Chapter 2: Unanswered

"The forest answers in the same way one calls to it" – Finnish proverb

Starting out alone was hard. Ash found it was more difficult than his initial journey had been, as this time he had an idea of what he was missing, so it was no surprise that he was quick to pick up new traveling companions (granted his innate bike wrecking nature also helped).

He thought maybe things would resume normalcy now that he was surrounded by fellow travelers again, especially since Brock had returned, but he still found himself missing the girl who's departure left him oddly hollow. There was something in their friendship that just felt different than the kinship he shared with everyone else.

And so, it started with letters…

He imagined her reactions as he wrote them.

He could envision her amused smile and snort at the fact that he'd be forever indebted to the bicycle industry at this rate, and how he honestly wasn't sure he could make friends any other way.

He could see the beaming grin she'd give him as he described overcoming a tough battle and how strong his team was becoming.

And even if normally he wouldn't spill the details of his fears...to her it felt natural. He could almost see those intense blue-green eyes staring at him, listening pensively, as he penned his insecurities and sent them via post.

The problem was waiting for the pointed question that would cause him to rethink his entire worldview, but phone calls to another region were expensive so pidgey post was all he had to keep the invisible thread of companionship that connected them.

It got a little better when Max introduced him to the concept of emails. They were far easier to transfer and there was no risk of losing them when he stumbled into another of Team Rocket's traps or fell off cliff faces into rivers careening through canyons.

The only real pitfall was that he was a horribly slow typist and given he wasn't carrying a computer with him at all times, he could only write them at the Pokemon center.

So he sent her quick updates when he could, and read her replies that were sent with great detail and care as she always had computer access.

Somehow, it still never felt like enough since he could tell from her writing that there were details of her life she was holding back from sharing with him, and these things would be easy enough to flush out if he could simply hear her voice.

He spent many nights staring at the at the stars in the silence of midnight air, wondering why she was holding back on things, and if he'd done something to make it this way or if she too felt the awkwardness of staring at a blank page and trying to figure out how to communicate everything you want to say without overwhelming the person you're sending it to.

Whether by luck or skill, he began to win more regularly and with that came some pocket change that he set aside for long distance calls.

The calls were warmer in tone than emails and letters had been and he felt himself get a bit giddy at the sound of her voice in a way that left him beaming the rest of the day. If he was lightning, she was his grounding force and he felt less aimless whenever they spoke.

But the short calls still didn't feel like enough and he wished for phone calls that turned into long drawn out late night talks, but that wasn't what either of their budgets allowed.

Still, the calls were a strong motivator to win. Budgeting was never his strong suit, but beating gym leaders came with petty cash meant to get him to the next gym as an incentive set out to keep challengers coming in. Normally he used the little bit of extra funding to splurge on a big meal, but now he found himself opting to call her. And if Brock noticed this change in behavior, he hardly drew attention to it other than a knowing eyebrow raise and small smirk.

Ash's calls to Misty were very formulaic, but hearing her voice was worth it.

"I won again," he'd tell her as she picked up the receiver and turned on her camera.

"That much I gathered by the fact that you're calling me," she'd reply with some sort of teasing snark that would deflate his ego back to acceptable limits.

He'd notice the effort she'd put in to hiding her tired eyes that were a result of the endless tasks that piled up at the gym, but he could see it in the little wistful glances she'd shoot when he described his latest adventures.

Despite that, he'd give her all the details about his battle, ask her about her gym leader life (knowing that half of what she said was a lie to cover up how miserable she felt), he'd tell her about Team Rocket's latest scheme, and they'd eventually settle into small platitudes of missing one another before the call reminded them that time was nearing its end and whatever they wanted to say should be said quickly or would have to wait until next time.

He knew there were things he wasn't saying in much the same way she was holding something back. But they'd both decided to ignore the phanpy in the room and put it off until the next call came.

In reality Ash wished for nothing more than to fall asleep in the sleeping bag adjacent to Misty after talking late into a campfire lit night, but that seemed an awkward thing to admit to her lest her feelings weren't the same.

