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ultimatebman · 7 years ago

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Pokeshipping Week Day 7: Midnight Conversations

Shhh, don’t tell anyone how late this actually is. Also day 6 is still coming as soon as life stops getting in the way. If anyone wants to give feedback please do so. I hope everyone enjoyed Pokeshipping Week!

“The stars are beautiful tonight” Ash thought as he gazed up at the night sky. He couldn't sleep on this particular night so he thought he might stargaze to help him fall asleep. The Alolan sand was soft under his sleeping bag, and it was nice to sleep outside for a change. It had been Ash’s idea for Misty, Brock, and himself to camp out for the night, to make it feel like they were traveling together again. Ash felt a satisfying comfort knowing his two best friends were camping with him again, even if it was just for a short visit.

The soft rhythm of Brock’s snoring and the waves against the shore slowly began to comfort Ash, but he still couldn’t feel himself getting sleep anytime soon. His legs ached to stretch but he didn’t want to bother Pikachu, who had found a comfortable spot alongside the zipper of his sleeping bag. Ash suddenly jumped within the confines of the bag, surprised by a sudden yawn to his left. “Is she still up this late?” Ash thought. He turned his head to look at Misty and the origin of the yawn, it was too dark and she was too far away for him to get a good look. He gazed at her for a short time, trying to determine if she was awake or not, Ash let out a quiet sigh “guess not.” Misty let out another yawn and moved to unzip her sleeping bag a little. Ash turned to try to look at her again

“Hey you still up?” Ash asked.

“Ah!” Misty squealed. “Don't do that Ash.” she waved her hand around in an effort to hit Ash, but couldn't find her target.

“Sorry, I just wanted to know if you were awake.” Ash said sheepishly.

“Well what does it sound like?” She snapped at him. Ash went quiet. Both laid in their bags without another word spoken between them, only the sound of the waves and Brock’s snores could be heard. And just as the silence was starting to wear on Ash, Misty finally spoke up

“Sorry Ash. It’s just the different time zones, it’s messing up my sleep. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” disappointment weighed on her voice.

“It’s alright Misty, I wasn’t trying to bother you.” She could hear him rustling in his sleeping bag. Ash had returned to attempting sleep. There was silence between the two for a long while before Misty spoke up again.

“Thank you Ash, it was nice of you to invite us here. I’m glad you remembered us.” Misty heard Ash rustling again. She couldn't see it, but Ash was looking at her again.

“Anytime Misty. Besides, I made a promise, remember?”

“Of course I do.”

‘I’ll be here anytime you need me.” Ash said in his usual upbeat tone.

‘Well thank you, Ash.”

Misty paused for a moment before she spoke again.

“What about you?”

“Huh?’

“Is something bothering you?” Misty’s concern seemed genuine, rather than asking out of habit.

“I just miss you guys, that’s all.” Ash said flatly.

“We’ll still be here for a few more days.”

“I know… but then you’re going to be gone again.”

“Ash, you can call me anytime, you know that right? I’ll be here when you need me.”

“Sorry about that, seeing new Pokemon and friends can be really distracting.” Ash let out a chuckle and Misty joined him a few seconds later.

“That doesn’t mean you can get away with never calling. Maybe I like talking to you, did you ever think about that ya big idiot?” Misty said in a teasing manner.

“We can talk right now. If you don’t mind talking to this big idiot.” Chuckles spread across the two again, had it not been for Brock and Pikachu they would have probably been laughing.

“Alright, what is… your favorite new pokemon you caught?”

“Umm… I dunno, all of them I guess?”

“That’s what I get for asking Ash Ketchum.”

“You know I can’t answer that, Misty. Give me something easier.”

“How about favorite new region?”

“Maybe, if I had to pick one… uh,” Ash wracked his brain trying to think of which region he liked the most since they last saw each other. But Ash had to give in, it was impossible for him to choose a favorite.

“All of them.”

“All of them,” Misty said at the same time Ash did. She burst into a stifled laugh.

“Hey, that’s not fair.” said Ash, almost whining.

“It’s true.”

“Well… “ Ash wanted to argue the point but couldn't think of any feasible way to do so. He just decided that Misty was probably right, even if he wasn’t going to say it out loud.

“Well?” Misty said, still giggling.

“Well, I don’t think you could pick one either.”

“Oh really?” said Misty, defiantly. “It’s nice here in Alola, maybe this is my new favorite place.”

“I knew you would like here.”

“Huh? Didn’t you just say I couldn't choose?”

“That doesn't mean you can’t enjoy Alola.”

“That’s not the point Ash!”

“Well I thought you’d love it here.” Ash said in an aloof manner.

“And why is that?”

Misty seemed a little distant, but it sounded like Ash had just piqued her interest in some way.

“Everything about this place makes it the perfect place for a water trainer. I knew you had to come.”

“Oh, well thank you.” she said earnestly.

Ash was still thinking of her as he formed what to say next.

“The stars are beautiful tonight, aren't they?” said Ash after a short pause.

“Yeah, they are.” said Misty, almost wistfully.

A few second later Ash noticed a familiar constellation. This was his chance to strike up a conversation that would be pleasant to have with Misty since they had shared so many night doing this same thing together.

“Oh wow, Orion is out tonight.”

“Where?”

“It’s right next to Tauros.”

“That doesn’t help.” Misty said flatly

“Just look straight up and then turn left.”

Ash could hear the sound of her sleeping bag rustling underneath her as she moved to look at the stars.

“Yeah, I think I see it now.” There was more rustling as Misty rotated to look at him, though she couldn’t him, “You never told me you could read stars.”

“I don’t really know much, but it helps when all I have at night is time, and the stars above me.”

“Ash, that was surprisingly deep.”

“What, really?”

“Yeah.”

“Well uh… it’s true.”

“Alright then, show me what you know.”

Ash thought for a few seconds. He wanted to challenge Misty, but not too hard, and he also didn’t want to go easy on her.

“You see that line of stars right there?” Ash pointed to a row of stars right above them.

“Ash, I can’t see where you’re pointing.”

“Right, there!” Ash stretched his arm out as far as he could.

“I can see that you’re pointing, but it’s not helping.”

“Just come closer so I can show you.”

Misty shuffled over until she was in arm's length of Ash. She could see his arm still pointing to the sky, lit up by the backdrop of the night’s twinkling stars. The rest of Ash’s body was still difficult to make out, but she didn’t have to see him clearly to know what he looked like.

“You see it now Misty?”

“That one?” Misty pointed out to the same row of stars.

“Yeah, that’s it. You see the curved lines of stars coming off of it? How it looks kind of like a round aitch?”

“Let me guess, that’s a pokeball?”

“How did you know?” Ash asked, legitimately puzzled by how easily Misty guessed correctly.

“It was pretty obvious.”

“What about that one?”

“With those other roundish lines?”

“Yup, what do they make?”

Misty was quiet for about thirty seconds. She must be giving this constellation a lot more consideration than the first, thought Ash. After about ten seconds more she finally gave her answer.

“Is it… a spheal?” There was a mixture of confidence and uncertainty in her voice.

“I knew you wouldn’t get this one!”

“Oh shut up you.”

Misty swung her arm and lightly hit Ash on his chest. Now that she was closer she could have control over his snark.

“Alright wise guy, what is it?”

“It’s just a snorlax.” Ash said with the hint of a pout.

“Stop mopping,” teased Misty. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I wasn’t mopping!”

“Alright then ‘Mr.Pokemon Master’, what other new things have you been hiding?”

Ash had to think for a moment before settling on a sufficiently cool story he knew Misty would like.

“When Pikachu first used his Z-move it was amazing.” said Ash, barely containing his excitement. “Tapu Koko is the guardian of the island, and when Pikachu and I were battling him we could feel our bond. Pikachu didn’t even have a problem doing the move, it was like he was a natural. You saw what he could do, our battle was awesome!”

“Pikachu has certainly gotten stronger, that Z-move was fantastic, Ash.” Misty said with a giggle.

“Your gyarados is amazing too. Where did you get your mega stone?” Ash was on the edge of his sleeping bag waiting for Misty’s answer.

“A girl’s gotta keep some secrets.”

“Come on, can I at least see your key stone?"

“What, now? In the dark?”

“Just get closer, it’s not that dark.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Pikachu is on me, I don’t want to wake him up.”

Misty again shuffled to Ash while trying to stay in her sleeping bag. When she finally came close enough for Ash to see her face he gave his usual boyish smile.

“Hello.” said Ash with a grin.

“Nice to see you’re still keeping up that attitude, even in the middle of the night.”

