Spitfire Chapter 4: Through

Misty's motto the two days that it took her and Brock to travel from Cerulean City to Pallet town was "fake it until you make it". A saying that made sure she was mentally prepared for her soon to be first meeting of her rival that won, and her old friend.

Between swapping war stories with Brock, they took turns talking about what they had done with their life since they stopped traveling with Ash. Misty was for the most part a very renown Kanto Gym leader by this point. Having greatly improved her battling, she was a force to be reckoned with. Brock's research was making his pokemon food known around most of the Kanto, and the Hoenn regions, but he still spent a majority of his time trying to uncover new pokemon, and further his knowledge about breeding.

Misty made the offhanded remark that "Wasn't breeding just a fancy word for having sex" And Brock flipped out for an hour that there was much more to breeding than that.

Aside from that, their walk was a nice one, stopping in the pokemon center in Viridian City, and sleeping out on the road one night was a great refresher, and reminder, of why Misty's new life was just so much better than her old life.

Regardless of her new found appreciate for her bed, entering Pallet Town always felt like deja vu for Misty, no matter how many times she entered the place—it never changed. The houses, roads, and trees, were always the same. She wondered if it ever snowed in Pallet Town to break up the roads; or if the weather was always perfect in the small farming community. Unlike Cerulean city, which only seems to get bigger and brighter every year.

As Brock and Misty made their way through the town, they saw Professor Oak's lab sitting at the top of a hill, and Misty pointed at it with half-glee.

"Should we stop in to say hi?" Misty asked jokingly, and Brock shook his head quickly, too quickly. Oak could talk for days, they would never leave that place if they went in to visit.

"No, I think we should get to Delia's house. She's been expecting us for awhile." After a quick pause, he made a bemused sigh. "I still think we should have paid to take the wagon trail here." He groaned, thinking of how much quicker it would have been. But Misty rolled her eyes at Brock.

"I'm not paying 500 poke dollars just to ride on a stupid bumpy wagon. It was easier to walk."

"but a lot longer." He retorted, and Misty frowned at him generously.

"Fair enough, but it doesn't matter. We still made it here on time." Misty reminded him, and Brock laughed slightly.

"I wonder if there will be a lot of pretty news reporters!?" Brock's eyes turned into stars, and Misty clubbed him over the head with her fist as they entered the vicinity of the Ketchum Residence.

"You never change, do you?" She barked as a vein twitched in the corner of her face.

Their actions had caught the attention of one specific person, who was already bounding over the fence and running after the duo before they could respond properly.

"Misty, Brock!" Ash declared while tackling them both into a group hug.

–

It was nearing lunchtime, and he wasn't sure what to do with himself. Serena busied herself in the kitchen with Delia, and Bonnie and Clemont were stolen by Tracey to visit his old pokemon—Delia insisted that Ash remain put, so that if any of his friends wander in, he will be there to greet him.

The awkwardness was nearly unimaginable however, and so he made any excuse possible to step outside for a moment, leaving his 'girlfriend'-he blushed—cooking with his mom. If he gave Serena no credit at all, she was at the very least a good cook. He watched his hands while chewing up his bottom lip.

Distance, and time. They changed everything. It changed him, he wondered if it changed everyone else, too. Call it naivety, or ignorance, but Ash hadn't been aware that so much time had passed since he separated from Misty, he wondered what time would do to their friendship—or if she would even show up, for that matter. When he called the gym, she didn't answer; and he realized for the first time that he had no idea what her local address or contact information was, and it sickened him. Some friend he was.

Regardless, the recent infatuation from Serena opened his eyes to a lot of things... He stroked his chin, where even at his older age, he could not manage to even form stubble. When it came time to invite people to his celebration party, he found himself hand-dialing each person; feeling a strange wash of guilt for not calling them all more often.

May responded quickly through her gear, she sounded excited even though she was in Hoenn again at the time of his call. She and Max promised to be there. Dawn, in Johto, was very supportive, elated even, that Ash called her to invite her, and said she would take the next train boat over. Iris was surprised that Ash knew how to work a phone—he pouted—but agreed to visit, but didn't know how long it would take to travel here. To add to the list of things he didn't know: He had no idea Max even started his pokemon journey, or where Cilan was, just that he answered his gear with a busting laugh. Brock was in Viridian City when he got a hold of him, and he seemed surprised—didn't even catch his match on television. That being said, his rivals, Paul and Richie promised to try, but couldn't guarantee.

With the help of technology, he could get in touch with everyone easily. At that thought, his face fell the slightest, and he exhaled.

He pulled on a lose string in his glove and made a face. The only one he couldn't get a hold was Misty. The person he called least of all. Maybe he was intentionally ignoring him? But he was sure that wasn't it, either. Through Hoenn they still wrote letters and phoned one another often, and then when he went to Sinnoh, they still occasionally wrote letters...but after that, it was just for special occasions. He would get a card for his birthday and for Christmas...but that was it. Soon after his start in Kalos, the letters stopped—and he honestly wondered if he and Misty were...

His stomach ached uncomfortably, and his breakfast suddenly felt very volatile in his stomach. He kicked himself in the head for not keeping in touch with more people, especially with how surprisingly easy it turned out to be... He hung his head low, and sighed, letting his own emotions penetrate under his flesh. His brain was silent lost in the abyss of time until he heard familiar and pungent voices up the road away. He turned his head with a snap, and a swirl of emotions erupted into his chest as he bound over the fence, and ran after them.

He would have to be a better friend, but for now; he was just over joyed to see them.

"Misty, Brock!"

