.

Extra Super Amazing

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."

–Helen Keller

C'mon, c'mon, c'mon.

Misty had her eyes firmly shut, and the sound of Jeremy's mother's footsteps retreated through the woods had faded moments ago. Misty was trying to push that out of her mind—trying to push Daniel and Fay out of her mind, trying to push that horrible thud thud out of her mind, but it wasn't working. She needed to get back to the Gym, needed to get back to the present. But Morty hadn't ever taught her how to clear her mind when something horrific had just happened.

She needed to reverse her steps. Get back to the Viridian Forest in her time and then have Daniel and Fay bring her back to her Ecruteak bedroom. But this time she had no object. She only had herself—but was that enough when she wasn't even corporeal? God, she should have asked Morty more questions before doing this—not that she was sure he even would have told her.

Okay. Misty took a deep breath, eyes still closed. She imagined the same place. Nothing much had been different, so hopefully the universe just knew where to put her. She squeezed her eyes tight and held her breath—goodbye horrible, cursed past.

She opened her eyes. Hello, horrible, cursed forest.

"No," Misty groaned, frustration and fear mounting. She had to get back. Here, she had no body and she wasn't even in the right time. No way was she going to wait weeks until she caught up to the moment where she'd left her body. Hell no. This was going to work.

She had to break it down by pieces. Same forest, sure, but different circumstances. Daniel and Fay should still be where she left them, so she brought them into her mind. Fay in that purple shirt, Daniely just beside her. Both so young, so tragically young. The glow that currently encircled her body was also around theirs, eerier than ever. She locked it in place, held her breath, and prayed.

When she opened her eyes, she was back.

"Thank God," Misty sighed the moment she saw the two ghosts in front of her. Fay was immediately all over her.

"Did you see anything? Do you know who did it?"

The exhaustion was hitting Misty already and she wasn't even back in her body yet. The idea of detailing the kids' own murder to them was unbearable.

"Yes, yes," she said, trying not to sound too curt or dismissive. "But let's get back to Ecruteak, please, then we can talk."

Fay pouted, like she was about to try and protest, but then she softened, putting a hand reluctantly out for Misty to take.

"Fine. Let's go."

The relief Misty expected upon seeing her body safely in the bedroom was clustered with the unease of remembering Daniel and Fay floating as ghosts so near their own inert bodies. Even though it just looked like her body was in repose, it flipped Misty's stomach like a portent. A premonition.

She flinched away and looked squarely at Haunter instead, much more grateful that it hadn't left.

"Put me back," she said, desperation painting the words more like a demand. "Please."

A moment later, she was in Haunter's grip and it laid down into her body like a sheet falling over a bed. The stiffness of sore muscles greeted her immediately, followed by a newly throbbing headache. She groaned, curling in on herself, more fetal than upright as she attempted to sit up.

"What did you see?" Fay demanded at the same time that Daniel asked, "Are you okay?"

"No," she groaned to both of them. God, this hurt—she should have expected no different.

She fumbled blindly at her nightstand for a glass of water, finding it and drinking thirstily. It didn't help the pain, she hadn't dared hope it would, but it still provided some relief to her body.

"C'mon, Misty!" Fay insisted. "You said you'd tell us!"

Her voice was piercing. Misty put a hand up and began to speak just so the racket would stop.

"I saw. A woman had her Venomoth put you to sleep, but you were too close to the edge of the cliff, so you both fell. It was an intentional attack, but she definitely didn't mean to kill you."

"That doesn't make it better!"

The anger in Fay's voice quickly turned into a sob, high and wet. Misty would probably feel the same if she'd just seen her own decomposing body, but as it was, she pushed those feelings of horror and the memories of what she'd only just witnessed down.

"Nothing makes it better," Misty said quietly, wrapping her arms around her knees. "It's just not fair. It's the least fair thing I've ever seen."

Just then, Misty heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and moments later, her door was being thrown open by Morty for the second time.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Misty winced at his booming voice as it bounced off all the hard wood and rattled her brain. "What are you talking about?"

"You just time traveled!"

