Part One – A Hurt Heart

I was the Last to Know

A youth with brown eyes, raven black hair, and a signature Pokémon league cap smiled as he approached a cliff overlooking a quaint little town coastal town filled with cropped farm lands, It was made mostly of white wooden cottages, a small town square with shopping amenities. The town in question was also home to a small ocean wharf, and it was also home to the Kanto region's famous Professor Samuel Oak. But for the boy the place was simply… home sweet home.

"Look Pikachu," the youth said fondly, "I see Pallet Town."

"Pika chu," chirped his Pokémon.

"Seems like we've been gone for a long time, huh? Doesn't look like much has changed," he said, and began the walk down the path towards his home.

Ash Ketchum couldn't help but be ecstatic at finally reaching Pallet Town once again. He was back from the Hoenn region where he had met new friends and caught new Pokémon, the experience was one he would not soon forget. But during all that time, Ash's thoughts tended to drift to someone…

"Pika, Pikapi, Pika chu chu pika pika chu pika cha pika Pikachupi?" Hey, Ash, when are you planning to go see Misty?

"Um… after we see Mom and the other Pokémon back at the lab, buddy," Ash muttered, blushing at her name. "Don't get me wrong – I really, really would like to go see her as soon as possible. But I promised Mom and Professor Oak we'd come home straight away, no detours."

"Pika pika chu cha pika, Pikapi." And yet you took one at a gym, Ash.

"Well," Ash mumbled, "how could I have turned down a battle against Agatha, a member of the Elite Four…?" Pikachu just rolled his eyes.

"Pikachupi pika pik pikachu pipika, Pikapi." Misty would call you inattentive then, Ash.

"Yeah… she probably would say that."

It wasn't a secret, ever since that fateful sad afternoon about a year ago; Ash had never been the same. Sure he functioned well enough with Brock and Pikachu still by his side, but without Misty around to argue with, share jabs, or simply pass the time with – either stargazing or eating ice cream together. Ash felt incomplete, he felt like a part of him had been taken away, and he had had quite a bit of time to think about why. At first he thought the melancholy would pass but it didn't, instead it sent him into strange dreams and visions. He dared to blame it on a crush, which even now he had a hard time admitting to, purely out of pride.

He knew something was wrong when his heard felt somber when they left each other, the awkwardness continued when her image stayed in his mind throughout his Hoenn journey. He had to tell her how he felt, and if she didn't feel the same, well… he'd rather not think about it, because the very idea upset him more than he wanted to admit…

"Hey, anybody home?" Ash called, as he finally entered through his home's front door.

"I'll be right down, honey!" his mom's voice called melodiously. Ash was pleased to hear his mom's voice in person once again. But as he closed the door, another female voice called to him…

"Welcome home, Ash." And there she was – new yellow clothes and all, Misty Waterflower. "It's been a long time, huh? Hi there, Pikachu."

"Y-yeah, uh, hi," Ash stammered, stunned. WHAT WAS SHE DOING AT HIS HOUSE?! Was the first thought that came to him.

"Pikachupi!" Pikachu meanwhile cried out happily.

"This is a surprise, Misty," Ash murmured. The situation was extremely left field, he had been planning to see her after this, but it seemed she came to him. Is… Is this a sign?

"Professor Oak told me you were coming home, so I came to say hi," Misty explained. It was then his mom came over and exchanged greetings with her son. Ash couldn't help but beam at the warm welcome.

He hugged his mom, and then greeted Mr. Mime warmly. He then tried hugging Misty as well. Ash felt himself heat up as he wrapped his arms around her, his face a blushing mess. He felt so happy, but then… she didn't return the hug. In fact, as soon as he realized he was the only one hugging her, Ash looked up and found she seemed a bit, if not very… uncomfortable with his gesture.

"Um…" Misty began, sticking her hands out onto his shoulder to push him back – Ash suddenly felt very put off. "It's great to see you too," she continued plainly, sticking her hand out. He was perplexed, the two friends hadn't talked in a long while, and she only wanted to shake hands?

