.

Hypotheticals

"Let me walk in eternal winter, let me walk through snow. The stars forever hidden, while I hold hands with ghosts." –Conny Cernik

With Phoebe still in the room, Misty flopped on her bed, not bothering to peel off her cardigan or kick off her socks. She faced away from the door and curled on her side, closing her eyes. Despite knowing that her heart rate was elevated from fighting her way up the stairs and that her body would settle in a couple of minutes, it was clear she wouldn't be able to sleep. She'd been doing nothing but sleeping for so long now—her body needed a rest from rest.

The depression of Phoebe sinking down on the corner of the bed rocked Misty south, closer to Phoebe as she rested her hand on Misty's leg.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

Misty rolled over to the other side and hissed when her right arm took her weight. She fell to her back and grabbed her arm in pain.

"You okay?"

Misty groaned. "I'm never entering the Spirit World again."

"Well," Phoebe began, a completely incongruous smile brightening her voice, "it technically wasn't the Spirit World that did this to you. That would be the poison."

"Whatever."

Misty rolled over again, finding it impossible to get comfortable. Phoebe's hand slipped, but she didn't lose contact. It was a bit of warmth against the chill Misty was fighting atop the sheets. If only it were as easy for humans to fight poison as it was for Pokémon. Just the Pecha berries or a trip to Nurse Joy and she'd be okay by now.

"You know," Misty started, her voice a bit muffled by her pillow, "the last time I was in Cerulean Cave, just before I left, a Golbat left me a note."

"What?" Phoebe asked. "What did it say?"

Misty had it memorized by now. "I know what you are."

"Ooh," Phoebe intoned, like she'd just tasted something interesting. "Ooh, how ominous."

"Yeah, that's part of the reason I left," Misty said. "I mean, where did that come from? A stalker? Some lame practical joker?"

"Well, if it wasn't written in blood, it probably didn't come from the Golbat."

"Yeah, so a Golbat first, and now this Crobat," Misty said. "Isn't that fishy?"

"Fully oceanic," Phoebe agreed. "I can't believe you didn't mention this to me before!"

Misty shrugged. "I told my sisters and Brock back when it happened."

"You told your sisters something?" Phoebe sounded surprised.

Misty thought back to a few weeks ago when she'd told her sisters about that strange note, just after getting it, when the nerves had still been in her throat. When they'd called her a loser and she'd responded by walking out of the house.

And having a conversation with their mother that she never told them about.

Misty groaned again, smacking her good arm over her eyes.

"What?"

Misty recounted the whole encounter and its aftermath to Phoebe, hearing how the story was different now than the story she'd told herself back when it had happened. It had gone from a story of three villainous sisters, unnecessarily mean and hurtful and a poor younger sister who had just had a frightening encounter with a stranger to that of a younger sister who hid her selfishness through her victimhood.

"Well, it sounds like both things exist at once," Phoebe said to Misty's hidden face. When Misty grunted, she continued. "Your sisters did a shitty thing that hurt you, you did a shitty thing that hurt them, and Noir's hurt both of you while being a helpful support system for you. It's all true."

Misty moved her arm up slightly to eyeball Phoebe. "We're talking about it."

"Right, right." Phoebe waved her hands in front of her face, as if to disperse the topic back into the air, between the atoms of oxygen and nitrogen. "We'll put a pin in it. How about this: poisoning notwithstanding, what did you think of the Spirit world?"

Not the best topic change imaginable. Why didn't anyone want to just talk Pokémon with her anymore?

"Dizzying," she said.

"Dizzying?"

That voice wasn't Phoebe—it was Ash. Misty had closed her eyes again, but she didn't need them to know that Ash was now in the doorway, probably with Pikachu floating just above his shoulder. She nodded, able to see the swirling of the Spirit World behind her closed eyes. It made her gag reflex activate.

"That's pretty normal," Phoebe said. "I feel like that a little bit."

"Yeah, you know," Misty started, dropping her arm away from her face. "I've never liked the look of Ghost Attacks. Maybe it's some kind of motion sickness."

"Or an aversion?" Phoebe offered.

"Hey, yeah, I guess it does look kind of like you're walking in a Shadow Ball in there," Ash offered.

"Pika pika pi!"

"Yeah, like the biggest Shadow Ball ever!"

