A/N: To Iron-ninja: Thank you very much for your kind words! I'm glad you liked the chapter!

Thanks to C'sMelody for being such a pal. Not to mention fantastic beta.

From Before

"Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us."

–Unknown

After all but sprinting—with a few hurdles—from Cerulean, and being kindly booted out of Brock's house, Misty decided that maybe it was a good time to take care of the precautionary aspects of her adventure. Brock's homemade HyperPotions were kind of a wake-up call because it was only then that she realized that she hadn't thought to bring any healing products of any kind. Her bike ride out of Cerulean had been a straight shot and she hadn't done any shopping.

So she took the opportunity to stock up on a few more Potions, some Status Healers, and a few PokéBalls, which she never needed at the Gym. Additionally, she stopped at the Pokémon Center to pick up a map book of the region and to give her Pokémon one last look over.

This was problematic, because she could never bring Noir to the Pokémon Center in Cerulean. It would raise too many questions, draw too much interest. So she had been forced to learn how to handle Noir's health as best she could on her own. After all, she was a Gym Leader, so she needed at least cursory knowledge of caring for the Gym's Pokémon. More than most ordinary Trainers. But she had to be Noir's only caretaker, which was a different challenge.

This caused Misty to dawdle a little in the Pokémon Center. She wasn't as well known in Pewter and so handing over a Banette, even one out of a PokéBall, shouldn't draw too much suspicion.

Still, she decided against it. Noir was great at communicating with her and, as a Ghost Type, tended to heal quite easily. There was no need to risk it. Especially since Nurse Joys tended to know a lot. Not to mention the fact that Pewter and Cerulean were neighboring cities, so Misty could bet that those two Joys talked a lot.

So Misty left the Center, and that was all the stalling she could do before reaching the Viridian Forest.

The Viridian Forest wasn't Misty's favorite place in the world. Even from the outside, the chirping and the buzzing were audible and shiver-inducing. Every far-off click sounded like a Pinsir clenching its horns together and chomping its mandibles.

Still, she knew she was being silly. Young Trainers traversed the Viridian Forest daily. The path was practically paved, as it was the major road between Pewter and Viridian. She had even heard of cars driving along it. It could only be assumed that the Pokémon didn't mind too much, as they were more acclimated to humans than most wild Pokémon.

With a rough shove, Noir had all but forced Misty into the forest, nearly pushing her right over her bike. She had been walking with it since spending so much time on it yesterday had left her sore. But now she was back on; anything to get out of the forest quicker.

Now, if only she could find a way to tune the forest sounds out. They were making her paranoid.

The best idea she could come up with was making idle conversation with Noir. It was a good distraction, at least.

"No, what I'm saying is that Water Pokémon—"

"Bay banette!"

"Yes, I know that, but—"

"Banette!"

"Fine!" Misty threw a hand up in the air and conceded to a very, very smug Noir. "You win."

"Nette nette?" Noir put a gray hand up to where her ears might have been had she had any and looked expectantly at Misty.

"And…And Ghost Pokémon have just as cute features as Water Pokémon because," Misty sighed, "because their bodies have wispy tendrils, which are practically the same as flippers," she ended with a grumble.

"Bay," Noir cheered happily, seemingly content, despite the fact that Misty was only regurgitating what Noir had said earlier. But hey, a win's a win.

Misty wasn't usually one to give into an argument that easily—not that this one had been easy; they'd been going back and forth for twenty minutes—but sometimes you just have to give into a Ghost Pokémon that can literally spend eternity fighting with you. It wasn't like they needed to pause for sleep or food or anything.

Though Noir would say otherwise. She certainly loved to eat just for the taste, even if she didn't derive anything from the calories.

"You know, I'm glad that Brock said what he did about us not having to know where we're going," Misty said breezily, stretching her arms over her head, reveling in being able to bike without them. Her sisters never could get that trick. "Takes a lot of pressure off. We could go to Cinnabar just because we feel like it or Vermillion City or even the Seafoam Islands," she mused. "Someplace tropical sounds nice."

"Bay."

"Mm, you think so too? Plus the more water we're around, the more exercise Staryu, Gyarados, and Frillish can get."

