Post by texaslonghorn on Dec 27, 2009 16:32:42 GMT -5
Hey Everybody! My name's texaslonghorn and I'm a big fan of Misty! I found this site, and thought that this would be an excellent place to show off some of my work from FanFiciton.net, where I am currently writing a lengthy AAML fic. Below is a chapter (chapter four, to be exact) of that fic. If anyone wishes to read this fic in its entirety (though it's no where near done yet), please visit my homepage at www.fanfiction.net/u/1895530/Texas_Longhorn or go directly to my fic following the URL: www.fanfiction.net/s/5053290/1/A_New_Journey. Anyway, this chapter alone makes for a pretty good one-shot, so enjoy!
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The party really was a treat. Although Brock had not known about it until after Ash left the house that afternoon (it was meant to be a party for both of them after such a long journey), he still managed to take the Professor’s place in decorating the house with balloons and streamers while Ash was gone visiting.
Ash, for his part, had been completely oblivious to the idea of a party in his honor. He had expected his return home to be more or less the same as any other time he came back from a long trip. He’d probably see his mom, and the Professor, and maybe Misty, but that was the biggest welcome wagon he anticipated. However, this did not mean he was upset about the surprise awaiting him. Instead, he was quite enthralled with the jovial spirit the party seemed to possess from the moment of his arrival. As he walked through the den and into the kitchen, increasing numbers of familiar faces greeted him with a warm smile, and a “congratulations”.
The Pikachu cake which Misty had brought out was after mere minutes nothing, but crumbs on a silver platter, much to Ash’s disappointment. “You become Champ, but you can’t get cake at your own party,” he murmured to himself. However, unbeknownst to him, he had an audience as he said this.
“Oh, Ash, quit your whining would’ya?” inquired a very familiar voice. As Ash looked up from the empty platter, he saw the smiling face of someone whom he thought of as his best friend, and biggest pest; Misty Waterflower.
“Really, I’m whining?” teased Ash. “Every time we talk on the phone all I hear is how hard it is to run the gym alone, or how difficult it is to keep thirty water Pokémon in top condition, or how unbelievably complicated it is to-”
“Shut up!” exclaimed Misty while laughing, “At least I have a job. I don’t just sit around-”
“Sit around winning regional championships? Yeah, that was a breeze, Mist.”
“I bet it is compared to trying to teach a Gyrados Hyper Beam,” as she said this, she slightly stuck her tongue out at him, but was caught off-guard when he suddenly leaned across the platter, and his arms encircled her body. Ash was hugging her, almost to the point of suffocation, but she didn’t mind really.
“I missed ya’ a lot Mist,” Ash said, seemingly trying to explain why he was so reluctant to let go of her after their embrace lasted longer than usual.
“I missed you too Ash,” replied Misty almost in a whisper. Somehow, amongst all the noise and action going on at the party, she suddenly felt like only he and she were in the room together. However, her immature demeanor quickly returned, and she asked, “If you missed me so much, then why didn’t you call for three months before your big victory in Sinnoh?”
Pulling away from the hug, Ash simply shrugged. “I don’t really know. I was real busy training, and I didn’t think to call anyone, even my mom, during that period of time. Besides, if I had called you, I probably wouldn’t be Champion right now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked an insulted Misty.
“I’m just saying that you don’t tend to give the best advice for battles,” Ash explained hesitantly. He had meant the last comment as a joke, but he was unsure of whether or not Misty would see it as such. She had always been very sensitive about his opinion of her.
“I don’t give the best advice?” incredulously asked Misty. “At least in my first gym battle, I didn’t pit a Pikachu against an Onix…twice!”
“So what? I got the badge, didn’t I?”
“Only ‘cause Brock’s a nice guy,” however, as she said this she winked at Ash. That was a great reassurance to Ash, who had become less sure of whether this fight was real or not up to that point. Then, much to his joy, she pulled a big slice of cake from behind her back. The slice was Pikachu’s tail, and as Ash greedily grabbed the plate and began stuffing his face (without the help of utensils), she murmured a “you’re welcome” under her breath. She honestly didn’t know how she could ever have had a crush on this boy when they were younger. He was so immature and overly-confident, and as she gazed at him now she realized not much had changed in that respect.