"Mhmm," Misty hummed. "I've never liked those Attacks. And I've always hated purple. Maybe a whole world of it was just too much."

"Plus the effect of the world on the body," Phoebe added, pointing to her head. "Living humans aren't really supposed to go there. So I'm sorry—I should have known that some bodies handle it better than others."

Misty shook her head. "I'm sure most of it was the pois—wait!"

Phoebe jumped off the bed as Misty suddenly pushed herself up to rest on her forearms "What? What?"

"No, I just…" Misty wracked her brain, chasing the flicker of a thought, a memory. A tangle of memories that poked at her mind before running away, leaving her straining at the recesses of her mind, wondering if there was something actually there or if she'd imagined it.

Then, there it was.

"Noir…she always explained third plane like that."

"Ah," Phoebe said. "Yes, yes, yes. I think that's exactly right."

"Yeah, that must be the place she goes when I can't see her. It's how she travels through space. Teleports. A…Spirit World…yes. Swirls…Everything."

"Wow," Phoebe said. "It's cool that she described it to you."

"Yeah, we always had good communication," Misty said before frowning. At least, she'd thought they had. Then, to change the subject, she asked, "Humans can go there?" as if she didn't know the answer.

"Apparently."

Misty turned to Ash. "And stay there?"

"Yeah, it's…" he exchanged a look with Pikachu, "purgatory, basically. For people that are stuck in the in between."

"Wow," Misty breathed. "So how did you run into us?"

Ash looked to Pikachu again, who put a fist to his chest. "We could feel you."

"Feel us?" Phoebe asked.

"Pi-ka"

"Or sense it, rather," Ash clarified. "Um, in our experience, that place isn't necessarily a place to congregate with other ghosts or Ghost-Type Pokémon, unless you're specifically looking. We can sense other people and Pokémon there and, if we know them, we can recognize them. But the space seems, I dunno, endless, so you don't really run into people unless you go to them on purpose?"

"And how do you do that?" Phoebe pressed.

Ash shrugged. "You just think about it. We sensed you guys and we were worried, so we checked in."

Phoebe crossed her arms, seeming smug. "So it seems like everything that ghosts can do is controlled by just thinking about it hard enough."

"It's all we have left without bodies," Ash said.

"Fair enough," Misty agreed. "Maybe next time I'll try and think my nausea away."

"Or you can take a pill beforehand. Like people on airplanes."

Misty smiled wryly. "Right."

The moment the banter stopped, Misty felt the bad feeling from minutes earlier descend over her again. She hadn't even realized that she'd distracted herself away from it. She rolled onto her back again and stared at the ceiling.

There was no win in this situation. Either Misty looked at her past relationship with her sisters as one of personal retaliation, where she lied and always assumed the worst, or one where she was a child, negatively influenced by an abusive entity, disguised as comfort.

"Ready to sleep?" Phoebe asked.

"I lied to you."

Misty squeezed her eyes shut as she said it, like it would keep her from seeing the words fling out of her mouth.

"To me?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah, remember when you asked me if I had, you know, any outstanding ghost tasks?"

"Of course."

"I do have one. I've been ignoring it for weeks."

"Daniel and Fay?" Ash asked. "I thought you were working on it!"

Misty opened her eyes and looked down at her hands. "Yeah, I think I kind of tricked myself into that too. But I didn't really want to work on it, so I haven't."

There was a surprising bit of quiet for a few moments. Misty had thought both Ash and Phoebe would have a lot to say. But instead, Phoebe's tanned hand appeared in front of Misty's face, holding a magazine.

"Thanks for telling us," she said. "Why don't you read this until you fall asleep? Then we can talk about this later."

Misty would have smiled if she could have. She flipped open the magazine to an article about Water Pokémon that she had read before a few months ago and let her heavy eyes flick across the page. It wasn't long until her lashes became too heavy to hold up and the magazine fell open faced to the bed. Then she slept, full of dreams. Her mind was full of fitful purple swirls, but at least she was gone with them.

When Misty woke, it was like she'd never slept. Like she'd been so close to the surface of waking the whole time that the sleep hadn't properly seeped into her body. But while her body felt much the same, her mind was a little more relaxed. She'd managed to sleep off the hard edges of her thoughts, and now they didn't poke into her quite so painfully.

