.

Stir Crazy

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated."

–Confucius

Misty turned in early that night. Not only was her body ravaged from that fight with the ghosts, but her circadian rhythm was still thrown off from her day-and-a-half-long day. So she needed sleep and nobody argued her on that.

Ash had helped her find a cozy camping spot—and had scouted the area for bugs per her request—and she set up and went to sleep after a quick dinner, dead as a doornail to the world.

Apparently Ash knew the forest very well. Misty supposed that he must have liked hanging out there because of all of the wild Pokémon. Either that or it just hadn't changed much in thirty years.

Thirty years. That thought was still pretty incredible to Misty. Obviously she had met ghosts who had died a long time ago before—that ghost with the ring request had died some forty-five years prior. And her mother, of course, had been dead for ten years. But from the sound of it, Ash and Pikachu had been on earth the entire time. They didn't simply pop in from time to time. Near as Misty could tell, that wasn't normal. It had to be so lonely, so boring, so frustrating.

And really, she wanted to ask him more about it. It was the first time that she'd ever wanted to know more about a ghost. But what she was quickly finding to be true about Ash was that he certainly wasn't the chatty type of ghost. In fact, he didn't seem to fall neatly into either of her two categories. He seemed to enjoy talking sometimes, particularly about Pokémon. Other times, he was content merely to walk along with Pikachu on his shoulder.

Perhaps he was just out of practice. Thirty years was a long time to have your main conversationalist only know the syllables pi, ka, and chu. If that was the case, then she'd just have to let him warm up to it. If he stuck around, that was.

Which it didn't look like he was.

Misty awoke the next morning to patches of fresh dew of early spring on the ground, resting coldly on her face. As she wiped it off, the cold morning kissed her arm, bringing shivers to her whole body. Immediately, her fine, golden body hairs pricked up, begging her to burrow into her cocoon.

It had been a little cold on the road, but her exercise had largely made up for it. She realized now that it would be imperative to at least buy a sweater in the next town to offset her tank and shorts combo. Nevertheless, she ignored her chill as she sat up on her forearms and opened her eyes. Right away, she noticed Noir sleeping and no sign of Ash or his Pikachu anywhere.

"Ash?" Misty called out, just to make sure that she wasn't missing him somewhere in the trees or anywhere out of sight. But she got no response except for Noir grumbling at being roused from sleep. "Oh, get over it. It's not like you need it anyway."

"Banette…" Noir muttered.

"Noir, do you have any idea where Ash went?"

"Nette."

"Hmm…what a mysterious guy…"

Misty took one more cursory look around, finishing with a shrug as she went to roll up her sleeping bag. So Ash and Pikachu had up and gone. That was fine. Misty hadn't asked for them to come around and she hadn't wanted them around. She had been hopeful about what information she could glean from Ash, but ultimately, this had been her plan all along. And she had learned a little from him anyway, so it had been a useful venture nonetheless.

"Let's get going then."

Breakfast consisted of a small protein bar eaten on the go so as to make the best time out of the woods. Misty hoped to make it to Viridian by midday, maybe even sooner if she kept a decent pace.

That would be challenging, though. Her ankle was practically good as new, though still wrapped as a precaution. But the rest of her body was achy and creaky, as if she'd aged twenty years overnight. As an athlete, she was pushing through it as best she could, but that didn't mean that she didn't want to at least complain a little bit and have Noir begrudgingly validate her misery.

"Let me tell you, if I ever see those ghosts again, I'm going to wring their necks but good," Misty grumbled whilst massaging between her neck and her head, trying to alleviate the bruised feeling of her skull.

"Bay banette."

"I know it wouldn't do any good! Ugh, that's the whole problem…"

Truth be told, Misty was a little bothered that she hadn't been able to handle herself in the fight the day before. She had had no way to win, and as a professional battler, that was very unsettling. Sure, she wasn't a physical battler, but still…

Hmm…Physical battling.

"Noir? Mind if we try a little experiment?"

Noir eyed Misty skeptically. Misty expected that, though. A coy look and her voice sweetly transposed up a key wasn't enough to fool a ghost.

"Bay bay."

