Chapter 13- "At Least Say Bye"

{A/N: I actually just legitimately forgot to upload this one. This has been done for weeks- how did I do that?

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokémon.}

Erika saw a flash of orange hair rush past before the door slammed shut. "Misty!" She called out after the blur. "What happened?!" She hurried Into the back room to find the girl stuffing her things in a bag. "Are you moving out?" The grass princess asked with a twinge of hope that Ritchie had been successful.

"Yes." She spat, which was Erika's first warning sign. "I'm going home." She said me pushed past her friend towards the door.

"Woah, woah, woah, WOAH." Erika said, stopping her by the arm. "If you leave, Ash has gotta go too." She tried to reason for Misty to stay.

"He's already gone." Misty said quietly, looking down.

Erika rubbed her arm. "What do you mean?" Erika asked.

"How do you know he was even here in the first place? Maybe all this time you and I saw him it was just that FAKE out there. No way that was the Ash Ketchum I grew to know and..." She trailed off, wiping the tears that were forming. "Bye." Misty said, never finishing. She stormed out without another word, headed towards the edge of campus so she could go home.

In cabin two, Ash was sitting on his bed watching Pikachu, who was trying to cheer him up. "Huh?" He asked, turning his head to the window. Outside, there was a faint noise he couldn't make out.

Ash got up and walked towards the door, grabbing his hat off the back of the chair. His right hand connected with the doorknob, but his left swiped through nothing but air. "What the?" Ash instinctively looked down. "Where's my hat?" He tilted the chair. "And my jacket?! What?" The noise got louder outside. I'll just find it later. he thought, sweeping open the door and stepping outside.

Ritchie trashed the Ash wig as soon as he could. "Now I'll just say I'm 'Returning' Charizard, and..." He started planning to himself before looking up. "Arceus!" He whispered harshly to himself before diving into bushes to hide. Ritchie watched Ash himself come out of his cabin and look around. He heard Ash mutter "What was it?" Before turning around and heading around the cabin to the back. Great. Now how am I going to get this stuff back? Ritchie thought to himself and sunk down into the shrubs.

Ash stepped out to nothing more than a small breeze. "What was it?" he muttered before looking at Pikachu. The noise came again, this time from behind the cabin.

"Pikaa!" The little mouse said before bounding around the cabin, towards the forest behind it. Ash followed.

"Pikapika…" The mouse started slowing, until it came to a sharp halt.

"Buddy, what is it?" Ash asked before looking up. About ten feet away was a person with his/her back to them. The figure was hooded, making it impossible for Ash to tell who it was. Whoever it was was walking into the forest, with a bag slung over their shoulder. Ash saw a pokéball fall out.

He ran up, feet behind the person before realizing they were the noise he heard. Curious as to who it was, he picked up the pokéball to return it to them when something caught his eye.

DEWGONG

Property of Cerulean City Gym

"I think you dropped this." He said with newfound courage. He held the ball out to the figure, waiting for it to turn so he could get confirmation from his/her face. It turned around, revealing orange hair that was hiding the eyes of the stranger.

"You're right. I did." She said, taking the ball from his hands. "Goodbye now." She said and started off into the woods again.

Ash was expecting a slap or something from that. Actually, he wasn't sure what he expected, other than a reaction. "Mist!" He called out and grabbed her wrist.

"What?" She spun around, agitated. Pikachu shielded its eyes, preparing for a fight between the two trainers. Their voices were already rising.

"Where are you going right before elimination?" He asked, his voice quiet and calm again, which threw Misty a curveball.

"Huh? Oh. I'm going home." She said, starting to turn again. Ash just grabbed both her shoulders to make her stay.

"Without saying bye first?" He asked in a way that made Misty just want to hug him right there. He could pull the Ketchum act every time he tried. It just made her feel so pitiful she would give him whatever he wanted.

"Uhh, Yeah… I guess…" Before realizing why she was leaving. This guy wasn't Ash. "Yeah. Because you're not Ash." She said defiantly, squirming out of his arms.

Ash got shrugged off her shoulders but just grabbed her waist instead. He pulled her back. "What do you mean I'm not Ash?"

Misty got pulled right up against him. When he asked what she meant, she could actually feel his breath on her forehead. That's how squished she was. While being smushed, however, she noticed something. He didn't have on his jacket nor hat, which the fake Ash she encountered a few minutes ago did. And there were no red lights in Misty's mind. "But- you're not- Where's your jacket and hat?" She asked, looking at his black tee shirt.

"I don't know. I couldn't find them when I came out." He said, shrugging a little. "Why? Do you know where they are?" His head was cocked to the right a little.

Misty finally met his eyes. "But…" She started before inhaling sharply and stuffing her head into his shirt. "You're Still Here!" She shouted.

He flinched from her sudden volume. "I was gone?"

"No, no, You're still here!" She said a little quieter. Suddenly, she had different views on going home.

"Okay, I guess." Ash said, checking his watch. "Hey, we'd better go to the elimination room. You can just drop your stuff off at my cabin."

She stepped back and looked at herself. "But our clothes! We're supposed to be dressed up!" She said, pulling down the hood.

He laughed a little. "We'll just be making a fashion statement." He said before grabbing her bag from her and walking back around the cabin. He put it just inside the door and stepped out again. "Shall we?" He asked, pretending to be formal and holding out his arm.

"We shall." She joked back and the two walked to the elimination room, laughing like the old times.

Misty was having a great time, besides the fact that a question wouldn't stop bugging her. Am I going to live with Ash again now? As much fun as she was having, she didn't really want to yet. After all, things seemed to flip back and forth between the two of them. One minute they were fine, the next they hated each other. She wanted that settled first.

Into a large gazebo came two young adults- completely underdressed. The boy had only a Black tee and jeans on while the girl had on a pair of blue shorts and a black hoodie. They both wore sneakers. All eyes were on them as they entered not only because of their appearance, but because they were late. The host made some sort of love-related joke about it and they just shrugged it off. The two sat in their designated seats and waited for the news to be delivered.

Ritchie looked at the boy who had just came in. Oh Mew his clothes are at my cabin and he's here… he's bound to have noticed already. How am I going to do this?

"As you all may know, Votes are cast against the team the voter wants most to be eliminated. However, you may not know that there is also a comment section so voters can tell why they voted for who they did." The host paused for dramatic effects. "And may I say, the comment section blew up! The team voted out today was voted out for a reason, which I will reveal after I announce!" She was handed a board, which she revealed to the audience as well as the remaining couples. Ash gasped at the names shown. Misty fainted on sight, and Ash barely caught her in shock. Written in big neat letters on the board were:

{A/N: Rawr. Got you. I feel like this was a bad chapter for some reason. Oh, and sorry for the cliffhanger. Things gotta be done sometimes :D}