Disclaimer – Don't own Pokemon. Do own Emilie and any Pokemon I decide to make up along the way. Hmmm, maybe I'll use Trimewtant and Catamoran again.
On Angels Wings - Touched by an Angel
Misty walked through the door of the Pokemon center in City almost an hour later. She searched the room quickly as she stepped into the Pokemon centers reception and let a small smile come to her face as she spotted him a few seconds later.
His name was Ashton Satoshi Ketchum. He was a young boy from Pallet Town, she guessed somewhere about her age, and almost two inches (5cm) shorter than her. He had messy jet-black hair and chocolate brown eyes hidden beneath the brim of a red and white Pokemon league cap.
Misty's heart went out to him when she saw him sitting there dejectedly as his own was breaking. He was leaned forward; shoulders slumped and face in his hands as he stared at a spot on the floor gloomily. She knew that deep inside he doubted every dream he ever had, getting ready to give up on each and every one of them.
"I'm useless," he muttered to himself. "I don't even deserve Pikachu. I'm not worthy to be a Pokemon trainer, let alone a master."
"Yes you are," Misty told him supportively. "We all make mistakes, but you have to remember that the key to over coming your mistakes is to learn from them." She placed her hand lightly on his shoulder in an effort to comfort him.
Misty watched him carefully, just waiting for him to acknowledge her presence, even if it was just a simple nod. The longer she waited the angrier she got and no one wants to get Misty angry.
Then it suddenly struck her.
"No duh Misty," she told herself. "You're in angel form. He can't see you."
"Poor Pikachu," Ash sighed suddenly as he looked towards the emergency room where a red light shined above stating that there was an operation occurring.
"I didn't realize Pikachu was that bad," she said. "I'm sure I healed him a lot more than that."
"Why did he have to go and protect me?" Ash continued slouching back into his previous position and returning to the rather interesting spot on the floor.
"Don't worry," she told him despite the fact that he couldn't hear her. "I'll go check on Pikachu."
Misty quickly made her way into the operating room. Nurse Joy and Chansey were looking unhopeful and Misty knew they were running out of ideas.
"The stats are looking bad," Nurse Joy sighed. "I'm not sure what else I can do."
"Then leave it to me," Misty said as she cracked her knuckles and got to work.
Nurse Joy gasped as the statistics on the machine suddenly began to get better by the second.
"It must be a miracle," Nurse Joy gaped.
"Yup, my work here is done," Misty smiled to herself as she returned herself to her own body and awoke in the Viridian Forest where she'd left it.
Misty quickly got up off the ground and brushed the dirt and twigs off her denim cutoff shorts. It was already starting to get dark by now so she grabbed her red knapsack off the ground and began the long walk to Viridian.
She was about halfway there and getting cold and scared because of the lack of a flashlight in the growing darkness when a gleaming mirror caught her eye as it caught the last light of the sun. Though the thing that had really caught her attention was the shinny, deep red handlebar attached to it with the initials MW intricately engraved into one side. It was only a few feet further from that she found the other one, her brand new bell no longer attached.
By following a trail of debris as she picked her way through the piles of scrap metal and glass only to find that this was all that remained of her bike, if you could even call it that.
Fueled by her growing temper she took the second half of the journey twice as fast and was once again walking through the doors of the Pokemon center (not literally this time) in no time.
Misty spotted him straight away, especially seeing as she knew where to look. She stalked right up to without even bothering to check if he was paying attention before yelling her head off at him. "You moron! How could you do this to my bike?" she asked holding up half a handle bar and a broken mirror. "It looks like you ran over it with a steamroller," she added distastefully.
'Kasumi,' a voice in her head warned.
He looked up at her, his face painted with sorrow. His eyes were so heavy with worry and fear that she was waiting for the tears to break free any moment. He looked so different from the carefree boy she had met at the river. It seemed as if in the few hours since they met he had changed into a different person as the light that used to shine in his eyes disappeared. It was as though in those few hours he had grown up.