"Well, remember what Ash said about Physical versus Special Attacks?"

"Bay."

"Wanna try that?"

Noir cast her gaze aside, considering the question, then answered it with an enthused shrug. Well, as enthused as a shrug could be, at least.

"Great!" Misty reached for Staryu's 'Ball and tossed it in the air while still walking along the trail. "Okay, Noir. Second plane."

The planes were what Misty had come to label Noir's—and all ghosts'—levels of existence. First plane was when a ghost was visible to everyone and could touch everything—essentially a corporal being. Only applicable to Ghost Pokémon, though. Second plane was the plane in which Noir began to glow and became only visible to Misty. This was the plane that ghost people lived in as well.

Third plane was where the mystery still lay. Third plane was this other location that Noir could travel to, but never really had been able to explain to Misty. Ghost Pokémon could simply vanish there via some kind of teleportation between planes, as could ghost humans that have not yet moved on. And that was the extent of Misty's knowledge on the subject.

And fourth plane, as Misty and her mother had come to coin it, was the afterlife in which Fleur had ended up. She said that it was peaceful and essentially what she had thought the afterlife would be like, but occasionally she was brought back to earth, and it wasn't entirely in her control. At least, that was how Misty's mother had explained it to her. That's why she didn't visit all the time, and why she wasn't constantly watching over Misty in second plane. She had passed on, but occasionally was pulled back. Perhaps there was some kind of fifth plane in which one could no longer be brought back, but they had only assumed that; there was no way to know for sure.

So as Noir fell into the glow of second plane, Misty said, "Okay, guys, we're gonna stage a little experimental Battle. But let's keep moving along as we do that, 'kay? Now, Staryu, Rapid Spin!"

Of course, Rapid Spin was a Normal Type Attack, so Misty hadn't expected it to work, but she needed to start somewhere. It took a few tries for her to try to aim Staryu, who couldn't see Noir before she wised up and simply told Noir to move into the Attack. And, as predicted, Staryu flew right through her.

"Okay, now we need a Physical Attack that isn't Normal," Misty strategized. But as the words left her mouth, she stopped in her tracks. "Uh…"

Noir and Staryu stopped as well to look at Misty, who was currently staring at the sky with her index finger placed pensively on her lip.

"Any ideas, guys?"

Noir shook her head and Staryu…well, Staryu shook its body from side to side in what appeared to be a negative response.

"Staryu doesn't have any other Physical Attacks," Misty mused.

It was true. To Misty's recollection, the only other Physical move that Staryu could learn was Gyro Ball, but she had never taught it that one. What use was a Steel Type move at a Water Gym?

"Haha, I guess Gyarados is really the Physical Attacker, huh?" Misty said, accompanied by a subtle sweatdrop. "Think it would be too obvious to release him in the middle of a forest?"

Noir nearly growled, clearly not too fond of the idea of being used as a crash test dummy against Gyarados.

"Alright, alright. We'll move on. Special Attacks, here we come!" Misty thrust her arm forward and began walking again. "Staryu, use Water Gun!"

Again, Noir had to move into the narrow spray of the Attack, but this time, it resulted in contact, making her fly backwards.

"Yeah, it works!" Misty cheered, putting a little pep in her step.

"Bay, banette," Noir grumbled good-naturedly as she got up from the ground where she had fallen, and floated back over to Misty and Staryu.

"Wait, Noir. You're in first plane again."

Noir looked herself up and down, despite not being able to see the difference herself, and shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "Oops."

Noir had taken the time years ago to explain what shifting planes was like to Misty as best she could. Of course, it had taken the two of them ages to figure out how to do it or what even was happening. Apparently mastery over form wasn't something that ghosts were inherently born with. That caused Noir to struggle for months in the beginning.

After Noir had finally figured out how to stay in first plane and second plane—third plane had come much later—she had said that she couldn't see any difference in herself like Misty did. Never any glowing. She always saw herself as perfectly solid, even as she was passing through things. And the feeling of being in one form versus the other wasn't so much a physical feeling as much a conscious state. A conscious state that had taken a lot of concentration at first. And that had been why she hadn't been able to hold on to one plane versus the other; because she hadn't known what she was supposed to be concentrating on.

