your going." She groaned and Ash laughed nervously.
"I appreciate it." he muttered, while she croaked on her end.
"Yeah, yeah, just now you don't have an excuse not to call me; I hope you know that." She muttered while pursing her lips. Ash's face paled.
"Right." he swore, though mentally started a list of excuses in his mind while she chuckled, as if knowing he was doing exactly that.
"Thanks for all the letters by the way." She added, while Ash turned a bit red.
"You're welcome."
"Seriously. All one hundred of them." She added with a snark tone and he hid his face below his hat, even though there was no one else but his pokemo to relish in his embarrassment. She paused.
"You know," She hummed, causing shivers to shoot down his spine. "I think you're the one who misses me." She teased through the phone and Ash felt his heart drop into his stomach.
"I have to go." He said suddenly, removing the phone from his ear and ending the call before her voice could carry further.
"Pika." The pokemon mocked him.
"Don't say that!" Ash shouted, shuddered as he fell back wards to look up at the sky fading into a darker shade of blue. He exhaled once, and then pinched the bridge of his nose, questioning further his reasoning for having such a reaction. What was wrong with saying he missed her?
"Pika piak chu." The mouse poked his trainer with his paw and Ash could only respond with a glare.
"I do not, pikachu." He muttered while picking himself up off of the ground and dusting off his pants. He tucked the pokedex back into his pocket, and then glanced at charizard.
"I'll walk from here buddy, rest for now." Ash spoke calmly while returning the pokemon, in the meantime, chimchar had taken to walking beside togepi, holding the small egg upright while they waited for Ash to finish. He chuckled at the two of them.
"Well guys. I guess we'll go to a pokemon center and figure everything out there. We still have quite the journey ahead of us." Ash mused with a red face as his pokemon shared a knowing look.
XOXS
The next day, after Misty had finally peeled herself away from visiting with Leaf, the first female outside of her sisters she ever spoke with and actually enjoyed speaking to, she took the train to Viridian City. Rather than catching the late train home the night prior or staying some expensive hotel, she stayed with the Oak's at their house for the night, and set out again in the morning.
Though, if she had to be honest, Gary drove her crazy.
"You're sure you two aren't dating?" he had tried pestering her on the matter several times, as if amazed it was even possible. First off, how could Misty date Ash, he was ten mentally! On top of that, his snide remarks were an ever present frustration that bothered her quite a bit more than she would have admit freely. He was a know-it-all, but one of the worst kinds!
Frankly, as she made her way to the assisted living home to deal with Dr. Abby, she was stewing. Ash hung up on her, again! Was he not aware how rude that was? It wasn't like they spoke often, and she really doubt that getting a pokedex with a calling feature would change anything in regard to his current resolution to send letters. It wasn't that she disliked letters, it was that many of them weren't addressed to only her—Ash included many for Cole, and trying to get those to the young boy was nearly impossible since she could not send them directly to his mothers house, and Gary was too busy to stop in after taking over for his grandfather, officially.
Which meant Misty needed to hand deliver the message; according to Gary, Delia was sweet on a normal basis—just not when it came to Ash.
When the assisted living home came into view, she shook her head to clear her mind, and then tucked any visible paperwork back into her new, red purse before she exited the taxi she had been riding in, and stepped out to the curb. Aside from the smell, nothing about the assisted living home had changed much, of course, she hadn't spent near as much time there as Ash did, and so she was less likely to notice any glaring differences.
Politely, she waved to the office administers who were at the front of the building, and circled back from her memory to the right hallway, and down half way into a small, closed off area where Dr. Abby's office was, and her small waiting area was built.
She was sitting on her overly bright orange couch, looking through paperwork when Misty approached the door, and knocked gently.
"Hey there." She said smoothly with a professional smile that made Dr. Abby jump. The teal haired woman had dark rings around her eyes where life used to be, and her stomach which had been plump with the growing life of a baby was now flat and pudgy beneath her lose fitting dress.