“So how’s everything going, Mist?” Ash inquired between large mouthfuls of cake, breaking Misty from her silent contemplation.
“Actually, I have some big news that I haven’t told anyone yet!” exclaimed the newly-excited girl. She had been waiting to spill her big secret for a while, but didn’t want anyone to know until she told her best friend first. However, as she was about to continue with her news, a lean, young man about six feet tall (Ash’s height) with spiky brown hair came and tapped Ash on the back.
“Hiya Squirt!” greeted Gary Oak, wearing a nice grey suit and a large grin. Looking at Misty, he asked to “cut in”, and she hesitantly agreed. Even though she was eager to share her news, she realized a busy party probably wasn’t the place to tell it.
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Ash and Gary had walked up the stairs and into his room, away from the rest of the party. For a few minutes they dabbled in idle chit-chat while sitting on the bottom bunk of Ash’s old bed, but Ash quickly veered from this because like his grandfather, Gary tended to ramble on about anything if not quickly interrupted with a new thought. As they talked, they gazed up at the old posters of the Kanto starter Pokémon that Ash had left hanging in his room over the years. They had become faded with age, and now one could barely make out Bulbasaur’s outline in his poster. I should probably buy new ones, Ash thought. However, he was broken from his train of thought as Gary cleared his throat.
“So, uh, Ash. I assume Gramps cleared up some of the things you wanted to know, right?”
“Oh yeah, yeah. We had a good discussion,” Ash wasn’t completely sure what to say in this situation. Usually when he and Gary were about to battle, it was from the passion of the moment, but rarely was it as organized as this, and it never had such high stakes before. Therefore, Ash found himself oblivious as to what he should say.
“So you know who you’re battling and everything, right?” pressed Gary, seemingly very curious as to what Ash’s reaction would be. Unbeknownst to Ash, Gary was a junior member of the PLB himself, and so had known for quite some time that once Ash made Champion status, they’d find themselves in this predicament.
“Yeah, I know. But I have a question for ya’ Gary,” Ash stated. He had been wondering this since his little talk with the Professor. “Why do I gotta battle you?”
A little stunned by his question, Gary responded with an inquiry of his own. “Why don’t you wanna battle me Ashy?” He didn’t mean to sound overconfident, or seem like he was making fun, but his curiosity was peaked by the idea that Ash, his long-time rival, didn’t want to battle with him for the Master title.
“I don’t know really. It’s just that I don’t like the idea that my opponent was chosen before I had a choice, you know? I mean, the letter I got from Cynthia said that I could choose an opponent, and that they would be judged for eligibility by the PLB, but I never got to do that. I guess I just feel kind of powerless.”
“Ash, do you wanna know why I’m registered as your opponent for your Master rank admission test? It’s because I submitted myself for the job. I’ve become a junior member of the PLB, and when I found out you were challenging Cynthia, I immediately started preparing the papers to send off to the grand marshals to deem my eligibility-”
“Wait a minute man,” interrupted Ash as a thought popped into his head, “Why did you start the paperwork before the battle? The odds were pretty high against me by all the experts’ analyses.”
“That’s right,” Gary nodded affirmatively, “seven-to-one as a matter of fact, but I knew you’d win.”
Ash was embarrassed as he heard this. Since Gary had officially quit his trainer career, their rivalry had become friendlier over the years, but Gary was never one to admit having that much confidence in Ash, ever.
“But why did you want to battle me so bad?” asked a still-confounded Ash.
“Don’t you get it? Since we were very young, we’ve been rivals. In kindergarten, we’d see who could color inside the lines best, when we were eight we saw who could eat the most ice cream-”
Ash once again interrupted Gary, but this time it was to laugh. As he chuckled, Gary began to crack up too, thinking fondly of the ice cream eating contest. When they were eight, on a hot June day, they decided to find out who could eat the most ice cream in one sitting. However, they didn’t have enough in their freezers combined to make one bowl, let alone have a contest, so Ash snuck out of the house with two sthingys and his mother’s credit card and driver’s license. They went to the mini-mart down the street and ate three whole gallons worth of ice cream there in the aisle. After they had filled themselves to the point of being terminally ill, they took up the empty cartons, along with the credit card and I.D., and waddled over to a cash register. However, when the teenager running the register saw the credit card and license, he simply stated “This doesn’t look like you”. Ash and Gary had not known you needed to be the person in the license to use the credit card, so they had to call their parents and wait for them to arrive while lying down with stomach aches in the manager’s office. They got in a lot of trouble (to say the least) after being given some time to lie down, and a few big swigs of Alka-Seltzer.
