Until the Day, Chapter 5
They were kids still when Ash realized it, at least, partially.
They were off some barren hole in the ground forest in the middle of Johto, with Misty complaining that Ash got them lost again. He was known for that—why did she always complain about it?
He couldn't forget because it was a week before the Johto Silver Conference, and they were lost. Misty was convinced all of Ash's work was going to be for naught because they were never getting out of this bug-infested forest! Though, Brock tried to assure the redhead that they would arrive at their destination safely, they just had to take a few detours thanks to Ash's special ability to find short-cuts that were never really short cuts.
"Misty, stop whining; no one likes a complainer." A thirteen year old Ash groaned.
"I am not complaining, Ash. We're stuck in the middle of a dark forest, with no food, or water. I'm the only one being reasonable here!" She argued, though it fell on mostly deaf ears. Neither Brock, Ash, togepi or pikachu were going to be the ones to tell her that was complaining; instead, they kept the comment to themselves, and decided to press on.
If they kept heading North, they would eventually find a town, or a road, or something that they could use as a place marker on their map, and then find their way to the conference; easy as pie!
"Getting lost isn't too bad," Ash said, "Maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to catch some pokemon!"
"Maybe if you're lucky you'll be able to catch one with a GPS." Misty muttered sarcastically, glaring at the back of Ash's head.
Alright, that was it! He has had it with her constant complaining, and whining and judgmental personality; and he was going to tell her as much when the ground suddenly gave out, and they were falling. The three of them screamed, falling into the pit of a dark hole, dug most likely from their favorite three villains.
"Why would they dig a hole this deep in the forest?" Misty groaned, collecting togepi into her arms and rubbing her shoulders and head which had landed hard against the soft dirt. Brock sat up, groaning and looking at his young companions dirty faces—courtesy of the soft dirt, they looked like mud people.
Ash caught on as well, snickering gleefully. "Hey, Misty, look; you finally got that mud bath to help with your stress lines."
Then she punched him in the shoulder, and while he was wincing in pain, he muttered a painful worth it under his breath. A few moments ticked by while they each pat the walls of their containment n exhaled.
"Man, where are they so we can get out of here?" Misty sighed, rubbing her knees to clean them of dirt, but nothing came off. In the end, they waited a total of thirty minutes before deciding that Team Rocket were indeed not behind the hole, and so the group started their best attempt to climb out.
Courtesy of the size, they were unable to summon any more pokemon, and thanks to the fragile dirt, they couldn't climb up without causing a cave in. Brock insisted they wait until day break before trying to finagle a way out of the hole; but Ash and Misty groaned so much about being to close, an Misty have cooties, that he eventually decided they would climb each other like a ladder, and whoever gets up there first, will summon bayleef to use vine whip to get the rest of them out. Brock was the brains of the original trio, Ash was the brawn, and Misty was the voice of reason; sometimes, depending on the situation; that stipulation would change. A lot.
"Ash, I am not carrying you on my shoulders, you're too heavy!" She whined, but Ash puckered his lips at her cutely.
"This coming from the girl who can swing a mallet like it's a butter knife."
"That's different. You're like what, 200 pounds?" She gestured to his size, and Ash's face flushed.
"Are you calling me fat?!" He yelled, which, at his 4'6 size, he might have been with her suggestion. She snorted under her breath, but before a full fight could emerge, Brock shouted at them.
"Enough! Ash, climb on my back, then Misty, you go up!"
Ash rolled his eyes. "Fine." he grunted, handing bayleef's pokeball to Misty before abiding by Brock's command. He boosted himself on Brock's back, then after helping Misty up, much to Brock's discomfort, he awkwardly boost her shorts-wearing, crop-top totting companion to the lip of the hole, and she crawled to the surface; actually being extra sure that she didn't hurt Ash or Brock on her way up.
"Did you make it?" Ash asked, hopping off of Brock's back so he could whine silently about how heavy they two of them are. No reply came, which only resulted in a swift panic.
"Misty?" Ash called up to her. He was always quick to anger, but even quicker to panic. Seconds later, green vines lowered into the hole, and Ash exhaled happily. Once they were out of trouble, they gratefully prepared camp, and decided to sleep for the night—about a mile away from the sink hole, of course; they didn't want to fall into a hole while sleeping.