Misty had not the patience nor the bandwidth to try to guess how Morty could possibly know that, what more parts of her training were already proving insufficient, so she just looked at him tiredly and said, "How do you know that?"

"You crossed through the Spirit World, disappeared, and then reappeared," Morty explained, his face flush with what must have been anger. "Ghosts can see you do that."

"You have Ghost spies?" Misty asked, and then she shook her head, remembering that she'd already suspected that. Even the slight back and forth of her head scrambled her brain further and she winced, moving slowly to bring her legs around the side of the bed. "Never mind, doesn't matter. We have to go to Viridian."

Standing up made her head pulse at the temples, her already subpar circulation lazing blood to her brain much too slowly.

"Headache, huh?" Morty asked, totally ignoring what she'd just said. "That's the damage that was done to your brain. That's exactly why I told you not to do it."

"I had to do it! I had to find out what happened to them."

Misty didn't have to explain who 'they' were. Morty could see Daniel and Fay and could probably extrapolate exactly what she'd done by that information alone. Not the particulars, but that she'd been doing her duty in trying to help ghosts move on. As he'd informed her in no uncertain terms was her role.

"There are other ways, Misty," Morty said through the thick restraint of his teacher voice.

"Well, I had to see if this one would work," Misty said, walking over to her stuff to pack it back up. "Haven't you tried just to see?"

"No, and I won't," Morty said. "What are you doing?"

"I said, I'm going to Viridian."

"Why?"

Morty's figure was already broad in front of the door. Misty wasn't sure if he'd try to block her way out, if he'd try and stop her, what she'd do if he did. Maybe she'd jump out the window and have Daniel or Fay carry her as Ash had. Or she'd call Ash back right now and have him do it.

She closed her eyes and focused on him, Pikachu, and Noir just for the heck of it. Window or not, they were coming with her.

"Viridian is where their case ends. And it's my duty to bring them peace, right?"

Morty just stared at her, even as Ash, Pikachu, and Noir appeared in the background, and Misty mentally prepared her case. He couldn't just force her to stay. Couldn't force her to learn from him. There was nothing stopping her from leaving in the night, unless he instructed his ghosts to keep her trapped. Any of her arguments sounded sane against that.

But it was all for naught, because Morty just sighed.

"You're right." The words fell like leaden weights to the ground, his obvious reluctance weighing them down. "Go, do what you have to do, and you're welcome back. Just don't do anything dangerous. You're alive, remember that. You shouldn't risk that for someone who isn't."

"I won't," Misty said firmly as she swung her pack onto her back. She winced at the impact as it shook up to her skull, and Morty's skeptical eyebrows rose again.

"You sure you don't want to rest up first?"

"I'm fine," Misty said. She'd lived through a concussion just a few weeks ago—this was hardly any different. "Thank you for your hospitality and everything you taught me."

"Anytime."

It seemed sincere. Reflexively, Misty wanted to distrust Morty, because they disagreed on things, yes, and also because she hardly knew him. But there was something about him that she just couldn't hold against him. An earnestness.

So she could come back. She could come and train even more, practice what she'd already learned and fill in her surely remaining gaps.

But as she walked out the door, a quintet of ghosts behind her, she suspected that she wouldn't.

She made the call from the Pokémon Center instead of the Gym lobby. And when Brock picked up, blessedly not in class, she spared the pleasantries.

"I need your Crobat."

"Well, hello to you too," Brock said, his voice teasingly cheerful and melodic. "What spiritual situation have you gotten yourself into now?"

"Remember those two ghosts I ran into in the Viridian Forest?" God, it had been so long ago that she'd first told Brock about Daniel and Fay. Back when she'd barely known Ash. "It's time to help them out."

"You know, loaning you my Pokémon isn't quite what I had in mind when I said I could have been helping you this whole time," Brock said, rifling through his pockets. "Pretty sure I did that before I joined your little ghost squad."

"Trust me, Brock," Misty said as Brock flashed the PokéBall on screen, "this is as involved as you wanna be in this one."

Brock raised an eyebrow at that, and Misty knew she'd invited too much conversation. Maybe she'd tell him about it when it was all over. Maybe she wouldn't and she'd just call him up for a distraction or humble friendship. But now she had to get going, before she lost her nerve.