It would be great. She could ride in the ocean on Gyarados, or even Staryu, if she wanted. Best of all, there would be all kinds of Water Pokémon to study and catch. And since she no longer had the Gym Pokémon at her disposal, it would be nice to add a fresh face to the team. She wasn't in any rush, though. Just training with them while traveling would be a big enough change to start.

But what she really wanted to do was something else entirely.

She pulled the tiny letter from her pocket. I know what you are. The 'what' was the interesting part. People knew 'who' she was. Not necessarily as famously as her sisters, but she was a Gym Leader. Gym Leaders were at least somewhat known. But what she was…

Well, what was she?

Much like she had told Brock, she had never met anyone like herself before. And she didn't know exactly how she'd come to be able to see and touch ghosts. So if someone knew about that, it would be huge. Finally there would be someone who really knew the answers to her questions. Her loving mother had been a help at first, yes, but she didn't know what Misty was any more than she knew.

As dangerous as it could be, Misty wanted to find this person. Especially if they had the same ability as her, like Brock had suggested. Answers would be priceless, and worth the risk of encountering a person who was possibly following her. How else could she explain this person knowing that she was in the Cerulean Cave and, more so, what she was?

Of course, she could only figure that this person lived in Cerulean, but even that was just a guess. This note was so to the point that she couldn't glean anything about the writer from it. But maybe, if she was lucky, she'd learn more on this journey.

Misty rolled her bike to a stop and hopped off, checking over her shoulder in the flicker of paranoia that came with feeling like you're being followed. But no one was around. She then folded the note small again and pocketed it, finding that to be much easier to do off the bike than on it, what with the minute size of her denim pockets. She had always complained that girl clothes got the short end of the stick with pockets. Her sisters had responded that the bulge of pockets would ruin any outfit and, duh, wasn't that what purses were for?

Rustle.

Misty looked up. "Did you hear that, Noir?"

"Bay," Noir said with a nod, reflexively fading into a glow.

They both looked around, waiting to hear another sound. There was none. Misty relaxed. "Must have just been a woodland critter." It easily could have just been a tree-dwelling Pokémon leaping from one branch to another. That's more or less what it had sounded like. She was just being paranoid after thinking about people following her.

"Bay."

"Though it did sound different from all the sounds we've heard so far…"

"Bay…"

"Okay, well, let's keep going."

They moved forward with some hesitancy, Misty now walking the bike again so she could hear better. Her nerves were suddenly on edge as she absently rubbed her arms, trying to keep the phantom feeling of sticky legs walking across them at bay. But at least the chatter of the woods seemed friendlier now; a comfortable norm in comparison to the:

Rustle.

"There it was again!" This time she wasn't playing around. Misty toed her bike's kickstand and moved aside, her legs immediately widened and crouched into a more offensive stance and hands resting on her 'Belt, ready to enlarge a 'Ball at a moment's notice. "Wait…do you hear that, Noir?"

Misty concentrated and from the direction of the rustle she could hear a light murmuring.

"How do you keep doing that?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, stop!"

"If I don't know how I'm doing it, then how can I stop it?"

"I don't know! You just do!"

It was definite. Those were voices, hissing at each other, and they sounded close. But not dangerous. They probably belonged to a pair of lost novice Trainers. And it was Misty's duty as a Gym Leader to help them. "Who's there?" she called, moving closer to the foliage on the side of the path, where the voices were coming from.

"What was that?"

"Did you hear that?"

"Obviously, I heard that."

"Can someone hear us?"

Misty frowned. Why didn't they just answer her? "Do you need any help?" she called again. She brushed the bushes to the side—making sure she wasn't touching any spider webs—and ventured into the actual woods.

"Oh my God, she can hear us!"

Through a gap in the brush, she spotted a teenage boy and girl, and the girl was pointing at her with an unsteady finger.

And they were both glowing.

Misty closed her eyes and took a breath that carried the weight of the world in it. "Do you think it's too late to play ignorant, Noir?" she mumbled under her breath.

"Oh my God, she can hear us."

The boy and girl walked straight through the bushes and trees to approach Misty, and the boy reached out to try to touch her as soon as he got close enough. With an eye roll, Misty stepped back out of the brush—she hadn't been very far in anyhow—and onto the main road. She'd have to hide if any travelers came across them, but for now she wanted the advantage of being able to move around instead of being trapped by twigs at every turn.