They didn't talk after the fact, Misty didn't even have it in her to complain about sleeping in a bug infested forest again when they made camp. As usual, they each had their own tasks; Brock started to prepare the meal, and Ash and Misty would search for fire wood. Togepi and pikachu would help Brock cook; which was another way of saying: they ate first.
"I can't see..." Ash muttered to himself, stepping over large branches, and collecting the small ones; a few feet away, he could hear Misty doing the same. Since they started traveling together three years ago, she had changed a lot: while she didn't like bugs, she wasn't scared to get firewood on her own in a dark forest anymore.
...Ash would have to change that. A malicious thought came to mind when he turned from his trek into the forest, and towards the sound of Misty's feet pumping through the dirt. He could see her figure mostly, the trees blocked most of the light of the moon, but occasionally, he could see the flustered look over her cheeks while she kicked dirt to be sure it wouldn't collapse. Ash grinned; Misty was nothing if not cautious, and it would her cautiousness that would be her downfall!
Ash silently ducked and weaved his way to her, until she was about half a foot away, and he was ducked behind a wild berry bush that Misty was picking through. She had a bundle of wood under one arm, and filled a pouch attached to her suspenders hook at her waist.
Against his better nature, Ash fought the urge to snicker as he congratulated himself for such a well thought out plan, he was going to scare the socks off of her! He would likely pay for it later; but here goes!
He stood up, right as Misty looked away from the bush, shuddering aggressively when the subtle, hairy limbs of a small caterpie touched the skin of her ankle. Immediately, she fought the urge to scream, and kick, and flail, and swallowed down her intense panic when the pokemon's antennas twitched cutely up to the water pokemon trainer. She remained frozen like a statue upon recognition that the pokemon was expecting Misty to share her berries with the creature; and she fumbled with her bag, then dropped a few on the ground beside her feet. Just leave! She thought terrified and flicking her wrists in all directions.
As the pokemon ducked and leered away from her it buried its snout into the few berries she dropped for him, though, when the small flicker of moonlight danced over the pokemon's skin, she gasped.
"Oh, you're hurt." She said aloud, the pokemon easily ignored her, enjoying its feast, but it had a small wound fancied on its noggin, oozing a fresh purple substance.
Misty didn't like bug pokemon, she hated them; but an injured pokemon was still an injured pokemon. She knelt beside the bug, removing a cloth from her pocket; then much to Ash's surprise, used the cloth to wrap around the small caterpie, and tie a loose bandage. Some place, in the darkest part of his heart, a thundering sounded; deafening in Ash's mind while he watched Misty, she who was petrified of bugs, patch up an injured one.
Thankfully, the pokemon looked up at her with large, black eyes, and she shrunk away, ruining the moment.
"Don't...touch me. Please." she whined, and the pokemon did as she asked, turning away from her gradually, and slowly crawling away.
Quietly, Misty wiped her hands on her shorts; muttering quiet 'gross, gross!'s while a small grin formed over Ash's lips. Eagerly, she turned back to the bush, only to see Ash hovering behind it, eyebrows quirked behind his old league hat. She jumped, but she didn't scream.
"Ash! What are you doing, you creep!" She shouted, throwing a handful of berries at his face. He flinched to dodge them, laughing from his belly when he looked up at her.
"How long have you been standing there?" Misty cried in sudden distress, and Ash pursed his lips, cutting around the bush to pick up the firewood she dropped earlier; thus startling the redhead.
"Long enough." He chuckled.
"Long enough!?" Her voice was shrill. "Long enough to see that caterpie? You could have fed it!" She whined, but Ash knew she was covering for the fact, that even though she presented herself as this tough, she-woman; she was still sentimental, and soft on the inside; and that included things that she hated. Which meant somewhere, she probably liked Ash, too.
"C'mon Misty, you're not over your fear of bugs yet?" Ash joked, and she yelped, following after him.
"No! They're disgusting! And hey, give me back my firewood! You are not taking credit for my find again!"
"I'm not! I'm just trying to be helpful." He argued when her fingers clutched around the bundle.
"Give it back!"
"No! Let me help you!" Ash shouted, but Misty reacted by pulling harder.
"I don't need help!" She offered, and then as quickly as they had started the argument, it ended when they lost their footing, and the wood flew in all direction around their heads, and both trainers ended up on the ground covered in mud again.
Awkwardly, they sat up. Ash's hat had fallen off of his head, and was covered in the forest's odd dirt, and Misty was officially a mud painting. They looked at each other while Ash readjusted his dirty hat. Silence faded over them, the raven-haired boy thought she would be upset when Brock shouted to see if they were okay, but then suddenly they were both grinning, the whites of their teeth glaring at one another, before laughter trickled out by the fruitful and they laughed.