Still chuckling, Ash said, “I think we both lost in that deal.”
“Yeah, although if we wanna be technical about it, you did win since I threw-up all that night,” replied Gary, still laughing hard, almost to the point of tears.
“B-b-but anyway,” Gary continued, trying to regain his composure, while wiping away a tear, “my point is that we’ve been rivals for so long in everything, that I thought this would be what you wanted. I mean, c’mon, you can’t tell me you’d rather have anyone else as an opponent for one of the biggest battles in your life.”
Ash reflected on his statement for a moment and realized that he was right, actually. All these years of fighting and arguing over who was better at something than the other person were finally going to culminate in this battle.
“You’re right Gary,” said Ash. “Besides, having you as an opponent will definitely make winning a lot easier.” As he said this, he laughed a little again, which caused Gary to start to chuckle slightly too, but when Ash got up to leave the room, Gary threw a pillow at Ash from behind, and Ash yelled “HEY!”
“Don’t blame me, man,” said an innocent-looking Gary. “If you’re really ready to be a Master, then you need to be prepared for whatever comes your way, including pillows.”
Ash smiled a little at this comment and turned back to go out the door. However, as his hand rested upon the doorknob, he suddenly remembered one last question he had for Gary. “Uh, guy, I almost forgot to ask when we should battle,” Ash stated bluntly.
“Oh yeah,” Gary replied, seemingly having forgotten this as well. “Well, whenever you want, really. The only rule is you have to do it before you face the master.”
“Well, I do wanna do it before I leave on my journey, so how about a week from now?”
“Sounds good to me. We can rent out the Pallet Gym for the day. Something tells me this battle won’t be over quickly.” Gary smirked as he said this, very much looking forward to the upcoming match with his good friend.
“Wait a minute! Pallet has a gym now?” This was news to Ash, who hadn’t seen a gym on his way in.
“Yeah, we are now the fiftieth city in Kanto to hold a gym,” Gary stated proudly.
“That’s unbelievable!” cried Ash, shocked. “What type specialty do we have?”
“It’s a ground gym, and it’s a pretty nice one at that,” replied Gary.
“Wow. I guess a lot happens when you’re away. So why would they let us battle in it? I mean, won’t the leader be mad about losing his gym for the entire day?”
“I don’t think so for two reasons. First, this is an official Pokémon League match, and this gym is under its jurisdiction, so they have to let us use it. However, I don’t think the leader’s gonna mind at all, since I’m him.”
After a moment of silence, Ash said, “You’re who?”
“That’s right Ashy-boy, in addition to my studies at the Institute, I am a certified gym leader, and am allowed to bestow the Earthquake Badge to whomever beats me in a battle,” Gary stated, once again very proudly.
“Well then, I guess I better be ready for our match. You’ll only be using ground-types, right?” Ash asked jokingly.
“Not for you, Ashy-boy,” replied Gary mockingly.
“I told you not to call me that!” Ash hollered as he childishly covered his ears and ran out the room.
Gary just sat there and smiled to himself. This is gonna be a match to remember, he thought to himself.
As Ash reentered the party, he had only one thing on his mind; find Misty. He remembered how rudely he and her had been interrupted earlier when she was going to tell him her big news, and he wanted to apologize and ask what it was. He searched through the entire house, but there were so many people, he couldn’t see her. Finally he stumbled into Brock, who was flirting with someone who he didn’t know, but assumed was a distant relative of some kind.
“Brock, quick! Give me your cell phone!” Ash demanded, scaring Brock as he yelled this.
“Gah, Ash! Why’d you go and do that for. Don’t you see you scared poor Mallory here?” asked Brock, trying to look unfazed by the sudden shock.
“Nuh-uh, you were the one who was scared silly!” teased the young girl who had been conversing with Brock.
Wait a minute. Does a girl actually like Brock? Ash thought in amazement. However, he quickly remembered his request and asked for the cell phone again.