"Tell you about it later," she said. "Can you transfer Pokémon from school?"

"Sure can," Brock said, blessedly not pushing for more information. "Crobat will be with you shortly."

"Thank you, Brock," Misty said. "I owe you one."

"You'll owe Crobat one," Brock corrected. "You owe me nothing."

Every moment that the transfer took wore on Misty's nerves like pumice. But Crobat would make up for it with speed, and Misty was hustling herself as she left the Pokémon Center, tugging her sweater tight.

"Ash, I'm gonna need your help," Misty said as she released Crobat, giving it a stroke across one wing before she climbed on. "You're gonna have to help me hold on."

"What?" he asked, slowing them down.

All of her ghostly companions had silently followed her march from the Gym to the Pokémon Center. The silence was good—it kept Misty focused on her mission, able to take it one step at a time without thinking too hard about what was on the other side of this flight.

"This is gonna be a long ride," Misty explained, rolling her shoulders back, anticipating the cramping that was to come. "I don't wanna fall off, so you're gonna have to help me hold on, and all of you—" she encompassed Ash, Daniel, and Fay in her gaze— "are gonna catch me if I fall."

"Okay," Fay said, containing her anticipation worse than Misty was. "Let's go!"

They were still in the middle of town. A strange place to take off in flight, though stranger still to be chatting with invisible people. Nevertheless, Misty grabbed ahold of Crobat's upper-arm joints, approximately where its shoulders were, and squeezed her legs before saying: "Fly! Viridian City!"

The takeoff was labored, a lot of wingpower needed to lift itself and Misty off the ground, but it wasn't long before Misty was above the trees with her companions flying beside her.

"Ash, hold on!" Misty shouted over the sound of the wind in her ears.

Her grip was strong for now—Crobat's knobby shoulders were narrow enough she could get her whole hand around them. But at this speed, and crossing to a whole other region, Misty's grip wouldn't last.

"What do you want me to do?" Ash asked, floating up beside her.

"Just—Just hold over my hands!"

For a moment, Ash only looked at her hands, his own just beginning to outstretch. Then he floated closer, his body rotating horizontally like hers, and when he covered her hands with his, his whole body followed.

He was warm. Just like when he'd held her in the rain on Phoebe's boat, his body was warmer than the chilled slap of the elements around her. And his weight was solid, removing any fear of slipping off of Crobat's back. No, she was solid and safe.

But he was so close. This position was like a hug, like spooning in bed. It was intimate, and they'd be stuck like this for a long time yet. Misty was sure that her face was red from the wind whipping against it already, taking all her heat with every swipe of air, but if she'd been on the ground, her blush would have reached her hairline.

"Is this okay?" Ash asked, his quiet voice nearly getting swept away with the wind despite being so close to her ear.

"It's fine," she replied, nearly as a squeak. Ash didn't have the wind whipping through his ears, so he'd probably be able to make out the barest whisper.

If Misty could push past the awkwardness, the contact was actually a deep comfort. It would keep her safe, yes, but Misty was growing used to physical contact from Ash. This moment pushed and prodded at her blushing boundary, but there was something natural about it. Something she wanted.

As time passed by, Ash's weight on her back was nothing stranger than a nice comforter and Crobat her uncomfortable bed. Despite Ash's added grip on her, Misty's forearms burned, barely achieving relief even when she risked wiggling a finger. Her skin was numbed by the wind and sleep threatened to overtake her at moments. But every time it came close, pins and needles from the chill would erupt on her cheeks, or a strand of her bangs would thwack her in the eye.

So she was awake, catching the mountains of Victory Road past Crobat's wings, the snowcapped top of Mount Silver. They were streaks of watercolor through the tears the wind ripped from her but stunning nevertheless. Not long after that, she spotted the brown and gray of Kanto's towns. Viridian wasn't far.

"Where do you wanna land?"

Misty hadn't thought that far. Her first thought was the forest, tracking down the scene of the crime, but the thought of returning there made her stomach feel like they'd hit turbulence. She could make herself, she could, but there was no reason to go if she didn't have a plan.

