SO here we go. This is like the fastest I've ever updated, which is really sad…any who! I don't own pokemon…or misty would be around more!
CH.3 A shock to the system
"Hey guys look, there's Arborville!" May shouted, jumping up and down from her place in line.
"Have you ever been here before?" Drew asked, sounding rather annoyed.
"Of course not! But they said Arborville was the town in the trees outside the forest, and there's a town, outside the forest, and in the trees!" she stuck out her tongue, and he tried to fight back a smile.
"Uh, ok." Ash began. "How are we going to get up there?" The group gazed up at the trees, at a loss for what to do next."
"Hey, up here guys!" A familiar voice shouted from a tree up ahead.
"Was that?" May wondered, shielding her eyes and looking around. "It is! Max, hey what are you doing up there?" she called up to her younger brother.
"I've got the ladder here, climb up!" Max shouted, throwing down a rope ladder. A few minutes later, Misty was the last one to climb up, and they all stood around.
"So, you got the message we left for you?" Brock asked Max.
"Only just barely." The youngest boy answered. "But I did, and I'm here and ready for an adventure! They don't seem to happen as much without you around Ash." He admitted.
"Uh, so it's looking like no one is going to introduce me, so hi, I'm Dawn!" Dawn chirped, bounding up from the back of the group.
"Nice to meet you Dawn." Max replied, shaking the girls hand. "So, Ash, let's see that letter."
Ash handed the now dog eared piece of paper to the bespectacled youth.
"It's defiantly hand written, and it seems to have some traces of, well, unexplainable substance. Did you say it came from the future?" he asked.
"Yeah, it has to have. And it told me to come here and find Celebi, and that's what I think we should go do!" Ash exclaimed, heading for the ladder again.
"Now hold on a second." Drew said, stopping Ash in his tracks. "Do you really think it's smart to go charging into a strange forest, looking for a strange pokemon, without even thinking about it first?" Everyone just stared at him.
"Look Drew," Brock said kindly. "We actually have been here before, and Celebi is our friend. Plus, this sort of thing always happens with Ash. That's probably how we get into those adventures Max was talking about."
Drew looked displeased, but did not argue the point any farther.
"Alright then, let's go!"
--
The whole gang finally started walking into the forest. Ash and Misty had begun one of their trademark arguments in the short distance about getting lost.
"Ash you always get us lost!" she huffed.
"Do not!" he expertly retorted.
"And so it begins." Brock said. Dawn, Drew, May, and Max all looked curiously at him.
"Do too!" Misty fired back.
"Never fails." Brock smiled.
Ten minutes later, they hadn't stopped.
"GUYS WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF!" Max shouted. "We're here."
The two stopped and blinked at him. After about ten seconds they heard a small noise.
"Bii?"
"Celebi!" they all shouted. "Bii!" the little floating bug cheered.
"Hey Celebi, are you here to take me into the future?" Ash asked, stepping forward.
"Bi, Bi." It said, nodding.
"Alright, see you guys soon! Come on Pikachu." Pikachu started to jump onto Ash's shoulder, but was knocked back to the ground by Celebi.
"Pika!" it said angrily, it's cheeks sparking.
"Ash, I think only you are supposed to go." Misty said, picking up Pikachu.
"Oh," he said, now sounding nervous. "Bi." Celebi agreed, and then grabbed his arm. There was a blinding flash, and Ash and Celebi were gone.
"Be careful Ash." May said. Drew glanced at her sideways, almost glaring.
"Pika chuuu." Misty nodded.
"He'll be alright." She took a deep breath. "Guys, I…I have something I wanna tell you." Everyone turned to look at her, half expecting her to finally come out with her feelings for him.
"I think I know who sent that note."
--
"Biii!" Ash and Celebi popped out of a light in what looked like it must've been a city. The place was desolate, even the sky seemed darker. Buildings lay in ruin, and a single woman was standing in the middle of a square, her back to them, and her long red hair blowing in the slight breeze.
"Uh, excuse me miss? I'm Ash Ketchum, and…"
"I know who you are." She said, not turning around. Her voice sounded sad and hopeless.
"Uh, are you the one who sent the note? M.K?" he asked timidly. The woman closed her eyes, one single tear leaking out from beneath the lid.
"I am." She turned around to face him and opened her eyes. Ash had seen those eyes before.
"Misty?!" he questioned. She burst into tears and ran at him, engulfing him in a massive bear hug. He patted her awkwardly on the back.
"Oh Ash, I didn't think I would ever see you again." She backed away from him, looking him up and down.
"Why? Aren't we friends anymore?" he asked, sounding confused.
"Oh, Ash. Come with me, I have something I want to show you." She turned and began to walk away in the direction of what Ash knew to be her gym.