“Sure, you can borrow it. Just don’t break it or anything,” Brock told him sternly.
“Brock, I’m not two. I think I can handle a little cell-” Ash stopped mid-sentence as he tripped and let the cell phone go flying from his hands. It landed three feet in front of where he had fallen, and as May walked by, she almost stepped on it and crushed it with her foot.
“MAY WATCH OUT!” Ash screamed at the top of his lungs. May stopped mid-step and screamed, her foot less than an inch away from landing on the cell phone. Ash quickly retrieved the device and then apologized to May and the guests for scaring the daylights out of them.
“Heh, heh. Like I said, I’ll be careful,” Ash told Brock as he hurried away from the young man before he was told to give back the phone. He quickly went into the hall bathroom for a little quiet. Then he called Misty’s cell phone, and to his amazement, she actually picked up.
“Hello?” she inquired as she answered the phone.
“Hey Mist, it’s me! I was wondering if we could meet in the kitchen so you could tell me the big news. I looked all over for you, but it’s too crowded to see anybody in particular with the house so full.”
“Yeah, it’s very crowded,” replied Misty, apparently weary of having been shoved and pushed the entire night by other guests. “Hey, I have an idea! Let’s meet outside on the back patio. It’ll be nice and quiet there.”
“Sounds good to me! I’ll meet you out back in a minute.
Ash quickly moved to the back of the house and quietly slid out the back door and onto the patio. As he stood there in the dark, warm evening, he reflected upon how crazy this day had been. He got up at five-thirty in the morning (which had never happened), he got to Pallet in record-breaking time, talked to the Professor, and found out that he was going to battle Gary in one of the biggest matches of his life. However, as he reflected, he realized one very important fact; he hadn’t showered since this morning! Oh man, he thought to himself. What’s Misty gonna think?
He looked at his reflection in the window of the backdoor, using the light that came through the blinds from the party, and saw just how bad it was. His hair was in a mess, like usual, but on top of this he had dirt on his face and clothes from the run coming from Viridian, and he smelled like stale sweat.
“Well, this is just great,” he mumbled to himself. He thought maybe he could run in and put on some deodorant really quick at least, but as he was about to reenter the house, the doorknob turned and out came Misty.
Ash was stunned as she came out of the door. He didn’t really think to look at her when they were in the house, but as she stepped out, he saw just how beautiful she looked. Her hair was down (although he usually preferred it up), she was wearing a light blue dress that came down to her ankles, and she wore high heels that made her look almost as tall as Ash. He quickly turned around though as he saw her examining him, mostly out of embarrassment.
“What’s the matter Ash?” she asked sweetly. He had turned around right after she came out.
“Nothing. It’s just that I realized I haven’t had time to get dressed up nice, or shower, or anything. I’m sorry I hugged you so long inside. If I had known how I looked, and smelled,” he made a face as he said this, “I wouldn’t have done it.”
Misty smiled at him. She thought it was kind of cute that he was so ashamed to be in front of her like he was. The truth was, she enjoyed how he looked right now. There was a full moon in the sky, and the light showed his silhouette perfectly in the night. She could see he was at least six feet tall, if not taller (he had certainly grown from the last time she saw him two years earlier), and with only his black t-shirt on, she could see that he had definitely developed muscularly too. She also like the dirty face, hair, and clothes, because it reminded her of how he looked when they were younger. He never cared what he looked like in front of her then, and the fact that he did now seemed to tell her something.
“Are you kidding me?” she asked. “I would have been insulted if you hadn’t hugged me. We’re best friends, remember? Never, ever, don’t hug me because of appearances. I’m just happy you’re here.”
Ash blushed at the comment, and said, “You look really nice tonight Mist.”
Now it was Misty’s turn to blush. She knew of course that the dress she had on was very nice (not to mention the fact that she had filled out quite a bit since their last meeting), but hearing Ash say she looked “really nice” was entirely different from her standing in the mirror and saying it to herself.
They then leaned on the railing that separated the porch from the rest of the backyard, and stared up at the sky. As Ash looked up, he examined the stars shining brightly over the mountains that surrounded Pallet. It was a beautiful landscape, and the reason why so many artists came every summer to visit. There was a saying amongst Kanto citizens that said, “You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced a Pallet summer”, and as he gazed at the stars, next to his best friend, Ash believed this statement to be true.
