This one was killing me, because I couldn't figure out what I wanted it to be about. I'm not sure I like it but a few of my friends said it was pretty good, and I really just wanted to get it over and done with. So ... enjoy, maybe?

E: EVOLUTION

"Oh no you don't!"

May stared at her lap, previously occupied by a large bowl of fresh popcorn, in horror. Dawn had it in her hands now, and she lifted it high above her head. "Dawn!" she whined.

"Nuh uh! You'll finish the whole thing before the match even starts! This is for all of us, you know."

"I don't have an endless supply of popcorn," Misty added.

"I promise I won't finish it this time!" May pleaded.

"Max warned me you'd say that," Dawn said, quietly removing herself from her seat next to May on the couch and sitting on the armrest instead. "Sorry, May, but we just don't believe you."

May's face started to redden as she clenched her fists, and Dawn rose to her feet and took a step back. Misty decided it was time to step in.

"Oh, look!" she exclaimed, pointing at the television, "The battle's about to start!"

Thankfully, the match really was about to start. Dawn took her seat between Misty and May, the latter grabbing a fistful of popcorn and shoving it into her mouth all at once. They leaned forward in their seats, watching as the camera panned over the large stadium.

The three girls had gathered together to watch Ash's first battle in the Kalos League. Both May and Dawn were in Kanto to take on the contest circuit, and they stopped over in Cerulean City right on time for the first round. Misty had closed the gym for the day; she wasn't going to ruin their get-together by running off to battle challengers the entire time. She'd worked hard over the past year and had earned a day off.

"Why is he carrying a guitar?" asked May, "Can you even do that?"

"There's no rule against it," Misty confirmed, "But I don't see why he'd bring a guitar in the first place."

"Maybe it's just his style," Dawn mused. "When I first started travelling, I met a guy who always carried a lyre."

"Huh? What's this? Ash Ketchum hasn't appeared on the battlefield!"

"What?!" All three of them stared at the TV screen, where Ash was nowhere to be seen.

"This isn't like him!" Dawn exclaimed.

"Maybe he's in trouble?" May suggested, "I've never known Ash to just not show up to a match like this. Especially not a League match!"

Misty frowned. She had seen him decline to turn up, many years ago in the Indigo League. Team Rocket had captured him then, and last she heard they were still following him around.

He'd gotten out of that one by himself, so hopefully he could get out of this one too.

"If he doesn't show up, that's an automatic win for the other guy, right?" Dawn asked.

Misty nodded. "And Ash's Kalos League is over. If he doesn't come soon, he won't even make it past the first round."

Dawn hid her face in her hands. "Oh, brother."

May bit her lip as the referee stepped forward – she was sure he was ready to call the match. "No …"

"The time is up," the referee started, but he was interrupted almost immediately.

"Wait up!"

"Pika pika!"

The voice was deeper and cracked more than they were used to, but it was unmistakeable.

"Typical Ash," May shook her head.

Misty sighed. "Looks like his timing hasn't changed."

After he'd run out onto the field, however, their jaws dropped.

"Arceus …" Misty muttered under her breath.

"Is that Ash?!" Dawn gasped.

Ash's face looked normal enough. It was a little less round than the last time any of them had seen him in person, but that was something they'd all had the opportunity to get used to as they got to see him over the videophone. At any rate, that change was barely noticeable compared to the rest of him.

As he appeared on camera, Ash stood nearly half a foot taller than he used to be. His shoulders were much, much broader, in a way that made his t-shirt and jacket fit tighter around his torso. He wasn't buff, per se, but it was easy to tell he'd put on some muscle. He'd made a habit of working out with his pokémon in recent years, but now that puberty had seemingly caught up to him and allowed his body to develop …

"I think he evolved," May whispered. Any other day a comment like this would've had her friends in fits of laughter, but now they could only nod solemnly.

"Do boys even grow like that?" Dawn asked.

Misty shook her head. "I don't know. He never had a growth spurt, did he?"

"He definitely wasn't this tall when I met him last year," Dawn mused. "And it's not just his height, is it? I mean – look at him!"

And look they did. He was giving some dramatic speech about being a pokémon master that barely registered with them, and probably didn't need to anyway – each one of them had heard it a million times before.

"I'm glad Drew isn't here," May murmured. Her friends nodded in response, before the statement sunk in.

"May?" Misty asked, a slight edge in her voice.

Dawn placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

May jumped. "Did I say that out loud? Oh dear." She shook her head. "I love Drew but this," she gestured at the screen. "This is too much. Oh Arceus, that's Ash!"