Ash took hers in his, and once again, the warmth returned for him, but then… Ash noticed something off again. Long ago the two shook hands the day before they had to battle each other at the Whirl Cup, and that had been a warm handshake. But this one, it was cold – there was no feeling. It was as if he was just meeting her for the first time and knew nothing about her.

Ash's insides churned with fear. He didn't know what to do, or what to say.

It was then he noticed a small blue mouse Pokémon waltz right in front of Misty. "Azu, Azurill!" it cheeped. Ash became instantly interested – the sight of new Pokémon always cheered him up.

"Aw, hey, it's an Azurill," he remarked, leaning down to take a closer look. Misty giggled – it sent a shiver down his spine – as she picked Azurill up.

"Heh heh. Isn't it the cutest? Tracey gave it to me when it was just an egg. I brought it along so Professor Oak could see." Ash could've sworn… he saw something about Misty's face that seemed off when she said the Pokémon Watcher's name, something that seemed very odd… Misty had never said Tracey's name the way she did just now, what was going on...

Ash was about to ask about it when Delia said that she had just finished preparing supper, all of his favorites at that too. The prospect of a home-cooked meal cheered him up, Pikachu cheered with him. Misty just rolled her eyes, "Some things always will stay the same, I guess…" she said. Ash became alarmed, she sounded… disappointed in that, and what did she mean by it? That 'some things always will stay the same'…?! Ash was beginning to see that things were very off.

He was about to question this choice of words when suddenly a cars horn sounded off. He went to open the door. It was Professor Birch, and he was joined by Max. Once more Ash couldn't help but feel overwhelmed as he invited the two into his house. But even as the two new arrivals conversed happily with his mom, Ash just couldn't seem to talk to Misty; she either busied herself with Azurill, his mom, the Professor, or Max, much to his displeasure.

Ash went to bed that night, without even so much as a goodnight from her, and proceeded into an uncomfortable sleep, in his own bed at home…

OoOoO

It wasn't any different next day. Misty's 'good morning' greeting was dry with him, as was her good morning for everyone else, aside from his mom's. It was as if their near three years of travelling together meant nothing to her...

Professor Birch said first thing that he was off to meet Professor Oak that morning, but he still had to go and do a check of his material and print any stragglers. The Professor disappeared upstairs to go sort out his bag, and Ash agreed to watch Max whilst he did so, but it was then the raven Trainer noticed something odd.

Misty already had her pack on, and Azurill comfortably settled in her arms, and was opening the door. "Misty!" Ash called to her, alarmed.

"Huh?" she jumped, and turned around, as if she was a child getting caught by her parents whilst sneaking off somewhere.

"Y-you're not leaving yet, are you?" Ash asked, upset that she would sneak off like that.

"Huh? Oh, n-no. I was off to Professor Oak's laboratory."

This made Ash even more confused, Professor Birch just said he was off to see the famous Professor; surely it would be better if they went as a group. "But why alone?" Ash questioned out loud to her.

"Um… Well," she began, looking clearly uncomfortable with the question. "N-no reason I guess, just instinct, I suppose…"

"J… j-just instinct?" Ash questioned carefully.

"Yeah… Just something you learn to do by yourself when no one else is around," Misty answered. Ash felt a pang in his chest at those words. The words replayed heavily on his mind, was that her way of telling him that he didn't call her often enough? Ash couldn't help but want to apologize right then – maybe that had been the problem? Maybe she was just lonely and thought he didn't care about her anymore.

"Misty, I'm sorry I-"

"No, Ash," she quickly cut in, holding a spare hand out to halt his words. He gazed at her, stunned. "You're right – it would be rude of me to not wait for the Professor. Besides…" Ash couldn't help but believe then that she wanted to catch up now, but… "… I could tell Max all about Cerulean City. I'm sure he'd love to hear all about it." And she hurried off to sit next to Max on the couch, brushing past Ash, and once again, he felt that strange coldness he had first felt the day before.

Forgotten about – that was the sensation he had begun to feel, and it felt terrible.

OoOoO

The journey to Professor Oak's lab was a mundane and boring one. When Ash went to knock on the door, both Professor Oak and Tracey came out to greet them, but when they did, Ash once again noticed something.

