Episode 31: Setting Things Straight (part 1)
Episode 31 in my Fan Fiction series about the Pokémon journey of Ash and Angie. Involves some MorpheusShipping (Ash and Angie liking each other) so if you really don't like that idea, stop reading here. The rest, I hope you enjoy this fan-fiction.
Angie was in a very good mood this day. Not that she usually was grumpy or something, but somehow recent events made her even more cheerful than normal. She was humming a little tune, while staring at the Poké Ball in which her latest catch, the Dewgong they met in the small lake yesterday, was contained. Sometimes she even threw it up in the air, to catch it again, like it was a toy. Ash watched this spectacle with a mix of surprise and annoyance. He didn't sleep too well last night, and this affected his mood badly. In fact, he had hardly said anything this morning.
"If you keep tossing that Poké Ball up like that, that Dewgong will most likely get airsick, you know..." Ash suddenly spoke with a flat voice.
"So Mr. grumpy can speak after all," Angie replied teasingly.
"What did you just call me!?" Ash burst out.
"Well, you aren't exactly the example of cheerfulness this morning, you know," Angie defended her remark.
"Then stop that annoying playing with that Poké Ball," Ash said, "you act just like a little kid with her new toy."
"Oh do I!?" Angie almost shouted, with restrained anger, as she turned her head away from Ash, "I think you're just jealous. I don't remember the last time you caught a new Pokémon, Mr. Pokémon Master!"
Angie was expecting a loud "Oh yeah!?" from Ash, but he didn't say anything back. After a moment of silence, Angie turned her head back towards Ash. He had stopped walking, and stood there motionless, a couple of meters behind her, looking down at his feet. "Maybe that last remark was a bit too harsh," Angie thought, as she stared at her friend.
"Hey... Ash..." she started at a much softer tone than when they were arguing.
Ash didn't say anything back, the only thing he did was pull his cap a bit deeper over his face, covering his eyes. Pikachu, who hadn't noticed at first his trainer stopped walking, had run back, and was pulling at Ash's trousers to get his attention, but Ash didn't even respond to that. "I must have really hurt him with those words!" it flashed through Angie's mind. "Me and my big mouth!" she thought as she clenched her fists, before she quickly ran towards Ash.
"Oh Ash... I didn't mean that... I'm so sorry..." Angie started.
"No... you're right..." Ash said softly, with emotion audible in his voice, "I keep telling myself I can be a Pokémon Master, but a real Master would have caught a lot more Pokémon on his journey than me so far..."
For a moment Angie was silent. She was still a bit surprised that her unthoughtful remark had such a deep impact on Ash. "He seemed so confident lately, knowing what he was doing during a battle, learning new strategies," she thought. Angie never really told Ash, but to her he had become an example, even though she wanted to do things her own way occasionally. "Well, I caused this, so I'll have to fix this!" she concluding her thinking.
"Stop being so hard on yourself!" Angie said, as she stood in front of Ash and grabbed him by the shoulders.
"But..." Ash objected.
"No buts!" Angie interrupted him, "I shouldn't have said those things about it being a while since you last caught a Pokémon, okay!? Forget those words! Can you forgive me?"
"Why forgive you when you're right?" Ash answered, still with a soft voice.
"Will you stop it!? I wasn't right at all!" Angie said back, now with a mix of tears and anger in her voice, "Some trainers just catch as many Pokémon as they can, so they can pick the strongest ones out off their collection and leave the rest behind, while you stick with the Pokémon you've got, helping them to excel and surpass themselves. That's just the way you are, and that is what I admire in you as a trainer. Just say you forgive me... please..."
Ash began to realize Angie felt really bad over what she said. He slowly started to snap out off his pit of self pity, and looked her in the eyes. Ash saw how Angie looked at him, almost begging him for forgiveness for what she said to him.
"You're no lousy trainer, you hear me!" Angie added to her plea, now almost crying.
"You really think so?" Ash wondered.
"I do!" Angie replied, with a tear in the corner of her eye.
"Well, if you are so sure of that, I'll believe you, and I forgive you," Ash spoke calmly.
"Thanks!" Angie cried, as she held Ash tight.
Ash also put his arms around Angie, and they stood there for a while, just holding each other. Ash felt safe in Angie's arms and although Angie was at first just holding Ash to comfort him, she also felt secure, and cozy this way now. Then Pikachu started pulling on Ash's trousers again, and Shinx did the same with Angie, bringing both back to reality.
"You're okay now?" Angie asked carefully.
"Yeah, I'm fine, and you?" Ash replied.
