Chapter 6: Day 6-Stormy Weather
Ash's POV
"This rain is making me sleepy," I said, yawning loudly.
Misty sat next to me on the couch, her long reddish brown hair dancing and twirling around her fingertips.
"It would be a nice day to stay in, if I didn't have to go to the bank first," she said. For some reason her voice sounded softer than usual today. Maybe it's the weather.
"Would you like me to go instead?" I asked.
The young woman gingerly shook her head, standing up to stretch. "It's alright," she said, "I won't be gone long."
"Can I come?" A voice said from the hallway. It was bouncy Snowflake, being as curious as ever.
"Well I wouldn't want the rain to make you sick, sweetie," Misty replied, a small smile forming on her face. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon and then we can play together."
Snowflake smiled broadly, bouncing up and down while Pikachu came out of my room and sat on the couch next to me.
Misty then turned back to me. "I'll be back soon, promise," she said.
"Be safe," I replied. Misty nodded and placed her hoodie on her head as she walked out the door. I heard her kicking her kickstand on her bike and speeding off, right as the wind began to pick up a bit more speed.
Meanwhile during all this Snowflake bounded over to me and sat down in Misty's former seat. Her smile was absolutely adorable, and her bright baby blue eyes sparkled, even though it was such a dark and dreary day. With her on one side of me, and Pikachu on the other, I felt like I was at the wrong end of a slice of cutie apple pie.
So I decided it was time to start the morning. "So Snowflake, are you hungry? What would you like to do first?" I asked her.
Snowflake shook her head, and then asked me a question I was least expecting.
"Are you and Misty a couple?"
"Huh?" I said.
"Are you and Misty a couple?" she repeated.
Well this was the last question I was ready to answer this early in the morning.
"A couple of what?"
"A couple of…" Snowflake trailed off, trying to figure out the next word to say. "A couple of scoops of ice cream in a bowl!"
I laughed loudly, while I could see Pikachu looking from me to Snowflake with this confused look on his face.
"Well, now I can't say that I've never heard that one before," I remarked.
"Well you two are always together," she went on, "And I thought only couples sleep in the same room together."
I looked to her with a raised eyebrow. "And where did you get all this from?"
"From the books I read!" Snow smiled happily. "I remember this story about this man and woman who started off as friends but then ended up married with children."
I gulped inwardly. "Perhaps that isn't really something a child should be reading…"
It was at this Snowflake stood up from the couch and placed her hands on her hips, clearing getting offended. "Did you forget? I'm not a child! I should let you know that I can shapeshift into anything I wanted to, even an old woman if I have to! Would you like an example?"
"Uh, no no," I said nervously. To be honest I was afraid of what exactly would she change into. "I totally believe you, completely! No need to doubt my beliefs whatsoever! Nope not at all!"
Snowflake huffed, and changed places to sit back down next to me, but this time taking Pikachu's seat as she placed him on her lap. I quietly breathed a sigh of relief. I think I totally dodged a bullet there.
"So are you both a couple or not?" She asked again.
I sighed and said, "Well depends, because there's a lot of different couples. You could have a couple of pokemon, or a couple like brother and sister, or a couple like husband and wife."
"Soooo which one are youuuu?" Snowflake said, smiling at me as if she was catching me in some kind of trap. I think she's secretly enjoying this.
"Well…" I did feel like I was backed into a corner, so maybe the only option was to come clean. "Misty and I are close, but I don't think we are close enough to actually be like girlfriend/boyfriend material. I mean it's not that I wouldn't mind, it's just that I don't really think I can handle being in such a relationship."
"Do you feel...uncomfortable being close to someone?" She asked next.
"What are you, some sort of shrink or something?" I said, running my fingers through my hair.
"Pikachu," Pikachu replied.
"Pikachu says you're hiding something," Snowflake said, another devious smile running across her face.
"Yeah I'm hiding my embarrassment," I replied. I buried my head in my arms. How did it get to this?
