Misty was numb as she wandered the halls. The crowd has dissipated for the day, going out to eat or back to their hotels so it was only her, a few other stragglers, and the champions. The red head just couldn't wrap her head around the fact that Ash had beaten her, that Ash was stronger than her.
Regret thundered under her skin as she realized that she wanted her best friend back. The last three years had been great, she had risen to the top Water Pokemon Trainer in Kanto, and she wasn't disrupted by the likes of Team Rocket. But even she had to admit that it was boring without Ash. She missed him, he was her best friend, even now.
Blinking with a dawning realization, Misty smiled. Ash was her best friend! He was forgiving and kind! She just had to, ugh, apologize and everything would go back to normal! Feeling much more confident, she set off to find Gary. Afterall, Gary had bullied Ash for years and Ash had forgiven him and they had been good friends until Ash broke contact with all of them.
Misty went straight to the Hotel, and up to Gary's room, who was split between the young researcher and his grandfather. Gary had bunked with Professor Oak, Misty with Iris, who was still crying over Dragonite, Brock with Max, who had stopped sulking and moved onto being angry, Cilan and Tracy, and May and Dawn. She wrapped her knuckles on the door, leading the brown haired man to open it.
Gary blinked down at her in surprise, his hair damp and sticking to his face. "We need to talk." Misty insisted, not giving him a chance to respond as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the hotel and towards a set of picnic tables next to a small battle field.
"I hope you have a good reason pulling me all the way out here." Gary scowled at her, leaning against a tree.
Misty ignored him. "We need to apologize to Ash." Gary raised a brow at her. "I've missed my best friend and you're the only person Ash has ever had a falling out with before, so I need to know how you got Ash to become your friend again."
"Yeah, I'm not doing that." Gary shook his head and tried to walk back to the hotel.
Misty grabbed his arm before he could get too far. Her face was pinching in an angry ugly red color that matched horribly with her hair. "Why not?! I know its hard to forgive Ash for everything he did to us, especially Professor Oak, but we need to forgive him!"
Gary's eyes became guarded. He ripped his arm out of her hands and turned towards. "Us forgive him?! Are you even hearing yourself?" Gary took a deep breath and ran his hands down his face. "He didn't do anything to us Misty! We were the ones that pushed him away! You were the one that convinced all of us!"
Misty sniffed bitterly. "I just wanted him to grow up!"
The brunette gave a disbelieving laugh. "Don't even try to pull that Misty! You're not Brock, you didn't want him to mature, you aren't Dawn, who was bitter over her win, or May, who wanted Ash to stop getting hurt, or or Tracy, who just went with everything because he didn't want to lose his friends, or Iris, who is so full of herself she wanted to see Ash fail so she could call him a kid, or Cilan, who believed you because he's a star struck idiot who doesn't know how to think for himself, or Max, who was a child and just wanted to follow the older kids' decisions!" Gary was yelling now, luckily they were in a city so yelling wasn't exactly noticed amongst the usual city street chaos. He took a deep breath, his voice turning mournful. "Or me, who was bitter, and angry, and insecure in my decision to become a researcher after my first paper wasn't as popular as Gramps' papers were and wanted to see someone else suffer." Misty refused to meet his eyes.
"Whats your point!" The red head growled.
"You turned us all against him because you didn't want him traveling around anymore, meeting and befriending new people, leaving you behind. You hoped once he decided to stay in one place that he'd fall madly in love with you and become your happy little trophy husband while you rose as Cerulean's Gym Leader." Gary scoffed. "You knew what to say to everyone, including me, to go along with your plans. Well guess what, it worked. Ash stayed in one place. Far away from you."
Misty looked away from him. "So you aren't going to help me get him to forgive us."
"For the love of Mew Misty!" Gary cursed loudly. "Have you heard a single word I said?" He took a deep breath, realizing Misty wasn't going to drop it until it was spelled out for her in big, bright, neon letters.
"I have! Why don't you want Ash to forgive you then if you think we were wrong?" Misty bistled.
"Because Ash is happy." Gary stressed the word happy with a somber look. "This whole tournament has been an eye opener, Misty. Ash is a champion now, he has friends, family. He's happy and secure. I have no right to apologize and hope he forgives me for the sake of my own conscious. He's happy, and I'm happy for him. I won't help you bully him into forgiving you, and I doubt his friends will either."
This time when Gary turned to leave, Misty didn't stop him. She glared angrily at his back until he vanished from sight. She shook her head. He was wrong, Ash had new friends, but he would never turn his back on his old ones. So what if she originally convinced everyone to tell Ash to quit because she wanted Ash to be her boyfriend and eventual husband? She had long since let go of her feelings after the first year, when Ash didn't come back. She was different now, and so was he. He would forgive her, or she'd give him something to be sorry about. A plan firmly implanted into her mind, Misty took off toward the cabin they had first seen Ash at.