Her eyes cracked open, and Misty saw Pikachu lying on her magazine, although the curves of the magazine's pages were currently somewhere inside his arms and belly.

"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed when he saw she was awake.

Just then, Misty's door burst open and she realized that Pikachu hadn't been keeping her company—he had been on watch, waiting for her to wake.

"It's a murder case?!"

Phoebe wasted no time walking to the far side of the bed so that she could be face to face with Misty, who was still in the slightly unwound fetal position she'd fallen asleep in.

"Huh?" Misty pushed herself up a bit to be a little more on Phoebe's level.

"Ash told me," Phoebe said, pointing to the figure that had followed her into the room. "So, have the bodies been found?"

Misty sat up fully and pushed her back against the wooden headboard. "No. Er, I don't think they have yet."

"Misty," Phoebe whined, a hint of exasperation merging with a hint of excitement, "if not, then these ghosts need to find their bodies! That might be all they need to move on."

"No, they want their murderer brought to justice," Misty said.

"Yeah, they probably do," Phoebe agreed. "But finding the bodies is a great start. And these ghosts will be much better at doing that than you. Also, I'm super sorry to hear about your experience with them. Ash told me."

"Sorry," Ash piped up. "She asked me as soon as we left the room."

And she'd likely been waiting at the door for Misty to wake up ever since.

"Well, I figured she didn't want to talk about it!" Phoebe defended.

"No, it's okay—I didn't," Misty said. "Thanks for filling her in, Ash."

Misty figured that Phoebe was going to make her summon Daniel and Fay right that second but, instead, a bell rang downstairs.

"A challenger?" Ash asked, looking excited.

"Yup," Misty said, pushing herself out of bed. "I should put on something presentable."

"Um, I'm not sure you're up for battling yet," Phoebe said.

"But I have to battle," Misty replied dryly.

"Uh-uh," Phoebe said. "You have three sisters who you've recently realized are fully capable. Remember? One of them can battle."

"Oh, there's no way you're battling, Misty," Violet said.

"Like totally," Lily agreed. "Zero percent."

Misty, Phoebe, Ash, and Pikachu had come downstairs, Misty still with half a mind on battling. She hadn't bothered changing her clothes, though—a part of her knew that her sisters would be on Phoebe's side. And, sure enough, they were.

"Don't you worry about a thing," Daisy said. "We can handle it."

"Alright," Misty said, measuring her tone. "Which one of you is going to battle this Trainer?"

As had more often been the case for the past couple of months, the Trainer in question wasn't a youngster with a Pidgey and a Rattata. She was some hardened teen, Pokémon to be determined.

"We rotate," Lily said. "Vi was last, so it's my turn."

"Okay then," Daisy said, dropping some PokéBalls in Lily's hand. "To the arena!"

They all began walking in that direction when Lily turned her head back abruptly, braided pigtails flinging out behind her. "No judgment, baby sister."

Misty gaped. "I-I wasn't going to judge!"

"She was gonna judge," Phoebe confirmed, breezing in front of Misty. "Don't worry, I'll help her."

"Thank you, Phoebe."

Misty looked between the two of them. "What, are you all buddies now?"

Phoebe shrugged. "Had to hang out with someone while you were sleeping."

Everyone climbed into the stands while Lily took her spot on the Gym Leader's side of the pool and the challenger took the opposite. The girl had green hair and was decked out in gear from head to toe—stuff that would become too hot to wear in a matter of weeks. But in the meantime, it made her look cool and serious.

"I thought I'd be challenging Misty," the girl called.

"She's sick," Lily replied, her voice a little less bubbly being shouted like that. It made her sound more authoritative. Or maybe she was putting it on for the challenger. "But I won't go easy on you. What's your name?"

"Brenna," she said. "Lemme guess. Two on two, my move first, no substitutions from you?"

They had sent their usual referee home for a short vacation before the busy season started up again on April 1st, since they were only getting a few challengers at the Gym every week. That meant Daisy was the referee, which wasn't Misty's favorite, because it made it look like they didn't care about the possible bias that might create. But it was the better choice for the Gym at the moment.

"That's right," Daisy said, sounding steady in the face of Brenna's arrogance. "Lily, call your first Pokémon."