But now Noir had immense control over staying in one form. So being knocked out of it because of an Attack was interesting.

"Do you think you can control that?"

Noir shrugged her shoulders and floated far in front of them, putting herself in range for another Water Gun from Staryu.

"Alright, then let's find out. Really concentrate this time, Noir!" Misty nodded to Staryu, who fired another Water Gun that Noir dove headlong into. Noir spun out in the air, but ended up floating upwards, glowing still. But Misty hadn't been able to tell if, as soon as the Attack made contact, Noir had fallen out of her form. She called that over to Noir, who shrugged, apparently also unable to tell. Misty turned to Staryu. "Staryu, right when the Attack hit, could you see Noir?"

Staryu tilted forward and back in the air, a crude attempt at a nod.

That was strange.

"And you couldn't feel that at all, Noir?" Misty asked as Noir again flew back to them.

Noir shook her head, frustration evident on her face. It was as though she were dealing anew with a problem that hadn't plagued her since her first year of life.

"Maybe it's something you can't control?" Misty suggested.

"Hey, you're Misty Waterflower!"

Misty started, her heart feeling as though it had just attempted to exit out her chest—and her bladder feeling as though it had nearly exited out her urethra. She turned around, the only thought in her now very empty mind being that she was thankful that whoever had just scared her shitless couldn't see Noir right now.

"Sorry, did I scare you?"

Except, clearly, he could. In front of her was a bright-eyed boy, freckles dotting more of his skin than not. He looked quite young, certainly no older than twelve, or maybe puberty was just a little late in hitting him, causing him to stand quite a few inches shorter than her. But, most interesting—or not, in Misty's eyes—was that he was glowing.

"Uh, just a bit," Misty said as her breath came back to her, taking the hand off her chest that she hadn't realized had flown there. "I'm—"

"Oh, cool, a Staryu!"

The boy walked right up to Staryu who was floating at nose level to him and seemed to be examining it curiously with a pensive look on his face.

"Um, excuse m—"

"Your Staryu is a bit dry, Miss Waterflower," the boy said, disappointment on his face. "The top spine is moist, which tells me that you've been battling with it. But the rest of its armor is practically dry, telling me that you haven't soaked it. Probably since you were last at your Gym. And since we're in the Viridian Forest, that must have been days ago."

"Yes, you're right, but Staryu's only been out fo—"

"Here, let me use this." The boy reached into his bag to pull out a washcloth, soaking it through with water from his canteen and reached up to wring it out over Staryu. "Hmm, doesn't seem to be doing much good. It must be drier than I had first though. Anyway, I use this cloth to shine my Metapod because Harden works better when—"

Misty gulped. "M-Metapod?"

"Yeah, and my Venomoth!" he said after placing the washcloth on Staryu's back. "Bugs are my favorite. Wanna see them?"

"No, I really, really don—"

"Come on out, guys!"

And Misty was out of there. She grabbed Staryu by the arm and ran before she could even remind herself that the boy's PokéBalls were empty. They wouldn't release anything anymore than that rag had released any water onto Staryu. Nevertheless, Misty went flying right past Noir and trailblazed down that path as fast as she could, leaving the poor babbling bug-catcher ghost in her dust.

The forest had gone by in a blur of green.

And to Misty's paranoia, every bit of that green could have been hiding an endless swarm of Metapod.

All that had been in her vision was a narrowing dirt path flanked by thickening, brightening greens. It was like looking down an endless hallway and watching as the parallel lines of the corridor narrowed until they faded into nothing. Except as Misty went down the path, it narrowed with her steps, throwing off her perspective.

She was in the thickest part of the forest now. Outside of the wind whistling in her ears and the sound of her hair falling out of its messy ponytail and flapping against her face were the eerie sounds of the forest. Every clack sounded like Pinsir snapping at her. In the past couple of days the sounds of the forest had fallen into the background, but now it was the only sense she was aware of as she flew blindly through the forest.