"Okay, I guess," Angie said, "but why on earth did you react so strongly on what I said about you catching Pokémon? Usually when I make such a remark, you just counter it easily and send it back at me twice as strong. Then we argue about it a little, and then we drop the subject, wondering why we made such a fuss about such a small thing. But this time was different. Did something happen lately?"
For a moment Ash remained silent again, looking away from Angie, and she began to fear she shouldn't have asked what she just did, but should just have talked about something else. Then Ash turned towards her again.
"I...I've had a dream last night..." he admitted.
"Do you want to tell me what it was about?" Angie carefully informed.
"Okay..."Ash started, "I was battling against Paul again...and I lost badly, just like the last time we battled for real..."
"Oh..." Angie said, as she raised her eyebrows.
She remembered all too well how down Ash felt after he lost to Paul, when Ash visited Pallet Town, after leaving Sinnoh. It took her a lot of persuasive power to help him get his confidence back, and she was so glad when she saw the fire in his eyes again. "The same fire he had in his eyes when he held on to my hand, as that evil spirit tried to pull me into the darkness..." she thought. "I'll never let go!" was what Ash said back then, with such determination Angie never experienced before. "That's so like Ash, when he goes for it, he goes for it completely!" Angie thought. So she was a bit surprised to see him so unsure of himself again. "So what caused this?" she wondered.
"But I thought you were over that by now?" Angie started, "you've had quite a few great battles after that one, and you know you and your Pokémon have become much stronger by that."
"I realize that, Ange," Ash started, "but I can't help thinking Paul must have been training as well, so maybe he is still stronger than me..."
"Perhaps..." Angie replied, "but when you start thinking about losing now, you've lost already, before the battle even starts."
Ash looked a bit baffled at Angie. The logic of what she just said, struck him. "It sounds so simple, and yet..." he thought. But Ash couldn't deny the truth in Angie's words. He could feel she truly believed in him, as a person, and as a Pokémon trainer. His face began to look a little brighter.
"I...I have a chance..." Ash almost stuttered at first, then he clenched his fist, "Paul! Beware! I'm going to beat you one day!" he shouted.
"Pika!" Ash little buddy cheered, as he raised one of his front paws up in the air to support his trainer.
"Now that's more like it!" Angie cheered also, as she was relieved to see "confident Ash" again, and gave him a short kiss on the cheek.
"Huh? What was that for?" Ash wondered, very surprised.
"That's for good luck," Angie said, while winking, "and if you beat Paul, there are a lot more of those for you."
"Ah! If that won't keep me motivated enough to win, I don't know what will," Ash replied.
"Just keep that in mind then," Angie remarked, blushing slightly. "Now what do you think of a little snack before we move on?"
"Sounds great! Al that talking sure made me hungry," Ash agreed wholeheartedly.
"You sit down then, while I prepare something for us, okay?" Angie suggested.
A few sandwiches later and no one thought about the emotional moments earlier that morning anymore. Ash finally realized that it was a fine day once more, with the sun shining bright, and just a few clouds. And the clouds that blocked his view of things to come, had disappeared, blown away by Angie's supportive and kind words. "I'm so lucky I found her!" Ash thought, as he looked a bit dreamily at Angie. Winning from Paul, it sounded like a mission impossible at first, but not anymore. Ash was more determined than ever to beat him. And if he did, it would also be a gift to Angie, a reward for all the loving support she gave him, that helped Ash get this far. "I'll win for you, Ange!" he thought, as he clenched his fist slightly.
"Pika?" the little electric Pokémon suddenly uttered, raising one of his ears.
"What is it, Pikachu?" Ash informed.
"I think there is someone or something out there, Ash," Angie answered his question, "Shinx also heard something."
"Shinx, shinx!" Angie little electric friend confirmed what it's trainer just said.
"Come out and show yourself!" Ash shouted in the direction of where they heard the sounds coming from.
Suddenly they saw something moving in the bushes on the edge of the patch of grass, where they had been eating. There was definitely something out there! Then someone stepped out of the bushes.
"I hope you two don't mind me dropping by," a familiar voice said.
Ash's jaw almost dropped down on the floor at the sight of this unexpected visitor...
My 45th fan-fiction story. I apologize for any typing errors, or grammatically not 100% correct sentences. Remember, I am not a native English speaker or writer. I tried to make this story as close to the Pokémon series as possible, so that the characters will react roughly the same in this fictional story as they do in the series. Comments are always welcome, you can use the review function on this FanFiction site for that.
Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any trademarks of Pokémon. Any similarities to the works of others is purely accidental, and not meant as an infringement on anyone's achievements.