Misty turned around to look through her bag for the key stone. As Ash watched her he realized that she had her hair down, he had forgotten what she looked like without her pigtail. Ash was lost in thought when Misty turned back to present him with her key stone.

“Well, here it is.” Misty said with a proud smile.

Ash took the stone in his hands and looked over it. The key stone had the familiar rainbow shimmer that all the stones shared.

“Doesn’t it get heavy in your hair?” Ash asked

“It was a little awkward at first, but I hardly notice it now.”

“This is amazing Misty, you’ll be a water master in no time!”

Ash couldn’t see it, but Misty had blushed at his words.

“Thank you Ash.”

Ash gave back the key stone with a wide grin, she returned with her own grin then turned around to put the key stone back. When she faced him again his expression had changed, he looked as if he was guilty of something. Ash let out a deep sigh.

“I’m sorry Misty.”

“What for? You didn’t break my key stone did you?” She didn’t genuinely mean it, she was only trying to tease Ash. But Misty regretted it as she watched his face.

“I’m sorry I took so long.” There was a heavy sadness in his voice, it slowly crept into Misty’s words too.

“You visited your mother so much, she would tell me and Brock about it whenever you came back,” Misty’s head lowered and her eyes moved away from Ash’s. “But you never came to see us Ash. I know you said new friends can be distracting and I don’t blame you for being away so much, just don’t forget about your old ones too, okay?”

Ash suddenly grabbed Misty’s hand, She turned to look at him and he looked directly into her eyes.

“I promise I won’t leave for so long again. I’ll call and write more, I’ll visit you every time I see my mom. I really missed you and Brock.”

There was silence between the two as they stared at each other, soaking in every detail that was lost to time. It has been so long that Misty didn’t even remember Ash having brown eyes. It was quite some time before a thought suddenly came to Ash as he looked at Misty.

“I guess we both really missed each other, didn’t we?”

Misty was almost taken aback for a second. Ash didn’t seem like himself tonight, he had never been so mushy with her before. Then it finally dawned on her, Ash cared about her just as much as he cared about Pikachu. He loved his Pokemon immensely, Pikachu was the only one he was ever openly emotional with. And now, Ash was treating her the same way. It was a long time before Misty spoke again.

“It really is a beautiful night.”

“Yeah, it is,” was all Ash had to say.

What seemed like hours passed as the pair watched the stars. Time dragged on as each of them slowly felt sleep overtake them. Ash was the first one to fall asleep, but it wasn’t long before Misty joined him in slumber. But in the seconds before Misty could finally rest for the night, she thought about one thing: how Ash had never taken his hand away from her’s. Misty wouldn’t mind spending the night holding hands with him though, it helped her to finally be comfortable.

#Pokeshipping Week #pokeshipping week 2017 #pokemon #pokeshipping #Ash Ketchum #misty waterflower #pikachu #AAML #fanfiction #Sunset Canon

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warlordess · 7 years ago

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Pokeshipping Week 2017 : day five : “pain from non-existing memories (movie 20 AU)”

So I drew something really ugly and simple for this because I remember receiving an ask - as well as DMing with someone who’d asked me to write for this before it became a theme in an official PW event. I figure this was my opportunity to fulfill that request though lord only knows if that person/those people will be around to read what I wrote. Please consider that I didn’t see the movie for myself so I took what I felt were appropriate liberties with this project.

I hope everyone enjoys and that they’re inclined to reblog!

Also, yeah, there’s sort of a reason for not having any dialogue appear before the very end. ^^ ;;

Lightning streaks across the earth, blasting an initial crevice before weakening into a sparking line and dissipating into nothing as it bounces up into the air.

Her Corsola had barely escaped the titanous elemental wrath of the electric mouse, wrenching out of the way and into a nearby pool of water, leaping once more out of it and back onto a smooth patch of grassy land some odd ten meters away almost instantaneously.

Elite Four member Misty, twenty years old, shouts another directive to her Pokémon partner, who immediately obeys, backside glowing as white hot pins unleash by the dozen, shooting at the Pikachu and striking him down mid-jump as he attempts to lash out at the dual-rock and water-type.

A tremor, not the first she’s felt today, ricochets upwards from the base of her spine, rippling its own course of electricity against her millions of nerves.

Her heartbeat quickens and she thinks…

The Pikachu’s raven-haired master, some hotshot from Pallet Town (or so he seems to think), demands that the electric mouse wriggle himself free. Or maybe it’s less a demand and more an empathetic plea from someone who understands the effort their Pokémon is putting themselves through to help them achieve their dreams.

It’s a rare sight for her to behold. So rare, in fact, that she can’t remember the last time she’d seen it for herself. Imagine, a trainer that understands and loves their Pokémon that much…

[read more]

The internal spasm jumps from her ribcage to her throat once more and she wonders if she’s having a panic attack. She’s never had one before, generally more instinctively accepting of whatever the situation she has to face (despite any bouts of anger or stubbornness), so she wouldn’t know for certain, she supposes, without an official diagnosis.

She knows there’s something wrong here, what with the way the hair on the back of her neck stands on end, the way that young man’s voice effects her to the point of her hands shaking (though she hides it well), what with the oh-so familiar and yet not way that he wrenches his official Pokémon League cap backwards around his head and his eyes light up and his lips tighten in a smirk as he makes claims about he and his Pokémon deciding to get serious.

She knows nothing of this Elite Four challenger minus his generic stats and the miniscule amount of personal information he’d offered to her as they shook hands before the battle began and… and yet, somehow, she knows him all too well.

The Pikachu’s tail glimmers a steely white, his pace quickening to something beyond what her human eyes can keep up with so easily, the agility and iron tail combination making its disastrous way towards her poor Pokémon, and she must counter or lose this round.

Corsola shrieks her own name, grounding her stubby coral hooves into the ground beneath her and there’s a shift in gravity that drags Pikachu down mere seconds before his attack can hit home.

Then Corsola flings small chunks of compact earth at her opponent at such speeds that Pikachu can’t avoid them, once… twice… five times altogether, leaving the electric mouse wounded and choking after the onslaught. But of course the water-type specialist trainer is far from done. This is an official battle for the Championship title, after all, so she can’t let up for anything.

The gravity shift only increases, so much so that Misty herself grinds her teeth against its weight, shouting her last command, knowing the battle is won.

Corsola’s earth power drains any fighting energy from Pikachu before he or his trainer can plan against it, the electric mouse collapsing after almost two minutes of immense pressure and fainting on the spot.

The battle is over and Misty is at the least pleased that the dreadful feeling of something missing or something wrong has eased over the final few minutes of their match… only to have it return tenfold when the egoistic raven-haired trainer dives into the water shouting his Pokémon’s name desperately, wading all the way through the water until he’s able to pick the Pikachu up into his arms and inspect him for himself.

Now it’s more than a foreboding twinge circulating up and down her limbs, more than a constricting sensation scorching at the back of her throat and jerking at her vocal chords, more than a thunderous and furious fire accosting her nerves and breath.

Her heart is outright breaking over this young man she’s never met before today and she can’t for the life of her figure out why.

She can’t assume to know why every egoistic remark he’s made both exasperates and amuses her, can’t assume to know how his heart-wrenching screams to protect and heartfelt battle cries to influence his Pikachu seem so drastically familiar, can’t assume to understand how she actually saw him leaping recklessly into the water in an effort to reach his Pokémon somewhere in the back of her mind before he’d so much as taken one step forward.

It was like she’d known what to expect before he’d even had the chance to think of it himself.

She recalls Corsola to her Ball and dives much more fluidly into the water than the other trainer had, swiftly and skillfully stroking her way in his direction, easing herself casually up onto the flat round of land, one of many dotting her mostly water-oriented arena turf.

The young man looks her in the eyes, his own watering in frustration - though she’s unsure if that frustration is due to losing the match, worrying over his Pokémon, or both - and she blinks away the shaky breath that escapes through her lips, removing a small yellow stone from the belt at her own waist, tenderly coaxing the electric mouse from his arms and into her own and patting him along his head and neck, brushing damp fur to and fro as comfortingly as possible.

“This is a revive. I always keep one on hand just in case so… here,” she tells him, resting the stone against Pikachu’s body and watching it slowly fade away, taking the injured Pokémon’s aches and bruises with it.

Ash Ketchum watches his beloved electric mouse stir but not wake, perfectly content now to get a nap in, knowing the fighting is over. And the raven-haired trainer eagerly takes his Pokémon back into one arm, haphazardly throwing the other one around the unsuspecting Elite Four member in gratitude.