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Alright! That's just chapter four of what is now a twenty chapter fic! Please, if you want to read more, follow the links listed above. Also, I accept anonymous reviews for this story on FF.net, so if you just want to provide your insight or opinion (or tell me how awesome I am, ha,ha) go right ahead and leave a review!
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The party really was a treat. Although Brock had not known about it until after Ash left the house that afternoon (it was meant to be a party for both of them after such a long journey), he still managed to take the Professor’s place in decorating the house with balloons and streamers while Ash was gone visiting.
Ash, for his part, had been completely oblivious to the idea of a party in his honor. He had expected his return home to be more or less the same as any other time he came back from a long trip. He’d probably see his mom, and the Professor, and maybe Misty, but that was the biggest welcome wagon he anticipated. However, this did not mean he was upset about the surprise awaiting him. Instead, he was quite enthralled with the jovial spirit the party seemed to possess from the moment of his arrival. As he walked through the den and into the kitchen, increasing numbers of familiar faces greeted him with a warm smile, and a “congratulations”.
The Pikachu cake which Misty had brought out was after mere minutes nothing, but crumbs on a silver platter, much to Ash’s disappointment. “You become Champ, but you can’t get cake at your own party,” he murmured to himself. However, unbeknownst to him, he had an audience as he said this.
“Oh, Ash, quit your whining would’ya?” inquired a very familiar voice. As Ash looked up from the empty platter, he saw the smiling face of someone whom he thought of as his best friend, and biggest pest; Misty Waterflower.
“Really, I’m whining?” teased Ash. “Every time we talk on the phone all I hear is how hard it is to run the gym alone, or how difficult it is to keep thirty water Pokémon in top condition, or how unbelievably complicated it is to-”
“Shut up!” exclaimed Misty while laughing, “At least I have a job. I don’t just sit around-”
“Sit around winning regional championships? Yeah, that was a breeze, Mist.”
“I bet it is compared to trying to teach a Gyrados Hyper Beam,” as she said this, she slightly stuck her tongue out at him, but was caught off-guard when he suddenly leaned across the platter, and his arms encircled her body. Ash was hugging her, almost to the point of suffocation, but she didn’t mind really.
“I missed ya’ a lot Mist,” Ash said, seemingly trying to explain why he was so reluctant to let go of her after their embrace lasted longer than usual.
“I missed you too Ash,” replied Misty almost in a whisper. Somehow, amongst all the noise and action going on at the party, she suddenly felt like only he and she were in the room together. However, her immature demeanor quickly returned, and she asked, “If you missed me so much, then why didn’t you call for three months before your big victory in Sinnoh?”
Pulling away from the hug, Ash simply shrugged. “I don’t really know. I was real busy training, and I didn’t think to call anyone, even my mom, during that period of time. Besides, if I had called you, I probably wouldn’t be Champion right now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked an insulted Misty.
“I’m just saying that you don’t tend to give the best advice for battles,” Ash explained hesitantly. He had meant the last comment as a joke, but he was unsure of whether or not Misty would see it as such. She had always been very sensitive about his opinion of her.
“I don’t give the best advice?” incredulously asked Misty. “At least in my first gym battle, I didn’t pit a Pikachu against an Onix…twice!”
“So what? I got the badge, didn’t I?”
“Only ‘cause Brock’s a nice guy,” however, as she said this she winked at Ash. That was a great reassurance to Ash, who had become less sure of whether this fight was real or not up to that point. Then, much to his joy, she pulled a big slice of cake from behind her back. The slice was Pikachu’s tail, and as Ash greedily grabbed the plate and began stuffing his face (without the help of utensils), she murmured a “you’re welcome” under her breath. She honestly didn’t know how she could ever have had a crush on this boy when they were younger. He was so immature and overly-confident, and as she gazed at him now she realized not much had changed in that respect.
“So how’s everything going, Mist?” Ash inquired between large mouthfuls of cake, breaking Misty from her silent contemplation.
“Actually, I have some big news that I haven’t told anyone yet!” exclaimed the newly-excited girl. She had been waiting to spill her big secret for a while, but didn’t want anyone to know until she told her best friend first. However, as she was about to continue with her news, a lean, young man about six feet tall (Ash’s height) with spiky brown hair came and tapped Ash on the back.