"Hey, where are you going‽"

Misty didn't reply, she just huffed as she brushed a few stray leaves off of her before turning back to them, looking a little bored.

"Why can you see us?" the girl asked, stepping forward out of the brush.

"You know, I wish I could tell you," Misty answered so truthfully it hurt.

"Are you human?" The boy reached out to try to touch her again.

"Stop it!" Misty snapped, slapping his hand away, leaving him—and the girl—flabbergasted. "And of course I'm human."

"But you have," the girl's eyes began to sparkle, "powers."

Misty resisted the urge pull her hand melodramatically down her face. "Look, do you guys need some help with something?"

"Yeah!" The boy stepped forward and put his hands on his hips, puffing his chest out slightly. "We want you to turn us back."

"Ooh, yeah!" the girl agreed. "Good idea!"

Misty sighed. "It doesn't really work that way."

"What?" the girl whimpered, all light dying in her eyes.

"Sorry," Misty said, being as sympathetic as she could. "You guys know that you're dead, right? No one can undo that."

"Of course we know that," the boy spat. "But it has to be possible for us to come back to life. Otherwise how would there be Pokémon like Phantump, huh?"

"Yeah, I don't really know what you mean by that," Misty said. "But I'm pretty sure that's not how that works either. And besides, Pokémon are always a different deal. That's kind of a rule of thumb."

"But you have to be able to," the girl said, stomping her foot on the ground, causing a small shift in the dirt around her foot. "We weren't supposed to die!"

Wait. Something wasn't right. "How did you do that?" Misty asked, taking a step back as she looked quickly between the upturned dirt and the girl's face.

"I wish I had my Kadabra right now to fight you with!" the girl continued as if she hadn't heard Misty, clenching her hands into fists and her voice rising in pitch with rage. The branches of a nearby boxwood rustled a bit around her; the same sound as before.

Both she and the boy were taking slow, menacing steps toward Misty, backing her into the far edge of the path. But she had to try to stand her ground as best she could. "Look, I know that you're upset. I understand that this is a tragedy and it's hard to accept, but you really have no other choice. I can help you get anything done that you need, like unfinished business, you know, and maybe—"

"No, you don't understand!" the boy interjected. Clearly the two were feeding off of each others' anger, much to Misty's misfortune. "How could you understand what it's like to be dead?"

"I can't," Misty said calmly, doing what she could to talk them down as she continued to back up, taking comfort only in that fact that Noir was right beside her. "But I can he—"

"Wait!" the girl shouted, pointing square at Noir. "She's got a Ghost Pokémon. That's so unfair!"

"No, it's not," the boy replied. "It's two on two."

The boy lunged forward and took a swing at Misty, who hopped quickly to the side. Noir flew in front as soon as the boy began to fall from his follow-through. Her eyes glowed dark pink and she brought a growing ball in the air between her hands, casting an eerie glow on her face. She fired it at the boy but he dodged it with ease, using his lack of a physical body to his advantage.

Meanwhile, the girl came at Misty from the side with her arms out as though she was going to tackle her, giving Misty no choice but to fall back into the foliage.

Angry ghosts were the worst. That's what Misty had learned in her years of experience. They hadn't come around so much when she was younger, but as she had grown older, ghosts had fewer and fewer qualms against causing her trouble, irritation, and, least fortunate of all, pain.

"Gah!" Misty cried out as she tripped over a rogue root, causing her to fall over backwards.

It only got worse from there.

A shrill scream bled from Misty's lips as her eyes caught view of what lay in the tree to which the root was attached.

Two Beedrill.

The girl, who had followed Misty through her fall in the brush, looked up and laughed. "Oh, so that's your thing, is it? Afraid of some bugs?"

Misty's ears fell deaf to the taunt, as her eyes were glued to the Beedrill. Her body was torn with the urge to run away, limbs flailing, mouth screaming, and the kind of paralysis that comes only from the deepest fear. Not even her eyes could move.

Suddenly, the large branch housing the two Beedrill began to sway, as though caught by the wind. But it was only that one, the few leaves on it rustling together as it shook independently from the tree.

That was enough to wrench Misty back into reality. Her eyes flew to the ghost girl, who was looking at that very branch, and concentrating hard whilst glowing more than usual. Was she doing that? How was she doing that?