“Thanks a lot! I can’t believe I didn’t think to have any of those on me myself!” he exclaims to her in what she presumes is frustration, and an unbidden response escapes her before she can bottle it up and internally contemplate it.

“Yeah, I didn’t expect much less of you, Mr. Pokémon Master.”

It’s ringing in her ears now.

He releases her, stiff shock obvious in every joint, every second of confusion at her strange comment. It’s like she knows him, and she definitely, absolutely shouldn’t, should she?

But there’s something there, she knows, when they’re looking each other dead in the face again. He stares at her ginger hair and pale complexion, at her freckly cheeks and shoulders, at her much too lanky figure and at her honest, bright teal eyes. He stares down at her hand, which somehow had carried along with Pikachu when he went to embrace his Pokémon once more, so that her fingers were still unconsciously ruffling the Pokémon’s fur in an overly familiar way.

And he knows her too. Well, he knows her heart, knows she’s as fierce in battle as she is soothing outside of it, both indeterminately harsh and empathetic, at times rebellious and stubborn and at others mature and reasonable.

He knows her heart. But he’s only known the rest of her for the past hour or so and doesn’t know how to say what he’s thinking.

Her heartbeat quickens and she’s sure…

Her skin is crawling, her blood is coursing, her pulse erratic, her soul aching, her muscles tensing, heart breaking. And she knows it for certain, staring into his eyes and watching his jaw pulse in confusion, eyes flickering in the briefest grimace of fear.

They know each other and they don’t. They’re meant for each other and they’re not. They’ve met long before now and yet never once seen each other before today. They’re everything and nothing to one another. They’ve been best friends most of their lives and yet they’re complete strangers.

It’s so damningly painful to consider that she can’t form the words to ask him who he is to her, damningly painful because she knows what his answer will be.

You’re nothing much. You’re almost everything. I don’t know.

Something has gone terribly, awfully wrong here and she doesn’t know what to do but scream and cry on the inside, masking it all with a brave face on the outside.

They’re missing more than their memory.

They’re missing more than a friend.

They’re missing a distinct part of themselves.

So that’s it for this theme. I forgot that I’d started a headcanon for tomorrow and saved it as a draft because I’d decided to save it for Pokeshipping Week (since it’s about Pikachu/Pokeshipping, but I came up with it right before the themes were announced). So, yeah, anyway, that’ll be posted tomorrow morning!

Reblogs are hugs and smiles!

#pokeshipping week 2017 #day five #my art #fan fiction #theme: pain from non-existent memories

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11jj11 · 7 years ago

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Upon Our Sea -- Pokeshipping -- Chapter 4

Time for chapter four! :)

“The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Either the number was dialed incorrectly, or their device is out of range. Please try again at another time,” The robotic of the video phone crackled through the speakers.

“I’d like to leave a message,” Misty said, unsurprised, but disheartened. She had heard the ‘unavailable’ message so many times when trying to reach Ash that she practically had it down by heart now.

“User will not receive message until they are back in range.”

“Understood,” Misty said, and the video phone began to pull up Ash’s voice mail.

“Hey there, you’ve reached Ash Ketchum!” She closed her eyes as his voice echoed through the gym. “I’m either a bit busy at the moment, or Pikachu drained the juice in my Pokegear!”

“Pika!” Pikachu chimed in.

“Anyways, leave a message and I’ll call you right back!” Misty bit her lip as she heard this part– knowing that this wasn’t true.

“Beep!”

Misty took in a deep breath. “Hey Ash, it’s me… again…” Misty trailed off for a moment. “Um, before you skip over this message, because I know you must have a ton of mine by now, I kind of need to tell you something.”

No, she didn’t leave him millions of messages every night or anything– she wasn’t that type of person– but with him being gone for nearly a year and a half… calls just started to add up.

“I just wanted to let you know… if you get this message in the next week or so– which I doubt–” She cursed in her mind as she said this, but just continued on. “Me and Brock are going to be having a little… get-together at my gym. Um, as you might know, it’s been… well… ten years since we started our first journey together, and I wanted to do something with the three of us.”

She paused for a moment, debating what so say next. Just end it there? Make him feel bad? Tell him off for never contacting them?

“I caught a new Pokemon,” Misty finally said, deciding that this would interest Ash the most. “She’s a bit timid, and it’s taking her a while to warm up to everyone, heh… no pun intended. She’s a fire type, you see,” She paused just imagining Ash’s surprise. “Hey! It’s not like I caught a bug type you know! This Pokemon… she was abandoned by her trainer, you see, and if you ever get the time… I could use any advice you have.”

Again she paused, this was stretching out into a pretty long message.

“Well, that’s all, I guess. Like always I really hope that you’ll call me and Brock once you get this and…” She closed her eyes. “I just miss you Ash…”

She flinched as she said this, and quickly pressed ‘end message’ on the video phone.

———————————

It would have been pretty embarrassing to have offered his help, only to not be able to do anything for the Professor and the beautiful young lady.

That’s why Brock was relieved that he recognized right away what was wrong with the Rockruff pups.

He smiled as he ran a hand down one of puppy’s back, which gnawed on him with a toothless bite. The mother mid-day Lycanroc was watching him closely, the Pokemon looking both gentle and fierce as he handled her young. The same intimidation as an Arcanine, but with the grace of a Ninetales.

Alolan Pokemon were pretty neat.

“Well?” Lillie asked Brock as he stood up, one of the Rockruff pups in his hands.

Brock smiled. “Can you tell me what you’ve been feeding the mother?”

Professor Kukui frowned slightly. “Nutrition is not the issue here– Lillie knows exactly what she’s doing when feeding the Pokemon. Triple checks everything every meal.”

Lillie hesitated, but quickly began to rattle off a list of ingredients and preparing techniques she used for the Lycanroc’s food. Brock recognized a majority of what she listed off, but nodded politely as the young woman spoke, not wanting to interrupt. Her Alolan Ninetales, Shiron, was laying at her feet, happily staring at Brock’s glaring Vulpix in front of her.

“The issue is actually quite simple,” Brock said once she finished, holding out the Rockruff pup towards the professor and his assistant. They pressed closer, watching as Brock showed them the ruff of fur around the Rockruff’s neck. “There’s normally suppose to be pebbles growing from here, isn’t there?”

“…Yes, but they are young,” Professor Kukui said slowly.

“I believe that these pups are at the age when they should start growing in,” Brock explained. “Many rock types build up any rocky formation soon after hatching. Most rock type Pokemon would simply ingest rocks on their own to do so– but the Rockruff line is mammalian.”

Lillie’s eyes widened with realization. “Everything they eat comes from their mother’s milk.”

Brock nodded. “I’ve seen the same problem with young Rhyhorn back in Kanto– there are just so few mammalian rock types that most people don’t realize they should be providing rocky minerals to the mother while they nurse. Any stone part on your Lycanroc should already be developed, but she needs to be providing it to her young now. Has she tried to leave the lab at all?”

Professor Kukui looked at his Lycanroc, who was nudging her puppies with her nose. “Sometimes she’ll go out on the beach, but she’ll never go far.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she was eating the sand,” Brock said. “Which wouldn’t be enough for the puppies though, but at the same time she doesn’t want to leave her young. So instead they’re lacking the rocks and minerals they need in her milk, which would explain why the puppies look ill,” He nodded to the tuffs of missing fur and the thinner Rockruffs. “Their body is trying to pull out any nutrition they can to build up the pebbles in their mane. I’d recommend introducing the minerals into her diet slowly, probably start off with a powdered limestone, and in a few weeks start adding slate or something similar.”

“Will there be any long term effects?” Professor Kukui asked as Brock turned back to the Lycanroc, gently setting the pup he was holding near the mother. She took the young Pokemon in her mouth, placing him among the rest of her litter.

“Nope,” Brock said, holding a closed fist out towards the mother. She sniffed him, and then Brock stroked her behind the ear. “Rock types are very effective at recovering, you’ve been taking care of them very well, so they will be fine.”

“Thank you very much, Brock,” Professor Kukui said as he stood up, offering a hand. Brock took it, finding that the professor had a very strong grip. “I don’t know what I would have done otherwise.”

Brock smiled. “It was my pleasure.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t encounter anything about this while reading…” Lillie muttered, looking out at the Rockruffs guiltily. “I should have read more about rock types, not just about raising a mother Pokemon…. Maybe something on canine-like Pokemon too… We probably could have done something sooner if I’d just–”

“Don’t think like that,” Brock said hastily, hating the sorrowful look on her face. “This wasn’t anyone’s fault– besides, no real harm was done.”