By the time Misty's wits caught up with her, her adrenaline was pouring back out of her system, reminding her of all of the aches and pains that it had numbed for the past few minutes and better part of a mile. They came back full force, combining with how winded she now was to cause her to double over, relieving everything save for her throbbing head. As she did so, her blood began pounding in her ears, finally something loud enough to drown out the voices of the forest.

"Man, Noir," Misty wheezed in between pants. "I'm starting to think that maybe I don't always make the best decisions."

"Nette bay banette."

"Yeah, exactly. I'm saying a," she looked at her watch, "four minute sprint is hardly a good decision."

"Bay bay nette baynette."

"Yes, especially from something that wasn't actually a threat."

After a few more heaving breaths, Misty managed to pull herself together and stood erect. She raised her arms, pulling on one to try and stretch out the cramp that was now forming in her right side. She reached her arm over her head and returned Staryu back to its PokéBall.

"That poor kid," she mused as she massaged her side. "I don't think he even realized that he was…you know, dead."

Noir nodded in agreement, frowning as she looked back the way they had come.

"Yeah, the right thing to do would be to go back," Misty agreed to the words Noir had left unspoken. "But you saw him. He seemed so innocent. I'm not sure that I could have broken that kind of news to him."

As the cramp began to loosen, Misty shook herself out and began slowly walking again, lacing her fingers together and putting her hands on her head as she took great effort to move each leaden foot forward.

"Ugh. I need a painkiller," she moaned when she felt her 'healed' ankle beginning to whine at her again. "Or maybe just a killer. Shoot me and put me out of my misery."

"That isn't as great as it sounds."

Misty felt surprise hit her, but she couldn't manage any physical reaction to seeing Ash appear beside her, Pikachu on his shoulder. "I'm going to go crazy before I even make it out of these woods," Misty muttered to herself, eyes going wide at the potential truth of that statement.

"Besides, if you were to die here your body would be feasted on by Bugs before you even got the chance to decay naturally," Ash said matter-of-factly, followed up by Pikachu with an agreeable, "Chu."

Misty didn't say anything and just continued to walk forward in silence, feeling her three ghosts following along behind her. And an army of imaginary Bugs feasting on her body.

"Although…that does bring up something that Pikachu finally convinced me that I should mention to you," Ash said to her back. "That's kinda why I'm here. Sorry to drop in randomly like this."

"What's that," Misty asked tonelessly, still trying to get her breath back.

"Um," Ash floated above Misty and landed in front of her, effectively stopping her in her tracks. However, he refused to make eye contact, looking down as he said, "About the two ghosts from before…You didn't ask about what we had talked about and so I didn't know how to bring it up. But it involves you, I guess."

"Of course it does," Misty grumbled under her breath.

"Their names are Fay and Daniel," Ash started, meeting her eyes for only that part. Probably the easy part. "And they said that they weren't supposed to die. That's probably why—"

"Every ghost says that, Ash," Misty snapped. "No one thinks that they were supposed to die. I bet you don't either."

Ash turned to her, a look of irritation rushing over his face for a second before Pikachu patted him on the shoulder, urging him to continue. "They said that they don't remember much about how they died. And uh…"

"Oh, don't tell me," Misty broke in, laughing hysterically as though Ash had just told a great joke. "They want me to solve it, avenge it, do something about it, don't they?"

"Uh, yeah, something along those lines," Ash muttered, carefully avoiding Misty's eyes of rage. "But, if it helps, they said that they wouldn't bother you. I took care of that."

"Well, bully for you!" Misty declared, throwing her arms widely. "Why don't you go tell your little ghost pals that I don't know how to do any of those things. I can maybe tell Officer Jenny once I get out of these godforsaken woods, but that's it. That's all I can do!"

"That's fine, that's fine," Ash said, putting his hands up and moving to the side. Without thinking, Misty barged forward, now that her path was clear again, and began walking.

This was too much. Stolen bikes, absurd dead Bug Trainers lecturing and scaring her with their non-existent Pokémon, mysterious deaths, being abused by ghosts—her body thusly having been beat into a bloody pulp—being followed by ghosts, ghosts, ghost, ghosts!

"Um, Misty?" Ash started hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, you know," Misty started, her voice strident with tension. "I just never imagined life on the road being quite like this."