Misty didn't have any time to ponder the question when suddenly the Beedrill's eyes flashed red, and their wings flickered to life, adding to the buzzing voice of the forest.

Run.

Run!

Adrenaline suddenly exploded into Misty's nervous system to the point that the very tips of her fingers were tingling, and she was off. She sprinted back the way that she had come, pushing away the bushes with abandon, careless for how they scratched against her bare skin. She nearly collapsed onto the main road, yelling, "Noir, come on!"

Noir was still fighting the boy, and they both appeared to have taken quite a beating. While the boy showed no physical damage, he was slower than before—the only way Misty knew to gauge a ghost's physical 'health.'

But that was the thing. They could slow, as though their bodies were wearing down in a fight, but they weren't. They had no bodies, so there was nothing to hurt. At some point, ghosts tended to disappear, but Misty didn't know how or why. So Misty had never known how to win a fight against them.

And today was no exception.

So, she ran.

She couldn't outrun a ghost, but she could sure as hell try to outrun those Beedrill. And she needed Noir by her side to attack them if necessary.

"Hey, where are you going?"

The boy ghost shot after them and was quickly on their tails, being followed directly behind by a buzzing that Misty didn't dare look at. He didn't seem to mind, though. "Oh, scared of a couple Beedrill, are we? Good thing I'm not."

They were only mad. Ghosts always seemed to get madder than humans. If only she could think of a way to calm them down and make them understand, then they would stop attacking her. But she just couldn't think of anything, her mind was too rattled to let her.

"Hey, I'm coming!"

Misty would have let out a groan, had she not already been gasping for breath. She didn't know what had paused the girl, but she had been grateful for it. And the boy was already so close without her help. And the Beedrill were so close. And she was so out of breath.

Suddenly, Noir stopped, turning around towards the enemies with her arms spread wide. A weary, but wicked smile glinted, matching a gold stave that appeared in front of her. Its diameter had to be as big as Misty's muscular calf; Noir couldn't even make her fingers touch as she took it in both hands. And, gruesomely, she stabbed herself with it.

"Ugh," the girl gasped, covering her eyes as she fell back further.

"It's a ghost," the boy hissed, though Misty hadn't missed how his cheek twitched as the stake broke through Noir's back, ripping like fabric. "There's nothing gross t—Argh!"

The both of them and the Beedrill all curled over as if in pain as Noir fainted to the ground. The stave dissipated into the air and her glow faded as her body slowly stitched itself back together.

"What the heck?" the girl asked as she straightened, shaking off the pain.

"You've been cursed," Misty stated, trying to sound strong, despite the fact that she was now completely uncovered. "It only gets worse from here. Now can we please talk rationa—"

"If we've got limited time…" the girl cut her off.

"Then we'd better make the most of it."

Hindered though they were, both of the ghosts advanced on Misty again. They obviously weren't fighters. This was important to Misty because while she wasn't usually one for physical combat, it had come up before. So experience, trivial though it was, was on her side.

Misty grappled as best she could, Noir's sacrifice having granted her a little breather and a second wind. Still, two on one wasn't something that she could keep up for long. If only she could spare just a moment to reach for her 'Belt and release Frillish. Just a single moment.

But she didn't have that. Her forearms were being used to parry the blows they were giving her, sometimes from their fists, sometimes from their legs. They were above her, and agile above all else, so it was all she could do to keep her angles covered.

Her only hope was Curse. It was sapping away at them, and the way they were throwing themselves around, they weren't doing themselves any favors. Fortunately, Curse had been enough to ward off the Beedrill, who had flown away in forfeit upon first blow.

Thank God. So at least she had her wits about her.

Though a knee to the side of her head was quick to end that.

Misty found herself on the ground, with two ghosts suddenly on top of her. She rolled as best she could, sending a few snapping kicks their way as she did so, getting the added advantage of a shove of momentum.

If they would wear out enough, they would give. These weren't evil ghosts—few ever were. Misty figured that most of the world's evil people moved on as soon as they died. Their unfinished work probably wasn't deemed important enough by the cosmos, or whatever. These ghosts weren't that. They were only teenagers dealing with anger and frustration the way most teens do.

Lashing out. Usually that unique gift was saved for parents and frenemies, but Misty was apparently the lucky recipient of the day. Hopefully they could get it out of their system and then the tears and real talk would come. Wasn't that how it was supposed to go?