"I happen to agree with Pikachu, I think there is something else you're hiding...maybe about a certain woman whose name begins with Mi and ends with sty?"
I suddenly jolted up from the couch, eager to do anything to change the subject. "Hey who's ready for breakfast huh? How about an omelet?"
Snowflake nodded, the same smile on her face. "Okay!"
Pikachu wholeheartedly agreed happily, but I couldn't help but wonder if he ever told Snowflake anything about my true feelings...ah who am I kidding Pikachu wouldn't do that to me, right? Well actually, maybe he would…
After about an hour of eating, and watching tv to mask my inner torment, Misty finally came back home. It was then that Snowflake and I were getting into a good game of 52 pickup.
She was taking off her raincoat as she came through the door. "Ash, please don't say you been teaching her how to play poker," she said.
"What? Of course not don't be ridiculous," I scoffed, rolling my eyes at her.
"He tried but then I beat him," Snowflake said, placing a card on her forehead.
"Hey you weren't supposed to say anything!" I exclaimed, I could feel my cheeks getting hotter as Misty's eyes pierced right through me.
She licked her tongue out at me playfully as Misty kneeled down beside her. "Well I'm glad you had fun, sweetie," she placed her arm around her shoulders as she looked at me, "Even though Ash is a terrible teacher."
"Not funny, Mist," I said with a smile, watching her roll her eyes at me. "So, uhm, did you get it?"
Misty nodded. "Yeah, good news is it was a bit more than I was expecting. I guess it was because of all the years it spent gathering interest. It's just too bad it's raining, I think today wouldn't be such a bad day to try to get Snow to Mt. Moon."
"Actually going under the cover of the rain might not be so bad, it might be able to hide us better," I suggested.
Misty shook her head. "It's hard to keep cover from the rain while moving," she said, "Besides, we would be so obvious anyway, a man, a woman, a girl and two pokemon heading out of the city."
"It just seems like there's no easy way to make our move," I said, putting my hand on my chin. "Either way, rain or sun, night or day, we are still running a risk."
"Maybe we should just stuff her in a suitcase and make a run for it," Misty joked.
"Ohh can we get a suitcase with wheels?" Snowflake said, her smile once again preceding her.
Misty giggled and I couldn't help but smile at her cuteness. "Misty," I started up again, "I know you don't want to do this but trust me, moving under the cover of a raining night isn't such a bad idea. We would be less likely to be seen and we might actually get there faster."
"It's hard to move in the rain, Ash," Misty counteracted. "And we would be out in the cold for too long, not to mention we have no medicine in case something goes wrong."
"Exactly! If my pokemon were to waste all their energy in a battle-"
"Wait!" Snowflake interrupted.
It was so sudden it caught all of us unawares, but then she continued, "My special abilities allows me to heal your pokemon, and I can get you to and from safely...but the only catch is...I would have to transform back into my pokemon form."
"What?!" Misty exclaimed.
"No," I said, "We can't allow you to do that, it's too risky!"
"But you both have risked your lives for me, why can't I do the same?" She said.
"Because I won't let you get caught for some experiment to make someone else richer while you suffer," I said. "Obviously you have held some kind of meaning towards us, otherwise we wouldn't try to go through this much trouble."
Snowflake huffed and folded her arms. Misty wrapped her arm around her again.
"Snow, we only doing this to protect you, we just don't want you to get hurt okay?" Misty said. Her voice was so sweet and calm it eased Snow's anger almost instantly.
"Okay…" Snow's voice was calm, yet sad, and with nothing left to say she picked up more cards and began to shuffle them in her hands.
I looked down to the carpet below, feeling a little bad for losing my cool a little, I felt I need to get away to calm down.
"I should go get some things together, so we can be prepared and everything…" I mumbled, standing up and walking to my room.
"I'm sorry Snow," I could hear Misty say, "He just gets a bit protective sometimes."