"Sorry," Ash said, wincing to himself. "I didn't mean to make anything more difficult for you."

"Oh, your kind never do," Misty blurted, not letting the shame of that statement affect her even as she saw a pain-like emotion flicker over Ash's face.

Ash rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Um, okay, well, do you want to, uh, talk about it?"

"Well, I just always imagined journeys being about catching and training Pokémon." Misty paused and fingered Staryu's PokéBall, painting the scene in her mind. "Meeting Trainers and swapping tricks and stories. Maybe even traveling together. Living off the road and local Pokémon Centers and your bond with your Pokémon. Because that should be enough to live off of. You know? Was I crazy to think that's what it could be?"

Ash was quiet, looking at the ground, to which he had floated down, though he continued to keep a considerable distance. He kicked at the ground, as though trying to dig up some dust, but, of course, none came up. "No, I don't think you're crazy," he finally said.

"But I must be crazy," Misty said, a maniacal laugh coloring the words as she began to walk ahead of the group. "Otherwise why would ghosts be the only people I talk to?"

Misty accusingly threw her arm towards Ash on those last words, letting them bite at him across the air. Out of the corner of her eye, Misty saw Noir flinch at the words, but she ignored it.

"Well, that's not true," Ash started delicately. "You're friends with…uh, you said his name was Brock, right?"

"He's the only one!" Misty shouted. "He's literally the only live person that I talk to! Other than my sisters, if they even count. I mean, apparently I'm too crazy to talk to them; otherwise I wouldn't have left."

Ash caught up to Misty, with Noir and Pikachu still trailing apprehensively behind. He looked like he didn't know what to say, opening his mouth for a few false starts before he finally asked, "Well, why did you leave, then?"

Because I'm crazy! were the vitriol on the tip of Misty's tongue. But as much as she felt herself going around the bend in this moment, those words didn't feel honest. That moment of hesitation allowed her a beat, a breath to steady herself and feel the heat that was flushing her face in crazed anger die down.

"You know, I think it's different now than it was three days ago," she began quietly, almost calmly. "I was mad at my sisters…I've always been mad at my sisters. That was tarnishing everything in my life. I wanted to go on the journey that they'd never allowed me to go on. But now I guess it's just to learn about myself. About my Pokémon too, of course. Because I don't really know what I'm doing in this world." She paused and looked at Ash. "In these worlds, I guess. I've let it be decided for me. And I'm stronger than that."

"I think those are good reasons," Ash said kindly, daring to step closer to Misty. "I don't think that anyone should leave home to run away from their family. Family is too valuable for that."

Misty turned to him, attempting eye contact for the first time in the conversation. But Ash's eyes were averted and distant. And immediately, Misty felt horrible. Here she was complaining about her life to someone who didn't even have life.

Well, wasn't that a fact to put things in perspective.

Misty fell quiet, walking with her eyes to the ground as Ash floated wordlessly beside her. It was only when she heard Noir's voice that Misty looked up again. But for once in her whole life, Noir wasn't talking to her.

Noir was talking to Ash.

Noir was explaining Misty's sisters, painting them as selfish and self-interested. She said that Misty was doing them a favor by throwing some responsibility on them. This turned into a rant about the Gym and the life that had been cast upon Misty with very little choice from, essentially, the beginning.

It sounded exaggerated to Misty's ears. Her sisters weren't monsters. But she knew that Noir was just telling it for her benefit—to humanize Misty to Ash's, rightly, biased heart.

"I know about the Gym," Ash finally said, cutting Noir off and proving that he had, indeed, understood every word. "I've seen it before."

"What?" Misty asked, looking between Ash and Pikachu. They had been looking in on her Gym as they had with Brock's?

"Yeah," he stated. "I like Gyms. I've seen all of them."

"But you implied that you hadn't seen me before," Misty insisted. "And I would have noticed you if you were hanging around the Gym."

"Eh, I haven't been to your Gym as much as the others."

"What, is it not good enough for you?" she bit sarcastically. "A kid running a Gym not enough for a ghost with a lifetime—and then some—of experience?"