When Tracey looked down to see Ash, Ash immediately noticed that Tracey was… surprised. What did the sketcher have to be surprised about? Ash felt like stumbling the moment he sensed something off about Tracey's stare, but then the sketcher quickly recovered and smiled at him. Ash blinked at that, it seemed everything was off with the people he knew.

"Hey Tracey…" Ash began awkwardly, "been a long time since we've talked."

"Uh…yeah…"

"Yeah…" Ash said, frowning, "it's weird, isn't it? Every time I called, the Professor always said you were too busy to talk…"

Tracey's face seemingly faltered a bit at that remark before he began scratching his neck awkwardly, "Uh heh-heh! Yeah…y'know? Working with Professor Oak can keep a guy busy, yeah…"

"Yeah…" Ash murmured, a strange foreboding sense came over him as he looked into Tracey's eyes. Something was off, and Ash didn't like it.

Professor Oak and Birch meanwhile began their chit-chat, and the Hoenn region Professor had pulled a few of his papers out that he wanted to discuss with the Kanto-based Professor. Both agreed to go up to Professor Oak's main office to continue their discussion. But as they did, Professor Oak remarked to Tracey about tending to the starter Pokémon upstairs, Max being his usual self, wanted to meet said starter Pokémon and raced off.

Ash was about to join him to tell Max about the starters, but Misty stopped him, directly stepping in front of him. "Oh Ash, wouldn't it be better if you went to go talk to Professor Oak?" she asked.

"But… that's what Professor Birch is here to do," Ash said, trying to look past Misty's shoulders to the staircase, leading up to where he remembered getting his first Pokémon.

"True, but you're the one who travelled all over Hoenn. I'm sure the Professor would be very interested in hearing all about your experiences," Misty went on. For some reason, Ash didn't get the sense that she was committed to her words.

"I'd rather go stay to look after Max," he said uneasily, about to scooch past her, but she held on and stopped him.

"No," Misty said, a little too loudly, "me and Tracey can watch Max; you go on ahead with the Professors."

Pikachu, who had been observing the awkward exchange, was about to hop down and go upstairs, but Misty addressed him quickly. "Oh, Pikachu! Accompany Ash will you? I'm not sure if Ash is able to handle not getting into trouble, even with the Professors around!" she said, her tone suggesting she meant it when it came to Ash's own common sense.

Ash grimaced, he was perfectly capable of not getting into trouble on his own. "B-but I…!" he began, frustrated.

"We'll be fine, all good and ship shaped!" Misty called back, ushering Tracey up the stairs, leaving Ash in a daze.

"Wh…what just happened…?"

"Pi…ika…" The two friends merely lowered their heads, and walked off for the office…

Things got interesting when May suddenly showed up. For Ash, May's timing couldn't have been more inconvenient. He was hoping to confront Misty when he and the Professors got upstairs, but when they came upstairs, they found May comforting a Squirtle in her arms, Max looking upset, and Misty and Tracey just staring at the scene.

When that issue was sorted, May and Max wanted Ash to give them a tour of the facility. "Sure!" Ash said, he turned and noticed Misty talking to Tracey. "Hey Misty! Want to join us for a tour?"

To Ash's surprise however, Misty then suddenly avoided eye contact, his own eyes slightly wavering as she ignored him. "Um… No thanks," she said, "I think I'll stay here."

"Yeah," Tracey remarked, Ash noticed the sketcher's shoulders slightly tense up when he addressed him, "I need to work on a few things here, and Misty wants to help me out with it."

"I could help too," Ash offered. "What do you need done…?"

"No!" Misty suddenly shouted, that stopped Ash in his tracks, his breath caught in his throat. "We… don't need someone like you messing up with the Professor's paperwork. You're too clumsy for that sort of work, Ash. You act too much like a kid to handle this," she ended joke fully.

"I…" Ash began, a pit forming in his stomach and chest made him feel like he was in a void – a void of confusion. Nothing was normal here.

"If we finish early I'll come out and meet you," Misty said. That made Ash feel a bit better, but it still upset him. What was stranger, he noticed once again that Tracey too was behaving only and was avoiding eye contact.