Lillie offered a small smile. “It still happened though. But thank you Brock, I’m really glad I ran into you,” She scratched the back of her head, letting out a small laugh. Brock couldn’t help but smile at the sound– by Arceus’ plates she sounded beautiful as well! “You sure know a lot about rock types!”

“Family trade,” Brock said with a wave of his hand, but he beamed at the praise. He could have sworn that he felt Toxicroak’s Pokeball twitch– but the poison type didn’t appear.

Professor Kukui frowned. “Don’t you remember Brock, Lillie? He’s the–”

“Vul!” Vulpix shouted unhappily– running across the lab towards Brock. Lycanroc’s ears went up in alarm, watching as the fire type bolted near her pups. Brock tensed, quickly standing between his Pokemon and the litter hoping that Vulpix would stop. He didn’t however– leaping up into Brock’s outstretched hands. A blur of white was racing after him, Shiron happily chasing her Kantonian counterpart.

“Gah!” Brock groaned as Shiron pounced on him– all three of them landing on the floor of the lab near the Lycanroc. She was watching them unhappily, while Vulpix was trying to bury himself in Brock’s arms.

“Tales!” The Ninetales declared happily as she stood on Brock, grabbing Vulpix by the scruff. The fire type struggled as he was lifted into the air, and Shiron trotted away with him in her mouth. Vulpix made mewing noises as he called out for Brock– or in his eyes, his mom– but Shiron simply sat down and began grooming him.

“I don’t think you’re helping yourself calling out like that,” Brock muttered as he sat up, rubbing his head. He shot an apologetic glance at the glaring Lycanroc, and backed away from her litter.

“He’s just making Shiron more motherly with that cry,” Professor Kukui agreed with a laugh as Brock rose to his feet.

“I’m so sorry!” Lillie cried. “I can call Shiron back to her Pokeball–”

Brock chuckled. “Nah, this is good for Vulpix. He needs to interact with other Pokemon.”

Lillie hesitated, glancing at her Ninetales as she ran her tongue across Vulpix’s back. Vulpix was struggling, but Shiron’s larger paws kept him in place. Brock was still surprised that an Ember hadn’t been sent flying at the ice type, and he was honestly curious how long Vulpix would keep it up. Even though he was struggling against Shiron, he was actually being relatively docile for what Brock would expect. Usually if someone else took Vulpix he acted as if it were the end of the world, thrashing and screeching.

Yes, this was a good thing.

Lillie hesitated, then glanced at Professor Kukui. “Um… Professor, what were you saying earlier, about Brock?”

“Hmm?” Professor Kukui paused. “Oh yes! I was just wondering if you had used Amnesia on yourself or something– don’t you remember Brock?”

“Remember?” Both of them asked at the same time.

Professor Kukui cracked a grin. “I mean, it has been quite a few years, but neither of you remember? Come on Lillie– back at the Pokemon school, when we had that trip to Kanto…?”

Lillie frowned, then her eyes widened. She spun around to face Brock, those beautiful green eyes shining with recognition.

“You’re the rock type gym leader from Kanto!” She cried.

“…Former gym leader,” Brock corrected, scratching his head.

He looked over her once more– he did recall what Professor Kukui was referring too, when Ash and his class had come out to the Misty’s gym. That had been the first time he’d seen Ash in ages at that time, and Brock’s first time seeing Alolan Pokemon. Like the electric type Geodude, and the Alolan Vulpix…

Brock’s eyes widened. “Shiron! She’s the Vulpix that got motion sickness! You were one of the girls in Ash’s class back then!”

Professor Kukui laughed. “I know it’s been awhile– but I’m still surprised you guys took this long to realize that.”

Brock just stared at Lillie– so he had been right, she was Ash’s age. He was racking his brain, trying to recall just as much as he could about that trip. Was this beautiful young woman really the same girl he had met back then? The one that had fought against his Geodude at the gym? Yes, she looked very similar, but…

She carried herself completely differently.

The Lillie in his memories had been timid, lingering on the edges of the group and away from the Pokemon. She clearly had grown, holding herself high as they had talked, even if she had been extremely apologetic and uncertain. Brock blinked, a half smile flickering onto his face.

“So you’re a friend of Ash’s too then,” Brock said– at least he was hoping they were still friends after all these years.

She bobbed her head. “Oh yes, Ash is a very good friend of mine– he’s helped me through so much! His Lycanroc is actually the father of these Rockruffs,” She was still staring at Brock with surprise. “And you were one of Ash’s first traveling companions?”

“I was also one of the first gym leaders he faced,” Brock said, remembering all too well the ten-year old that had tried to fight his ground-type Onyx with a Pikachu. “We’ve been friends for quite a long time now…” He hesitated. “Ash is actually the reason I came out to Alola.”

“Oh?” Kukui seemed slightly surprised at this. “He invited you?”

Brock hesitated. “No… I actually came looking for him. You see, it’s been a long time since me and another friend of mine– Misty, the other gym leader you know– have seen him. She kind of has this habit of celebrating things, and it’s kind of been ten years since we’ve all started traveling together and–” He paused, realizing that he was rambling. “Basically, I just need to speak to Ash, and I haven’t found a way to reach him. I was actually hoping that one of you might be able to tell me where in Alola he is…”

Lillie sighed. “Blame Professor Kukui. I’m guessing you can’t reach Ash even by Pokegear?”

Brock blinked. “Um, that’s right–”

She crossed her arms, glaring at her boss. “I told you it’d be a bad idea to let him train there! That Tapu-forsaken island only gets signal in one location, and I bet you that Ash never bothers using it!”

Professor Kukui scratched the back of his head. “He said he needed a private place to train, and the island seemed perfect…”

“Um… what island?” Brock asked– as far as he knew all four islands of Alola had cell service.

The professor sighed. “A few years back I purchased a small little nameless island. I figured I could use it for research, or maybe as a more natural rehabilitation center, maybe a little getaway place for me and Burnet… or something. It’s like an hour boat ride here to there, and I ended up never using it. And so Ash comes by a little while back, asking if I knew of any good places to train privately, so I lent him the island.”

“You lent him… an island,” Brock repeated.

Kukui gave an uncertain smile. “It’s a good thing you came here– you probably wouldn’t have found him otherwise– it’s not on any maps or anything.”

Brock pressed his lips together, taking in this information. It just didn’t seem like an Ash thing– staying in one place to train. Ash was the kind of person that loved traveling and seeing new places. For him to ‘settle’, even for training, just felt off. But it did explain why his Pokegear never connected– and why Delia favored Swellow-carried letters for communication.

“Can you tell me how to get there?” Brock asked.

Kukui grinned. “Give me a few days to clean out my old boat, and I can have you there in a Flash.”

“Or!” Lillie cried, quickly jumping in. “I can just call my brother! He could have us there by tomorrow, and his ship is much more reliable than your boat!”

The professor frowned. “There’s nothing wrong with my boat.”

Lillie shifted her gaze to Brock, swiftly shaking her head.

“Um…” Brock gulped uncertainly. “I’m on limited time, so the quicker the better…?”

The professor nodded. “In that case Lillie’s brother may be your best bet, if he’s willing to help. He could have you there by tomorrow.”

“Of course he’d be willing to help!” Lillie chirped, digging through her bag. “He’d do anything for me if I asked– and besides– he’d be happy to help a friend get to Ash,” She pulled out a small device, quickly scrolling through it. “I’ll call him right now.”

“Thank you,” Brock said to Lillie. She nodded, turning away as she called her brother. “Thank you as well, Professor.”

Kukui grinned. “Anything to help out a cousin. Besides, you helped me out with the pups– so thank you,” He kneeled down, stroking his Lycanroc. “Let’s just hope you can handle Lillie’s brother though.”

Brock waved a hand. “If he’s anything like his sister then I’m sure he’s a kind person.”

Kukui chuckled. “Gladion like his sister? Heh, I think you’re going to be in for a little surprise there, cousin.”

#pokeshipping #pokeshipping week #Ash Ketchum #misty pokemon #brock pokemon #pokemon lillie #I should stop labeling these pokeshipping week since that was like a month ago #oh well

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crywonder · 8 years ago

Text

The Fire That Keeps On Burning: Part 3

Ship: Eventual pokeshipping (some instances of Handyman, Contest, Wishful, Luck, onesided Amour and every Dawn ship ever)

**This particular chapter contains Wishful**

Summary: “I feel like this year is really about, like, the year of just realising stuff.“ - Kylie Jenner. After having achieved everything he thought he ever wanted, Ash spends a year-long journey revisiting his past. This forces him to rethink things. For the 20th anniversary of the Pokemon anime.