“Hiya Squirt!” greeted Gary Oak, wearing a nice grey suit and a large grin. Looking at Misty, he asked to “cut in”, and she hesitantly agreed. Even though she was eager to share her news, she realized a busy party probably wasn’t the place to tell it.
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Ash and Gary had walked up the stairs and into his room, away from the rest of the party. For a few minutes they dabbled in idle chit-chat while sitting on the bottom bunk of Ash’s old bed, but Ash quickly veered from this because like his grandfather, Gary tended to ramble on about anything if not quickly interrupted with a new thought. As they talked, they gazed up at the old posters of the Kanto starter Pokémon that Ash had left hanging in his room over the years. They had become faded with age, and now one could barely make out Bulbasaur’s outline in his poster. I should probably buy new ones, Ash thought. However, he was broken from his train of thought as Gary cleared his throat.
“So, uh, Ash. I assume Gramps cleared up some of the things you wanted to know, right?”
“Oh yeah, yeah. We had a good discussion,” Ash wasn’t completely sure what to say in this situation. Usually when he and Gary were about to battle, it was from the passion of the moment, but rarely was it as organized as this, and it never had such high stakes before. Therefore, Ash found himself oblivious as to what he should say.
“So you know who you’re battling and everything, right?” pressed Gary, seemingly very curious as to what Ash’s reaction would be. Unbeknownst to Ash, Gary was a junior member of the PLB himself, and so had known for quite some time that once Ash made Champion status, they’d find themselves in this predicament.
“Yeah, I know. But I have a question for ya’ Gary,” Ash stated. He had been wondering this since his little talk with the Professor. “Why do I gotta battle you?”
A little stunned by his question, Gary responded with an inquiry of his own. “Why don’t you wanna battle me Ashy?” He didn’t mean to sound overconfident, or seem like he was making fun, but his curiosity was peaked by the idea that Ash, his long-time rival, didn’t want to battle with him for the Master title.
“I don’t know really. It’s just that I don’t like the idea that my opponent was chosen before I had a choice, you know? I mean, the letter I got from Cynthia said that I could choose an opponent, and that they would be judged for eligibility by the PLB, but I never got to do that. I guess I just feel kind of powerless.”
“Ash, do you wanna know why I’m registered as your opponent for your Master rank admission test? It’s because I submitted myself for the job. I’ve become a junior member of the PLB, and when I found out you were challenging Cynthia, I immediately started preparing the papers to send off to the grand marshals to deem my eligibility-”
“Wait a minute man,” interrupted Ash as a thought popped into his head, “Why did you start the paperwork before the battle? The odds were pretty high against me by all the experts’ analyses.”
“That’s right,” Gary nodded affirmatively, “seven-to-one as a matter of fact, but I knew you’d win.”
Ash was embarrassed as he heard this. Since Gary had officially quit his trainer career, their rivalry had become friendlier over the years, but Gary was never one to admit having that much confidence in Ash, ever.
“But why did you want to battle me so bad?” asked a still-confounded Ash.
“Don’t you get it? Since we were very young, we’ve been rivals. In kindergarten, we’d see who could color inside the lines best, when we were eight we saw who could eat the most ice cream-”
Ash once again interrupted Gary, but this time it was to laugh. As he chuckled, Gary began to crack up too, thinking fondly of the ice cream eating contest. When they were eight, on a hot June day, they decided to find out who could eat the most ice cream in one sitting. However, they didn’t have enough in their freezers combined to make one bowl, let alone have a contest, so Ash snuck out of the house with two sthingys and his mother’s credit card and driver’s license. They went to the mini-mart down the street and ate three whole gallons worth of ice cream there in the aisle. After they had filled themselves to the point of being terminally ill, they took up the empty cartons, along with the credit card and I.D., and waddled over to a cash register. However, when the teenager running the register saw the credit card and license, he simply stated “This doesn’t look like you”. Ash and Gary had not known you needed to be the person in the license to use the credit card, so they had to call their parents and wait for them to arrive while lying down with stomach aches in the manager’s office. They got in a lot of trouble (to say the least) after being given some time to lie down, and a few big swigs of Alka-Seltzer.