"I know what you mean," Dawn sighed. "This is making me uncomfortable."

Misty remained silent once again, not trusting herself to say anything. She was uncomfortable too, but for entirely different reasons. Neck down, Ash looked like a completely different person; could other aspects of his character have changed too?

May nudged her gently. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Misty replied, a little too quickly. "Let's just watch the match."

"Woah, what pokémon is that?" Dawn asked, pointing to the one Ash had just sent out.

"That's Greninja, a water type." Misty rubbed her chin. Ash had always kept her updated on the status of whatever water-type he'd caught during his travels, so she knew he had managed to fully evolve it. "Huh, funny he used Greninja right off the bat. I heard he was really powerful."

Ash's opponent's Altaria started with a dragon pulse attack, which had everyone almost off their seats as the attack hit. Greninja seemed fine enough, but Altaria quickly followed through with a draco meteor, and things weren't looking too good.

Greninja's eyes suddenly glowed pink, and the girls watched in awe as both pokémon and trainer moved in synchronised movements until a burst of water obscured Greninja from view. The frog pokémon proceeded to dodge every single meteor falling towards it like it was nothing.

"Wha–?" Misty started, before her words got caught in her throat. The water had disappeared, now, leaving the water-type looking different to how it had just a moment ago.

May dropped the fistful of popcorn that she was holding, the kernels falling all over her lap. "Is that mega evolution?"

"Doesn't that need some kind of stone?" Dawn asked.

"Two of them. A key stone for the trainer and a mega stone for the pokémon. I don't see either."

"That's weird." Dawn bit her lip, moving to grab some popcorn for herself, when she paused. "Is it just me or … does Greninja look a little like Ash?"

"Greninja! Water Shuriken!"

Altaria was out cold almost as soon as Ash called the attack. They stared dumbstruck as the announcer declared Greninja the winner, neither of them unable to say a word.

Dawn finally broke the silence. "Well," she said, letting out a breath she didn't even realise she was holding, "That was something."

"That was incredible," May agreed, "Max would've loved that! I wonder if he was watching it. Hey Misty, can I use your phone?"

They turned to find Misty with her hand on her chest, her eyes glazed over and a light film of sweat on her forehead. "Misty?"

Her head snapped towards them, and she leapt out of her seat. "Did you guys see that?! I don't even know what it was, but it was amazing! I always knew Ash was good at unlocking his pokémon's real power, but I didn't realise he was that good! But of course it'd be a water-type pokémon that would be able mega evolve without a stone like that … if that even was mega evolution. I can't believe Ash never told me about this! I'm going to call him right now–"

"Whoa, Misty, hold up!" May grabbed the redhead before she could move. "Ash's match hasn't finished yet! They still have two more pokémon to go."

Misty froze for a few seconds, blinking twice, before she slumped and gave May a sheepish grin. "Oh, yeah."

May slapped a palm to her forehead as Misty slunk back into her seat. Dawn rolled her eyes.

Ash's match was over almost as quickly as it started, as was the rest of the Kalos League. Somehow, for all his power, Ash still hadn't managed to secure a win – he was beaten by some guy with a Mega Charizard – but he still managed to make it to the finals, further than he ever had in a tournament before. He had to feel good about it.

And so he did. It showed on his face when he burst through the door and gave his mother a hug to rival an Ursaring. Misty watched on from just in front of the kitchen as his mother kept gushing over him, suddenly feeling very shy. In her excitement over watching Ash and Greninja in his last match, Misty impulsively called Delia up to let her know she'd be coming to Pallet Town when Ash was done with the league, but as the hype wore off she started to regret it. It wasn't that she didn't want to see Ash; she hadn't seen him in person since he was still travelling the Battle Frontier, years ago. But seeing how much Ash had changed physically had made her think about all the other ways he'd changed, too. Was he even the same person she'd befriended all those years ago?

It was ridiculous, considering she'd been in regular contact with him all this time and nothing had ever felt weird on their calls. But she wondered all the same.

"Pikachupi!" The shriek yanked her out of her thoughts as a yellow ball of fur bounded into her arms, already wide open out of instinct.

"It's good to see you too, Pikachu!" she exclaimed, holding the pokémon close.

"Misty?" Ash asked, a little dumbstruck, looking exactly like he had when she'd come to visit him after the Hoenn League.

"Surprise," she grinned, but the surprise was on her when he strode towards her and wrapped his arms around her, Pikachu and all.

She and Ash had always had a very physical friendship. They touched each other often; by accident, on purpose when they were fighting or trying to help each other, when they were scared or trying to stop each other from doing something stupid. It was never weird – it was just something that needed to be done. But they'd never hugged.