Read it on: FFnet || Ao3

(A/N: I was supposed to finish this whole story before April 1st! I had some mad pacing issues with this chapter and the next and I had to rewrite and rearrange them several times, which is why it's so late. The 20th movie isn't out yet, so I'm going to take that to mean that I'm not too late to finish this. There are three pop culture references in this chapter, so kudos to anyone who can spot all three of them!)

Ash held his hand up to the sun, squinting at the light that filtered through his fingers. It was late morning and it was the perfect temperature – warm enough that he didn't need a jacket, but not unbearably hot either.

"You ready for this, Pikachu?"

"Pika, pika!"

Ash laughed. "Why am I asking you anyway? You're just going to sit on my shoulder the whole time like a dead weight."

"Complaining again?" Iris teased. She was carrying no backpack, but she had changed into something more practical than the gowns she had taken to wearing in her public appearances. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

"No way." Ash shook his head. "I haven't travelled anywhere on foot in years. Me and Pikachu missed this."

"It's silly that the Kalos League doesn't let you travel anywhere. Outside League business and family time, I mean. I'm glad the Unova region does."

Ash grinned, "Remember how many times we ran into Alder when we were traveling? I don't think he ever went back to Vertress except for the conference."

Iris giggled. "Remember when he kept calling you Ashton?"

Ash laughed heartily, as did Pikachu, both losing themselves in the memory.

"He called you Ashton in a recent interview, actually," Cilan commented, finally stepping outdoors with them. He was carrying a large rucksack, no doubt packed with all of Iris' things. "Everyone was really confused."

Ash rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll bet. I have no idea why he still thinks that's my name."

"He's a little odd, so no one took him seriously."

"He might be odd," Iris said, stretching out her arms, "But I'm grateful to him. He set a precedent for Champions doing their own thing around here. I still want to be more involved with the League than he was, but Haxorus would be bored to bits if we were stuck in the same training room all day."

Ash's stomach twisted uncomfortably. He gave a very sorry glance to Pikachu, who cooed and nuzzled his cheek.

"Well!" Cilan breathed deeply, raising his hands to the air as if he was about to lift off. "The three of us on the road! I didn't think we'd get another opportunity to do this."

"It'll be awesome," Ash agreed, a twinkle in his eye. "Although I know not having me around has been great for the two of you."

Cilan flushed immediately, and Iris sighed. "Look, Cilan. He's learning."

"I almost wish he didn't," Cilan muttered.

Ash chuckled, Pikachu and Iris joining in. It wasn't quite exactly like old times; Ash still wasn't used to almost being as tall as Cilan, and being nearly a foot taller than Iris. Cilan had rolled up his sleeves, possibly in anticipation for the heat, and swapped his old grey waistcoat for a brown one. Instead of a forest of hair, Iris sported two long braids, which she pinned to her head like that actress in that space movie. (Ash decided not to bring it up because he was sure Cilan had seen it, and he didn't want to get him started.) She hadn't kept Axew in her hair for years now, considering he was a haxorus and far too large to be travelling outside of his ball, but it was still disconcerting to see her hair so tidy.

But even being around them was comforting, and all of the friends he visited during his short stay in the region. It was familiar; it took him back to a time when he was really, truly enjoying himself.

"Well, we better get going, right?" Ash placed his hands on his hips. Pikachu mirrored his actions on his shoulder. "Or else we won't make it to Opelucid City in time for my flight."

Iris reached over and flicked Ash's nose, causing him to gasp in pain. "You think you're in charge? Cilan, isn't that adorable?"

"I wish I'd never introduced you to Misty," Ash grumbled, "Cilan, tell your girlfriend to stop bullying me."

"Partner."

"Sorry, partner." Ash scoffed and looked behind him, only to find no one standing where Cilan had been before. "Cilan?"

"There he goes," Iris groaned, slapping a palm to her head. Ash looked the other way to see the green-haired man running down the road.

"I forgot!" Cilan yelled back at them, "Check-in for our hotel closes at six and we simply must get to our room before the connoisseur convention! I won't be walking in covered in sweat!"

"I'm going to pretend I don't know him."

"Good luck trying to convince the media of that," Ash pointed out.

"Then I'll just pretend I don't exist at all."

* * * * * * * *

When Cilan began to climb a tree in order to sleep next to Iris, Ash decided that it wasn't quite just like old times after all.

They'd only travelled for a total of a day, but he was already starting to feel like the third wheel. Even though he'd always lead the way, much like he used to when they were younger, he was vaguely aware of Iris and Cilan behind him being…a couple. They weren't even doing anything explicitly romantic, he could just feel the romance emanating from them. He couldn't possible miss the gooey-eyed looks they'd share, or the brushing of their hands as they walked next to each other. It was all stuff that Serena had tried time and time again on him. He barely understood it in his own relationship, and now he had to play hanger-on to whatever they were doing.

At least he still had Pikachu.

"How'd you guys get together anyway?" Ash asked at the tree, knowing they were in earshot. "You weren't together the last time I met you."

There was no answer at first. Ash heard the rustling of leaves and hoped that only meant they were just adjusting themselves, and not doing anything uncalled for.

Cilan finally cleared his throat. "At your engagement party?"

"Yes."

"We, ah…we actually were."

Ash blinked, and Pikachu perked his nose. This was news to the both of them.

"We've been on and off for several years," Iris explained. "The long distance made it hard."

"I decided to travel on my own, and Iris was still in Blackthorn City…"

"And sometimes I'd go through intensive training where I couldn't talk to anyone outside of the Dragon Holy Land for weeks."

"And when I got back to Unova, it was all research papers and academic work to become an S-Class connoisseur."

"We tried dating for a while, but we were just too busy I guess."

"We called it off…officially."

Iris giggled, and Ash narrowed his eyes. He decided not to dwell on the implications, and scratched the top of Pikachu's head, getting appreciative noises from the mouse. "So what made you two get back together?"

Iris poked her head through a patch of leaves. "Why do you want to know?"

Ash stumbled. "Just – you guys are my friends, and this is –"

"Weird? Awkward?" Iris snorted, "Yeah, I felt the same way at your engagement party."

"Iris," Cilan hissed.

Ash sat up in his seat, immediately stopping his ministrations. He didn't notice Pikachu looking up at him in confusion. "What about my engagement party?"

He didn't get a direct answer. There was some inaudible mumbling coming from the tree. "What was wrong with my engagement party?"

"Nothing was wrong, Ash," Cilan called down, and then grunted as the leaves started to rustle again and the branches started to creak, and Iris jumped down from her perch.

"Yeah, nothing was wrong, it was just weird," Iris leaned back against the trunk as Cilan's foot could be seen searching around for a branch to rest on. "Seeing you almost married, of all people. And before us!"

Ash frowned. "I think I'm a little more mature than I used to be when we were travelling together."

"Maybe I just have a hard time accepting that you're not a little kid anymore, but I don't know." Iris huffed, "And especially with someone like Serena!"

"Wha– what's wrong with Serena?"

"Nothing! Like I said, it's not wrong, it's just weird. I'd never have guessed she was your type."

"My type?"

"Iris," Cilan warned, finally making his way onto the ground. "I never thought I'd fall in love with someone like you either. We're very different too."

"Well, sure," Iris said, although a little disgruntled. "I'm not saying it's wrong."

"Ash." Cilan dusted himself off. "It's weird for both of us because it feels like it happened so fast. We didn't get to watch you grow. But," he placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled warmly at him, "We're really happy that you've found someone to spend the rest of your life with."

Ash sucked on his teeth. "Um, thanks."

"And we're really proud of how far you've come. And what you've achieved."

"We always knew you could do it," Iris grinned.

Ash grinned back, but he was aware that it didn't quite reach his eyes. Instead of putting his mind to rest, their statements only raised a lot more questions that he wasn't sure how to address.

"Are you guys happy?" was what he finally settled on, and he earned puzzled looks from the both of them.

"What do you mean?" Cilan asked.

"With life. Where you are, and all that."

"Hell yeah!" iris laughed, "I'm the Champion of Unova, what more could I want?"

"I've wanted to be an S-class connoisseur all my life, Ash. You know that."

Ash bit his lip. He felt Pikachu place a paw on his ears, and looked into his eyes to find something like sadness? Pity? Whatever it was, Ash didn't want to see it anymore. He rubbed the critter's ears for a moment to comfort him.