Misty was surprised when Pikachu immediately leapt off Ash's shoulder and began sparking his cheeks at her, hair on his back raised and prickly. She backed off, knowing very well that those shocks would leave her crispier than she wanted if they got too close. But Pikachu had been so friendly to her. Why was he suddenly barring his teeth like she was his enemy?

"What?"

Pikachu began chattering angrily, and Noir resumed her argument with Ash, this time with Pikachu. Misty could only understand bits of Noir's side of the argument, but Ash seemed to be getting most of it. She watched as his expression turned from incensed—presumably by her—to concerned rapidly. "Pikachu, no!"

In an instant, Ash reached out for Pikachu and had him above his head, only for the both of them to be illuminated by fresh shock waves.

Noir slunk back, returning to the shadows behind Misty, who was also taking a few healthy steps away from the electricity.

"Th-Thanks, Pikachu," Ash stuttered, releasing Pikachu into the air. Guiltily, Pikachu floated away, muttering what sounding like an apology behind him.

"What was that about?" Misty asked in bewilderment.

"Nothing," Ash grumbled, patting his clothes down even though the electricity hadn't changed his form at all. "Look, I stay as far away from the battle as possible so that the Pokémon don't sense me."

"Oh," Misty intoned lightly, brushing through her bangs to hide her face. "That makes sense."

"Not to mention the fact that I noticed a Banette," she caught sight of a slight smug smirk cracking through his hardened expression, "there years ago and I didn't want to draw attention. And a Frillish, right?"

Eyebrows raised in surprise, Misty said, "Yeah, that's right."

"And a pool…so you're a Water specialist?"

"That's right!" Misty said again, this time with a proud smile.

The notion of Water Pokémon buoying her out of the depths of her thoughts, Misty could now feel the telltale squeeze of a self-inflicted mistake pressing on her core. It was as though someone was bending her over a human-sized citrus squeezer and giving her a rough push and a twist. The discomfort was enough to make her suck her stomach in, letting the tension take over as words began to spill out of her mouth.

"Listen…sorry for acting crazy a minute ago," Misty blurted, looking straight down the path. "These woods are just making me a little nutty, I guess. Being thrown into new situations all at once without all the familiarity of my life. It's just something to get used to, I guess."

"It's no problem," Ash stated, waving her away. "Everyone's allowed to act crazy once in a while."

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed, looking mischievously at Ash.

"Hey! I'm not crazy!"

Ash and Pikachu began chasing each other, bringing the circles they were running up into the air until their battle was far over Misty's head. After a moment of that, though, Ash looked up, as if in thought.

"As for the woods…" Ash started, coming back down to Misty.

Before Misty knew what was happening, with a screech she was whisked into the air, Ash's arms secure under her ribcage, as if lifting her in a dance. Up they went, Pikachu and Noir following, until they reached the treetops and then even beyond.

"Is this really a good thing to do to a concussed person?" Misty shrilled.

"You'll be fine, just trust me!"

Trust him? Trust a ghost?

"See over there?" Ash said, turning his and Misty's bodies in the direction of some far off buildings. "That's Viridian City. Probably only a couple of miles away. We'll be out in a half hour."

"Really?" Misty asked, her heart beating like a drum swallowed and stuck in her throat.

She was many stories high in the air and at any moment could plummet to her death. But Ash had already saved her life once, and she felt comfortable in his arms. This trust tempered her muscles, letting her relax in his strong grip, save for her smile, which pulled wide as a friendly breeze licked them and the treetops. She closed her eyes and felt her hair whip against her face, reveling, for once, in the good side of a ghost.

A/N: Well, that C'sMelody sure is a piece of work. Forcing me to rewrite a section of this chapter over and over. Except that it was my choice and I was the one that changed it in the first place and it actually was really bad before she made me fix it and it's still a little weird, but we're letting it go, because it's best to move on, yes?

Thanks, boo.

Fun fact: You'll notice the word 'ribcage' a few paragraphs up. At my fruity theatre school, we're not supposed to call it a 'ribcage.' We're supposed to call it: 'our pink basket of living ribs.' Aaaand that, in a nutshell, is why people think what they think about actors.

Hope ya'll enjoyed this one!