Hopefully. Because now her head was really throbbing.

Maybe if she turned on her side and blocked her face with one arm, she could use the other arm to reach her 'Belt…

Suddenly it was easy. She could reach her 'Belt with no problem. That was different. She opened her eyes and moved her arm to see the two ghosts sprawled on the ground, being held at their throats by…

…A third ghost.

Misty sat up quickly, holding her head as her vision faded in and out, the throbbing now feeling like her skull was actually cinching her brain. She breathed deeply to fight the pain and bring back her sight; she needed to be able to see this.

With one last surge of adrenaline, Misty pushed herself to her knees and scooped Noir into her arms while keeping an eye on the battle. And she noticed something she hadn't noticed before. A little Pikachu, floating by the side of the third ghost. Floating and glowing.

A ghost Pokémon that wasn't a Ghost Pokémon.

Misty nearly gasped. After years of seeing ghosts of people, she had never seen a ghost of a Pokémon before. She had never assumed it to be possible.

The third ghost—who, Misty noticed, was a boy—had wrestled the two teens to standing, holding both of them at arm's length. He said something to them in a low, gravelly voice that Misty couldn't make out. The two others replied something, talking over each other frantically, gesturing as wildly as they could.

And then the three of them disappeared.

The Pikachu turned back to her, raising two fingers into a 'V' and said, "Pi Pikachu!" before disappearing as well.

Misty turned to Noir, who was still out cold, and breathed, "That was weird."

Then she fell over and gave into the blackness.

A pounding headache was what Misty's consciousness greeted her with. It was enough to rouse a strained grunt from her as she took inventory of her aches and pains. Aside from the headache, she could already feel a sizable bruise forming on her left hip. Her arms had to be black and blue all the way up and down as well, having received the brunt of the hits. Altogether not too bad, compared to what it could have been. She was lucky nothing was broken, assuming she didn't have a concussion.

Eh…if she had passed out, she was probably concussed.

Great.

Misty placed a hand on the ground to help push her up and was surprised when she felt grass tickling her fingers instead of the well-trod dirt of the main path. That was where she had passed out, wasn't it?

Blearily, Misty's eyes blinked open, taking in her surroundings. She was still in the woods, but the path was nowhere in sight. This was a lush part of the forest, heavy tree cover only allowing in shimmering speckles of sunlight.

Sunlight. That meant that she hadn't been out for that long. Unless it was the next day…

"You're awake."

Misty started, a shiver traveling through her bloodstream like tiny pieces of broken glass. She turned her head quickly, resisting the urge to wince at the new pain it caused in her head. No need to show weakness to a stranger.

But who she was met with wasn't exactly a stranger.

"Oh," she started, her voice sounding raspy. She cleared her throat as she forced herself up to sitting so that she could meet his eyes. "You're the ghost from before."

He was sitting to her side, up past her head, which was why she hadn't noticed him as soon as she had opened her eyes.

"Yeah," the ghost said, scratching the back of his head, just under his hat. "My—"

"Bay!"

At that moment, Noir came from behind a bush and leapt into Misty's arms, squealing with delight.

"Noir!" Misty exclaimed. She then turned back to the ghost asking, "Did you do this?"

"Yeah, I used some of your Potions to revive her."

The Pikachu also appeared, coming from the same direction as Noir. Noir fell out of Misty's lap, never one to be too touchy-feely, and went over to Pikachu, who was now nuzzling the ghost's side, as if for attention. The ghost scratched behind its ear, earning himself a contented, "Chaa."

The ghost had used her Potions? But that was impossible. To her knowledge, ghosts weren't able to touch anything physical—people or objects. Well, except for her, of course. That's why it had been so strange when that ghost girl had been able to unsettle the dirt path just by stomping.

Desperate for answers, Misty asked, "How?"

The ghost looked down, almost like he was trying to cover a blush. The Pikachu laughed at him, further validating her suspicion. "I kind of used your hand to pick it up. Sorry."

"Oh, don't apologize," Misty assured with the lilt of laughter. "Using my hand like a puppet. How ingenious." Looking back to the sky she remembered her first concern. "How long was I—" she glanced at Noir, "were we out for?"

"Well, your Banette recovered very quickly after I applied the Potion. As for you…" The ghost turned to the sky as well, squinting to make it out beyond the trees. "Only a half-hour, I would say. Maybe more, maybe less. You were pretty lucky."