It took him awhile, but apart of him always knew; in Kanto, the Orange Islands, the Whirl Cup; some places, he knew.
However, it was the smaller moments that taught him why.
XOXs
When Ash won the Master's cup, it was to no ones surprise that it was an accident a fluke.
Pikachu dodged what was supposed to be an unavoidable attack by accident, and landed a critical iron tail that won Ash the match; the last battle.
However, today was no longer that case; Ash was no longer as lucky. When his eyes opened, he was reliving that moment; the way his rival's pokemon shifted, launched a terrifying beam of white light, and a falling pikachu curled, dipping into the moon-shaped crevice that was allotted only because the pokemon they fought hit the rock at the edge of a rock.
"I..." Ash's voice started, but the words never left his throat in the pure confusion that was left over in his brain; the memories, the sights, what he went through. Everything was jumbled into his brain; and the command never left.
Pikachu never attacked.
Ash didn't win.
The rest of the match was a blur, what was originally Ash's shock and surprise standing center field; a collapsed pikachu rested in his arms outside of the stadium. He lost. Was that all some kind of horrible dream? A flash forward or something, that demonstrated what would happen to him if he became a champion? Was he doomed to fail forever?
No, it couldn't have been a day dream. It felt too real, too raw, everything he felt over the next four years couldn't have been imagined, not in the small time frame of a battle...
"And your winner is...!"
Ash didn't listen as he sat up, carrying a moping pikachu; but Ash shed no tears. This was the greatest defeat he experienced in his entire life. He spent months preparing for the Master's Cup; training every day, creating the perfect team with the combination and experience of all the pokemon he collected in his last eleven years of traveling. He was ready to become a Pokemon Master; but he messed up.
Only... he didn't.
"Misty..." Ash muttered quietly as his thoughts aligned. He abandoned the crowning ceremony, where he would have still been labeled runner up, with a huge cash prize. They could fax it to him later; he had other things to worry about.
Non-too-surprising; Ash went to the hospital, carrying a tired, confused pikachu in his arms the entire way; ignoring his mother, and friends. Anyone who got in his way, and ran. They probably thought he was panicking, fearful of his lost; ashamed of it. No, he was worried. And he ran not for himself, but for her.
When he arrived at the hospital, he fished for a phone any phone anywhere; and was connected to the Cerulean City hospital unit.
"Hello?" Ash was asked by the woman on the other end.
"Hi, can you tell me if there's a Misty Waterflower there?" He asked, his voice shaking.
"I'm sorry? Who? Misty Waterflower?" The receptionist asked, straining his nerves.
"Yes!" Ash screamed into the phone, patience gone—he had none left, his muscles were tired from what he remembered was left over from the battle, and while his mother, professor Oak, and Gary found him in the hospital, he exhaled.
"No... I'm sorry, we haven't had anyone check in under that name." the woman said, and Ash felt his soul leave his body in complete joy. His head fell backwards, the phone slipped from his fingers, and Delia approached Ash; hugging him.
"It's okay, Ash. You don't have to be sad." Delia cooed, stroking his hair. Ash wiggled away from him, brushing her hair from her shoulders while he looked back at his friends; the last time he saw his mother, she was tear stained, and looked much older from stress. She was still happy, normal as could be. A grin tugged at his lips.
"I'm not." he declared, pushing away from her; how could he be? "Mom, what day is it?" He asked. "How old am I?"
"..oh no, Ash; did you hit your head?" She wondered, pursing her lips.
"Humor me?" he asked with a boyish charm and smile. Delia smacked her lips in a motherly fashion.
"You're twenty-one... Ash... please don't lose sight of everything." She swiped hair behind his ears and smiled. "You have plenty of years to challenge the master's cup again... So don't fret. Are you going to come home today? Maybe we can throw you a small party? It's the furthest anyone fro Kanto has been in years." the mother chuckled, but Ash was busy watching the light in her eyes, the red of her hair that hadn't faded to gray yet and grinning.
Light entered Ash's eyes. He didn't know how Xerneas did it, he didn't care.
But he did it.
"...I will." Ash said, looking at his friends, "But I have somewhere else I need to go first." Ash pat his mom on the shoulder, then ran past her quickly, exiting the hospital without a second thought while the group chased after him.
