Okay. So here's the deal. I've rewritten the first two chapters of this story, and I'm planning to actually go through and finish the thing this time. I hope you'll like it! I wrote this even before the Johto League, so pardon the incorrect assumptions. Thanks!
-Krag
~CHAPTER ONE~
A soft breeze blew through the meadows, as Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower continued on their journey home from the Johto League. Misty held Togepi in her arms, cradling it softly. Pikachu, ever perched on Ash's shoulder, amused himself by listening to the quips and taunts that were habitually exchanged between its two companions.
"Yeah, well you were lucky you defeated your last opponent, Ash Ketchum. His Ampharos almost had you beaten before Pikachu decided to come back in."
"But I won, didn't I? I didn't see YOU out there battling…"
"Oh, don't be so stupid Ash, I hadn't been collecting the badges, and you know it."
"But you could have. You just didn't want to enter because you knew you couldn't beat me."
"Oh don't be stupid. I could beat you any day of the week."
"Very funny, Misty."
Misty let out a growl. Inwardly she knew that Ash was only toying with her, but he could be very arrogant sometimes. She sighed and said no more for a time. Ash, with a ghost of a smile on his face, decided to pull out his trophy. He opened his backpack and stared at his prize. A Zapdos stood with its wings outstretched on the base, in front of which was a plaque, engraved with the words "Ash Ketchum, Pallet Town - 1st Place." Behind the Zapdos was the cup, with a golden pokeball sitting inside of it. All in all, it looked magnificent.
Misty glanced sideways to stare at it. It was amazing, but she wasn't going to say that out loud. She couldn't help peeking at it, however, and neither could Ash. It was his second league win, and he was bursting with pride.
"Triii…" Togepi said, entranced.
"Pika…"
"Mm…" Ash said, completely immersed in its beauty. He was so engrossed in the trophy that he didn't even notice that a tree was straight in front of him. He slammed right into it, and dropped his trophy on the ground.
"Ah! Misty, why didn't you tell me about that tree?"
"I thought you saw it." Misty said, shrugging nonchalantly. Ash glared at her as he bent over to pick up his trophy. Out of nowhere, a pair of feet stamped down beside it, and it was plucked out of Ash's hands. Jessie smiled wickedly down at him, cackling, as James and Meowth stepped out from the bushes.
"Well, what do you know, it's the twerps!" She said.
"Minus one. What happened to the tall one?" James asked.
"Yeah!" Meowth said.
"Brock stayed to be with the Officer Jenny from Goldenrod, if you must know, but give me back my trophy!" Ash said.
"Tut, tut. Such manners for an eleven year old."
"I'm twelve…" Ash growled through clenched teeth.
"Well you sure don't act like one!" Meowth said.
"And besides, we ARE going to give it back. See?" James said as Jessie handed back the trophy. Ash and Misty exchanged a glance.
"But why did you do that? Aren't you going to try and steal Pikachu with some new contraption?" Misty asked suspiciously.
"Oh, no. You see, er…we're…on vacation!" Jessie said.
"Right! Vacation!" James concurred. Meowth sighed.
"We got fired…" he said. Jessie and James turned on him
"MEOWTH!!! WHY DON'T YOU KEEP YOUR BIG MOUTH SHUT!!!" They
said in unison, while Jessie slapped him around.
"Fired? Does that mean that you're not going to try to steal any Pokemon, ever again?" Ash asked. Jessie and James looked at each other.
"Well, maybe….Capturing Pikachu is too hard a job to do for no pay. We're headed to Pallet, to, er…settle down." James said. Jessie cast a sideward glance at him.
"That was…an odd way to put it James…"
"Heh…heh…" James said, embarrassed.
"You're moving to Pallet? But…that's where we're going!" Ash said, horrified at the thought of living next door to Team Rocket.
"Oh, really? Well then, uh…we can go wit' ya!" Meowth said, not looking very excited about it.
"I…guess that's okay…" Misty said. She turned to look at Ash. Ash turned away to look at Jessie.