—-
"I can't believe Lance got so drunk." Ash groaned as he and Raichu headed to the cabin. They had originally gone with the rest of his friends for dinner and then to the cabin, but Alain called him to help because Cynthia, Alder, and Lance were completely sloshed and Alain couldn't deal with them alone. Let it be known that carrying a very large drunk man that is almost twice your height is not easy. Not to mention that Ash then smelt like a bar due to carrying two drunkards up to their hotel rooms. Raichu crooned in amusement, he refused to help because he found the whole thing hilarious and Ash left Espeon with Gladion. "Whatever, I got my revenge." Ash thought back fondly, remembering the, ehem, masterpieces he and Alain doodled all over Lance's and Alder's faces.
As they were about to turn on the trail back to the cabin, a voice called out and Ash stiffened. Raichu's cheeks cackled in warning, blue eyes narrowing as Misty ran closer. She had a smile on her face as she approached, like she had ran into an old friend on the street while out shopping.
"Ash, wait up! I want to talk to you!" She called.
Ash came to a stop. He considered that maybe she wanted to apologize like Dawn and Brock did. He likely wouldn't forgive her, she had said some really mean things, but he wanted to hear her out, for his own closure at the very least. "Misty." He greeted her tensely as she came to stand in front of him. Raichu made his presence known by standing between the two, watching Misty with an angry snarl.
Misty turned to smile kindly at Ash. "After a lot of thought, I've decided to forgive you for running off after our misunderstanding. And, I'm sorry for those things I said, there was a lot going on with the gym, everyone was really uptight at the time. I'm sure you understand, seeing as you're a Champion now."
Anger boiled under Ash's skin, but he forced it down with a deep breath. "Excuse me?" He muttered in disbelief.
"The point is, I forgive you, and you forgive me and everything can go back to how it was!" She reached out and grabbed his arm. "I still have a bone to pick with you though Ash Ketchum!" She turned to stare down at Raichu. "How could you evolve Pikachu like this? Obviously it was the wrong decision, that you're stuck with now, because look at how aggressive Raichu is now! Pikachu never would have battled against me, or growled at me like hes doing now! And how could you use a bug type against me, knowing I'm afraid of bugs! I know we were fighting but that is no excuse to-"
Ash finally snapped out of his stupor and aggressively ripped his arm out of her hand. He gripped a Pokeball that was in his pocket, trying to ground himself as Raichu twined his tail around Ash's hand. "First of all, Misty, I don't forgive you." He laughed in disbelief, making her scowl. "And that 'misunderstanding', maybe it was a misunderstanding to you, but to me it was the single most traumatic thing in my life! And I've nearly died at least five times! You and all my 'friends' turned their backs on me! I don't know everyone's reasons, but the reasons I have been given have been, honestly they've been ridiculous!"
"I had a good reason!" She insisted.
"Okay, what was your reason?" Ash turned fully towards her. "Did an evil corporation brainwash you? Or Threaten and blackmail you? Were you possessed by a demon or a 'evil' Pokemon?"
Misty's face reddened, though due to embarrassment or anger wasn't clear. "You were pulling away!" She snapped. "Every year you would return with more friends, more Pokemon! It wasn't fair! I was your first traveling companion! I loved you! If you went on another journey you would have met someone else and left me completely!"
A look of disgust, unnatural looking on the usually bright and sunshiny man, fell upon Ash's face and he took a hasty step away from her. "Well I have left you completely. I'm engaged, and I want nothing to do with you. Stay away from me, my friends, and my family." Sharply, he flung the Pokeball in his hand out, and out popped a large brown and red horse Pokemon. He easily pulled himself onto Mudsdale's back, Raichy leaping onto his shoulder, and they took off, galloping towards the cabin and leaving Misty alone on the trail to call after him.
Ash didn't look back. He was done with her. Somehow, it hurt more knowing that he lost his friends because the girl he saw as a sister was jealous he was making more friends and would possibly fall in love with someone. It made his throat itch with bile and his eyes burn with tears while disgust and heartbreak coiled like fighting Serviper and Zangoose in his gut.
Author's Comments: Next three chapters will be the resal Semi finals, and then the finals themselves. because its only three battles I'm not going to have a drama chapter inbetween the semis and finals like I've been doing. theres only 5 more chapters(counting the epilogue) and then the story will be complete!
Also, yes: Brock wanted Ash to grow up, Dawn was upset at her own faults, May wanted Ash to not be saving the world and getting hurt, Iris is just a bitch, Gary was insecure, Cilan was star blinded and stupid, Tracy was a coward that didn't want to rock the boat, Max was an entitled child, and Misty wanted Ash to settle down preferably with her. they are all very dumb reasons thats the point.
Disclaimer: IWriteBullshit does not own Pokemon in any way shape or form. Pokemon is the property of Game Freak and their partners. Alola's Betrayed Champion is a nonprofit fanfiction story written by someone with too much time on their hands.