Cilan crouched down so he was in Ash's line of view. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Ash gave them another smile, making sure it was a little wider this time. And for extra measure he added, "I'm proud of you guys too."

The truth part must cancel out the lie.

* * * * * * * *

"Clearly this is more complicated than just Serena," Misty mused.

Ash rolled his eyes. Because of course, when he talked to her he had to tell her everything. It's a good think his drunk self was sensible enough not to spill in front of Gary, because Gary wouldn't given him hell for it. He felt bad enough dumping things on Misty; he would stop if she didn't keep insisting.

"Pikachupi!" A flash of yellow appeared on the table and jumped into the giggling redhead's arms. Ash watched, heart soaring, as both Misty and Pikachu clung to each other. The little guy probably missed Misty just as much as he did – he hadn't looked this happy to see anyone so far.

Misty placed a soft kiss near Pikachu's ear. "I missed you too, Pika-pal." She quirked an eyebrow at Ash, "Where have you been hiding him all this time?"

"All Pikachu's done for the past two days is sleep," Ash complained, "He's let himself go."

"He let himself go?"

"Pikachu!"

"Okay, okay! I let him slack off."

Pikachu harrumphed, and scurried his way onto Misty's shoulder. She nuzzled his cheek and turned her attention back to Ash.

"Why didn't you tell them anything?"

Ash could tell she was trying hard to look nonchalant – her forehead was creased in a way it shouldn't have been, and her lips were puckered in that way they were when she grit her teeth too hard.

"I didn't want to seem ungrateful," Ash replied quietly. Pikachu made his way off of Misty's shoulder and sat down in front of Ash, putting a paw on his hand. Ash smiled at the pokémon thankfully and scratched him under the chin.

"You're allowed to not enjoy your job, no matter how good it is. And Ash," she called, forcing him to look up and meet her eyes, "If I can be honest? You seem really unhappy with where you're at right now."

"Hm." She was right, as usual. But he still felt sick to the stomach for other reasons he wasn't sure how to bring up yet.

"And you seem like you have a pretty good reason to be unhappy, too."

"I couldn't tell them anyway." Ash shifted underneath Misty's questioning gaze. "Especially to Iris. I didn't want to dishearten her from her role."

Misty frowned. "That's…a valid argument, I suppose."

Ash had noticed for a while that at that part of the morning, the sun shining through the window was positioned right behind Misty and made her look like she was glowing. He could have stared at her forever if she hadn't opened her mouth again. "Disheartened, that's a big word."

Ash sighed. "Very funny."

Misty giggled cheerily, and a disgruntled Ash noted Pikachu happily skipping back to his spot on her shoulder. "Okay, so what next?"

* * * * * * * *

"And Randall is down to his last pokémon! It looks like this might be it for the challenger, folks!"

League battles were normally exciting, but now that Randall had made it to the Elite Four, he had a lot to look forward to. He remembered the boy from way back during his first journey in Kalos, and Randall had come a far since then. Ash thought he might actually meet him in a championship battle.

But a couple of key mistakes were costing Randall his match against Wikstrom. The steel-type Elite Four still had four pokémon remaining to Randall's one. And knowing that the last member of the challenger's team was a sylveon, it would be near impossible for him to turn things around.

"Elite Four Wikstrom has chosen to withdraw his scizor and send out Klekfi! The challenger has sent out his last pokémon, a sylveon!"

Ash could see the uncertainty in Randall's demeanour. And so could the rest of his elite four.

"Tough," Malva commented, and Siebold nodded in agreement.

It was, and it showed – Randall was defeated quickly. Sylveon tried to hold its own for a while, but it just wasn't working out for either of them.

"I was really rooting for this one too," Drasna sighed, "He seems like such a sweetheart."

Ash clenched his fist and rose from his seat, letting Pikachu jump onto his arm.

"Ash?" Siebold asked.

"I'm just heading out for a while," he explained.

"Where?"

"Everyone will notice," Malva pointed out.

"Then let them," he grunted, leaving the League box.

He nodded at the guards stationed outside the doorway and made his way through the various passageways of the stadium. Unlike other leagues, the Kalos League was held in a different place every year. He never got the opportunity to learn his way around every time, but luckily this year he had access to a map of all the hidden passageways that the security used to get around the place.

Because he was oh so good at reading a map.

His holo caster beeped in his jeans pocket, and he checked it out to find a text message from Bonnie.

'They showed you running out on the big screen,' it said, along with an assortment of confused emojis. He winced.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu asked, tugging at his collar.

"I'm alright, buddy. I just needed to stretch my legs. Wanna go visit Randall?"

Pikachu nodded, and together they began the search for the challenger's waiting room. Ash had enough sense to know it would be opposite to the league side of the stadium, so he made his way straight to the other side. It didn't take long to find the place, and he snuck inside before anyone could notice him. Randall had just finished his interview and walked in right as Ash did.

"Randall, hey!" he waved, brushing off the boy's shocked expression, and gave Pikachu the opportunity to greet him too. "Just wanted to see how you were holding up.

The teen took a dejected seat next to Ash. "I sucked."

"I wouldn't really say sucked…"

"I screwed up big time. I made some serious mistakes." He sighed. "I thought since I won the conference, it'd be easy pickings until I had to battle you."

Ash grinned wryly. "Yeah, it's easy to get cocky."

That didn't seem to reassure Randall. He only slumped dejectedly, his lower lip sticking out as he glared at the floor. "I guess I have a lot of improving to do, huh?"

"We all do," Ash murmured. "Even me. And definitely Pikachu." The mouse glared at him, and Ash passed him an affectionate smile. "It doesn't matter if you lose, or if you've already made it to the top, you still can't…stop there…"

Sure, Ash had started pulling his spiel right out of his ass, but he realised he might be onto something. It wasn't that he'd stopped training his pokémon – he owed it to them to continue – but they hadn't been presented with a challenge in years. Sometimes there would be a good exhibition match, but none of the conference winners had made it far enough for Ash to have a battle he could really sink his teeth into.

"Hey, Ash?" Randall said, waving his hand in front of Ash's eyes, "You zoned out."

"Sorry," he breathed. He clecked his hands resting on his knees and turned to the boy with a new zeal. "Say, did you ever go any place during your journey that you'll never forget?"

Randall furrowed his brow. "Everywhere, I guess."

"Yeah, but anywhere in particular? Got a recommendation?"

"Uh…well I was just at the Sinnoh Battle Zone. I didn't win anything, but it was pretty cool."

"Of course." Ash rose from his seat. Pikachu, who had been sitting next to him, jumped back onto his arm. The pokémon couldn't possibly know what Ash was thinking, but he could always sense it because he looked excited too. "Remember it, okay? Never forget how much fun it was. Your journey will always be the best part of being a trainer. I gotta go now, Professor Sycamore will kill me! Good luck with everything!"

"Ash, wait –"

Ash was already down the corridor before Randall could finish his sentence. He felt a little bad for leaving the young trainer confused, and without real answers, but when Ash was feeling an impulse he couldn't deny. Pikachu was clinging onto his shoulder for deal life, protesting at Ash's speed.

"I know you're confused, pal, but I just thought of something! Do you remember how much fun we had travelling around with Iris and Cilan?"

"Chuuuuu!"

Ash wasn't sure if that was Pikachu agreeing with him or squealing at how fast Ash was running, but he decided it didn't matter. "That's what we've been missing, Pikachu. A journey. You want to travel again, don't you?"

"Pikachu!"

That was definitely an approval. Ash grinned. He slowed to a stroll when he noticed that he was nearing the champion's box, and that a crowd had gathered around. Professor Sycamore, who was now the League's key organiser, looked stressed and confused, and Ash's manager Trevor was red in the face. Even Serena, Clemont and Bonnie had showed up, but thankfully no press. His fiancée spotted him turn the corner before anyone else did and she opened her mouth to speak, but Ash raised a finger to his lips, beckoning her to come closer. She frowned, tugging at Bonnie's sleeve and pulling the siblings along with her.

"Where did you go?" she whispered, "Trevor's been losing his mind."

"And you didn't respond to my texts," Bonnie pouted.

"I went to see how Randall was doing."

"You could've just said –"

"That's not important. I just figured out something big." He turned to his partner, eyes shining. "Serena, you know how I haven't been sleeping, right?"

Clemont, who previously looked interested at the prospect of Ash having 'figured out something big', now looked concerned. "You haven't been sleeping?"

"Yeah, but I think I know why!"