"I'm sorry," he said trying (unsuccessfully!) to force a tiny smile onto his face for her benefit. "I can't seem to do anything right."
"What's wrong?" she asked as all her anger melted away and she was flooded with a mixture of sorrow and guilt. She took the chair beside him and placed a hand on his arm comfortingly. "Look I shouldn't have gotten so angry," she said gently, "I mean it's just a bike."
"No," he said turning to face her. "I deserved that." He quickly looked away from her and returned to staring at the floor his cheeks slight shade of red. He stared at the ground so intensely, as if he was waiting for something to just materialize out of nowhere on that very spot any second now.
Misty wished she could tell him what she was, and then maybe she could reassure him, let him know that Pikachu was all right. That he was safe now and that he'd be able to see him soon. But the rules were so strict, they didn't think that humans would understand it, didn't know how they would react. So this time she had to deal with things the mortal way.
"Tell me what's wrong," she told him as she placed her hand on top of his.
"You were right," he said shrugging his shoulders. He didn't lookup but his focus moved to his hand.
Misty pulled her hand away as she noticed this and blushed from embarrassment.
"You know I thought hearing that would make me feel a lot happier than this," she told him.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I have three older sisters," Misty explained. "One of them is always right."
Ash let out a small chuckle and turned to look at Misty.
Misty smiled and asked, "Now, are you going to keep sidetracking this conversation or are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
Ash couldn't help but smile just for a second as she somehow pushed all his confusion and doubt away just by being there. But then it all came rushing back as he was reminded why he had met her in the first place and why he was sitting in the Pokemon Centers reception at night instead of trying to sleep.
Ash sighed sullenly. "Pikachu is in there," he told her pointing towards the emergency room, "and its all my fault. I threw the rock and that's why he got hurt in the first place. Then when they were chasing us after you helped us from the river Pikachu used up all the energy he had left trying to protect me."
Misty decided it was best not to mention that she already knew all that and smiled at him sympathetically.
"It's not your fault," she told him. "Maybe the first one was, but the second was his choice, and Pikachu choose to protect and . . . that's probably not helping," she sighed to herself. "Look," she told, "I can't explain how or why, but somehow I know that Pikachu is going to be okay. Trust me."
"Thanks," he told her.
Suddenly they heard a loud ding and the red light above the emergency room went off. Ash stood up as Nurse Joy came in smiling.
"Ash Ketchum," she said. "You can go see your Pokemon now."
Ash smiled, a real, full smile and began to run to where he could see Pikachu then stopped abruptly and turned back to Misty.
"Uh," he began his cheeks growing red and hot. "You see I was . . . uh . . . just wondering . . . I just wanted to ask you . . . what's your name?"
Misty smiled and blushed slightly. "It's Misty," she told him nervously.
"Thanks Misty," he said.
"Y- your welcome," she stuttered nervously blushing as she looked down at the floor.
Ash smiled back at her then turned and walked to the room. He opened the door gently hoping not to wake any of the recovering Pokemon.
He walked up to Pikachu's small cot and watched him sleep.
"I'm so sorry," Ash whispered.
"Cha," the small yellow Pokemon said softly as it rolled onto its side.
"Hey little buddy," Ash smiled. "I'm glad you're okay." He took Pikachu into his arms and stroked his fur softly. "I'll understand if you want to find another trainer," Ash told him. "One who doesn't cause so much trouble."
Pikachu shook his head.
"Good," Ash said, "because I know we can make a good team." He stroked the Pokemon softly and subconsciously looked in the direction of the reception where he could almost see the girl with red hair relaxing in her seat.
"There's something about her," Ash murmured more to himself than Pikachu. "She seems different from other girls, just so different from anyone I've ever met. Its like there's these two parts of the same person and they go on and off just like that. It's strange but I just get the feeling that I've known her in some other place or time," Ash mused. "Have you ever felt like that?" he asked Pikachu.
The small mouse Pokemon shook its head.