Still chuckling, Ash said, “I think we both lost in that deal.”
“Yeah, although if we wanna be technical about it, you did win since I threw-up all that night,” replied Gary, still laughing hard, almost to the point of tears.
“B-b-but anyway,” Gary continued, trying to regain his composure, while wiping away a tear, “my point is that we’ve been rivals for so long in everything, that I thought this would be what you wanted. I mean, c’mon, you can’t tell me you’d rather have anyone else as an opponent for one of the biggest battles in your life.”
Ash reflected on his statement for a moment and realized that he was right, actually. All these years of fighting and arguing over who was better at something than the other person were finally going to culminate in this battle.
“You’re right Gary,” said Ash. “Besides, having you as an opponent will definitely make winning a lot easier.” As he said this, he laughed a little again, which caused Gary to start to chuckle slightly too, but when Ash got up to leave the room, Gary threw a pillow at Ash from behind, and Ash yelled “HEY!”
“Don’t blame me, man,” said an innocent-looking Gary. “If you’re really ready to be a Master, then you need to be prepared for whatever comes your way, including pillows.”
Ash smiled a little at this comment and turned back to go out the door. However, as his hand rested upon the doorknob, he suddenly remembered one last question he had for Gary. “Uh, guy, I almost forgot to ask when we should battle,” Ash stated bluntly.
“Oh yeah,” Gary replied, seemingly having forgotten this as well. “Well, whenever you want, really. The only rule is you have to do it before you face the master.”
“Well, I do wanna do it before I leave on my journey, so how about a week from now?”
“Sounds good to me. We can rent out the Pallet Gym for the day. Something tells me this battle won’t be over quickly.” Gary smirked as he said this, very much looking forward to the upcoming match with his good friend.
“Wait a minute! Pallet has a gym now?” This was news to Ash, who hadn’t seen a gym on his way in.
“Yeah, we are now the fiftieth city in Kanto to hold a gym,” Gary stated proudly.
“That’s unbelievable!” cried Ash, shocked. “What type specialty do we have?”
“It’s a ground gym, and it’s a pretty nice one at that,” replied Gary.
“Wow. I guess a lot happens when you’re away. So why would they let us battle in it? I mean, won’t the leader be mad about losing his gym for the entire day?”
“I don’t think so for two reasons. First, this is an official Pokémon League match, and this gym is under its jurisdiction, so they have to let us use it. However, I don’t think the leader’s gonna mind at all, since I’m him.”
After a moment of silence, Ash said, “You’re who?”
“That’s right Ashy-boy, in addition to my studies at the Institute, I am a certified gym leader, and am allowed to bestow the Earthquake Badge to whomever beats me in a battle,” Gary stated, once again very proudly.
“Well then, I guess I better be ready for our match. You’ll only be using ground-types, right?” Ash asked jokingly.
“Not for you, Ashy-boy,” replied Gary mockingly.
“I told you not to call me that!” Ash hollered as he childishly covered his ears and ran out the room.
Gary just sat there and smiled to himself. This is gonna be a match to remember, he thought to himself.
As Ash reentered the party, he had only one thing on his mind; find Misty. He remembered how rudely he and her had been interrupted earlier when she was going to tell him her big news, and he wanted to apologize and ask what it was. He searched through the entire house, but there were so many people, he couldn’t see her. Finally he stumbled into Brock, who was flirting with someone who he didn’t know, but assumed was a distant relative of some kind.
“Brock, quick! Give me your cell phone!” Ash demanded, scaring Brock as he yelled this.
“Gah, Ash! Why’d you go and do that for. Don’t you see you scared poor Mallory here?” asked Brock, trying to look unfazed by the sudden shock.
“Nuh-uh, you were the one who was scared silly!” teased the young girl who had been conversing with Brock.
Wait a minute. Does a girl actually like Brock? Ash thought in amazement. However, he quickly remembered his request and asked for the cell phone again.
“Sure, you can borrow it. Just don’t break it or anything,” Brock told him sternly.
“Brock, I’m not two. I think I can handle a little cell-” Ash stopped mid-sentence as he tripped and let the cell phone go flying from his hands. It landed three feet in front of where he had fallen, and as May walked by, she almost stepped on it and crushed it with her foot.