"Are you sure that you're not going to try anything?" He asked. Jessie was about to reply when James stepped in front of her, wearing a uniform.
"Scout's honor!" He said, saluting. A bead of sweat ran down everyone's foreheads as James marched back behind Jessie.
"James…you're not a scout, nor were you ever." Jessie said, aggravated.
"Yes I was! Back on the mansion, my parents forced me to be one…" James said, dejectedly. Jessie once again turned to Ash, Misty and Pikachu.
"No. We won't try anything. Er…scout's honor, I suppose. Now let's get going, I don't want to waste daylight. I hate traveling in the woods." Jessie said.
"Yeah, the dirt hurts my paws…" Meowth said, staring sadly at his claws. Jessie smacked him again, and dragged him with her into the forest.
They set up camp that night in a small clearing by a river. They were less than a day's walk from Pallet, but they were all very tired. Ash, Misty and the three former Team Rocket members set up their sleeping bags.
"I'm going to go for a walk Misty. I won't be too long." Ash said. He looked as if he had something on his mind, but Misty didn't ask about it. She figured he'd tell her about it if it was serious. After a few minutes, Misty started to wonder where Ash had gotten to. She decided to follow his tracks into the forest, leaving Togepi to fall asleep on her sleeping bag.
His tracks led to the riverbank. They led her upriver a ways, until she saw a waterfall in the distance. Ash was sitting on a log next to the river, staring off into space.
"Ash?" She asked. He turned towards her, startled.
"Oh, it's only you Misty."
"What are you doing out here?" She asked.
"Just sorta…thinking. About the past two years. Do you recognize this place, Misty?" She looked around and searched her brain for answers, until she remembered a moment two years ago, when she was fishing, and a rather large tug came on her line…
"Oh my god Ash…is this where we met?" He nodded and stared once more at the water.
"I remember…You fished me out of the water, and I sat next to the log, clutching Pikachu," he smiled at his companion, "And you were so surprised…you asked how I was, and I told you, but you got all mad at me and told me you were talking about Pikachu…" Misty's shoulders sunk and she sat next to Ash on the log. "And then I took your bike, and told you I'd give it back someday, but then I destroyed it…and you've followed me around to this day, never letting up, always taunting me, always yelling at me…" Ash trailed off as Misty looked pleadingly at him.
"…I had almost forgotten about that bike…"
"What, you want it back now, is that is?" Ash said, glaring at her.
"I - "
"No, wait a minute, I want to say something. I've put up with you for so long now, that I don't know how much more I can stand. You drive me up the wall, and I never understood why. There are some times when I think you're my friend, but half the time I feel as if I can hardly stand to be in the same room with you!"
"Now wait just one minute!" Misty yelled, "I've stuck by you for two years now, and we've saved each others' lives more times than I can count! And on top of all that, Ash…I…how can you be so dense, so oblivious, not to notice…I - "
"See? There you go again! Always with the insulting. Would it kill you to be nice to me for a change? I didn't like you from the beginning. I guess I should have listened to my gut and deserted you in the first place." There was a long silence, where both stared into each others' eyes, thinking deeply.
"Well…it wasn't just me! Maybe YOU should be nicer to ME! Quite the hypocrite Mr. Ketchum, because you always flung the insults right back at me! Never noticing my obvious hints, my pleas, never noticing that I really, truly existed! I was always just a stupid girl in your eyes, you…you stupid bike-wrecker!!" Misty said, standing up. The second after the words flew out of her mouth she immediately regretted them. But they had been said, and she could tell by the look on Ash's face that she couldn't say anything to help herself now.
Ash stood up as well, and took out his backpack. He reached inside, and pulled out a small sack.
"Well…well you know what? You don't have to follow me around anymore, Misty! I've saved up ever since I destroyed your bike because I felt so guilty, and I hope you're happy with it. Here you go, Misty. Now you can leave, and I can be guilt-free. You want that, I want that. I suggest you leave as soon as possible. I hope I never have to listen to you or see you ever again."