"I think I might ask her to come with us," Ash continued. "I mean if it's ok with you."
Pikachu nodded and smiled. He could already feel so close to Ash and because of that he felt close to her. She had already done so much for him, for both of them and part of him knew that somewhere Ash knew that too.
Pikachu looked at the angel and smiled to himself. He could feel himself drifting to sleep and knew it was down to the gentle touch of the angel standing at Ash's side. It was a touch so light that you could barely feel it unless you knew she was there and so gentle that it warmed you right through and felt like a light breeze caressing your skin.
Ash looked down on Pikachu unaware of her head resting on his shoulder and her hand placed gently on his arm as she studied Pikachu adoringly and silently promised them her protection.
If anyone else had been able to see the picture perhaps they would have imagined them to be like a small family, like a couple watching over a sick child, but to anyone else all that was in the room was a boy and his Pokemon. The angel went unnoticed.
It was hard to believe that she could be unseen with the incredible beauty held within her. She had long red hair and beautiful blue green eyes so clear that you could see forever in them. She had pale peach skin, red lips and high cheekbones. Her eyes almost seemed to smile at you lit up her entire face with a happiness that wasn't transferred to her lips.
"Pika . . ." he started but stopped as he saw the angel put a finger to her lips. Pikachu could understand it all, the words she said and the ones she didn't say. His eyes felt heavier and heavier as he struggled just to stay awake for a few minutes more.
"I know you'll like her Pikachu," Ash told him. "I just hope she agrees."
"Pika," he said dreamily as he drifted back to sleep.
"It's alright," Ash said. "You need your rest now." With that he gently placed the Pokemon back in his cot and said a quiet good night before making his way back to the reception.
There he found Misty fast asleep on the chair. He looked at her and sighed contently without even realizing he was doing it until she suddenly began to stir.
She sat up and stretched then looked across at Ash confused by the strange look on Ash's face.
"What's wrong?" she asked. "Is Pikachu okay?"
Ash nodded. "I wanted to ask you something," he told her.
"Shoot."
"I was wondering if you would . . . er . . . no . . . will you . . . what I mean is," Ash began to stutter as he tried to get the words out.
'Maybe I can make this easier for him.' Misty thought to herself.
"You know there's still a matter of my mangled bike," she told him. "When you told me you'd give it back to me someday I presumed all in the one piece."
"Well I . . ." Ash began trying to think of a way to explain it all.
"Well I've decided I'm not leaving you until you give it back to me," she said. "So it seems like were in this together. You're stuck with me Ash."
"Really?" Ash asked excitedly then calmed down when he realized he had done so. "I mean really?" he asked again using a more nonchalant tone of voice.
"I guess," she replied in the same nonchalant tone. "I mean what else am I supposed to do."
"What about your sisters?" Ash asked, "or your parents?"
"My parents are gone," she said quietly.
"I'm sor . . ." Ash began before Misty cut in.
"Anyway," she said trying to be extra perky no matter how she was feeling on the inside. 'Why did he have to mention my parents,' she thought to herself. "Have you ever tried living in a house with three other teenage girls and only the one bathroom? It's not a pretty thought," she joked trying to move away from the topic of her parents. "So where are we heading to anyway?"
"To the next town I guess," Ash replied.
"Then we should both get some sleep before sunrise," Misty suggested, "or we'll both be falling asleep in the middle of the road."
"Goodnight Misty," he told her softly.
"'Night Ash."
to be continued
Look, I wrote you all a nice long chapter to make up for that really short chapter two. And parts of it are even kind of good.
You know, I think this is what I get for not putting this story up for so long. About half of the chapters are written in one style and as my style has matured since then the other half aren't nearly as contrived.
Well, now that I've used my word of the day I guess I should probably end on my usual note. Just a little further down this page there is a lovely little button, kind of a lilac-y purple colour and a scroll-y box thinge. Just press it and do what comes naturally, just go with your instincts people and hope for the best.