"Misty! Hello, you're early." said the doctor, jittery as she moved so that Misty could sit on the couch, and she was in the office chair.
"Yeah, I was in Pallet Town with some friends so my trip wasn't as long." Misty uttered while taking a seat on the couch, propping on leg over her knee, and setting her purse down on the couch beside her. Wiping her mouth with a cloth, Dr. Abby cleared her place and pour a cup of coffee for Misty as well.
"I see. Who so you know from Pallet Town?"
"Gary Oak."
"Really?" Dr. Abby said astonishingly, blinking wide-eyed. "You're quite well known." Dr. Abby mused while sipping her own coffee. Misty hadn't touched herd.
"So, what did you need to know?" She asked while rubbing her neck oddly.
"Oh, I imagine you're very busy so you just want to cut to the chase." She uttered, and Misty couldn't help but chuckle, watching the frazzled woman rub her eyes and gather documents. Motherhood affected everyone differently, including the overly-chipper doctor. "I just have a few generic questions that will help in understanding the benefits of my therapy sessions; deciding on where I need to improve, and also if I need to bring him back him." She explained while Misty nodded.
"Shoot." She said relaxed, trying to bury the thought that thinking about Ash made her skin boil.
"First, what is he doing now?"
"Traveling." Misty said quickly, catching the doctor my surprise.
"T-traveling? A coma patient? So soon?" Dr. Abby's mouth fell open and Misty nodded quickly. "Why?" She asked, taking notes.
Misty shrugged. "He wanted to catch pokemon, start a journey." Misty muttered, telling a half truth.
"I see. That's still a bit strange. Did he meet his mother?"
"They met." Misty confirmed. "But they don't talk." She added and titled her head to one side. "More like she rejected him." she clarified and the doctors shoulders lowered.
"I see... that's too bad." She said, eyes filling with sadness. "Did he handle the news well?"
"About as good as anyone would, I suppose." Misty countered. "He was upset, but after awhile he sort of accepted it. What else could he do?"
"No fits of anger, outbursts? Things like that?" The doctor asked, writing down more words. Misty cracked her neck to one side and then the next.
"Not really. I mean if he did get angry, it was within reason—a lot of his mistakes are founded on the fact he still thinks like an eleven year old, I think." She muttered, recalling his most recent transgressions.
"What makes you say that?" the doctor asked with a smile.
"Children have a certain way of reaction to situation; instead of thinking, they'll get angry. He's not too bad though, I'd say. He's actually gotten a lot better." Misty admit with a half smile. Dr. Abby didn't seem to think much about her answer though, instead, her hand started to shake.
"And what about his dreams? Does he still believe in them?" Dr. Abby asked while looking at her, assessing her response.
"A little bit. I think he's out grown them though." Misty admit earnestly, while wrapping her fingers around the cup, the doctor watched her raise the glass and smiled.
"What about his charizard? He's catching pokemon again, is he not? How is he managing controlling such a pokemon?"
Misty's face drew into a line, and she promptly set the glass back down. "I don't recall saying Ash had a charizard." She admit, tucking her ankle behind the other. The tiredness left Dr. Abby's eyes and she snapped her eyes forward to look at Misty.
"On the phone, you must have mentioned it." Dr. Abby mumbled, fighting the urge to yawn, trying to smile through her mistake. However, Misty's eyes narrowed.
"I'm pretty sure I didn't." She said flatly, and the doctor cleared her throat.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She touched her throat with her hand, and then tapped her notes with the edge of the pen a bit more. "What about that personal issue I discussed with you before he left? Has he been okay with you around? I did think he looked at you as kind of a mother hen."
Misty paused, cocking her jaw to one side while narrowing her eyes at the woman. Recalling everything that Brock, and Ash had told her, she blinked. Straightening her back, she licked her lips. "Actually, I think we're done here."
"Oh, I'm so sorry if that was too personal of a question." Dr. Abby tried, rising to her feet as Misty did. "Why don't you just sit and have some coffee and we can catch up." She tried with an overly sweet tone that made Misty's skin crawl.