"You haven't been sleeping?" Bonnie repeated.

"So why is it?" Serena asked, not bothering to elaborate on Ash's latest nightly habits.

"I'm bored!" Ash announced, as if this made all the sense in the world. When he noticed their confused expressions, he continued, "I haven't been out of Kalos in ages, except for a few days here and there. When I was in Unova in Iris and Cilan, we got to travel for a bit – by foot, just like we used to – and I remembered how much fun it was. I forgot all about that!"

Apparently this wasn't the explanation they were expecting, because they all looked a little shocked. In Serena's case, she even looked a little hurt.

"So you're saying…you're bored here?"

Ash's eyes widened. "What? No! I love it here!" Some small part of his brain reminded him that he wasn't being all too honest, but Ash ignored it. "I've just…I've been doing the same thing over and over for years. I think I just need some time off, and not just for a week. I want to see a new place, battle new people! You guys remember how it is, right?"

They exchanged glances for long enough that Ash was almost convinced they thought he was crazy. Everything made much more sense in his head! Pikachu looked just as determined as he felt on his shoulder, so at least he understood.

But then Clemont broke out into a smile. "Those were great times we had."

"The best," Bonnie sighed.

They turned to Serena, who had bit her lip. "Yeah, you're right." Again, that small part of his brain told him Serena didn't seem as enthusiastic as the others, but he didn't let that get him down. "But how long were you planning on being gone?"

"A few months, tops. It's nothing! I kept in touch with you guys after I left Kalos too, remember?"

Bonnie snorted. "Barely."

"So you're used to it." Ash smirked. "It's only temporary. I'll be back before you know it."

Clemont adjusted his glasses. "Well it's not up to us, but I think it's a good idea." They all turned to Serena, who was tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You have to call me every time you get to a pokémon centre, or a new place."

Ash let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Of course."

"And take your holo caster with you."

"Wasn't planning on leaving it behind. And Pikachu will make sure I'm safe, right?"

"Pikachu!"

"Pikachu's just as reckless as you are," Serena muttered.

He squeezed her shoulder and pushed past the three of them. "Thanks guys, now I gotta go tell Professor Sycamore!"

* * * * * * * *

Ash had barely arrived in the resort area of Sinnoh's Battle Zone when the ground shook beneath his feet. From the looks of the people gathered around, it couldn't have been the first tremor they'd experienced.

"What do you think that's about, Pikachu?"

Pikachu pointed to the great wall of smoke rising from what he could only assume to be Stark Mountain looming over the town. Ash was under the impression that it was a dormant volcano, so it couldn't cause tremors…right?

"Clemont would know what's going on," Ash muttered under his breath.

"Or ye could just ask a local," a voice said behind him, causing Ash and Pikachu to jump and spin right around. "These tremors 'ere would be caused by Stark Mountain up there, yer Pikachu's right."

It was a tall bearded man, wearing a trench coat too thick for early spring. His accent seemed very contrived – unable to place and too thick to be true. There was something about him that screamed trouble, and Ash was unable to ignore it – even if he wasn't sure just what kind of trouble it was.

"Er, thanks," Ash nodded and turned to be on his way, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Y'know, if I was you, I'd be headin' up that-a-way before the fight area."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "How did you know I was going to the fight area?"

"Well, aren't you the Champion of Kalos?"

Ash shared an embarrassed look with Pikachu. "Yeah…"

"So I assume ye won't be takin' part in any o' the contests around here." The man scratched his chin. "But just because yer a Chapmion don't mean Palmer'll be that easy to beat. Even Cynthia has trouble with 'im once in a while. Stark Mountain happens to be a great place ta train up."

Ash swore he saw a few crumbs fall out of the man's beard as he scratched it. His instincts were telling him not to trust this man, but he did have a point. Ash had battled Palmer himself when he was in Sinnoh, and he knew it wouldn't be easy.

But he still had his reservations. "Are you sure Stark Mountain's even safe right now? What about that –"

"Giant tower o' smoke?" The man shook his head, "Y'always see that comin' outta Stark Mountain. The tremors are a little weird, but it ain't erupted yet. I wouldn't worry about it if I was you, kiddo."

It didn't sound very reassuring.

"What do you think, Pikachu?" he asked. Pikachu looked just as uncertain as he felt, but he nodded slowly.

"I'll let you to decide for yerselves," the stranger nodded, pulling his coat tighter over his shoulders, "But you'll see I'm right."

Ash and Pikachu watched through narrowed eyes as he walked away, disappearing into an alleyway between two nearby buildings.

"Strange," he murmured. He turned to look back at Stark Mountain, the plumes looking a lot blacker than you would expect from your regular cloud of ash. "But maybe it'll be worth a shot."

* * * * * * * *

When Ash saw the Team Rocket grunts hanging around the pokémon centre in the survival area, he started to feel like he'd been set up.

"I know there was something weird about that guy," he grumbled under his breath.

"Chu," Pikachu agreed.

"You could tell, couldn't you? It wasn't just me."

"Pika-pika."

"I bet he was part of Team Rocket too. Probably sending us straight into a trap."

He was curious though – what was Team Rocket doing in Sinnoh? Apart from Jessie, James and Meowth, and one stint in Unova, he hadn't seen them anywhere. They tended to stick to Kanto and Johto as far as he was aware.

He wasn't even sure the aforementioned trio were still a part of Team Rocket. They hadn't followed him around in years. It probably got too boring for them when he started staying in the one city.

Which he could understand. He only hoped they were happy doing whatever they were.

Deciding he should scope the area out, he strode towards the door of the pokémon centre and headed in. He noticed many Rocket eyes on him, and he suddenly wished he had a hat that he could hide under. As expected, inside the pokémon centre, an additional two grunts were threatening Nurse Joy. So Ash acted without thinking.

"Hey!" he barked, "Leave Nurse Joy alone!"

Pikachu jumped off of his shoulder, cheeks sparking and ready to go. The grunts turned to face them, their eyes flicking between Ash, his partner and each other.

"Kenan," one of the grunts hissed in a very loud whisper, "That guy's the Kalos Champion!"

"I can see that," Kenan the grunt muttered back.

The grunt's eyes flit between his partner and Ash. Ash almost felt sorry for the guy when he straightened up – he was clearly nervous. "Uh, we're not up to anything weird. We're just getting potions and stuff."

"Kel!" Kenan groaned.

"What?"

"Shut up!" He pulled a poké ball off of his belt. "Let's take him out ourselves before one of the other grunts does! Then maybe we'll get promoted!"

Finally, Ash thought, breathing a sigh of relief. Their exchange was all too familiar, so Ash felt a little odd interrupting them before they were finished. But now they were aggravating a battle, so he didn't have to hold back.

"Alright Pikachu, use –"

"Ash, m'boy!"

Ash turned to see the same man he'd run into in the resort area walking towards him. "What? How are you –"

The man strolled over casually, wearing a wide smile as if he hadn't interrupted anything serious, and threw an arm over Ash's shoulder. "It's so nice of you to come all the way out 'ere to see yer poor uncle!"

"What?"

"Just go with it," he hissed in Ash's ear in a very different voice and a very different accent. Ash's eyes widened, and darted towards Pikachu. The mouse had lost his fighting stance and looked just as unsure as he was.

"D-don't mention it," Ash finally managed, eyes darting between Pikachu, the two grunts, and the old man. "It's good to see you again, Uncle…Grey-Beard."

If Ash hadn't been watching him at the moment, he would've missed the man's eye twitch slightly. "Let's head on over ta my jeep so I can drive ya to my cabin that's very far away from 'ere!"

"Righto!" Ash laughed nervously. He held his arm out for his pokémon to jump on. Their captive pulled them out of the centre and into the passenger seat of a jeep, and Ash chose not to struggle – something about the urgency in the man's face told him to avoid making a fuss.

Besides, he looked pretty frail and Ash could probably fight his way out of trouble if he needed to.

It wasn't until they were well on the road that Ash decided to speak up again. "What was that all about?"

"You're smart, Ash," the man replied, in that normal voice of his that Ash now realised was somewhat familiar. He'd definitely met this guy before, and more than once. "I'm sure you can figure something out."

"You're in disguise," Ash stated, and the man nodded.

"That's obvious."

"Chu-pikachu," Pikachu pointed out, reaching over and tuggling gently at the man's beard, enough to reveal that it was fake.

"Looker?"

"Wonderful!" Looker grinned, "You remember me! I was wondering if you would. You have met a lot of people on your travels after all."

"Why'd you pull me away from Team Rocket? They were threatening Nurse Joy!"

