Hello, everyone, and welcome back to "A Long Distance Ship"! The last chapter was a complete doozy, as it focused on one of my least favorite episodes of the Advanced Saga so far. But I promise you, this chapter will be much more exciting with Ash and Misty sharing great developments from both sides. And you know how I said that there would be a big announcement last time? Well, Misty's email to Ash has something to do with it. Let's hear from her, and stay tuned till the end to see the full announcement!
misskwaterflower049
To: ashketchum497
Subject: Badge making
I am sorry for giving you two emails without you responding to one, but it looks like I can have adventures back here in Kanto after all, Ash! A few days before the start of badge season, our friend from Ecruteak, Sakura, decided to show up for a rematch, specifically for a badge. There was just one small problem with that, as someone (not naming names) gave away the last remaining badges and forgot to tell me about it! So we had to go all the way to a remote village and find Kinso, who made the badges used at the Cerulean Gym. It was good to get out of the gym for a little while, but I never knew that making badges was such hard work! It is almost as hard for me making them as you earning them, Ash! After that was done, Sakura and I returned to the gym to have our battle. And while Corsola put up a good fight against Espeon, she just couldn't stand up to Espeon's abilities. And Espeon was a strong Pokémon, even being able to swim (unlike a certain one of my water Pokémon…). Anyways, even with me losing, I gave Sakura her badge, specifically one that I made. Sakura decided to give me one of the badges she made in return to symbolize our friendship. Even though I lost my first battle as a gym leader, I won't let it hold me down. After all, it was just my first gym battle… Good luck on yours when it comes, Ash!
Misty
ashketchum497
To: misskwaterflower049
Subject: Contests
Hey Misty, I am glad to hear about your time away from the gym, even if it was for a few days. A lot has happened to me as well since I last talked to you, Misty. May, Max, Brock, and I ended up visiting a Pokémon preserve where Max tried to help a Poochyena try and evolve into a Mightyena like his friends were. He did some questionable tactics (like faking a battle to help it evolve), but during an encounter with the TRio, Poochyena ended up learning how to use Bite and evolving. A few days later, we stopped by a pond with a bunch of Lotad in it. One of them had trouble with his Water attacks, but Brock made sure to help it out, which led to him adding the Pokémon to his team. And today, we arrived at Rustboro Hall, where I am writing this to you from. My friends and I were introduced to the world of Pokémon contests by a pair of coordinators named Janet and Chaz. May ended up helping Janet out with her Beautifly's routine, and ended up getting a perfect 30. I was just able to see it as I was working on a new move with Pikachu that might help me out in the Rustboro City Gym. Anyways, Janet ended up winning the whole thing after a battle against Chaz, and after showing May her third ribbon, she seemed really interested in contests, and hopes to be in one someday. Once she is used to training Pokémon, I can definitely see her winning a contest someday. And I am glad you aren't letting your first loss as a gym leader take you down, Misty. I didn't truly win a gym battle until my encounter against Surge, and it was one of only three badges I truly battled to win in Kanto. Anyways, good luck against future trainers, Misty!
Ash
And that is it for this chapter of "A Long Distance Ship"! Now before I give a shout out to everyone who FFR'd the story since Friday, I would like to announce my next project, which ties into this story. It is called "The Misty Chronicles", and gives a fuller analysis on what happened in Cerulean while Ash is away. While the anime gave us a few episodes on Misty's time as a gym leader, including the reunion with one of the characters who gave me the idea for this story in the first place (the one featured in this chapter), the episodes and far apart from one another. (The next cannonical Misty-focused episode in Chronicles was released after Ash's battle with Wattson in Japan, and the one after that was what Americans consider the start of Season 8.) So I thought I would have more Misty "episodes" in this fic's universe that feature the return of old faces, new adventures, and all of Misty's struggles as she goes through day by day being a gym leader! So stay tuned for that! (Also feel free to give me suggestions on who you wish to see in the new story.)
And now on to the FFR'd section of the story, where I give thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and/or reviewed the story since the previous update. Yet again, Ian was the only one to leave a review (I swear, if he is the only one who is reviewing this story, I might as well cut the reveiw part all together.) Anyways, thanks to Grove of Hearts for favoriting this story, and SoonMayTheWellermanCome and tristanscipio1 for both favoriting and following this story, they both mean so very much to me! Remember to favorite, follow, and review if you want your name here! And no offense to Ian, but some variety in the "review" part would be nice. Have a good week, everyone!