Disclaimer: I do not Pokemon or any of its characters….but if I did I can guran-damn-tee you that things on the show would be a lot different.

Chapter 1

Pallet Town. It was a very tiny, very quaint little plot of land located in the eastern part of the Kanto region. Most travelers who passed through this village were impressed the certain degree of charm it held, like its lovely green pastures or its adorable little town houses. Pretty much everyone had something nice to say about this little village. And it is primarily for this reason that we will begin our story here.

Delia Ketchum was busy working in the kitchen when she heard

the cries from her poke-servant Mimey (A Mr. Mime that helped her out around the house.)

"Mime! Mr. Mime!"

"What is it Mimey?" Delia asked. Mimey only acted this way for two reasons: 1. When Delia made him his favorite food as a reward for his hard days work or 2. When they had guests.

"Mime! Mime! Mr. Mime!"

Seeing as how she hadn't made anything yet, Delia deduced that someone must be coming up the road to her house. Sure enough, as soon as that thought had crossed her mind, the doorbell rang.

"Coming." Delia chirped. She couldn't imagine who was at the door (it was a Sunday after all) but she wasn't complaining. Since her son had left to be a Pokemon trainer she had always welcomed the extra company at her house. Sure, Mr. Mime was great sometimes, but you really can't beat the kind of company that can speak your own language.

The doorbell rang again just as Delia had gotten to the door. "Im coming." She said again, a little shrewder this time. As much as she loved company she didn't appreciate it when they got all rude and impatient and kept constantly ringing the doorbell.

Finally, she made it to the door. She opened expecting to see the old wisened face of Professor Oak, a pokemon researcher who also lived in Pallet. Or maybe even the young, slightly saddened looking face of Misty Waterflower, the gym leader of Cerulean City. She would visit her sometimes whenever she needed another girl to talk to.

However, the face at the door wasn't either Misty of Professor Oak. The face at the door was a face completely foreign to her.

"um, may I help you?" she asked in a slightly timid voice.

And that was the last thing Delia Ketchum remembered before blacking out completely.

The city of Cerulean was in no way like the town of Pallet. It was bigger for one thing, and for another it housed a Pokemon battling gym. This meant that all the whiny little beginning pokemon trainers from the region would be coming through to challenge the young gym leader.

Misty Waterflower laid on her bed in deep thought.

She hadn't had any challengers yet today so she was using that time to reminisce about the past years of her life. Just like she always did when she had nothing to keep her brain occupied.

Honestly she didn't know why she did this to herself. She knew that remembering all those adventures she used to have with her friends would just leaving her sad and miserable Just like always. She knew she would leave her room in a few hours, tears streaming down her face, and feeling like her Gyrados had just chomped a huge chunk of heart.

Sure it was great for awhile. She would bring out all the old scrapbooks, all her old photographs, and all her fondest memories. She would laugh at the picture of her Ash and Brock all giving each other rabbit ears during the festival at Maidens Peak, at the picture of those two Nidoran kissing that Tracey had drawn and given to her as present, or the the literally HUNDREDS of pictures of Brock getting rejected by someone or another.

However, she would always get to the section of the scrapbook that she knew would hurt and, as much as she wanted to, she knew she had to keep going.

First she would get to the pictures of Togepi (Togetic now) and those ones always moistened her eyes quite a bit. Her chest ached as she thought of her little egg pokemon that was now in the Mirage Kingdom presiding over the other Togepi.

She really, really missed her. She missed that little chirping sound she would make whenever she was pleased, the way that would she would cuddle up to her when she was scared, even the way she would waddle around in her shell.

But mostly she missed Togepi because after all that time of being thought of as her mother, she began to FEEL like her mother. And that day that she had to let her go, she really felt mothers grief in its purest form imaginable. She had cried for hours after that, and sometimes continued to even now.

But that grief was almost microscopic compared to the grief she felt each and every day knowing that HE wasn't in her life anymore. In fact, he was the entire reason she put herself through all that scrapbook torture in the first place. Just those few precious moments of seeing his face, his over confident smile, or his dark brown eyes that had her captivated from the get-go, allowed her to bask in the delusion that she was travelling with HIM. Ash Ketchum. That they were together again. And most importantly, they were happy.