This was different.

"Sorry," Ash mumbled as he pulled away from her, but still kept her at arms length. "It's just … it's been years. Aren't you busy with the gym?"

She narrowed her eyes. "It has, and I am. But if I remember correctly, you've had plenty of time to visit me whenever you were in Kanto, haven't you?"

"Uh … well, er –"

She swapped a knowing look with Delia. "Never mind, Ash. It's not like I expect much from you anyway."

"Hey!"

It was all too familiar; the same easy bickering their arguments had turned into as they grew up with each other.

"Well, Ash did only stay overnight before leaving for Kalos," Delia mused. "He was so excited to leave, he didn't even think about anyone else!"

Misty watched as Ash's shoulders slumped, a guilty expression taking over his face. His mother must've noticed too, because she walked over and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Are you hungry?"

Ash brightened up considerably. "Am I ever!"

"I'll have dinner ready in ten minutes. I didn't expect you home so early." She ruffled his hair. "Why don't you and Misty take this time to catch up?"

"That'll be nice," Misty nodded. "I'm sure Ash has plenty to brag about after the League."

"I just can't catch a break, can I?" he muttered under his breath, making both Misty and Pikachu laugh heartily.

Conversation was easier than Misty expected. Ash was an endless pit of stories, no doubt because the last time she'd called him had been between his seventh and eighth badge. As the Kalos season drew to a close, the Kanto season had just begun, and though Misty had fought for her gym to have a higher ranking – it now had the same prestige as Saffron and Cinnabar – there were still enough beginner trainers cocky enough to try their luck with her at the start of their journeys. Between tales, there would be short silences – especially after Delia called Pikachu away for his food – but they were never awkward and didn't last long before Ash found more to say. Sometimes she'd catch his eyes roaming over her face, and once her figure, and it would make her equal parts embarrassed, pleased and furious. It always happened just as she started to think Ash wasn't all that different, and she'd been worrying in vain all this time.

"Misty?"

She jumped. "Huh?"

"You spaced out for a minute there." His brow furrowed. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, a little too quickly. He raised an eyebrow, and she sighed. "I was just … thinking."

"About?"

"How you evolved."

She said it before she could stop herself from running her mouth.

"Huh?"

"Changed!" Misty's eyes darted away from him. "You've grown. Ah, May was the one who said you evolved."

"May?"

She shifted in her seat. "May and Dawn were staying over at the gym during your first League match."

"May said I evolved?"

"Well, look at you! Look at your … shoulders!"

He blinked, taking the time to look down and inspect himself. "My shoulders?"

"Yeah, and you're tall! And –" Misty gasped, squinting at his face, "Is that stubble?"

Ash ran a hand over his chin and looked away – his hands had grown bigger too, she noted, and they were large enough to cover his cheek.

Large enough to hide the flush of pink that had spread up there.

"It's not like I can just decide when puberty hits me."

"You know what puberty is?"

He shot her a glare. She raised her hands up in defence. "Look, it's not necessarily a bad thing. You just look the same over the phone, so it surprised us."

"It's not like I've changed that much anyway," he grumbled.

"Still sending out bug-types against pidgeys, huh?"

He let out a low, dry laugh. "I sent out a water-type against a fire-type and it still lost."

Misty's face softened. "Ash …"

"It's fine," he said, smiling slightly. "I was upset at first but … I thought about it on the way home, and there's no point, is there? This is the furthest I've ever gotten in a League. I should be proud of myself." He clenched his fist. "And next region, I'm just going to have to win!"

Some small part of her brain was aware that she was looking at Ash with a stupid grin on her face, but she didn't even care – he sounded so much like the Ash she'd grown up with, so much like the Ash she'd come to … care about very deeply.

He might've evolved, but he hadn't changed so much after all.

"Okay, you two," Delia's voice chimed in from behind them, and they turned to find her standing at the kitchen entryway. "I hope you're ready for my Pallet special noodle soup!"

Ash leapt to his feet. "I haven't had that in forever!"

"Me too!" Misty exclaimed, but she got up much more slowly. She expected Ash to lead the way to the kitchen as usual, but she looked around to find him staring at her instead.

"What?"

"Nothing!" Ash shook his head. "I just … uh, your hair." He rubbed the bottom of his nose. "It looks nice. Wanna go eat? I'm starved!"

Misty blinked as he fled the scene, not sure if he was excited for the soup or if he just wanted to run away from her. She bit her lip.

Then again, maybe change wasn't such a bad thing.