Without any of the flourish that career Trainers usually put on as their signature when calling Pokémon, Lily did a little underhand toss of the PokéBall, releasing Dewgong. Figured—her sisters almost always used Dewgong.

Brenna smiled almost cruelly, her eyes carrying a steely glint. "Go, Persian! Use Swagger!"

Misty wasn't even certain that Lily knew what Swagger did as she dumbly watched a ray of strange, drunken light spin over the pool and hit Dewgong square in the face. His eyes went square, and Misty knew that the confusion had landed completely. Her muscles tensed as she moved to stand up and shout to Lily what to do. But she felt Violet's cool hand on her thigh and looked over at her sister.

"You can't give her advice," Violet said, still facing forward but brown eyes tilted toward Misty. "It's against the rules."

Misty slumped. "But if she just told Dewgong to jump in the water…"

"Shh. Just watch the match."

It was all Misty could do not to cross her arms over her chest and pout as Lily called for Dewgong to use Aurora Beam to no end. It should have been Misty battling this match, regardless of her sisters' capabilities. She was feeling much better than she had yesterday and, while matches did call for a lot of exertion on the part of the Trainer, it wasn't like she was the one actually battling.

On Misty's other side, Phoebe was giving her the same side-eye that Violet had just treated her to and took a breath as if to say something, then stopped. Then, a moment later, because Phoebe can never be stopped, she said, "If you tried to battle a complete match right now, you'd fall in that pool."

"You say that like it's a ba—"

"Be grateful the responsibility of this Gym isn't entirely on your shoulders."

"U-turn!"

In an impressive display of agility, Persian took a few running steps across its platform and then shot across the water, smacking into Dewgong and sending him sliding to the back of his platform, almost into the water but not quite. Misty sucked her lips in and bit them. It would have been better if the move had hit a little harder and Dewgong could have ended up in the water, possibly shaking off the Confusion.

Still, the match was left open-ended as Persian suddenly disappeared in thin air, returning to its PokéBall. Immediately after, a strange Pokémon appeared, one Misty couldn't place the name to right away. Luckily, Ash had it.

"Abomasnow!" he said, clearly excited. "Whoa!"

Misty, on the other hand, felt her heart fall to her knees. She knew why she hadn't seen a lot of Abomasnow before. For one, they weren't endemic to the Kanto region, or even Johto, so they weren't something the average Trainer would have. Secondly, they were a wreck as far as competitive battling was concerned. They were weak against Fighting, Poison, Flying, Bug, Steel, and twice vulnerable to Fire. Save for Steel, those were some of the most common types out there and any one of them could topple an Abomasnow, despite its intimidating two-meter-plus stature. But, Misty was remembering as goose bumps formed on her skin, their Ability was Snow Warning.

"Razor Leaf!"

That Attack, while unfortunately super effective, was enough to knock Dewgong into the water. Luckily, Misty thought as she began rubbing her cold hands over her arms, Dewgong wouldn't be at all concerned by the cold. But that was about all it had going for it.

"Surf!"

As Lily called the move, Misty saw the water of the pool beginning to rise up in a sheet, then curl into a wave with Dewgong in the middle of it. The water—as Misty had predicted it would—seemed to have mostly shook Dewgong out of the confusion. That was good. However, as the Attack landed full force against Abomasnow, the Pokémon couldn't have looked more unaffected. Any Water Type move against a Grass and Ice Type simply wasn't going to do anything.

"Use Focus Punch!"

Through the increasingly heavy snow, Misty saw Abomasnow rear one hulking fist back, and right when Dewgong was at its closest, smack him back into the water.

"Dive!" Lily called out.

She wasn't calling for the Attack, though. Dewgong didn't know Dive—Lily was just trying to stall. Stalling wouldn't do any good, though. Abomasnow was standing easily on its platform as snow began to pile up at its feet. It was doing just fine. And even though Dewgong was made for swimming, that would prove more tiring than standing would.

"Okay, Abomasnow," Brenna yelled, "use Ice Shard!"

For a moment, Misty was confused. She saw chunks of ice land harmlessly in the water while Dewgong presumably swam somewhere under the surface. Ash and Pikachu floated imperviously through the snow to get a closer look. Then they rushed back, eyes wide.

"The ice combined with the snow is freezing the top of the pool!"

Misty and Phoebe gasped, leaving Violet to look at Misty in confusion. "What? What's happening?"