"You know, I came here out of the goodness of my heart, but we aren't friends." Misty muttered coldly, the tone she used when directing visitors to the gym rising in the back of her throat. "Furthermore, why the sudden follow up appointment?" So close to the news of two recent fires, on top of knowing Ash had a charizard. Misty watched her with intimidating sea-green eyes, but Dr. Abby didn't buckle.
Dr. Abby sat back down and nodded respectfully. "I was just curious. I'm sorry for taking up your time."
Misty narrowed her eyes, hearing the insincere tone of her voice and cracked her neck in response as she shouldered her purse.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help." Misty shot, clearly lying as she smiled nicely, and then stalked out of the therapy room. She paused there for a moment, waiting to listen for any noise from Dr. Abby, and when the sound of a very loud sigh perpetrated by a muttered "great" graced her ears, Misty started down the hall quickly to the activity wing where she knew one reliable source would be sitting, playing poker with her friends.
Dr. Abby was weird, and it wasn't just motherhood that changed people so drastically, she was borderline worrisome, information driven. Misty rubbed her neck and carried on her way to see Agatha sitting a table of old men, laughing chipper while Misty rounded the corner to snatch her away.
"Can I talk with you?" Misty asked hurriedly, catching the old woman off guard.
"Excuse me? Is that any way to speak to an elder?" Agatha griped, while shushing off Misty's grip. The young woman squat beside Agatha and cocked her jaw to one side.
"Tell me about Dr. Abby." Misty hummed, quickly drawing Agatha's attention. If the old woman was known for anything, it was to be a gossip. She looked between the other players at the table who looked genuinely disinterested from the conversation, and then she sighed.
"Sorry boys, I'll have to steal your money later." She mocked while standing up slowly, using her cane to prop herself up. She gestured to Misty. "Walk with me." She added and Misty rose to her feet to follow the woman down the hall, to her bed room.
"What brings you to the nursing home?" Agatha cooed, having hooked her arm around Misty's to stable her walk.
"Ash's therapist called for a follow up session. It was supposed to be general questions so I told her I would fill in for him."
"And they weren't general questions?"
"They were...sort of? She gave off a really strange vibe." Misty paused, narrowing her eyes as they turned into the dark room, flicking on lights. "She also knew something she wasn't supposed to."
Agatha snorted at that, collapsing on her personal recliner with a loud huff.
"I'm not surprised." She commented. "She always making odd phone calls, and that weird therapist, the one the boy hated; he's always coming around." Agatha confirmed and Misty could feel the deep rage filtering through her veins once more.
"Sebastian."
"Dark hair, glasses, goatee that makes him look like a goat?"
Misty snorted at that. "That's the one."
"Ahh, yes. He comes by frequently." Agatha muttered while taking out a pipe and placing it between her teeth—not that she smoked, she simply liked the look of it. Misty rubbed her chin.
"Do you know why?"
"'fraid not m'dear." Agatha muttered. "Why? Did something happen?"
"No, actually." Misty assured her, taking a seat on the woman's bed. "But recently I've just been...wondering some things."
The old woman scoffed. "With your new found popularity, you would be good to do more than wonder; have you been accepted into the Elite Four yet? You have been the talk of the town."
Misty's face darkened at the mention, and she glanced to the door while crossing one leg over the other and resting her elbow on her knee. "The... information I've been wondering about, I'm not sure I want to be an Elite Four member."
"So," Agatha chortled. "Did you come here to talk to me about Dr. Abby, or are you looking for an excuse to talk yourself out of joining the Elite Four?"
Misty looked to the woman with sad, daunting eyes while she shook her head in non-surprise. "Well, my dear. You won't find any here." Agatha assured the young girl, patting Misty on the knee. "I don't say many nice things, especially not about you gym leaders." She hissed with narrowed eyes, but then she smiled knowingly, mockingly. "But I know if there's one person who would do things right, you see her everyday in the mirror."
Misty smiled at that, a rose tint covering her cheeks. "Thanks... but it's not really that simple."