"O-okay…" Ash said, and with one last disconcerted look over his shoulder he led May and Max outside…

OoOoO

Ash wasn't going to lie, he was terrified. Something was off about Misty and Tracey, they seemed so eager for him to not be around, it unnerved him. They were all friends, the Orange Island trio, he hadn't even been gone for that long from them to make a different. It was a full year since Johto since he had left in April, and now it was spring again. Ash wasn't sure of a cause for Misty to suddenly avoid him, he thought it might've been because of his lack of calls, but that couldn't be the case. The friends they made throughout their journeys came and went – trainers like Ritchie and Casey notably – but when they reunited with them on the road Misty didn't get angry when they disappeared.

Ash shook away the thoughts; he didn't want to dwell on them. Instead, he looked around and saw Snorlax, that would be a perfect distraction. But during the reunion with the hibernating Pokémon, a whole stampede of his Pokémon suddenly appeared lead by Bulbasaur. In the midst of it all, his Taurus charged him and ended up carrying him away!

They charged along the ranch, Ash was in a panic, "C'mon Taurus let me down! I'm happy to see you guys too- Huh?!" He saw something that made him forget his current situation… Misty and Tracey were walking around. Ash was surprised, she had just said that Tracey and her had papers to sort out, but then why were they so far from the lab? He squinted, and for a moment saw something that stopped his heart…

But he didn't even have the time to process what he had seen, because suddenly his trance was broken as the Taurus under him got pelted by Tracey's Marill's Water Gun. The Tauros reared and Ash was thrown into the air, but before he could hit the ground, Bayleaf caught him with her vines.

"Thanks, Bayleef," Ash muttered gratefully, the grass Pokémon responded in kind and began to nuzzle Ash affectionately. "H-hey, knock it off," he grumbled, he didn't have time for this, he needed to…

He looked up to see Misty and Tracey approaching him; his eyes narrowed slightly at the sight, the blurry image from before came back to him – it was now burned into his mind.

"Are you all right?" Misty questioned.

"Yeah, of course," Ash murmured, eying her warily. "My Taurus are about as powerful as I've ever seen them."

"You do know that Pokémon tend to act like their trainers, right? And I know a certain trainer who's been running wild."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "You do now huh…? Hey… I thought you two were meant to be at the lab?"

"Oh? Um, well…" Misty stammered, she tightened her arms around Azurill nervously.

"…And you said you had important papers to look after," Ash went on, the bitterness coming out. "What are you doing out here Misty? You've been acting strange ever since yesterday! What are hiding from me exac-?"

"Hey Ash!" Max's voice suddenly called out to him, and once again Ash found himself getting distracted from the pressing issue…

The distractions lasted all day, the Squirtle from before ran into May's arms. Ash brought out his Hoenn friends to meet his old ones, and then Team Rocket attacked… for Ash, this wasn't out of the ordinary, but whatever was happening with Misty was…

He avoided her for the rest of the day, and she did the same.

OoOoO

"Well I think this as far as we're getting today!" Brock announced. "Nothing like camping back here in Kanto, ah… here's a real nice spot. Max, would you mind helping me set up the fire?" And with that Brock plopped down his travelling bag and immediately set to work with Max.

The breeder had travelled all the way down to Pallet and met the group before they left in the morning. As expected, he was hyped to be on the road, and was even more excited by the prospect of travelling with his two longtime friends once more, even if it was temporary. For Ash, this reunion was both a blessing, and a curse. On one hand, it was good to see Brock again, it also helped that he had someone else to talk to aside from Max and May, as Misty was still giving him a cold shoulder.

But Brock's presence reminded Ash of an old feeling, that strange sense of being able to take on anything when the three of them were together. A feeling Ash didn't want anymore – because it felt like Misty didn't know him anymore, and that she didn't want to either.

The worst part was that, Brock, May, and Max all seemed oblivious to the strange lack of talking between Ash and the water-trainer. They didn't even try to converse, yet he still chose to look at her, but only Azurill seemed to ever look back at him. Misty never even glanced in his direction.

During their walk Brock provided Ash the chance to keep his mind of off his feelings. He made sure he remained fully invested in every word Brock said, or paid attention solely to the road if Brock chose to talk to May or Max. They ended up making it halfway through Viridian Forest by nightfall.