Misty was shocked. He dropped the sack into her hands and walked back towards camp, the cocky spring in his step visibly missing. Misty dropped onto the log and buried her head in her hands, the tears flowing onto her lap. Why did she have to always insult him so much? Why couldn't she tell him that she truly, deeply loved him? It was obvious to her now that he didn't feel the same way. He wanted her gone. She had no choice but to leave. It was what he wanted. But it was the last thing that she could ever have hoped for.
As Ash walked away, she almost thought she saw a small tear fall from his eye and land on the river bank…but decided it must have been her imagination.
In a nearby bush, Jessie and turned to each other sadly.
"Wow…tough break." Jessie said sadly.
"I never knew those twerps had so much…history." James said.
"Hmm. Well, it's obvious she loves him. I mean, hanging around for so long over a bike? How dense IS that little twerp?" Jessie said, rolling her eyes.
"Well, things will be a little tense traveling with them now…" James stated.
"What do you mean, 'them?' Didn't you listen to a THING that just happened? Ash told her to go, and that's what she's going to do. She's 'faithful to her man'…almost pitiful, but romantic in a way. Me? I'd never go out on a limb for a guy. He'd come to me, or not at all." Jessie stated, glancing sideward at James. He squirmed.
"Well…when do you think she'll leave?"
"Tonight. No pressing goodbyes, and no chance of reconsidering. Inwardly she probably even WANTS to make Ash suffer, once he realizes how much he misses her…or maybe that's just what I would do."
"I never knew you were so romantic Jess."
"You can learn a lot about someone by watching." Jessie stated, standing up and walking back towards camp.
When Jessie and James got back to camp, Ash was angrily cleaning up before he went to bed. James got in his sleeping bag, but Jessie walked over to Ash and struck up a conversation with him.
"So, kid, what's eating you?" She asked. Ash didn't reply. "Problems with that Misty girl?" Ash paused for a second before continuing what he was doing before. "…Have a fight?" Ash still didn't respond, and Jessie sighed and walked towards her sleeping bag.
"I saw you in the bushes." Jessie fell over in surprise, but arose once more to question Ash.
"Well? Why'd you do it?"
"Shut up."
"HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, YOU TW - I mean…don't you want to still be…er…friends with her?"
"You heard her. She never changes…she always makes fun of me, no matter what I do. My mental health is safer with her gone."
"But you traveled with her for two years!"
"Hey, since when did you care? I thought you hated me."
"Sheesh, touchy touchy. The question remaining, though, is if you hated her so much, why are you angry that you finally got her to leave, hmm?"
"Aren't you going to bed yet?" Ash said irately. Jessie grumbled.
"*mumblemumblethat'sthelasttimeItrytohelpHIMagainmumblemumble*"
As Ash settled down to go to sleep in his sleeping bag, he contemplated over Jessie's remarks. He wasn't about to let on to her that he was regretting anything. She'd just chide him on being so stupid, and that's the last thing he needed after his encounter with Misty. He kept trying to convince himself that he would be much happier with her gone. No more quips, no more insults. Soon he'd be home, with his mom, and everything would go back to normal…normal without Misty. Alone.
No. Mustn't think like that…but…did he really make the right choice? Of course he did, he thought…Misty never liked him anyway…
Pikachu awoke in the middle of the night to find Togepi missing. Correctly guessing what this meant, Pikachu stole away from camp. Darting through the trees, he soon made its way to where Ash and Misty were earlier, to find Misty and Togepi about to leave.
"Pikaa!" She yelled. Misty turned around and stared sadly at Pikachu, and beckoned to it. It jumped up into her arms, and they hugged goodbye.
"I'll miss you Pikachu. I don't know when I'll see you next…if ever…but I'll miss you."
"Toge, triii……"
And with that, Pikachu licked her face once, hugged Togepi, and then ran back to be with Ash.