"Wait, Ash!" Delia screamed while Ash dodged and dipped into the street; then threw out charizard's pokeball.
When he emerged, it was clear that charizard was still tired from the battle prior, but Ash explained that he needed to go now and the pokemon nodded very slowly, and dipped far enough to allow Ash to sit on top of his shoulders.
"Ash where are you going?" Gary questioned, hands on his hips.
"It's a surprise." Ash grunted, patting charizard gratefully.
"One to many loses finally went to your head? Like you win streak?" Gary grinned, proud of his remark while Ash, giddy as he was, rolled his eyes.
"Shut up, Gary!" Ash groaned, glaring down at the young man.
XOX
Misty was watching the match when he lost; she had popcorn, and was huddled in heavy, green blankets and cheering conspicuously in her dark living room, seated on her green couch. However, she was trying to pick up the mess of popcorn around her, after she threw it up when he missed.
He looked dazed, and confused, and lost, and he missed! He was on fire the whole match only to lose it the very last second! What in the world happened?! How could this happen!? Ash was supposed to be a pokemon master this time, she could feel it.
In frustration, she threw up her arms, pounded her fist into her phone, and dialed the familiar number of Delia's house, before remembering that Ash wouldn't be there; she had no way of calling him directly, and right now—How did he lose!? She had half the mind to march over there right now and give her a piece of her thoughts.
"Ash! What in the world happened to you!?" She screamed, flopping against her couch. It was empty in the gym, closed for the night. The gym door was locked up, and she wasn't expecting anyone for the rest of the night; so while she settled in to watch a crappy horror movie, she did so nonchalantly.
Misty didn't put much thought at all into Ash losing. After all, he did lose a lot more than he won, but he made it far enough his first time, for someone so young, that she would congratulate him when she saw him next—whenever, if ever that would be. She hummed to herself, keeping her blankets wrapped around herself tightly when an unfamiliar knock cam to her front door—not the gym door entrance, but the door at the ally way. The one no one used.
"...Hello?" She called into the darkness, mortified. What if someone was trying to break in? Gulping, she slipped from her couch, grabbing what ever bat-like object she could fish out beside her coffee table and held it close to her person. No one replied, but she shouldn't have expected anyone to reply; who would answer to a 'hello' randomly from inside a house, especially a crazy person!
What if it was a crazy person!? She lifted the object in her hands, prepared to swing as she walked to her front door. The poor girl never locked it, after all; who would mess with a gym leader? Misty, of all people in the world?
In fact, why was she scared in the first place? Being in the middle of the night didn't change how amazing she was, she could take down whoever this person was! That's right, she was gym leader Misty. She could do this.
As she reached the front door, the impatient intruder finally kicked open the door to her living space behind the gym, and Misty jumped backwards and then swung with all of her might.
"Ow!" the intruder screamed while his body fell into the nightstand beside the door, killing an innocent plant on his way down and holding his head. Pikachu, who had mostly recovered since the battle fell with him, clinging to the collar of his shirt while Misty prepared to swing once more. Only, lucky for him, she realized who it was by the squeal of the mouse and she dropped her defensive position.
"Ash!? Oh my—What in the world are you doing!?" She yelped, her worried tone quickly masked by complete fury at his utter incompetence! "What in the hell are you doing here so late?!" She tacked on, dropping to her knees to check the injury she so neatly gave him.
He winced when she fell to her knees beside him, pawing at his head while he leaned onto his upper arms and whining that she hit too hard and what in the world was she swinging at bat at him in the first place?
Misty examined her weapon of choice. "It was a few rolled up papers to be fair..." She mumbled while helping him it up. It wasn't just a rolled up papers, but she wasn't about to tell him that she hit him with a blunt weapon. No, instead she touched the bump forming in the side of his scalp while she exhaled and held his head.
"Have you ever considered trying out for baseball, you know, with Casey or something?" He grunt, looking up at her. Whatever she was watching, muted in the background, danced colors around her features in the dark living room. Her eyes glowed a bright hue of green, brighter than he thought he had ever seen before—would ever see again, and he grinned at her, despite the pain in his head. She scowled while he grinned, and while he collected himself to move forward, Misty moved backwards, eyebrows raising.
"What are you doing here?" She asked suddenly, earning a jest look from Ash, who glanced up at the couch, and the movie, and her gym, which was neatly untidy, and his heart roared in excitement. She still had the small collection of water pokemon figurines—posters on the wall; water pokemon textbooks and his heart fluttered.
