Chapter 13: Confusion and Crushing

Please Enjoy,

POV (Misty)

"Like, why do you get to go the Orange islands?" Lily moaned when Misty told her about the gym leader gathering.

"You do realize you three left me alone multiple times to travel around the world," Misty replied looking at all three of her sisters. She only allowed a bit of venom to seep into her tone, but her sisters did have the good grace to look abashed.

"I think it's a good idea to go," Daisy spoke up trying to be the voice of reason like usual. "So who are you taking with you?" She asked catching Misty by surprise.

Misty hadn't even thought about taking a guest, it wasn't mandatory, but usually gym leaders took people who worked in their gym and one personal guest. Unlike Misty a good amount of the high ranking gyms had administrators to deal with paperwork and the legal aspects as well as gym trainers. She figured both she and the gym were reaching the point where she couldn't do all the work herself.

The other options would be someone they were personally training to take over the gym when they eventually left, Koga had always brought his daughter. A few gym leaders took their significant others or friends, but they usually stayed out of the way during the official proceedings.

"Are you going to take your little boyfriend?" Violet asked casually taking a moment to observe her nails. Without asking knew she was referring to Ash, who they rarely called by name.

"His name is Ash and he's not my boyfriend," Misty reminded her for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Oh, so you are taking him," Lily jumped into the conversation.

"I never said that," Misty had learned to deal with her sisters so she kept most of her irritation at bay.

"Whatever you still need to get someone to go with you," Violet pointed out lazily gesturing to Misty.

Although Misty didn't need anyone to go with her she did consider the idea and asking Ash certainly didn't sound like a bad plan. She wasn't too worried that he would say 'no', the idea of being around friends and skilled trainers would probably be too tempting, she hoped spending time with her was also a reason to go.

Of course another thought struck her, Brock wouldn't be invited because his gym was temporarily closed down. It would probably be the right thing to do to invite him, plus he'd be happy to see his friends from the various gyms. When she and Brock first set out with Ash they didn't really know the gym leaders very well because he hadn't been a serious gym leader for too long and she hadn't taken over the gym yet.

She mulled it over and decided she would talk to Brock first and see what he wanted to do.

Misty offhandedly realized she had spending a lot of time traveling by bus recently. She made a random mental note to find a large Pelipper to help her fly so she could avoid public transport, not she minded it much. Soon enough she found herself back in Pewter city and made her way to Brock's current abode. She had texted him ahead of time so she didn't feel worried about knocking on the front door without technically being invited.

After a few moments the door opened and Brock welcomed her in with a sweep of his arm. "Hey Misty, you said you wanted to talk about something an upcoming Gym Leader gathering." It was a statement, but it came out closer to a question.

"Yeah, I wanted to tell you that the Pokemon League is holding another gathering for the gym leaders from Kanto and Johto in the Orange Islands. I know since your gym isn't active you aren't getting an invite, but I came to see if you wanted be my plus 1. If anyone deserves to go it's you, but I know your busy so I wanted to be able to talk in person to discuss it rather than just call," Misty quickly said her piece and waited for Brock's response.

"I'd love to go, but I really do need to take care of things here," he sighed sounding depressed at the prospect of not being able to go and Misty didn't blame him. "How long is it going on for?" Brock asked, Misty could see him weighing his options.

"Probably a week possibly longer, but if you want you could catch a plane and leave earlier," Misty offered.

Brock didn't speak for a few moments merely humming finally he answered, "I'll check with my family to see if they mind me going off for a little while

"You deserve a vacation," Misty reminded him referring to all the work he'd been doing recently.

"Why don't you ask Ash? I know he'd love to go."

"If anyone should go to a gym leader related event it would be you so I wanted to ask you first. Although I can probably lie just a little bit and say your coming as an advisor not a guest, which means I can still bring Ash without breaking any rules. We can bring gym members and administrators if we want and technically I'll be asking you to look in on my gym every so often, so it's really not too much of a stretch," Misty shrugged.

"By that logic, you could bring your sisters as well," Brock said trying not to sound hopeful about the idea of spending time with her sisters.

"Actually your mom would be welcome too," Misty mentioned, "it would probably good experience for her."

"If she goes I have to stay, my dad can't take of the kids alone," Brock was firm and Misty knew there wouldn't be a point so she came up with a different option.

"Why don't you come for a few days and when you go back home your mother can come to the gathering for the rest of the time? That way you can see everyone and get some information before the gym opens again, your mother gets a bit of knowledge, and your father is never alone," Misty offered up what she considered a pretty decent plan, all things considered.

"That could work," Brock said almost under his breath, speaking up he replied, "I'll check with my family and you can ask Ash. We'll figure the specifics out later."