“MAY WATCH OUT!” Ash screamed at the top of his lungs. May stopped mid-step and screamed, her foot less than an inch away from landing on the cell phone. Ash quickly retrieved the device and then apologized to May and the guests for scaring the daylights out of them.
“Heh, heh. Like I said, I’ll be careful,” Ash told Brock as he hurried away from the young man before he was told to give back the phone. He quickly went into the hall bathroom for a little quiet. Then he called Misty’s cell phone, and to his amazement, she actually picked up.
“Hello?” she inquired as she answered the phone.
“Hey Mist, it’s me! I was wondering if we could meet in the kitchen so you could tell me the big news. I looked all over for you, but it’s too crowded to see anybody in particular with the house so full.”
“Yeah, it’s very crowded,” replied Misty, apparently weary of having been shoved and pushed the entire night by other guests. “Hey, I have an idea! Let’s meet outside on the back patio. It’ll be nice and quiet there.”
“Sounds good to me! I’ll meet you out back in a minute.
Ash quickly moved to the back of the house and quietly slid out the back door and onto the patio. As he stood there in the dark, warm evening, he reflected upon how crazy this day had been. He got up at five-thirty in the morning (which had never happened), he got to Pallet in record-breaking time, talked to the Professor, and found out that he was going to battle Gary in one of the biggest matches of his life. However, as he reflected, he realized one very important fact; he hadn’t showered since this morning! Oh man, he thought to himself. What’s Misty gonna think?
He looked at his reflection in the window of the backdoor, using the light that came through the blinds from the party, and saw just how bad it was. His hair was in a mess, like usual, but on top of this he had dirt on his face and clothes from the run coming from Viridian, and he smelled like stale sweat.
“Well, this is just great,” he mumbled to himself. He thought maybe he could run in and put on some deodorant really quick at least, but as he was about to reenter the house, the doorknob turned and out came Misty.
Ash was stunned as she came out of the door. He didn’t really think to look at her when they were in the house, but as she stepped out, he saw just how beautiful she looked. Her hair was down (although he usually preferred it up), she was wearing a light blue dress that came down to her ankles, and she wore high heels that made her look almost as tall as Ash. He quickly turned around though as he saw her examining him, mostly out of embarrassment.
“What’s the matter Ash?” she asked sweetly. He had turned around right after she came out.
“Nothing. It’s just that I realized I haven’t had time to get dressed up nice, or shower, or anything. I’m sorry I hugged you so long inside. If I had known how I looked, and smelled,” he made a face as he said this, “I wouldn’t have done it.”
Misty smiled at him. She thought it was kind of cute that he was so ashamed to be in front of her like he was. The truth was, she enjoyed how he looked right now. There was a full moon in the sky, and the light showed his silhouette perfectly in the night. She could see he was at least six feet tall, if not taller (he had certainly grown from the last time she saw him two years earlier), and with only his black t-shirt on, she could see that he had definitely developed muscularly too. She also like the dirty face, hair, and clothes, because it reminded her of how he looked when they were younger. He never cared what he looked like in front of her then, and the fact that he did now seemed to tell her something.
“Are you kidding me?” she asked. “I would have been insulted if you hadn’t hugged me. We’re best friends, remember? Never, ever, don’t hug me because of appearances. I’m just happy you’re here.”
Ash blushed at the comment, and said, “You look really nice tonight Mist.”
Now it was Misty’s turn to blush. She knew of course that the dress she had on was very nice (not to mention the fact that she had filled out quite a bit since their last meeting), but hearing Ash say she looked “really nice” was entirely different from her standing in the mirror and saying it to herself.
They then leaned on the railing that separated the porch from the rest of the backyard, and stared up at the sky. As Ash looked up, he examined the stars shining brightly over the mountains that surrounded Pallet. It was a beautiful landscape, and the reason why so many artists came every summer to visit. There was a saying amongst Kanto citizens that said, “You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced a Pallet summer”, and as he gazed at the stars, next to his best friend, Ash believed this statement to be true.
***
Alright! That's just chapter four of what is now a twenty chapter fic! Please, if you want to read more, follow the links listed above. Also, I accept anonymous reviews for this story on FF.net, so if you just want to provide your insight or opinion (or tell me how awesome I am, ha,ha) go right ahead and leave a review!
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