"Is it ever that simple? There are tons of reasons that people will run away from tough choices, but simplicity is never the cause of that."
Misty rubbed her fingers through her hair at Agatha's words, and then tapped them against her thigh. "When you were an Elite Four member, was anything ever...weird?" Misty asked, looking at Agatha.
Carefully, she watched the old woman's face change from complex seniority, to a pained wash. "I saw many things change, which is why I left, as you know."
"But was there every anything dirty going on?" Misty asked boldly, and Agatha gave a weak shrug.
"Nothing that I could prove." At her words, Misty sucked in a breath of air and nodded her head skeptically.
"I see..."
"Regardless, kid. That was nine years ago. You need to take advantage of your youth—make a difference if you can, fear and worries are a silly thing to stop you from moving forward—haven't you learned anything from that boy?" Agatha crooned in such a way that Misty matched her mocking tone with her manacle one.
"The stories I could tell about 'that boy'." Misty hissed under her breath and Agatha let out a strangled laugh.
"I don't doubt that! He seems to bring trouble everywhere he goes."
"'least I wasn't the only one who noticed." Misty laughed, though Agatha shook her head.
"Sometimes you have to break the rules to win the game." Agatha challenged. "He knows that."
"You can say that, but I think it's just blind luck half the time." Misty chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck and sighing dreadfully, realizing the statement was more truth than playful banter. Agatha didn't seem to mind though, instead, she tapped her pipe and smacked her lips together.
"Either way, you will be fine." Agatha made a short promise, and tilted her head gently. The calm words reflected in Misty's heart and caused her shoulders to relax and her paranoia to sedate. She sighed gently, gratefully.
"You know, I still don't like you very much." She admit to Misty and the young woman nodded.
"Can't hate everyone who is young and beautiful Agatha, no one will come visit you." Misty mocked back to the old woman, before Agatha tossed a bedside box of tissues at Misty's head.
XOXS
Misty visited with Agatha for ten more minutes after her stop in, they spoke about how Ash had time to visit her, but had no time to visit Misty. Agatha defended him in all parts though; he was trying to make a name and life for himself outside of the Cerulean City gym, and Misty had to respect that. Even if she maybe, sort of, missed him.
In the meantime, Misty didn't miss riding in the back seat of taxis; her greatest memory of Ash getting out of the hospital was her ability to walk to her destination once again. The hospital and her hotel room where too far apart to walk every morning, so she had made peace with taxi rides up until that point. Now, though, they were just as smelly, unclean, and disturbing as they were the first time. As she pulled up to the unfamiliar pink and white house, with a white picket fence, and a Mr. Mime sweeping the sidewalk off. Her nose scrunched up as she thumbed the letters Ash wrote for his younger brother, and thought back to what Gary said about Delia.
She was friendly to people who weren't Ash. She knew Misty, sort off; they spoke sometimes when Misty would visit the hospital, but she doubt if the older woman would remember her now after so many years. Misty had a hard enough time picturing Delia as the cold woman that Ash described her, but she also couldn't envision the optimistic woman that visited Ash's hospital room with knitting supplies every single day.
Clearing her throat, she tossed the taxi cab driver a twenty, and then dipped into the white fence where she approached the front door. Mr. Mime didn't seem to notice her walk by as he continued with his work thoughtlessly while she tapped on the door lightly with her knuckles, and then took a step backwards, waiting for entrance.
"Coming!" She heard from the other side of the door; a woman's voice, who didn't sound cold and distant. Busy, a little overworked, but not cold. Misty braced herself, expecting to have the door slammed in her face, but when it was pulled open; Delia's face reflected none of that.
"Oh my goodness!" She mused. "I haven't seen you in years!"
Misty's face twitched. "Y-you remember me?"
"Of course! How could I forget you, Misty? You saved my son's life." Delia exclaimed brightly while Misty found herself speechless, and her mouth gaping.
Author's Note:
Thanks for all the reviews/favs/follows
NINT