The group ate dinner around the campfire peacefully, but unfortunately, Brock began making small talk with Misty. She, unlike she was with Ash, replied kindly to everything Brock said. It annoyed Ash greatly.

"She'll talk to Mom… Max… May… even you Pikachu," he grumbled lowly to his starter Pokémon. "But talking to me…? Nope… her best friend isn't going to get so much as a word, it's like I don't even exist…"

"Pikapi… pika Pikachu."

Later Ash watched disdainfully as Misty spoke with the rest of the group, but when it came to him, not even so much as a friendly glance came his direction.

He wasn't going to stand for it any longer.

"…And so that's when Pikachu lost to Meowth!" Max finished, ending his tale about Ash's loss at the Hoenn League.

"Wow," Misty muttered, "fancy losing to a Meowth of all Pokémon." Ash held his head down, ashamed and embarrassed.

"Ah well," Brock chipped in, "it was a good battle all the same. Ooh! Want to hear about Ludicolo and Mudkip, Misty?"

"Oh yeah!" Max said, turning towards the orange headed girl's direction. "Ash told us so much about how you love water-types! Wait till you hear about-"

"No thanks," Misty cut in. The others stared, quite taken aback, Ash's eyes narrowed; normally Misty wasn't one to miss out on new water-types…

"I just want to turn in early for the night," she went on, yawning and stretching.

"Night," they all said to her, sans Ash. Misty then stood up and began to walk away.

"Night Brock… night Max… night May…" Misty rambled as she stood up. "Oh! And goodnight Pikachu."

No goodnight for me…? Ash stared as she walked away, he plucked up courage the moment she only thought of his partner and not him.

"Misty, hold it!" he yelled, standing up.

Brock, Max and May stared at Ash, obviously not expecting his sudden outburst. "Hey!" he called out when Misty didn't answer him and just kept walking. Ash's eyes shimmered and a distraught look came over him, trembling he yelled a little louder, "MISTY, ANSWER ME PLEASE!"

Finally she turned around. "What?" she asked dryly.

"W-what is going on with you?" Ash asked, the desperation clear in his voice, his hands quivering. "Ever since I got back you've been ignoring me. It's like you don't want to do anything with me around. You came to say 'welcome home' and that was all you were planning to do. You've barely acknowledged me if much at all, heck it's like I didn't exist at all to you back at Professor's Oak's coral. You wanted to go ahead to the Professor's without any of us, and you even lied about being busy with Tracey at the lab so you could get me away!"

By this point Ash's eyes well fully welled up, his whole body was trembling, and his gaze was locked on Misty. "Tell it to me straight…" he said hoarsely, "because for the past twenty-four hours it's like we're total strangers to each other. Are we even still considered 'friends,' Mist?"

"You want a straight answer?" Misty finally answered, Ash nodded. "Yes, we're friends Ash. But things have changed, they've changed a lot."

"Ch-changed…? W-w-what you do you mean by that? You just said we were friends and well-"

"Well that's just it, Ash," Misty cut in. "We all have to move along with our lives at some point, you know we're not children anymore, we're teens. We're both close to our fourteenth birthdays and that's-"

"But what does that have anything to do with what we're talking about now?" Ash cried out.

"Everything," Misty answered. "Ash, we're old enough to start taking our futures seriously – and I can't stand being alone at the gym with my sisters." Misty then took a deep breath and stared at Ash. "After we left to go our own ways I've been thinking about the people who matter in my life the most, especially when I realized how quickly change could come about. There's a new boy in my life who means something to me now. Someone I value as more than a friend." Misty began to blush as she finished, Ash felt short of breath looking at it, but with each word she was saying, he felt colder, like his heart was freezing over. It was something he felt before, but more intense. He couldn't speak; anything that he wanted to say was lodged in his throat.

Misty began to finish what she started. "He's been there for me every step of the past year, supporting me as I got use to my new role as a Gym Leader and all of my other responsibilities. I never knew he could care so much about me from day to day, and I realized that I was beginning to feel the same way about him.

"Everyone," she called out, so everyone knew she was now talking to them as well. When she had everyone's attention, she smiled warmly. "I'm in love, in love with Tracey, and he loves me back. Me and him, we're dating now."