"Yeah," Misty said, "that you saved me. Thanks for that."

"Oh, you're welcome," the boy said, looking bashful and proud at the same time.

"Anyway, we should really get on. Thanks again for all the help," Misty said, gesturing to Noir to join her. She took special care not to put any weight on her left hip as she pushed herself up, finding a more than a few new aches as she did so.

The ghost followed her up, looking concerned. "Are you sure that you shouldn't just set up camp or something and rest?"

Misty smiled tightly. "I can take care of myself, thanks."

The ghost raised his eyebrows, but he didn't say anything to the contrary. "Okay."

Misty was about to make to leave, glad to leave a ghost behind that didn't want anything from her. Yes, it felt like her job was to help wayward spirits, but it wasn't like she had signed up for it. She hadn't asked for the responsibility and yet it was constantly cast upon her. So she wasn't about to go looking for it.

Oh, but it wasn't to be that easy.

"I didn't get your name."

Misty turned back, an easy smile on her face. "It's Misty." Noir then tugged at Misty's hair, not unkindly, and Misty added, "And this is Noir."

"Oh, that's what you were trying to say before," the ghost said to Noir. He then turned back to Misty. "She was trying to explain her name, but since there wasn't a word for it, the closest I came to was black. I get it now. Oh, and hi, Misty." He thrust out his hand. "I'm Ash Ketchum."

Misty shook his hand automatically, but said, "You can understand Banette language?"

"Yeah." Ash shrugged. "I'm okay with a lot of Pokémon languages, but I'm best with Ghosts', since I can interact with them, you know? And Pikachu, of course," he added, ruffling Pikachu's ears again.

"Sure, sure," Misty said, nodding along, not showing how impressive that was. Rarely did people know Pokémon languages aside from those of their own Pokémon. And even then, language wasn't exactly the same from one Pokémon in a species to another. It wasn't as though they regulated them. And from Misty's knowledge, Banette weren't exactly common to the Kanto region. At least, she had never seen another one.

"I've never met anyone like you, you know."

That struck Misty out of her reverie. She had half-expected him to leave, since he hadn't asked her for anything. Perhaps he was one of the chatty ghosts? "I can't say the same."

Ash laughed. "Obviously. Did you know those two trying to take you out?"

Misty shrugged. "Probably Trainers. From what I could figure they must have died recently, probably in some accident on their journeys."

"Yeah, they said something like that," Ash added, looking away from Misty as he did so.

"Wait, you talked to them?"

"Well, as soon as I started threatening them, they became pretty talkative."

"Oh."

A normal person would probably then ask what was said. But Misty wasn't one to nose into conversations that she wasn't a part of, and she certainly wasn't one to ask about what two ghosts who had nearly tried to kill her had to say. So she kept her mouth shut and pushed through the last of the bushes, rubbing her bruised arms painfully where the branches had hit them.

At that point, Noir floated up to Misty and poked her head. "Nette banette bay."

"Oh, yeah," Misty said with a furrowed brow. "Where is my bike?"

"Bike?"

"Yeah. How far away did you bring me from where I was?" she asked.

"Not very far."

Misty looked down. There was a distinct area of dirt that was upturned and scattered. That must have been where she had fallen in the scuffle. She had run a ways before that to get away from the Beedrill, but the path was pretty straight here, and she hadn't gotten all that far. Then her bike should have been…

"Someone stole my bike!" Misty shouted, new rage filling her bones. "What the hell?"

"Sorry," Ash said, sounding a little guilty.

Misty rolled her eyes, knowing that he was behind her and wouldn't see. She couldn't rationally blame this on him, but it was really helping her out to do so. It was nice to have a direction for her anger instead of letting it spout out of every little crack that she had.

"It's fine," she said gruffly. Even if she wanted to blame him, the man had saved her life. She couldn't show that she was mad at him. "I guess I'll just have to get on without it."

She had walked part of the way anyway. It wouldn't make too much of a difference, she supposed. Sure, a bike made better time, but it wasn't like she was in a hurry to get anywhere. Besides, the way her body hurt right now, walking was probably the only thing she could do. And at least she wouldn't have to lug a bike along as she did so. With that logic, Misty took off down the path, forgetting the bike and Ash and got on with getting on.