And as calls were hard to come by given both of their busy schedules he began to supplement that communication with instantaneous messaging which was a new feature introduced on his pokedex so long as the area wasn't too remote.

Which quickly turned into good mornings and good nights every day…

He began to crave the short messages of good luck and support she'd send before his battles and the feeling struck him as odd.

However, he didn't even realize they were basically long distance dating until he saw her again.

Seeing her run up to the group brought with it a tangled jumble of unfamiliar emotions.

It wasn't the feelings you'd have greeting an old friend, there was a smattering of something more mixed in…a completeness that came from her taking a place at his side once again, and a fluttering of nerves that hardly should have existed when he knew the inner workings of her mind better than anyone else on the planet, but still the butterfree found a place crashing around in his stomach as he greeted her shyly in front of his new friends.

Suddenly it was a new world of wanting to hold her as tightly as possible and never let go.

And a fresh sorrow that came from having to devolve back to mere distance communication when she left again.

Ash began to expect Misty to be waiting at his mom's house whenever he returned in between regions and found himself with small pangs of disappointment when she wasn't there.

However, this visit was a little different. He was between regions again, having just returned from Unova and instead of their comfortable teasing nature, there was a palpable awkwardness to their interaction and dense as he was, Ash could tell she was building herself up to something that she'd clearly been holding back.

"Ash," her voice cut into his ruminating thoughts with a softness that he could tell was tinged with nerves.

"What's up Myst?" he casually replied, propping himself up on his elbows on the floor of his room. The full moon brought with it beams of light that illuminated the small bedroom in the Pallett residence.

"Your mom made kind of a weird comment to me today and I don't know how to interpret it," the redhead quietly mused aloud.

"She does that sometimes. I'm sure whatever it was, it didn't mean anything," Ash mumbled with a small tinge of red creeping across his nose.

He had a feeling he had a general idea of what his mom had said given he had to practically beg her to let Misty continue to share a room with him when he came home in between visits. Now that he was older, the matriarch Ketchum was less inclined to believe in the platonic relationship status they claimed.

"I guess...Maybe she's reading into things, but it'd be a bit clearer to me if I knew the answer to this...Do May or Dawn sleep in your bed when they come to visit?" Misty queried nervously.

"No, why?" Ash asked confused as to why that mattered.

"Because a long time ago you told me the reason you gave up your bed to me and slept on the floor was chivalry, but if you're not doing the same for them then it has to be another reason; I could have just as easily slept on the couch tonight," Misty mumbled, turning to stare at the ceiling since any eye contact in dimly illuminated room was sure to break her trudgery through this minefield of a topic.

"Well May wanted to stay near Max, and Dawn...I dunno...Mom set up the guest room. You probably would have taken the guest room if it had been available when we traveled together and came back to Pallet," Ash weakly defended.

"But there's a guest room now and your mom said that you had insisted I stay in here instead..." Misty trailed off, leaving the implication hanging in the air.

"So?" Ash cluelessly asked.

"So why?" Misty stressed, internally smacking herself as, even after all these years, Ash was still one of the densest people she'd ever interacted with.

The silence that followed contained an entire eternity as far as Misty was concerned. It was as if the once boisterous and brash boy had gone mute as he struggled to find the words for what to say to her.

"I just miss you when you're gone, okay? This is the closest I get to the days where we traveled together and I don't know...somehow it just makes sense, ya know?" Ash fumbled fiddling with the corner of his sleeping bag.

"I get that," Misty affirmed and then took a deep breath before finally asking the question that had been on her mind, "but, Ash...what are we?"

*Chapter End*

Sorry (not too sorry) to leave it on a cliffhanger. I'm going to try my hardest to actually get the next chapter up on Friday night next week since if I don't post it Friday it likely won't be going up until Sunday.

Hope you're enjoying so far. Reviews, favs, and follows are always appreciated!

-FWFT