"Perfect," Misty managed to restrain a squeal because things were finally falling into place. "Do you know where Ash is?" she asked realizing she didn't know where to look.

"He was out back by the forest, I think he was either training or looking for Pokemon," Brock pointed out a window in the general direction.

"Got it, I'll see you in a bit," Misty walked away with a spring in her step. After all her work she was finally going to get some time to relax and with any luck it would be with two of her best friends.

POV (Ash)

"Ash," a distinctly female voice called to him. He berated himself for being so caught up in his worrying that he was hallucinating. Unfortunately when Pikachu greeted the source of the voice Ash was forced to realize he wasn't hallucinating. Instead of a real response he just made a choking sound and half panicked.

"Ash can I talk to you?" Misty asked from somewhere behind Ash and he froze. Nobody had told him Misty would be coming back so quickly and all he could think about was his conversation with Brock.

"Um, I'm not sure I'm really busy," Ash lied, which he was bad at during the best of times. Now it sounded completely unbelievable especially considering he was standing around clearly not doing anything.

Ash turned around just in time for Misty to ask, "With what?" She raised an eyebrow at his odd behavior.

"Just stuff," Ash gestured aimlessly with his right hand, Pikachu sat with Jigglypuff, who arrived with Misty, a few feet away looking confused as well.

"Well, this is important so just hold on before you do your stuff," Misty put one hand on her hip looking at him intently.

"What is it about?" Ash asked his voice still a bit weak, but he was hoping for the best.

"Well, I already talked to Brock about it," Misty started to speak, but after just a few words Ash felt a shiver go through his body.

Ash felt his muscles tense he was positive she was going to confront him about his conversation with Brock. A few thoughts flew through his mind first he was going to kill Brock, second he didn't know how to have this conversation, and third he was terrified. So in his mind it made sense that the first thing he did was run away calling over his shoulder, "I don't want to talk now."

"Wait, Ash," Misty called to him as Ash made his escape. He felt bad, but he wasn't sure what he would say to Misty, did he like her yes, but he wasn't sure exactly in what way. Even more worrying was what her reaction was going to be. He was sure that Brock would keep it between them, he had no idea why he would tell Misty, unless he was seriously trying to push this along hoping for the best. That didn't seem like him though, Ash sighed relieved for his momentary reprieve from Misty.

"Ash what is wrong with you?" Misty asked from right behind him her tone changing to the first signs of anger, but there was plenty of confusion mixed in. He hated how in shape she was from all the swimming, running away wasn't going to work.

"I just don't want to talk to you about anything right now," Ash realized how immature he sounded, but he was lost and about a minute away from calling Charizard out to fly him away.

"Do you even know what I'm talking about, did you talk to Brock before I got here?" Misty asked looking confused.

"Of course I did," Ash said exasperatedly.

"So you know what I'm trying to talk about and you won't consider it? Misty asked her voice growing angrier and the confusion was starting to fade.

"What's there to consider? I just know, I'm not ready to discuss this," Ash wasn't sure which direction she meant when she said considering it.

"You're so immature sometimes," Misty looked up at the sky and tried to keep herself from truly getting upset.

"And you're really pushy and annoying, why did you even bring this up so suddenly?" Ash felt himself getting angry simply because that was an easier emotion to handle and Misty was pushing.

"How was I supposed to bring it up?" Misty asked her hands clenched into fists, the insults pushing her far closer to her breaking point than she had been.

"I don't know ease into it or wait for me to say something," Ash ran his hand through his hair.

"What does that mean, ease into it? We don't have forever. You know what, consider the invitation rescinded," Misty said finally done with whatever this discussion was about which Ash was getting a feeling wasn't about what he thought.

"The what? What kind of invitation were you offering?" Ash wasn't sure if that was her crazy way of asking him on a date.

"I was going to tell you about the gym leader convention, I'm going to in the Orange Islands. I'll make sure to say hi to all the gym leaders who gave you pity badges and I'm sure Rudy will love to hang out," she replied in a false cheery tone that was laced with venom and quite possibly the potential for violence if he kept angering her.

Ash bristled at her words, although he realized they were talking about completely different things he was still angry. He couldn't accept the invitation or whatever to the convention now so all he just bit back, "I really don't care what you do, so go right on ahead."

"Fine I will and I'll find someone else to go with me," Misty turned to walk away, but before she left she added sarcastically, "Thanks Ash for disliking the idea of going on a vacation so much that you didn't even give me the chance to ask." Ash didn't miss the undertone of hurt, but she and Jigglypuff were gone by the time he gathered himself enough to say anything.

He hated how stubborn he was, how stubborn they both were, but he knew that he was in the wrong there wasn't really any way to ignore that. He was just scared he wasn't an emotional person, or rather he didn't know how to handle emotions, and he didn't want to deal with them especially not something so deeply personal.