She could track down Jeremy's mom. Confront her, get a confession out of her. Trick her, get her to reveal herself. Maybe try and find or even call Jeremy herself and try to facilitate a conversation. Maybe that would help him move on, if he was still around. Those were all options.

"Let's go to the police station," Misty said instead. "I know what we need to do."

Her stomach twisted as they began their descent. Like she'd taken one too many turns on the roller coaster and it was starting to catch up with her—but she wouldn't be able to get off the ride for a while longer yet. So Misty just closed her eyes, breathing deeply as though a good breath could keep her stomach down and relaxed. It was hard to do, pressed down by Ash's weight as she was, but she wouldn't have traded that. Ash was the most steadying thing she had right now.

When they finally landed, Misty could do little more than slide off Crobat's back and fall to her knees. Her arms were like jelly while her fingers were frozen in place, creaking as she slowly tried to straighten them out of the Corphish claw shape they were stuck in. And her legs weren't much better, resisting her attempts to stand.

They were in the middle of the sidewalk, just outside the police precinct, as Misty had instructed, and Misty's face flushed with the thought of people seeing her collapsed on the ground like this, but stumbling too much in her attempt to get up wouldn't make her look any better.

"Do you want help?" Ash asked, looking around at the passersby as well, seemingly holding the same concern as Misty.

It'd look to other people like Misty was pulling herself up with an invisible prop. Ridiculous. But, in a way, it'd be ripping the bandage off for what was to come.

"Yes."

Ash came to her side immediately, as did Daniel and Fay. Both hands were in Ash's as she heaved herself up and the kids supported under her armpits. When she was upright, she didn't loosen her hold on Ash until he moved to one side and she could adjust herself to using him as a handrail. Or an escort.

"If you drop me, Ash, I swear to God," Misty said, letting the threat hang open ended in the air.

"I don't have any reason to drop you," Ash laughed, the sound bouncing from his body to hers, like it was something shared. "I haven't yet, have I?"

Misty frowned as they entered the precinct, cold air breathing placidly on her chilled skin. Her muscles were loosening with each step forward, but she kept her hold on Ash anyway, even as she walked up to the front desk.

The officer in front of her couldn't mask the confusion resting between his eyebrows as Misty shambled in.

"Officer Jenny," Misty requested. "Tell her it's Misty Waterflower."

Misty was sent straight back and her ghostly companions followed her, passing through walls as she marched through the narrow hallways. Ash's arm and shoulder faded into the wall when Misty leaned more weight on him, but he held her steady, a steadiness she needed.

Noir flew in front of her, mouth downturned. "Bay bay banette."

The concern was evident in her tone. This was so unlike Misty, being so brazen with ghosts in public. Anyone who'd known her as long as Noir had would be confused if not out and out concerned. Even Ash was throwing questioning looks at her, and he'd only known her a matter of weeks, even if it felt much longer.

"I know what I'm doing, Noir," Misty said under her breath. Then she opened the door to Officer Jenny's office.

"Officer Jenny," Misty stated upon entering, lumbering over with Ash's help before plopping herself down in the chair without invitation. "I'm here to talk about the case with Daniel Kolle and Fay Edwards."

"O-Okay…are you alright?" Officer Jenny asked glancing at the air where Misty had just taken her hands off Ash's arm before returning to Misty's face.

"Yes." Misty nodded. "I know who killed them."

Officer Jenny was taken aback, physically pulling back in her chair as her eyes widened. "Oh, you do? How?"

"I talked to their ghosts."

Silence. There was the low hum of a mini fridge, but aside from that, Misty could only hear the loud thumping in her chest as she fought down a blush like her life depended on it. The nervousness, the embarrassment, the fear—she wasn't going to let any of it show if it was going to undermine her case.

"What…are you talking about?"

"I know it sounds crazy, or at least out of the blue," Misty said, "but this is something I've been able to do since I was a child. I actually met Daniel and Fay before I met you, but I didn't want to talk about it. But now I see that it's necessary. This, right here?"

Misty put a hand out and wrapped her fingers around Ash's bicep. "This is my friend, Ash. We just had a long flight, so he was supporting me until I got my feet back under me. And Fay and Daniel are right here. Fay, is there anything you can lift?"