"It's okay," Snowflake replied, "It was kind of a stupid idea."
"Nonsense sweetie," Misty said back, "Ash just get kind of dense when it comes to knowing what a woman really wants. He kind of believes that as the man he's supposed to make all the decisions."
I rolled my rolled my eyes, sort of nonchalantly, and grabbed an old sleeping bag from my closet. It was a bit torn and dusty, but nothing a few good shakes and a wet towel can't fix. I also grabbed some clothes from my dresser drawers, folded them, and placed them in my backpack. It seemed like doing this brought back so many memories, like getting ready for my first day as a pokemon trainer...although now that I remember, my mom did most of that work. I was about to head down memory lane when I heard a knock on my door.
I looked up to see a tiny yellow headed girl looking at me, a slight smile gracing her lips, her shiny blue eyes peering at me with unbridled curiosity.
"Misty wants to know if you want some ice cream," she said, her fingers fumbling with her dress.
I couldn't help but smile. "No thanks, oh but hey I want to ask if you could do me a favor."
"Really? Sure!" She began to bounce up and down happily.
"Well, I just wanted to know if you could ask Venusaur and Pikachu how they really feel about me. After all it's been so long since they been with me, and since they don't really have pokeballs, they are actually considered wild pokemon. But why stay with me, I'm not even a trainer...could you ask them that for me?"
"Ah I see, okay then I'll ask!" She said, still bouncing like a little ball of fire.
I smiled again. "Alright, oh and now that I think about it, I think I'll take that bowl of ice cream."
"Really, yay! Misty said I could only have a bowl if you had one." And with that she turned around and bounded off, eager to complete the task I gave her.
I bent back down to complete my own task, but a mighty roar of thunder halted my thoughts, bringing in another round of rain. Maybe if Misty agrees with me, traveling in the rain would be a lot easier than traveling on a clear sunny day. After all those goons will be less likely to see us than they would if it was a clear day. We might look awkward, but at least we'll be safe, and I'm determined to protect everyone, no matter how wet I have to get to do so.
"You really wanting to leave aren't you?" Misty said to me.
I was half way through my ice cream by this moment, and I could still hear the sound of faint raindrops on the window.
"I think it's best," I said gently.
Misty sighed deeply, looking to Snowflake, whose eyes were darting between Misty and I.
"Alright," Misty spoke up again, "Let's get everything together then."
"R-Really?" I sputtered out.
"Ash, this could be the only time in our lives where I finally agree with you, I suggest you take it," Misty replied, shoving another spoon of ice cream in her mouth.
"Alright! Pikachu get Venusaur ready, late tonight we make our move," I said.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu playfully saluted me and ran off in Misty's room.
"Ash, I still need time to get my stuff together-"
"Don't worry," I interrupted Misty, "Venusaur takes a while to get going."
Misty nodded, and began to eat more ice cream. "Good, I'm going to need my strength."
Snowflake smiled at us fondly, as if remembering something.
"You okay, Snow?" I asked.
Snowflake nodded. "Mhm, you both just remind me of my former master and his wife, they would have little arguments all the time."
"You're former master had a wife, huh? That must have been fun," I said.
"Yeah, it was, we all would go on all sorts of adventures together!" Snowflake replied, her eyes lighting up in joy. "But then…"
"But then what?" I asked.
Snow's eyes reflected a glimmer of sadness, and she placed her bowl down on the table. "My master died in a war, and the wife was left all sad and alone."
We had grew quiet, and Misty and I looked at each other in silent understanding. "I'm sorry," I began to say.
It was then that Snow's head popped back up, and a smile appeared on her face again, although a bit more strained. "It's okay," she said, "My master might have taught me a lot in those few short days we were together, but he taught me something super important. He taught me that even though it can be hard, sometimes you have no choice but to fight for the things you believe in. Even if you die in the process, if someone has been touched by your actions, then it's all worth it, right?"