Pikachu who had been largely quiet lowly said, "pika," in a subdued tone.

"I know buddy, I guess I should apologize, right?" Ash looked up at Pikachu after sighing.

Pikachu nodded his head in affirmation and led the way back to Brock's house. Ash stepped in the door knowing he'd be allowed in and found it quiet, "Brock are you in here?" Ash asked looking around.

He heard a sigh and Brock walked over to him from the kitchen and simply asked, "What did you do this time?"

"W-what do you mean?" Ash asked not knowing why he was bothering.

"Misty came in said you were an idiot and that she was leaving," Brock said pointedly, "she seemed angrier than I've seen her in a long time."

Ash groaned at the fact that he would have to relay the story knowing that it sounded it stupid once he went over it in his head. "So it's like this..." he went through the recent events.

"Misty was right, you are an idiot," Brock's voice didn't hold any of the anger that Misty's had, but he seemed disappointed.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Do you have any good advice?" Ash looked at him in desperation.

"You tend not to listen to my advice so I'm not sure what you want me to tell you," Brock frowned.

"I don't know, tell me something encouraging or some way to get Misty to forgive me. I mean I know this was my fault, but you made me paranoid and when she mentioned talking to you I got scared," Ash admitted.

"You could tell her the truth," Brock replied pointing out what was the simplest option and likely the most effective, but the one Ash didn't want to consider.

"I know, but what if she get's mad? What if she decides she hates me because I like her or it makes things weird between us?" Ash asked running his hands through his hair and didn't realize he finally said out loud that he did like Misty.

"I can't speak for Misty, but I highly doubt that'll happen, even if Misty doesn't reciprocate your feelings she won't be mad at you. You two have been friends too long to let something like romantic interest ruin your friendship," Brock reassured Ash resting a hand on his shoulder.

POV (Misty)

Misty was seething the entire trip home which led to people giving her wide breadth on the bus, she couldn't believe Ash. This was the last thing she thought would happen and she didn't think he'd be so horrible about turning her down. It wasn't like she was talking about anything life changing, her anger hadn't abated by the time she made it to the gym.

Her sisters could see boiling anger in her expression and body language as she stomped into the gym, knowing she was being overly dramatic, but she was too mad to care.

"Um, what happened to you," Lily asked recoiling slightly when Misty's glare turned onto her. Thankfully Misty knew who she was upset with and calmed herself in front of her sisters who were all looking at her with undisguised fear and worry.

"It's Ash he's an idiot," Misty ground out unable to push away her anger.

"Ooh, what's the story?" Violet looked interested, but the expression fled when Misty's glare came back in full force.

"This is what happened..." Misty recanted her tale as honestly as she could trying not to let anger color the conversation and change it.

"I would totally break up with my boyfriend if he was such a jerk," Violet looked angry on Misty's behalf which Misty was thankful for, she didn't want to be the only person who thought Ash was insensitive.

"Violet, your last boyfriend was a jerk," Daisy reminded her reminding Misty of the idiot she used to date.

"Well he's my ex now, and that's the point right?" Violet cocked her head.

"Is that really the point?" Misty asked gesturing to herself.

"Oh, right your problem. I say just go without him give him some time to feel bad without you there," Lily offered her plan, "If he doesn't miss you, just break up. If he does miss you more than you miss him you win."

The plan was fine, but Misty didn't want to look at it as a game to win. Regardless she still planned to win, whatever game she and Ash were playing now.

Yes, I have finally posted another chapter and I'm sorry it took so long for whatever reason I couldn't get into writing this for a long time, instead I wrote my other stories in some other fandoms and had fun, but I feel the creative juices starting to flow so don't worry it won't be multiple months before I post another chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one, I know a fight is rarely fun, but it was necessary. Plus I think Misty needs to get away from Ash for a bit and get back to herself (This is Misty's Story), but don't worry too much things tend to work themselves out eventually.

Please review and let me know what you think and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Pokemon on Hand

Ash: Unchanged from previous chapter

Misty: Unchanged from last chapter

Trivia (Sorry if there's any overlap with other chapters, I lose track)

-The Orange islands are actually named the Orange Archipelago

-The Pokemon on the Orange islands often have different colors than their counterparts across the world due to the climate.

-Most of Ash's badges were given to him rather than actually won, hence Misty's line "Pity badges"

-Rudy was an Orange Island Gym Leader and had a crush on Misty, which he made apparent making Ash angry.

-He asked her to stay on the island with him and in the Japanese version he asked her to marry him. She eventually turned him down to stay with Ash and Brock. Rudy realized she cared for Ash and told him he was a lucky guy, Ash of course didn't realize why.

-The group visited thirty three islands during their travels in the Orange islands (I'm not 100% sure, but I think that's right)