Then he was on his feet, racing to her bedroom where she looked on in awe, checking the gym door entrance to her house, and then rushing after him.
"Ash, what are you doing?" She whined, following him with a confused pikachu at her side, explaining that he has been weird all day. Without asking, he opened her bed room door, and her skin crawled.
"Ketchum! Get out of there!" She yelped and ran after him while he glanced at the many colors of her room—the frames, the pictures, the posters; everything she was wrapped into the visible details of her life. Then, she was pushing him again; and he couldn't stop laughing.
"You're acting like a crazy person, does pikachu need to shock you?" She growled, holding up pikachu to his face to show him that she was not joking and to emphasis, she squeezed pikachu who laughed nervously.
She was alive and safe and sound and making fun of him; and angry and... Slowly, Ash snatched pikachu from her fingers, careful not to touch her until his eyes fell on hers in n uncomfortable way and Misty raised her arms to her chest and backed up.
"...You're creeping me ou-" She started, though the statement was never finished as he bolted forward, snatching the young woman into a warm, tight embrace. He knocked the wind out of her, causing a brief inhale while she blinked wide eyed into the darkness, embracing his woodsy scent. Her eyes shifted around the room, they didn't usually hug. They touched, occasionally hugged for holidays, but Ash never initiated the touch, Misty was always the one who hugged first.
Her shock was justified, and so when Ash pulled away, grinning at her like a mad-man; she wondered just how hard she hit him.
"...Should we take you to the hospital?" She questioned, clearly she hit him too hard and he was having some type of brain damage. Shock, fear, then acceptance; and again relief flashed through Ash's eyes in a second and he shook his head, grabbing her shoulders.
"You're okay." It wasn't a question; he wasn't asking.
"...Yes, I am." Misty uttered quietly, eyebrows knitting together. "...but you are clearly not okay. Why don't you sit down?" She offered, guiding him to the couch, but he wouldn't budge.
"No way." He groaned, snatching her upper arms and steadying her. Ash looked down at her, directly into her eyes, an opened his mouth to speak. She was so pretty for lack of better words. The way her loner than shoulder length hair flicked around her face—a rare occasion it wasn't cut to her shoulders, and her tire, green eyes flickered with anticipation.
Ash exhaled slowly, rubbing her arms gently enough just to be uncomfortable, and hard enough to keep her in place, to make sure she was really there and he wasn't losing his mind.
"You're freaking me out." Misty addressed quickly, her tone worried and expression echoing the sentiments.
Ash finally relaxed, and leaned forward. Where she had been calm a second before her pulse quickened like she had run a race. His face was inching closer to her own, eyelids lowering with each beat of her heart, and finally, seconds before contact was made; she placed pikachu between them, and took a solid step back.
"You just lost the Master's Cup, and you're acting like nothing happened! What's wrong with you?" She questioned, eyes wide.
Ash's mouth opened, then closed; and then he smiled.
"...I am upset... but it will come back around in four years, and I'll be even more ready for it then."
"Ash, it's okay to be upset." She urged him, placing a hand on his shoulder comfortingly while he chuckled and titled his head at her, removing his hat awkwardly.
"I know." he said bashfully, brushing a hand through his messy hair. Misty smiled, seeing him calm down calmed her as well. They shared a glance, accepting and real before she sighed pleasantly.
"So, why are you here? I figured you would be off some where celebrating with your mom, or something." Misty assume, walking away from him to lean over the back of her couch to click on the lamp, and pause the movie she was watching.
Then he was grinning again. He had to be dreaming; this couldn't have been real. "Misty I-" He started, then stumbled over his words under her intense gaze. The last time he confessed didn't turn out so hot and he would have been ruined if it happened again. So biting down on his lip he approached her quickly, shutting out the distance between them, then grabbed her shoulders once more, much to her surprise and worry.
"I'm going to kiss you." he announced suddenly, killing the tension before he dipped his head down and captured her lips with his own, twisting a soft peck onto her lips. At first, she let him, even let her arms fall gimp onto his shoulders in ecstasy of the moment, enjoy the lasting taste of his lips and tongue on hers until she realized two majorly flawed characteristics: first, Ash was kissing her, and second he was kissing her well.
Her eyes opened wide, and blushing furiously, she raised her hands and shoved him away from her before scampering back around the couch to put distance between them, and grabbing her bludgeon. Ash rubbed his chest while pikachu watched in horror from the table beside them.