"They're trapping Dewgong under a layer of ice!" Misty answered, once again fighting her instincts to stand and shout something to Lily.

"Oh no!" Violet gasped.

"Leech Seed!" Brenna shouted.

"Leech Seed?" Misty repeated.

Everyone watched as a number of tangled vines landed past the ice and harmlessly on the water. It looked totally innocuous until Lily yelled, "Headbutt!"

It became clear immediately. As Dewgong shot into the air through the limited amount of water still available in the pool, he was caught in the vines like they were a fisherman's net. The vines instantly wrapped around Dewgong's body and began sapping at his health as he landed on the ice like a beached Wailmer.

"Aurora Beam!" Lily called desperately.

The Aurora Beam was a near-direct hit, but its super effectiveness against Grass was canceled out by Abomasnow's Ice Typing. While the move hurt, it wasn't enough. Brenna called one last Razor Leaf and that was it.

"Dewgong is unable to battle," Daisy called. "The match is now two to one in favor of the challenger."

"Return, Dewgong," Lily called dejectedly.

"Whatcha got next?" Brenna goaded.

The options were bleak—and Misty couldn't blame Lily. Misty had spent the last four years building up the Cerulean Gym's reputation practically single-handedly, but she'd done woefully little in the way of Type coverage. Something that was so important when specializing in a single Type. Dewgong didn't know Signal Beam and they didn't have a Tentacool, who would be able to make use of Poison Attacks. She'd have to make sure her new Goldeen knew Peck, at least. She was used to challengers exploiting Water Types' weaknesses—Grass and Electric—but she wasn't nearly as used to seeing someone use their own resistances so well.

Lily sent out Seaking and Misty already knew it was over.

Seaking had very little of the pool to make use of as the ice only expanded across the water. Lily managed to pull off an early Water Pulse, but she wasn't lucky enough to confuse Abomasnow. The snow had stopped, but Abomasnow's advantage hadn't; Brenna didn't even have to use any tricks. She pulled off two back-to-back Razor Leafs and Seaking was nearly dead in the water.

Misty only perked up for a moment when she heard Lily call, "Seaking! Flail!"

In a suicidal move, Seaking's body flipped out of the water and crashed into Abomasnow's full force. Abomasnow hadn't been standing quite as tall as it had at the beginning of the match, but still, no one was expecting for one more move of any variety to do considerable damage, not even Abomasnow itself. But the Attack hit Abomasnow squarely, Seaking's horn slicing across its arm in the process. Abomasnow hit the ground heavily and the snow at its feet caused it to slide off the platform and onto the ice. Misty could hardly believe it as its head thunked against the side of the pool and Daisy ran to the edge of the challenger's side. After a moment, she raised her flag, calling, "Abomasnow is unable to battle! The match is now one to one!"

Lily looked like she could hardly believe her luck. Everyone had been expecting a shutout, but at least Lily had half a win under her belt now. Seaking, on the other hand, was weak. Flail was a move that didn't cause any recoil, but it might as well have. What it didn't deal in damage it dealt in exhausting Seaking within an inch of its life. It fell back into the pool and began splashing like a Magikarp just to stay afloat.

Nevertheless, the match continued. Brenna called out Persian again and Misty wrung her hands partially out of nervousness, and partially to get the feeling back into them. Her limbs felt like meat in a walk-in fridge and her extremities were numbed to nothing at all. She could have leapt out of her skin when she felt Ash behind her, taking one of her hands and rubbing it between his temperature-neutral ones. He hardly seemed to take stock of what he was doing as he murmured, "This could be interesting."

"What?" she asked, ignoring the fact that she could have felt his misty breath on her ear if he'd had breath to give. He switched to her other hand, the first feeling marginally warmer as she tucked it between her thighs.

"I'm not saying she'll win," Ash continued. "But Persian can learn a lot of Dark Type moves—this girl might have trained it up thinking she'd be fighting your Jellicent. Or Frillish, I guess."

"I don't know, her strategy seems to be holding up just fine," Misty replied wryly.

"She's good, that's for sure. And her strategy with Abomasnow probably went just about to plan until the end. But Persian might not have the same luck."

