Chapter 7- "She had Misty Eyes"

{Psh, Lonewolf, I wouldn't get mad at you. Not at my #1 fan and chief critiquer, right? XD but yes, your suggestion WOULD be classified as a Drama-Bomb J And gracias! That was good advice- I forgot to put that stuff in :D

And I also mean to thank truch 28 (Forgot to edit the last chapter- sorry 'bout that.) And I meant it as their adventures as a totally different story- sorry for not being clear.

DISCLAIMER: Now, as much as I would love to own Pokémon, sadly, I do not.

Also, this chapter is kinda calm, to recover from the last one. But it sets up for the next chapter. So I'll talk to you guys in my next update!}

Ash leaned against the glass pane of the limo's window, silent. Gail climbed in, but he didn't move. Not a single muscle. He just kept staring forward with that blank stare, like he was split in two. Physically he was right there, but mentally he was in another universe. "I'm sorry, Ash." Gail said quietly, looking over at him with desperation in her eyes. She got no response. "I'm just sorry it happened." She said and gently took his hand. He just let it sit there, like it was lifeless. Gail squeezed it but he didn't show any signs of reception. "Ash?" She asked quietly. Nothing. "Ash, please say something. Look at me. Do something. I'm starting to worry." Ash had no response.

To that Gail took his face in her hands and turned them towards her. "Ash." She whimpered. He just stared straight through her- like she wasn't there. "Ash!" She said again, feeling her throat tighten. "Say something…" She croaked, but his head slipped out of her hands and back to the window pane. Gail felt a tear roll down her cheek. What is happening? It's like he's not alive… She thought and immediately knew what she had to do. Had he not been in his comatose state, he probably wouldn't agree to this. Gail reached over and cupped his face again. She searched his eyes for any recognition; there was none. "Anything…" She muttered before she pressed her lips to his. His were dull at first, motionless. Then they burst to life, then still in shock. Once they went rigid she quickly pulled away, and saw him blinking a few times, staring at her. But at least he wasn't just gone like he was a few seconds ago.

"Gail, what just…" He started but was cut off by Gail flinging herself into him and enveloping him in a hug.

"You're here! And you're talking!" She shouted in joy and buried her face into his shirt. Her scarlet tips of her long hair tickled his thighs.

"But what just…"

"Gail pulled herself away and beamed at him. "You just, went out of it! And now you're back!" She squealed.

Okay, let her be happy now, ask questions later. Ash just thought. "Yep, I'm back!" Not exactly sure what he was back from. But hey, it made her really excited, so why not just leave her to it?

Eric put an arm around Misty. "Hey, you okay?" It was an utterly stupid question to ask- Of course she wasn't okay! But he found it rolling off his tongue anyways. She shook her head, which was buried in her hands. "I won't talk to Abbie if you don't want. I promise." He vowed to the crying girl. Eric never really had his hand at sympathy, though.

"No." She said between sniffs and sobs. "Talk to her. It seems like you called…over... the years!" She choked up at that last part and the tears started to rush again. "Don't make the mistake…" Another sniffle. "Of not keeping in touch…" She looked up at him with red puffy eyes. "Or else you'll end up like me and…" She trailed off, not even being able to bring herself to say his name. She was bawling again in the next few moments.

Eric rubbed her back. "Don't beat yourself up over it. It is not your fault, and you know that. But you wanted things to turn out better. You wanted to make the friendship last. But sometimes, we are broken apart from those people we're so close with for a reason. Sometimes, we only meet up with an old friend to be able to see how much of a horror they turned out to be." Eric told her, trying to help. "Look, how about we get back into the cabin and get changed, and we can head out to the elimination room. Then we just hope they get eliminated." He said, meaning every word. He didn't like Ash after seeing what he did to Misty. If he even thinks of doing that to Abbie, I swear. That kid's gonna get a face full of my fist.

Ash stumbled along to the path to the elimination room; he was still moping aroung from earlier that night. I mean, he got all mad, then pretty much went into a coma, then woke up with confusion. Now he was upset. Great, I'm like an emotional rollercoaster today. And poor Gail is stuck with me. And now I'm rambling about how depressing I am! I hate my life. He thought, putting him in an even more upsetting state.