Ash gasped, and felt as though the world had just collapsed beneath him, he took a few unsteady steps back, shocked. He stared, and felt a strong chill overcoming him, like he was stuck in limbo… he tried taking a step forward, but was trapped, like he feet were frozen in place. Ash felt a stinging sensation in his eyes, and his chest felt like an empty cavity.

"Wha… M-Misty…?" he tried to say, but the moment he tried leaning forward, all of a sudden – instead of being a few feet away from him – before him flashed an entire ocean, thousands of miles of cold sea water stood between him and her, somehow she was within eye sight, but was just a speck. He was numbed.

"Oh my God!" May yelled out suddenly, she raced past Ash causing him to fumble and took a few more steps back; his breath was shaky as he tried processing what was happening to him. "Misty! Wow! I had a suspicion back at the lab!" she cheered as she got up close to Misty and grabbed the orange haired girl's hand.

Ash's eyes widened, May saw it? But Tracey… Misty… they were just friends, sure they acted weird but, he never would've guessed it was… then, it hit him.

"I mean," May went on, "the proximity… the fact that you kept sitting next to him… I even saw that sometimes you two were holding hands!"

Ash felt as though a spear struck him from the back. Of course, how could he be so stupid? He thought he had been imagining all those hints, he had convinced himself that he had been misinterpreting a simple passing of an item between them, but no. He saw it, in that split second when he looked up while riding Taurus, Misty and Tracey were holding hands… his fist curled up.

"Wow…" Brock murmured as he approached her. "I had no idea! To think, you got a boyfriend before I could even get into a relationship. Amazing, and I'M SO JEALOUS AGH!"

"Oh brother…" Misty sighed before smiling again. "But yeah, it sure is great! We've… been at it for a while now, not long before I came to see you and Ash in Hoenn."

"Wow, that long?" May asked.

"Yeah, not long after an incident with mine and Daisy's Luvidiscs. It just sorta…happened."

Ash knew his eyes were tearing up, but anything he wanted to say was caught in his throat, he felt like he was choking. He wanted to yell an objection, but when his eyes caught Misty's smile as she talked about everything that had happened, but he found no will in him to say anything.

"Although…" Misty continued. "We're still getting use to things, so that's why I've kept so quiet about it, and why I chose to be with him more, so we could have the chance to bond. He cares about me, amazingly our interests' line up as well. He shows interest in romantic things like I do…"

Ash felt stabbed at that, he never cared about anything romantic…

"…Likes water Pokémon like me – hence why he gave me Azurill…"

But… I let you have Togepi…

"…Comforted me after I lost Togepi…"

Oh wait, I forgot about that…

"…Cares about Pokémon the same way I do. And he's always flattering me with sketches he's made of me, even ones from when we were travelling together on the Orange Islands… and as I said, he's there when I need him to, and oh the way he kisses me... I just feel so…so secure with him, like he's the one."

Ash held back his tears, he wiped his eyes quick, and he managed to do so without attracting any attention, which was the last thing he needed. Of course…how could he be so stupid, he was a traveler, and that he never wanted to remain idle. But Tracey, that's what got to him, it made sense, the sketcher made a name for himself by rooting down at Professor Oak's, and as friends he had a right to visit Misty all the time. But Ash just couldn't believe that Tracey could woo her, but then…why was he kept out of the loop? Surely he had a right to know…

"Oh will you stop talking about that gross icky junk!" Max suddenly snapped, he was still by the fire. Misty glared at him for a bit before he looked away with dignity. "Yeah yeah… it's cool you got a boyfriend but what's wrong with wanting to talk about Pokémon?"

"Heh…" Brock chuckled, sweat dropping. "Well, you can't have everything, can you?"

"I am so sorry Misty for the way my brother just acted; please forgive him, he's stupid and a know-it-all," May immediately began.

"Hey! I resent that, sis! Not my fault I'm not into your love junk!"

"Siblings… what I wouldn't know about them…" Misty chuckled to herself.