Fay looked at Misty with raised brows for only a moment before she nodded her head, lips pursed in determination. She focused her gaze on Officer Jenny's desk, and managed to lift a pen immediately, waving it around for just a moment before returning it to exactly where it had rested. She didn't even look winded when she was through.

"Fay was from Saffron originally, right?" Misty asked. "She'd had training as a Psychic. That's still with her, even as a ghost. And look, this is my Pokémon, Noir, a Banette."

Noir faded in from second plane, grinning and waving before backing into her glow once more. Apparently one second was more than enough for an audience.

"I can see her even when you can't," Misty stated. "I know it's not much for evidence, but I promise—"

"It's plenty of evidence," Officer Jenny said, surprising Misty with how solid her voice was, how relaxed her face had become. As though all she'd just seen was old hat. "What have you found out?"

Misty was stunned silent for a second. There was still more she could do to prove herself—have Ash lift her up, do the same kind of demonstration she'd done for her sisters, maybe had Marill use Foresight on Noir to really prove that Misty could locate her unseen. But Jenny…believed her?

"Oh, okay," Misty said, not allowing herself to be thrown. "The killer was the mother of that deceased boy, Jeremy. She had his Venomoth use Sleep Powder on them and they fell down a drop in the Viridian Forest."

Misty watched as Officer Jenny's face drained of blood. Her bright red lipstick stood out violently on her face, bringing out the blue veins that throbbed at her temples. "Ms. Bethany?"

"It didn't seem purposeful!" Misty quickly backtracked. "It seemed like an accident. Well, an accident that it went that far at least."

"Why would she do it…" Officer Jenny murmured to herself.

"I don't know," Misty admitted. "I have no idea motive or anything. But I…I can show you where the bodies are."

The thought constricted her throat, like her body didn't even want the words to come out. Like the idea was an Ekans trying to eat her alive. But she would do it. She owed it to Daniel and Fay, who had gone through the trauma of finding their bodies just so she could do this.

"Banette!" Noir said, bursting back into first plane. She was thumping her chest, looking back and forth between Misty and Officer Jenny with determination in her eyes.

"You…You want to take her?"

Misty schooled her face, taming the sudden influx of affection towards Noir and the relief at not being the one to return to the scene of the crime. Daniel and Fay would be able to lead her in the direction, since Noir hadn't gone with Misty earlier. And hopefully the two ghosts would avoid the actual spot as well. For their own sakes.

"Thank you," Misty said, the syllables thick with meaning in her mouth. Then she turned back to Officer Jenny. "Would that be okay?"

"I'll take what I can get," Officer Jenny agreed, and the relief swept through Misty again like high tide rushing out.

"That's everything I know," Misty said, rising from her chair. The creakiness to her limbs returned, all rusty hinges and muscles tight as wood grain. When she stumbled, Ash caught her, and any lingering cold on her skin vanished. When she was balanced, she didn't let go.

"Then I might as well borrow your Pokémon and head out now," Officer Jenny said, following her lead and standing. "If that's alright with you. I'll send some of my force out along with me to the forest and some to meet with Jeremy's mom."

Misty looked to Noir, who nodded, and then to Daniel and Fay. "Is it okay with you?"

"The sooner the better," Fay stated and Misty relayed the message to Jenny.

"Then there's no time to waste. Let's go."

The whole group of them left the office, Officer Jenny quickly taking the lead ahead of Misty's staggered gait. Soon, it was just Misty, Ash, and Pikachu left in back, hobbling their way out of the precinct. When they were back outside, Ash kept going, despite the fact that Misty had no clue what to do now, where to go. This was as far as she'd planned and now she was empty. But Ash tugged on her arm and she followed.

He took her around the corner of the precinct, where the afternoon sun had painted the concrete of the building's eastern wall a dark gray, like it was still wet from a storm.

"Wow, I can't believe that you did that!"

"What?" Misty asked, leaning against the wall, taking some weight off of her tired joints. "Stay upright?"