Gail had to almost DRAG Ash to the elimination room. "Ash, please, just walk. Are you doing that blank thing again? Cause I'm not afraid to wake you now that I know how." She threatened. He looked up at her.

"That's not really a threat." He justified. "Except for the fact that I still don't know what happened." He said, looking at the muddy ground again. His shoes looked like a monster had reached up from the underworld and smeared mud on them. Gail was staring at him, and he could feel the warmth and worry that was shining onto him from her. He looked at her and was confused. She was a little pale and her mouth was agape. "What?" He asked her.

"I know this…" She said, looking at him with horror plastered on her face. "Ash, You're…" Her last word really hit him.

"…Broken."

He looked at her to try to decipher what she meant. "Oh, Ash. I know how you feel. Like there's nothing left of you. Like you were missing something before, and then you try to fix it and you end up even less of a whole. Ash, I felt that way when I stopped traveling Hoenn. Eric and I wanted to become the best traveling contest team in the whole region. But when he left me, and went to Sinnoh…" She looked down. "I felt like I was empty. Then, I saw Eric again on my way out of Hoenn. He told me he loved me, and…. I just had to turn him down. I mean, we used to be best friends! How could I wreck that? And then, I went to Johto and now I'm here, in Kanto. But all throughout, no matter who I was with, I felt like I wasn't there really. Like, I was, but something was gone. I just got over it a month ago. Now I'm here, hoping to find someone amazing as yourself that will help me seal off what… what could've been." She looked at Ash. "I need you, Ash." She admitted. "If you could just be here…" She muttered, figuring he couldn't really hear her.

"I am here." He said, standing up. "I'm here whenever you need me. I promise." He started walking on his own.

"Oh, you heard that drabble?" She asked him and blushed.

"Yeah. I get what you're coming across. Just… Don't think of the past. There's a whole future to contemplate, so why think of the past? I mean, the past is good for reminiscing. But not so good for over thinking things like choices. Believe me, I swear I traveled through Hoenn with a cold sweat from deciding if I should've stayed in Johto and Kanto. But then I decided what's done is done, and I can't change it." Ash told her, grabbing her hand.

"Thank you Ash." She said, glancing at him. "I needed that."

He smiled. "I think I did too."

Misty was in a similar, depressed-like state that Ash had been in. But yet she found herself defending Ash when Eric called him a horror. "No, no, he isn't a horror. He was always this way. We would fight, then make up, then fight again. It was an interesting friendship. But we always defended ourselves. It was me who was the horror. I was wrong by picking a fight with him. I should've been just as receptive of him as you were with Gail. But now he'll never know that." She said, looking at her feet.

"No, Misty. I'm going to be totally honest with you, and tell you that I don't like him. Not one bit. He seems deceptive and rude. But he wins people over by faking an attitude. He took advantage of your traveling years together, and now you're feeling guilty when you shouldn't. You have every right to do what you did, after what He had done to you. Ash. His name even says he'll take someone's heart and burn it to the ground." Eric scoffed.

Misty couldn't believe what Eric was saying. Inside it felt as if he had been insulting HER, when she knew he was talking about Ash. She had always been taking bullets for the sloppy-haired boy she used to travel with; she always would. But now she just bit her tongue. Defending Ash would just make things worse. But she knew one thing now. She didn't want to be with Eric anymore. Not after that.

At the elimination room, all eight of the couples sat down and there was tension clear in the air. Anxiousness filled nearly every body in the room.

"Alright, Love Birds!" The peppy host exclaimed, breaking the silence. "Sadly, one of our lovely couples will be leaving us today." To this she feigned a pout. "Each round, after a physical challenge, you may go on a date, like you did earlier this evening." She looked at Ash and Gail, then at Misty and Eric. She had clearly seen the tape of their 'date.' "Now, sometimes, dates don't always work out," She continued.

Ash groaned when he heard that and stuffed his face in his hands. Misty looked over her shoulder as if she heard something in the bushes.