–

The hug felt strange to Misty, as if something wasn't right-what was it? When Ash pulled away from his old friends, his voice was moving at such a speed, she could neither understand him, or hear him. She had to blink her eyes to help clear her head, and Brock cried falsely.

"She hit me, Ash." He whined, and Ash let out a bellowing laughter that was...was not his. Misty's eye brows knit together, unable to place her finger on what exactly it was that was so...

She slapped his hands together, a light bulb going off in her head. His voice was different—deeper, and Misty was taken directly aback from it. Her mouth fell a gap.

"What else is new?" Ash joked casually while turning to Misty, he straightens his back, an she could see how much taller he was in comparison, and her face drained of color. Her mind screamed, and she was sure that what ever had broken when she saw Serena kiss Ash, was a lot bigger, and deeper than the threshold she gave it credit for. She, and her mind were split in two. He moved in to grab her shoulders, looking a bit confused to her reaction, but happy to see her none the less.

"I'm glad you ca-"

She stepped back, however, not letting him touch her.

"Your voice." She finally responded, pointing an accusing finger at him. "Fake amazement, mock his manliness, do not say anything else!" Her brain cried, and Misty was grateful that her brain was at least on her side today. Ash scratched his cheek in response, retracted his hands as a small brush crawling over his cheeks—this simply wouldn't do.

"I didn't think you would ever hit puberty." She added with a snigger, and immediately deflated Ash's ego; he went from ecstatic, to dispirited within seconds. Both Ash and Brock leaned up against one another, both of their egos punctured by the red-headed vixen. They hung there, rambling about how mean Misty was, and how she never said anything nice about him. Misty looked between them for only a couple of moments before her eye twitched and she scoffed them off, crossing her arms.

"Oh knock it off." She stated, annoyed at their behavior—at least some things never changed.

In all reality, Ash smiled at Misty, and her heart grew three sizes, whether she wanted it to or not.

"I'm glad you made it—when you didn't answer your phone, we didn't think you would know to come." He watched his friend, who was now a couple of inches shorter than him...with, dazzling brown eyes that she almost let herself get sucked into; until an important feature finally clicked in, and she raised her hand as if it was a level.

"Look, I know it's been a long time since we last sa-"

"Are you taller than me now?" She interrupted what might have been a heartfelt apology, and Ash stepped back, surprised.

Recovered, Ash rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah, I guess so."

She wanted to avoid the conversation of how long it has been since they last saw, or spoke with one another, for as long as feasibly possible; and so she continued.

"I bet I could still take you in a fight." She said, sparking lightning in his eyes, he met her glare.

"I bet you couldn't. But you're lucky! I would never hit a girl." He barked while putting his arms out in a victorious shrug. Misty's face spasmed.

"I thought I was too boar-ish to be a girl? Didn't you say that?" She barked, knowing she had won the battle, but Ash's face only faltered a bit.

"I was a kid when I said that." He tried, rubbing the back of his head once again.

"But you still said it." And with that, she raised her hand, and turned away from him. In her mind, she fist pumped herself in victory whispering: "Nailed it" to herself as she moved away from the two boys.

Brock was staring at her approvingly; she handled herself well, not at all what he thought would happen. He was suspecting that she would mentally prepare herself the entire way here, just to have a nuclear meltdown the moment she saw Ash. That moment might be saved for Serena though; so he better not count his togepis yet.

"She's as fiery as ever." Ash complimented with a grin to Brock, whom he draped an arm over, and started to walk with. "It's good to know some things don't change, aye, Brock? I really thought that it would be... Never mind." Ash muttered nervously while pulling him into the house.

–

Ash honestly thought that Misty would be a different person, that things would be awkward between the two of them. That she would be someone he could no longer relate too—but he guessed that the almost two years of absence wasn't as harmful to their friendship as he thought it would be. He was grateful for that, and even more so that she showed up for his party at all.

But, once he entered the house and saw her completely stunned in the doorway, maybe he was just a little too naïve to believe that nothing had changed. His eyes darted around the room, unaware of what made her freeze so solidly. And when he found none he turned his gaze back to her. In a very robotic way, she turned slowly at Brock, with an expression that Ash could only assume was "I can't do this" as it was an expression he had right before a really difficult battle.

"Misty, what's wrong?" Ash asked, but it was only met with a worse reaction, as he heard his mother squeal from the kitchen.

"Misty? Is that the name that I heard?!" She screamed from the kitchen, and the look Misty gave him made him feel very small and insignificant. Good ol' Misty glare, at least she still had that going for her.

He mouthed an "I'm sorry" to her right before his mother came crashing in, invading all of her personal space, and embracing the young red-head. He wasn't even sure why he was sorry, or why he felt guilty. He wasn't sure what was wrong with her—Misty genuinely liked his mom the last he checked, but at the same time, however, Ash also wanted to stash Brock and Misty into the living room, and get caught up without his mother's mingling...but right now, that didn't seem like it would happen.

"Misty? The gym leader?" Serena's voice broke the cooing happiness, and Misty went limp in Delia's arms. Ash saw Brock reach out towards Misty, but her soul had already left her body.

Today was the day of reckoning.

Author's note:

I was trying to avoid using these, but just to clarify some quick stuff asked by a reviewer:

No, this is not a harem. No, I will not intentionally make one character out to be evil; however, I will have some fun; cat fights, drama, laughter, all that jazz. In many countries the drinking age is 18, therefore, booze.

Furthermore, I will do my best to not hate on any pairings, or offend anyone because of my preferences, but I also won't give away the final pairing(mostly because I haven't decided on one). My track record typically leans bias into pokeshipping, though. So, be warned I guess?

Again, this is not a harem; I don't think Ash would be into that. Now, if it were Brock...

See you next chapter!