"No, you told the truth!" Ash said, eyes glittering. Pikachu was just behind him, expression mirrored in bright eyes and perked ears. "You talked about ghosts and didn't hide anything. That was amazing!"

"Psh, I didn't tell the truth," Misty scoffed.

It was the lie she'd had to tell. Misty's ability to see ghosts was one thing. It was unbelievable while being imaginable. It was a simple ability. But explaining the time travel and all that she'd witnessed would have been much more complex and detrimental to her credibility. This, she'd known immediately. So she formed a lie made of truth, one that had all the important fundamentals without all the extraneous matter that the truth held.

"You took a big step," Ash insisted, putting both hands on her sore forearms, and not to hold her up this time. "I'm serious, you did what you had to do to solve this crime, and you're really helping Daniel and Fay. It's seriously amazing."

"…You think so?"

"Yes," Ash reiterated. "You're helping so many people when you don't have to. And it's extra super amazing because it's because of you that me and Pikachu are able to help anyone even a little bit. We didn't think we'd be able to do that again."

Ash looked over at Pikachu, who hovered close enough to receive a little scratch on the chin. Pikachu's eyes closed blissfully, jaw dropping as happy little pants chuffed out of his mouth.

"You help," Misty clarified. "Way more than a little bit."

Ash had drawn perceptibly closer to Misty, their arms now touching right where the sensation was the strongest in her aching muscles. Where Misty wasn't sure whether she wanted to push Ash away or have him lean in, press and knead all the tension out.

"In fact…" she started, voice quieter, slower, just between them. "I don't think I would have been able to do any of this without you."

"That's not true."

His breath was so close, Misty swore she could feel it, despite its impossibility. Surely, it was ghosting over her cheeks, her lips.

"It is," Misty said, truth spilling out of her like water. "Ash, I…"

And her words were swallowed up, thoughts and all as she pressed forward, touching her lips to his with every belief that he was solid. He was real. He was hers.

Kissing wasn't like Misty might have thought from overhearing her sisters' loud stories. It wasn't soft—just behind the lips were rows of teeth pressing against them. And Ash's sharp nose jabbed just beside hers, his hat poking her in the forehead, flipping bits of her bangs back and flattening others to her forehead. It was clumsy. It was real.

"Misty," Ash whispered, pulling back. "We shouldn't—"

"Shh," Misty said. "Do you want to?"

"I…yes."

There was new color on Ash's cheeks, pink and peach under his tan. It was darker still under the shade of his hat, of the building. But the concrete was warm against Misty's back now. She was warm all over. She smiled and leaned back in.

"Then that's enough."

A/N: Finally?

When I said slow burn, I meant SLOW BURN, hahahaha, my bad. Although, I think I've figured out why the transition to romance was so hard for me in this fic and many of my others. As a demisexual person, I simply don't experience a lot of attraction. Almost none. And I don't think that I allow my characters to experience it either, probably mainly because it doesn't really occur to me to, but also, I don't really know what it's like. I only just recently went on a date when I was explaining this to a guy, and he went ahead and described what being allosexual/alloromantic was like and, despite a lifetime of watching romcoms, it was new information, lol. No one describes it, because they think it's implicit! It's not!

That last bit was giving Gen 8!Ash, haha. Or Gen 7 or 6. "Science is amazing!" Ash. I noticed that happening as I was writing, that Ash was taking on more bits of him from those later seasons, as they were the ones I was watching, or had watched most recently. Well, can't say it's ooc when it's just a different part of canon...It's just strange since that Ash didn't spend much time with Misty. Anyway, I hope this chapter flowed. It definitely received rewrites and reorganizing and stuff (though I don't entirely remember what...). What I can tell you, is that the kiss happens here because I was literally like oh god, I need the romance to happen more, what do I doooo and I was like, well, girl, just put in a kiss next and make it make sense. Hopefully it feels earned and the pacing feels okay! The note I was going to send to my beta was: "Would you kill me if I said that what happens at the end...feels like it comes too soon?" Lol.

Also, sorry for the continued slower updates. It turns out everything is really hard to fit in when you're working three jobs. But I'm just about done with training for the newest one, so things should even out this week. At least for the next month...