But, sadly, that euphoric feeling only lasted for awhile and soon, reality would rear its ugly head. She would be pulled away from her fantasy land and back to the real world…the world without him in it.

She slammed the scrapbook shut, a few, of what was most likely many, tears fell down onto her cheeks.

"I don't understand" She sobbed into her pillow. "Why doesn't her ever try to make contact with me? I send him e-mails and try to call him all the time and I never get so much as birthday card!"

She continued crying when she was interrupted by the telephone ringing.

"Ring, ring, ring! Ring, ring, ring! Phone Call! Phone Call!"

She got up from her bed, wiping her eyes as she did so. She never let anyone see her cry, that was just the natural tomboy in her. To the outside world, Misty Waterflower looked as tough as a lumberjack on steroids.

Misty went over to the phone and answered it. Much to her surprise, Tracey, an old friend she used to travel with appeared on the screen.

"Oh hey Trace! What's Up?" she said.

"Misty! I'm so glad I caught you! I really need to speak with you!" he said, a frantic look in his eye.

Mistys heart stopped. The only reason Tracey would be acting like this would be because someone she knew was in trouble or hurt. Her mind immediately went to her sisters. "What's wrong Tracey? Did something happen to Daisy? Or Lily? Or Vi?"

"No, no, no there all fine. They're here in Pallet Town actually, which is the reason I called."

Misty got terrified all over again. Pallet Town is where Ash was from. As much as it seemed like he didn't care for her at all she didn't know how she could go on if something happened to him. "Oh my god, Tracy! What's going on!? Tell me!" her voice was close to tears now.

"It's Delia!" He said. "Some whacko busted into her home and hit over her head! Tore the whole house up! She's in the hospital with a concussion!"

Misty placed a hand over her mouth. Delia Ketchum was like a mother to her. She had always been there for her whenever she needed some other girl to talk to. She didn't have a mother herself so Delia was the only she trusted in letting her know her feelings about Ash. Since she was Ash's mother she seemed like the prime candidate for a confidante about the situation.

"Oh my God!" Misty gasped "Tracey, is she all right!?"

Tracey nodded. "She'll be fine, but still she could use the help. I was wondering if you could maybe come down here for a few days? Just to help her get things sorted out?"

Without a moment's hesitation Misty responded: "Of course, Tracey! Just let me close down the gym for a few days and get ready and I'll be in pallet before you know it!"

"That's great Misty" he said "I'll see you when we you get down here."

He was about to hang up, when suddenly a thought occurred to him.

"Hey, Misty." He said.

"Yeah?"

"You know, with his mom being in the hospital and all that means Ash will probably be down her for a few days…..now that's something to think about, isn't it?

Her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't thought about that. Surely, with his mom in the condition that she was in he'd have to stop his travels to come see her. Maybe Delia getting hurt was a good thing…

She was ashamed of the thought immediately. How she could she think that about Delia? The woman who had been so kind to her, the woman whom she had trusted her most intimate thoughts with, this woman who was like a mother to her?

During all this thought process going on in her head Misty had forgotten she was still on the phone with Tracey. She looked back at him to see that he was smiling.

She quickly tried to recover. "Oh….uh…yeah. You know I uh..didnt even think about that. Um…that's cool I guess."

Tracey smiled a knowing smile. It was so cute how obvious he feelings toward Ash were, but out of respect for his friends privacy he never mentioned anything about it.

"Ok Misty. I'll see you when you get down here."

And with that he hung up.

"Phew." Misty thought. "That was a close one."

As she gathered up her things to pack she began to think about Ash again. Only to shortly criticize herself for getting her hopes up. After all, if he cant even make the time to call her why would ever want her the way she wanted him.

The tears started to fall again but she wiped them away. She had to be strong for Delia and all the other people there waiting by her side. But, more importantly she knew that Ash Ketchum seeing her cry was something that she would never EVER allow.

And with that she packed all her necessities into her knapsack and walked out the door.

This is the end of the first chapter of a pokemon epic I started a while back. I hope you guys like it.

Everhere Everthere