But not for long.

"Hey!" Ash suddenly exclaimed, his eyes going wide as he did so. "I've seen you before!"

Furrowing her brows, but still walking, Misty couldn't help but ask, "Where?" letting a shred of disbelief taint her tone.

"At the Pewter City Gym. You were there just yesterday."

Misty faltered, her legs hesitating as she was stunned speechless. She opened her mouth, letting a breath of air escape before she could form, "How do you know that?"

Ash shrugged. "I was watching the Battle. We like to do that a lot," he said, gesturing to the Pikachu. "It gets pretty boring around here."

Those weren't words that Misty often heard from ghosts. Yes, ghosts were a dissatisfied people, but it wasn't usually out of boredom. It was the understandable discontent of being trapped in purgatory. And, you know, dead. So that, along with what he'd said about learning Pokémon languages, forced a question into her mind.

"Just exactly how long have you been dead?" Misty asked. But then she heard how crass that sounded and amended it with, "If you don't mind me asking, that is."

"No, it's fine," Ash said, looking up as he seemed to think about it. "How long do you suppose it's been, Pikachu?"

"Pi ka cha chu…" The Pikachu began counting on its fingers and then showed them to Ash.

"Yeah. Probably about thirty years," Ash answered.

Misty's eyebrows rose as she turned to where he was walking beside her. "Thirty years?"

"Yeah, about." Ash wiggled his hand from side to side to show the wiggle room. And, to Misty, his strange indifference. "A little more, I think."

"And this is true for both of you?" Misty gestured to Ash and the Pikachu.

Ash laughed. "Yeah, me and Pikachu've been together forever."

Before they died, was what that translated to in Misty's head. So they'd been partners when they were alive. Had they died together? She looked to where Pikachu was walking beside her, fondness softening her green eyes. It really was a cute species. Not a Water Type, but pretty adorable if she was being honest.

The Pikachu saw her eyeing it and jumped through the air into her arms. Misty gave a yelp as she managed to catch it and her cry gave way to a laugh as it began to nuzzle into her chest.

"Hey, he likes you!" Ash exclaimed, smiling widely. "He doesn't always take a shine to people so fast."

"Well, it sounds like it's been a while," Misty reasoned

"No, I mean not even other…ghosts that we've met. He's kind of picky."

"Are you, Pikachu?" she asked him, her voice pitched up a step and sounded gooey with sweetness. She shifted him to one arm and used the other to scratch his head, earning a delighted mewl. A bright giggle escaped from her mouth. "I have a hard time believing that."

"Well, believe it. He's shocked many an unsuspecting stranger in his day."

Pikachu sweat-dropped, but nodded earnestly.

"Uh, well maybe I should just hand him back to you then."

Ash took a break from his conventional walking and floated in front of her, reaching out his arms. But when she went to place Pikachu in them, he pulled his hands away, sending Pikachu falling for a couple feet before he caught himself in the air. Pikachu bristled and growled a threatening, "Chu," before a very real shock of electricity sparked from his cheeks and shocked Ash.

Misty threw her bruised arm up to block her face and fell back out of shock, though the Attack had not been directed toward her. Still, she felt the heat of it and heard the crackle that it sent down Ash's body. Ash, on the other hand, only laughed and shook it off, looking good as new a moment later.

"What the hell was that?" Misty asked bewilderedly.

"Oh, Pikachu and I have learned that he can use Special Attacks on anything, but Physical Attacks can only be used on other ghosts," Ash explained.

Wow. It was possible that this kid could open up a whole new realm for her. And he wasn't making any moves to leave so…maybe it wouldn't be too bad if he stuck around for a while. Maybe he could help her learn some things. Maybe this journey could be more useful than just a simple vacation.

Misty looked to Noir, who was giving her a knowing smile. Misty mirrored it and turned back to Ash and Pikachu as she began walking again.

"Really? Tell me more."

A/N: Hey! Hey, guys! I'm here with good news! Finally! I have the next fourteen chapters planned out. And mostly written. I still have a lot more work to do, since this story is looking like it'll be close to 40 chapters...Eep. But this is a great start and it makes me feel a lot more confident in posting this chapter, which is one of my favorites, by the way, if not my complete favorite. I'm sure it'll be a favorite among you guys as well. ;)