Snowflake's smile got even brighter, and she even giggled a little.
"Besides," she continued, "My former master might have been brave, but he wasn't the smartest fighter around to be honest."
I began to laugh, and Snowflake giggled until she snapped up, as if remembering something.
"Oh! I almost forgot! Pikachu and Venusaur wanted me to tell you something!"
"Really, what?" I asked.
"Well Venusaur still loves you, even after all this time, and doesn't want to leave on his own. The only thing he doesn't like is the fact that his pokeball broke and you haven't gotten him a new one yet. So maybe you might want to do that. Pikachu also says he loves you, but he would love you more...if you went on a journey together!" Snow smiled and clasped her hands together, then picked up her bowl and began sipping on the rest of her melted ice cream.
"Ah yeah, I figured that," I laughed softly, rubbing the back of my head.
"It figures I bet Venusaur would love it if you traveled again too," Misty agreed.
"Why don't you travel, Ash? I bet it must be nice seeing the world and everything," Snowflake said.
Once again, Snow brought up the subject of me traveling. It was a sensitive topic for me but I figured it was finally time I stopped dodging the question. I sighed heavily and began to speak.
"Well, around seven years ago, something happened that made me lose all inspiration for traveling, and I haven't really been wanting to get back out there."
"What happened?" She asked next.
"Well...my mother died."
It was a tense few seconds of silence, I was expecting it but I wasn't prepared for Snowflake's smile fading and becoming a sad frown. It was at this that I could feel my heart breaking. For some reason seeing Snow's sadness couldn't help but make me sad. I looked to Misty, who's eyes seem to reflect my emotions.
"I'm...sorry…" she said solemnly.
"It's quite alright," I reassured her, "I was heartbroken for a while but it was Misty here who brought me to where I am today. Maybe someday I'll go traveling again but I'm just not ready for the moment."
"I think he's scared, but that's just my personal opinion," Misty interjected.
"Hey hold on, I'm not scared of anything," I said. I swear she always has to show me up and make me look foolish sometimes.
"Ash, I hate to break it to you but it has been seven years," Misty said, stating the obvious, "You can easily go traveling whenever you want to but you don't. You just stay here and suffer when you can obviously strike it out on your own and do what you really want to do."
"Oh and this is coming from the girl who was too stubborn to take a wad of cash that was placed in front of her," I struck back, causing the red-headed girl to shoot killer daggers at me. "You want to call me a sufferer but aren't you just creating your own suffering?"
The stubborn red-headed girl grew quiet, poking her lips out and narrowing her eyes, folding her arms tightly and I could tell the gears were turning in her head trying to create a snappy comeback.
"Pikachu!"
We turned to hear Pikachu's cry and we saw him standing next to Venusaur.
"Alright then, let's do this," Misty stood up now, heading towards her room. "I'll be right back."
As soon as she was out of sight, I let go of a deep breath I didn't realize I had been holding. Pikachu came up and took his usual spot on my shoulder, while Venusaur waddled next to me, roaring slightly and wanting affection. I reached out and touched his head, rubbing it affectionately. I then bent over and kissed his forehead, smiling softly.
"You know, it was Venusaur who woke me up and tried to tell me of my mother's passing. Venusaur was always more in tune with people and pokemon more than anyone I know," I replied.
"I'm sorry," Snowflake said again, "I didn't mean to cause any trouble."
"You? Trouble? Don't be sorry Snow, Misty and I have that same argument every year," I said. After seeing the curious look on her face I went on to say, "We have both been creating our own suffering I'm afraid to admit, for the past seven years now. Truthfully I'm not sure why, maybe deep inside we are both scared to face the truth. Maybe one day I'll go traveling again, but I just can't now. I can't bring myself to do it."
A few minutes later, Misty emerged from her room, sporting her dark blue bookbag.
"Alright," she said, "Let's go."