"Pah…you girls are all the same…" he huffed. Max then looked around and spotted Ash. Knowing the raven trainer the way he did, Max figured Ash would sympathize with his point of view. "So Ash," he called out, breaking Ash out of his trance, but before he could ask, he was rudely interrupted.

"Oh yeah," Brock began, unaware of Max's glare at him, "Ash, you've known Tracey a lot longer than I have. What do you make of him and Misty being together anyways?"

Ash stared, conflicted, he froze when he saw Misty looking at him. Her eyes unreadable, something about that wasn't pleasant.

"Please, I think with Ash, the answer is fairly obvious," Max said confidently. "Ash, doesn't the idea of getting together with somebody sound stupid or what? I mean, what could be better than just being friends and exploring the world? I mean after all, you said it yourself, 'No sense going out of your way just to get the attention of someone you like'. I mean you totally hit the nail on the head with that one, Ash."

Ash gasped, his own words used against him! It was lucky he wasn't being external about what he was thinking. He noted that Misty's look seemed to have dissipated. "Well," she said calmly, "that sounds like Ash all right."

"Yeah…" Brock muttered.

"That's our Ash," May agreed. They didn't know it, but their words felt like massive ice cubes landing on his chest.

Misty kept her indifference up and began to walk away, Ash watched her with a longing stare, she was walking all right, it looked like it was right out of his soul too.

"I need to take care of a few things real quick, night everyone," she said, looking at everyone but him, again. Ash couldn't say anything as he watched her go; he couldn't deny what he had said, everyone was quite sure that he would keep to that opinion. The problem was, his opinion had changed, if only in a small way.

His fists curled up, an unfamiliar feeling of loathing came over him.

"So," Brock began, "I guess this would be a great time to go to bed, huh?" The two Maple siblings agreed to this, Ash did too.

But sleep didn't come to him at all. He kept tossing and turning around. Tracey… why Tracey…?

He stood up, thinking that a quick walk would do his mind some good. But when he stood, he caught site of Misty and all of his fears came crashing back down on him. He saw her face, her lips, and images of them being kissed by Tracey and her body being held by him struck a nerve in Ash, it angered and upset him all at the same time.

His breathing became erratic and a rush of energy came to his legs. Instinct told him to run, run now, get away, away from her…

And Ash did so, lowering his head and gritting his teeth he turned in the opposite direction and took off as fast as he could. He couldn't stand to look at her, because when he did, he wanted to get close, but knew he couldn't, he needed this distance. His sudden dash caught the attention of Pikachu, had almost dozed off.

"Pikapi?" he muttered, before shaking himself awake and began to chase after his trainer.

Ash didn't care at all about where he was going, he was going to go as fast as his mind deemed necessary, the night was almost blinding, just like the latest revelation. "Why in hell him?" he choked as he ran.

Eventually Ash reached a clearing and slowed down. He fell down to his knees and punched the grass as hard as he could. Ash let out a painful scream into the sky before falling down on his arms. He began to shake.

"Why…?" he said miserably to the ground, as stinging salty tears began to fall, his hand grabbing furiously as the blades of grass. "Why him? It's not fair, I wanted a chance, but she…he… they didn't even bother to say anything! What does Tracey have that I don't?" he yelled hopelessly into the bare night. The emptiness and silence of the night served to only remind him that this issue was bigger than anything he had faced before, and it was one he didn't know the solution to.

"What did I do to deserve to be lied to…?" it was then that Pikachu caught up and immediately began to comfort Ash. "She lied, Pikachu," Ash said bitterly, "she came to see Tracey, not you or me, we were nothing more than an afterthought. She… Misty… she…" he choked, he found the words painful, they tugged at his heart. "…Misty…s-she…loves him, she loves Tracey. So much so she won't even look at me! She…she'll never love me…" Ash finished, looking down at the dark forest floor. This kind of defeat, was one he was never prepared for.

OoOoO

Authors Note: Hey everyone! Welcome to my big project for the summer with this project of mine. Special shout outs to UltimateBman from the Pokeshipping Discord for beta reading this.

Fun fact, there's a game you guys can have with these stories, every title is a lyric to a song, your task is to name the song, and the artist(s) in the review section and in the next chapter first ones to get it right get a special shout out, good luck :).