"But, based on you interactions with your partner and others, our viewers can vote for their least favorites. They vote for couples who don't have much of an interesting tale to their true love." The host tried to put it nicely.

"Today, by one of our viewers, one of you has been 'Voted Out.'" She paused. "But before we get to that, let's all talk about our adventures of love! How were all your dates?" She asked, suddenly peppy again. Many of the couples smiled, but Ash and Misty just covered their faces.

"How was YOUR date?" she asked Ash and Gail, trying to reveal info on the fight from them.

"Great, Thanks." Gail said dismissively and grabbed Ash's hand as if to prove what she said was true.

"Yeah, It was awesome." Ash lied, squeezing Gail's hand. He looked up to find a camera in his face. "Purely awesome." He said, hoping the camera would then shoo.

"And you two?" The host asked Misty and Eric, shoving a microphone in their faces. She clearly wasn't satisfied with Ash and Gail's answer.

"Oh, It was great, couldn't be better!" Misty exclaimed, making her lies somewhat believable. "Right, Rick-y-poo?" She created a nickname for Eric on the spot and instantly regretted it. Gail scoffed, but no one noticed. Eric nodded and went along with Misty's plan.

"Yeah, we had a lot of fun." He agreed.

After all of the other couples reported their tales to the cameras, the host walked back to her podium to tally the votes. "Now, with over 50,000 votes…" She started announcing. "Two couples received fewer than 500 votes each. I smell fan-favorites!" She squealed.

That didn't agree with Misty's stomach. Somewhere inside her she knew that those two couples would be her and Eric and… them. They had caused enough drama for the season. There was no way they were getting voted off.

"My beautiful couple in cabin 6, I'm sorry, but it is time for you to let this into your own hands. You have been voted off." The host told them gently. The couple departed, tears forming in their eyes.

"Now, for the rest of you." They were addressed as a whole by none other than the caffeine addict herself. "Get back to your cabins so you can have a good night's sleep for tomorrow's physical challenge!" She squealed and all of the couples were dismissed.

Ash grabbed Gail's wrist and bolted for their cabin, in hopes of avoiding Misty. Unfortunately, She had the same plan.

"OOMPH!" Misty grunted as She fell to the ground. She sat up to find it was none other than Ash who had knocked her down, and he had fell in the process.

"I'm sorry." He said in a tone that implied he was talking about much more than just tacking her.

"No, I'm sorry." The red head said with an equal amount of softness in her voice. And, for the first time in 8 years, the two shared a small smile. It wasn't much, but it was something, totally contrasting to their argument.

Simultaneously, the two seemed to realize what they were doing and scowled. Neither of them ever gave up on a fight that easily. Another argument erupted, almost as big as the last one. Only no deceased parents were mentioned. Everything else, however, was fair game.

"At least I don't fight a bird with a worm!" Misty yelled.

"At least I don't use to the same comeback for EIGHT YEARS!" Ash screamed back.

Gail and Eric both grabbed their dates and dragged them apart like toddlers, exchanging a fleeting glance at each other. They both understood the troubles of taming their dates.

Misty threw herself onto the bed once she had clean clothes on. She stuffed her face into the pillow to try to conceal her misty eyes. "Why…?" She muttered to herself, letting her pillow drench.

Ash changed into a tee shirt and jeans, calming himself once he got back to the cabin. He strolled over to the couch. "I think I'm gonna sleep here tonight." He informed Gail, but that was nothing new. He had slept on the couch since day 1, and planned for it to stay that way in order to avoid awkwardness.

"Alright." Gail said back, tying up her brown and red hair. She climbed in the large bed and turned off the lamp next to it. "Goodnight, Ash." She said in a sleepy voice.

"Goodnight, Gail." He replied and stared at the ceiling. He didn't think it had been a good night at all.

{A/N: HI! Guess what? I was playing Leaf Green the otherr day and I caught a shiny spearow! Now I've evolved it and taught it fly, and managed to beat the whole grass gym with just him! Its awesome! Okay… now back to bidness. Hope you liked this chapter, and sorry it took a little while. See you later! Review if you would please!}