It turned out luck wasn't needed. Lily immediately called for another Flail, knowing that her time was limited, but Persian was able to run from its platform onto the ice, and the move only got its hip. The blow knocked Persian sideways, but for a basically fresh Pokémon, it wasn't enough. It was very possible Ash was right about a Dark Type move, though, because they only got to see three of Persian's moves before the match was over. In addition to U-turn and Swagger, the third was Thunderbolt, which ended the match immediately.

"Seaking is unable to battle. The match goes to the challenger, Brenna!"

Brenna collected her Badge from Lily with little fanfare. She didn't seem to have much to say about the match, but was gracious enough to thank Lily for it. Then she sauntered out and the Cerulean sisters were left with a very wet, very cold arena. They'd all have to mop and at least open some windows to get the chill out. But first, everyone climbed out of the stands and made their way to a rather dejected Lily.

Daisy was already there, hugging her younger sister, and saying she'd done the best she could.

"Don't worry about it, Lil," Violet said. "Look at it. She was, like, a tough Trainer and it wouldn't surprise me if she were, like, from the Sinnoh region and already had a League under her worn, leather belt. All you had to do was hold your own, and you did."

"Thanks, Vi," Lily said, and Misty was taken aback to see her eyes were red rimmed. Was she really that close to tears? Was she really that sad—or was it embarrassment? Or maybe it was just from the snow storm she'd unexpectedly found herself in.

"Vi is, like, always the best with words, right, Lil?"

Misty heard all the nicknames: Lil, Vi, Vi, Lil. Her sisters referred to each other like that without a second thought, but Misty couldn't imagine doing the same. So, with the awkwardness of an acquaintance, she said, "Really, Lily. I'm not sure that I could have won that one. She was," Misty glanced at Ash, "really prepared."

Lily gave a genuine smile and broke out of Daisy's embrace to give Misty a hug. "Aw, thanks a bunch, Misty. That means loads to hear."

Misty couldn't help but take note of how Lily called her 'Misty' as she pulled away and gave Violet a hug as Phoebe offered her condolences as well. Usually, her sisters called her 'baby sister,' but this was her full name. Her sisters probably weren't any more comfortable calling her 'Mist' than she was calling them 'Lil' or 'Vi.'

Then, she turned to Ash again, who was watching as Phoebe said entirely too much about the match—though Lily seemed happy enough to hear advice from an Elite. There stood the only person who she could remember calling her 'Mist'. Who had, for whatever reason, felt comfortable enough or inclined to call her that to her face. Out of affection, maybe? Misty's cheeks felt warmer at the thought as she imagined the syllable falling out of Ash's mouth and floating over to her on a plush cloud.

"Misty? Earth to Misty?"

Lily was waving a hand in front of Misty's face and Misty jolted back, surprised. "What?"

"We know that you're, like, gonna want us mop this mess and since none of us want to, like, waste the energy we're going to have to expend cleaning on keeping you from floating away, you and that totally dopey expression on your face gotta go."

"I'll take your place, though," Phoebe offered. "Since you're sick. Many hands make light work."

"Oh," Misty said, blushing and turning away. "Right. I can take the Pokémon to the Center, though."

"Are you sure?" Daisy asked.

Misty nodded. "It's just a walk. I do that much."

After a moment's silent deliberation between the sisters, Lily handed her the fainted Pokémon's 'Balls.

"Take breaks if you need to!" Daisy said as Misty turned to walk away.

"I'll go with you!" Ash said, always eager for an excuse to be in a room with Pokémon.

But, for a second, Misty wondered if she were the one staying behind and Phoebe were the one going to the Pokémon Center, he might have stayed with her anyway. She glanced at the excited look on his face and shook the thought away. It was a silly hypothetical. Nothing more.

A/N: Idk if it's just me, but I always felt uncomfortable in school calling an Emily Em or an Olivia Liv without getting explicit consent from them, even if everyone else began to call them that. Just me? It feels like unearned closeness if it's groupthink instead of a conversation I actually had with them.

Anyway, I never understood why every Pokemon author always seemed to hate writing battles so much, because I love reading and writing them. I didn't remember this one at all, and so it was a real treat to read. Past!me was so clever! I thought this was a great match! Fun fact, Brenna is the name of an Ace Trainer in Snowpoint, so that must have been how I chose the name, lol. Glad that she had some rhyme and reason to her, because some of these other OCs clearly DON'T.