Silence fell as they walked, and Ash looked around, taking in the devastation around him, and the lack of people. Finally his curiosity got the better of him, and he asked.
"What, um, happened here?" Misty did not answer right away, but took a deep breath.
"The beginning of the end."
The reached the gym, or at least it must be Ash reasoned. Misty led him through the broken out door to the empty hole in the ground that had once been the amazing pool.
"Ash, Cerulean was the first strike when the war broke out." She said softly.
"War?" Ash sounded if possible, more confused. "What war."
"The war. You see, it all started when Nyandar, oh but you wouldn't know him, anyway, he took control of Team Galactic, which led to him taking control of Team Magma, then Aqua, and finally Team Rocket. With that sort of control, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before he did something terrible, so we all rallied behind the Chosen One, to stop him before he could." At this Misty stopped, beginning to shake.
"What happened Mist? Was it something bad?"
"Ash, it was the worst! Nyandar knew everyone was organizing, but he knew that without the Chosen One, it would be a pointless effort. So we set up extra security, to protect him, but none of us saw what was coming next. Nyandar did attack, but not the Chosen One. When he found out about it, he went to save her, but he never came back." She was crying fully now, with the pain of remembering.
"He, he died?" Ash asked his growing concern sounding in his voice.
"He did, and without him, the resistance was a massive failure, and well, now you can see what happened." She nodded out the broken windows.
"That's terrible, but what does it have to do with me?" Ash asked finally.
"Ash, don't you see? You were the Chosen One, you always have been, not just in the Orange Islands. Do you think every trainer meets as many legendary pokemon as you do? Of course not! You're special Ash, and that's why I need to go back with you, and stop all this."
Ash just stared at her. "I, me, I'm dead? I die in ten years?" he said in disbelief. She nodded, tears still streaming, though no sound came from her.
"Oh." He whimpered. And then he blacked out. Misty knelt down and scooped his limp form up.
"Alright Celebi, let's go." The little creature came down, there was a flash of light, and they were gone.
"Really Misty, you know who sent it?" Dawn asked excitedly.
"That handwriting, looked like…like mine." She said softly.
"You? But M.K. that means…" But Brock was cut off by a sudden blinding flash, and the reappearance of Ash, Celebi, and an older red-haired woman who was holding Ash. The woman looked up as Misty ran forward.
"Is he?" Misty questioned, not daring to finish her sentence. The older woman shook her head.
"No, he's just had, ah, quite a shock. Pikachu, one from you might just wake him up." Pikachu obliged.
"Pi-ka-chuuu!" "Ah!" Ash jumped up as he was shocked.
"What happened?" he asked, looking up all the worried faces.
"You fainted, and we came back to your time." he turned to look at the grown-up version of Misty.
"Well what did you expect, you told me I was dead!" he said.
"Dead?!" everyone burst out together, looking at the woman.
"That is what I've come to prevent, like I told you." She nodded slightly.
"And you are?" Drew finally asked from his spot leaning against a tree behind the group.
"I'm…" she began.
"Me." Misty finished, walking over and staring up into her own face, ten years older.
"Mm hmm." She said. "I'm Misty ten years from right now." Everyone looked back and forth between the two Misty's trying to see some flaw, but they were unsuccessful.
"So if you wrote the note you can tell us what happened." May said hopefully.
"No, I can't. I'm here to stop the event about seven years before it happens. If I were to tell you everything, it could destroy the time stream."
"But how can you stop something seven years early?" Brock asked.
"Let's just say that now is when things start happening that lead up to it. If nothing happens now, nothing will later." She glanced over at her sixteen year old self who was helping Ash up and frowned.
"Well you're going to have to tell us something." The younger Misty said angrily, with her hands on her hips. "We can't just stay here in this forest forever."
"You're right. We should head to Sinnoh. Ash is battling there, and May and Drew can go out for the Grand Festival with Dawn." Older Misty said.
"Wait a minute. We have to stay together?" Drew said incredulously. "But we're already in the Jhoto…"
"Oh Drew, we don't have any ribbons yet, and what if Ash dies all because you didn't want to travel with a group." May shot at him. Drew looked annoyed but merely shrugged and flipped his green bangs out of his face. May blushed a little at this, and older Misty suddenly looked rushed and upset.
"Ok, so we'll need to get to the ferry, Ash, May, lead the way!" she pushed the two forward, and they all started to walk along the path. Dawn turned to Max and whispered as they went.
"Oh, she's a poet too!"
So there it is! Older Misty is now in the past, and Ash is necessary to the future! And just a note, I already have the next chap. Done so it will not be as long for an update!
Peace lovely reviewers!
STL