"What in the world was that for?"
"Why are you kissing me! Who are you and what did you do to Ash!?" She gasped, ready to swing again if he came anywhere near her. He blinked worried, then winced at her appearance. At how different they were, and yet how familiar. Joyfully, his heart raced and he smiled at her; shoulders slumping.
"I—Don't be crazy, Misty." Ash uttered to which she only prepared a wider swing as he moved around the couch to grab her.
"Don't come near me, I will hurt you."
"Misty; if you hit me in the head again, I'm liable for some real brain injury, now put the weapon down, and let's talk."
"No way! You're probably some weird shape shifting creature in the form of Ash and are planning to kill me in my sleep!"
Ash turned to the movie she was watching; a cliché horror flick, then turned back to her, his eyebrows quirked humorously. "You do realize what you just said, right? That's up there with my idea about pirates."
Misty paused, tongue pressed tightly to the top of her mouth while she thought over his sarcastic, mediocre response, and then lowered her arms. It was Ash.
"...S...so why did you kiss me?" She inquired, pointing at him while he moved around to smooth out the details.
"I like you?" he announced naturally, his later thoughts in life made the confession easier; plus, she almost died, which put a lot of things in perspective for him.
Misty's eyes narrowed. "Okay... Ash, that's great. But are any influences? Drugs, depression?"
Ash stopped, straightened his back and glared at her; his expression asking her 'really?' while his mouth twitched and Misty nodded and shook her head gently.
"Just checking." She announced and then jumped back into his arms, bringing his lips down to hers again with the same passion and aggression he remembered and adored.
XOX
They stayed up all night talking, mostly because Ash was worried that if he fell asleep, he would wake up in the dark, dreary future again, where everything was wrong, and Misty was... So he watched her for a long time, kissed her fervently when she would start passing out, and wrangled her to her bed to relax sometime before sunrise. Misty talked about everything, from how well the gym was doing, to her sisters being jerks to her friends she was making in the league, to watching Ash on television. Ash, surprisingly didn't talk much; he liked to listen. To her voice, to her words, and her logic while she mumbled tangible stories.
"What about you?" Misty questioned on occasion, but Ash would answer by kissing her; and while she liked it, she always gave him a sort of sideways glance and then returned to talking about whatever she wanted.
Around sunrise, when she clawed him out of his pants and shoes so he could sleep instead of keeping her up forever, she finally questioned him.
"What's wrong, Ash? You've been weird." Misty spoke, swiping hair from his face while he stared at her, recalling what she looked like the last time he saw her, as well as everything else. Here, now under the covers with the red head, he smiled.
"I just wanted to say that I was sorry; and that we're both pretty stubborn, and..."
"Jeeze, Ash, you're acting like I'm dying or something." She murmured sarcastically, only, when his eyes flickered with that same pain he felt at the end of a major match, her mouth opened and she panicked.
"Oh god, you don't think I'm dying, do you?" She questioned worriedly, and then when he tucked his head into the crook of her neck and wrapped his arms tightly around her, she pat his head worriedly.
"...Ash... What's wrong?" She tried again, brushing his hair while he struggled to find the right words to explain it. How could he tell her that she was dying? That he looked everywhere to help her, and only Xerneas could? That they stopped talking for four years, and rivaled each other with insults, and nonsense and...
"Just..." Ash hummed into her neck. "Let me stay like this for awhile, okay?" He asked her, unable to form his correct feelings. Misty smiled earnestly, and then pat his head warmly.
"Okay, but we need to sleep."
"Only if you swear you'll still be here in the morning."
"Seriously, what's gotten into you?" She asked, eyes full of worry when he peered down at her, demanding that she swear.
"...I swear I'll still be here." her eyes rolled. "Now could you calm down?" She ordered, rolling her eyes at his behavior. Finally, Ash grinned, and wrapped his arms up and around her.
"Thank you."
"...You're welcome?"
Misty was asleep in seconds, but Ash only rested his eyes; his thoughts were on what happened after this? How long would he be in this world, if this was the real world? What if there was some kind of huge catch that he didn't understand? No matter what, he needed to make sure she didn't die again; he would make sure of it now. None of his friends ever would.
Whatever Xerneas did, it gave him a second chance to make everything better, and he would be damned if he messed up again.
Author's Note:
That was a bit happier, wasn't it? ;3;