"Hardly," Looker snorted. "The Joys in these parts are tougher than they look. She could handle herself if things went sour, and those two were hardly a threat. Besides, she's in on my mission – which you nearly interrupted."

"Mission?"

"International Police, remember?"

"I know that, but what kind of mission?"

Ash couldn't tell Looker's expression under all of that hair, but the silence was enough to know that the agent wasn't going to give him any immediate answers. "I'm not sure it's my jurisdiction to tell you."

Ash rolled his eyes. "How is it you could trust me with classified information when I was fourteen but not now?"

"Because this particular mission isn't just an International Police matter."

"Who else is in on it then?" The G-Men?"

"The Sinnoh League."

Ash blinked. How could a league be involved in espionage. Or at least he assumed it was espionage. Either way, it was reasonable to assume that they were trying to take down Team Rocket since he ran into those grunts, and he never knew a pokémon league could be involved in that sort of thing.

"Ah yes," Looker mused, "They don't do that in the Kalos League, do they? You don't generally get involved in regional crime and justice and such."

"It used to be like that ages ago." Pikachu crawled into Ash's lap, and he began to pet the mouse absentmindedly. "And Diantha helped out with Team Flare."

"But now that Greninja of yours has everything covered."

Ash pursed his lips. "We don't have a lot of major crime in Kalos. It's very peaceful."

"Funny, I thought you being a Champion there would change that."

Ash glanced at Looker from the corner of his eye, which the officer apparently noticed because he added, "Not because of how you do you job! It's just that trouble has a knack for following you around. I don't remember many other trainers I've run into more than once, let alone worked with."

Ash didn't have much to say to that. He always attributed the peace to Team Rocket having stopped following him around. He didn't think too much on it either – his journey was over, so he didn't have a lot of opportunities to get into trouble after settling down.

The fact that he managed to get involved in something new almost the minute he started another journey confirmed this much.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To our base."

Ash's eyes widened. He thought Looker would just drop him elsewhere, away from whatever they were doing. He wanted to get involved, of course, but Looker hadn't been forthcoming enough to justify any hope.

The agent chuckled. "C'mon Ash, I practically led you here! I knew this was something you'd want to get involved with, and frankly, we need the extra help."

"So you tricked me?!"

"Of course not! I'm only introducing you to a new possibility. I have a feeling Team Rocket was going to spread out to the rest of the Battle Zone soon enough, so you would have known about it anyway. And you'd more than likely do something reckless. It'll be safer for both of us if we just brought you on the mission."

"You can't just assume –"

"Here we are!" The jeep had arrived before what looked like the slope of a mountain, but as they drove closer, a section of the slope opened to reveal a cave.

Which, admittedly, looked pretty cool.

Looker, Ash and Pikachu got out of the vehicle and made their way through a complicated series of tunnels, all artificially lit and well equipped just like a secret base from the movies would be. Looker kept speaking into a small device until they arrived in a large room, with large screens and people bustling around.

"Am I supposed to be in here?" Ash whispered to Looker.

"Hey, Cynthia!" Looker called, and Ash finally noticed the presence of the Sinnoh Champion at the head of a table in the middle of the room. And she didn't look pleased.

"Ash Ketchum? What are you doing here?" She turned to Looker. "What is he doing here?"

Looker rubbed the back of his neck. "I told you I'd bring you a great trainer, didn't I?"

"Yes, but I assumed you'd find someone heading towards the fight area!"

"I was heading to the fight area." Cynthia turned her glare at Ash, and he flinched. "Uh, I took a sabbatical from the Kalos League."

Cynthia's face relaxed, and she looked much more like the person Ash was used to dealing with. "Well in that case, we could use some help."

Ash crossed his arms. "I don't know how much I can help if I don't know what this mission is about."

Looker and Cynthia swapped a look before the woman nodded to the table, bringing them over. "Team Rocket has set up a base in Stark Mountain, and we think they're responsible for the increased volcanic activity there. They don't know we're watching. They also don't think anyone knows they're there."

"They do now," Looker snorted.

Ash let out a singular, almost hysterical laugh, and immediately regretted it. "Sorry."

"Chu," Pikachu agreed.

Cynthia narrowed her eyes. "But you didn't blow our cover?"

"Nope, took care of that!" Looker snapped his fingers. "They still don't know we've been monitoring them."

"Good." She tapped at her chin. "But this might mean we need to move things forward a little faster."

"If you already know about Team Rocket's base then why don't you just stop them?" Ash asked.

"We think it's a lot bigger than just a base. We think they're mining for something – or searching. We don't have the details."

"If they're searching, it could be for a Magma Stone," Looker added, "But whatever it is, they're not intent on being found. So they won't be pleased to know you've seen them. You would have had to keep a low profile until we shut them down."

Cynthia nodded. "And we don't know how long this will take."

Looker was right. Ash might've been tricked, but he'd been tricked into the right hands – he had already been ready to take on those grunts by himself, as well as any backup around the pokémon centre, and that would've put a giant target on his back. He was too famous to just leave the Battle Zone; he'd have to go into hiding.

But he still did have to get back to Kalos in time.

Finally it came down to Pikachu, but one look told him they were both already on the same page. "My hiatus lasts two months," Ash finally said.

Cynthia smiled gratefully. "We'll see what we can do."

#Pokeani #Ash Ketchum #Iris #Cilan #wishfulshipping #I'm just going to get it done asap now #forget deadlines #mine

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seecarrun · 6 years ago

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Pokeshipping Week - Day 5

Maiden’s Peak revisited - Years after his first trip Maiden’s Peak, Ash returns with May and Max as they pass through while challenging the Battle Frontier. But strangely, it’s not the same as he remembers...

-Car

oOo

"Wow, Maiden's Peak is beautiful!"

"What a cool festival!"

Ash beamed, walking just a step behind May and Max as they took in the sights of the Summer's End Festival. "Didn't I tell ya? And the food is great too!"

"I can't wait!" May squealed, her eyes already scanning over the lines of food tents along the road.

Max rolled his eyes at his sister and grinned up at Ash. "I want to go see that shrine you were telling us about! It's too bad Brock didn't want to come with us, though."

"Yeeeah," Ash drawled with a chuckle. "He didn't exactly have the best experience here last time. I had a blast though! Misty and I got to check out all the cool shops, and we released lanterns into the sea to guide the spirits, and then we got to go the the party at the end to dance and listen to music!"

"Oh, I can't wait even one more second!" May cried in excitement, grabbing Max's hand and dragging him along behind her. "Let's go!"

"Wah, May! Slow down!"

Ash chuckled, letting Pikachu hop on his shoulder, and taking off after his friends to the festival.

oOo

The food was delicious, the games were fun, the lanterns were pretty, the shrine was still creepy (he was fairly certain he saw the rock wink at him at one point when May and Max weren't looking, but nothing too freaky happened this time, so that was good at least), and the music was catchy. All in all, it was a great evening, and the siblings seemed to be having a great time.

So why wasn't Ash?

Out of the dance floor, his younger companions were dancing along to the music, both looking dressed up in their traditional festival garb, as was he. It was all very reminiscent of the time he spent here a few years ago, but something felt...different? Lacking? He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it just wasn't the same.

"Ash, are you okay?" May asked, clearly noticing his quiet contemplation.

He smiled, waving off her concern. "Uh, yeah! Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

She tilted her head. "I dunno, you just seem quiet."

Max nodded, joining the conversation. "Yeah, you've been kinda quiet all night, actually."

"I have?" Ash asked, scratching his cheek. "Huh. I didn't notice."

May narrowed her eyes, getting close to his face and scrutinizing him, much to Ash's chagrin. "Are you sick?" she asked. "You did eat a lot of those magikarp cakes."

"May," Max whispered, pulling at her shirt. "What if Ash got possessed by that gastly he was telling us about?!"

"Oh no!" she gasped, but Ash was quick to jump in and calm their fears.

"I'm not possessed!" he sighed heavily.

"That's exactly what someone who was possessed would say," May said with a glare. Ash rolled his eyes.

"Guys! I'm serious! I just-" he cut himself off, blushing slightly.

May and Max raised their eyebrows. "Just what?" Max asked.

He bit his lip. "I'm just... disappointed I guess."

May blinked. "Disappointed? You aren't having fun?"

"It's not that I'm not having fun," Ash said with a sigh, "It's just...not like I remember. I mean, everything is how I remember, but it's...different."

Max adjusted his glasses, scrunching together his eyebrows and eyeing Ash critically. "Well, what's different from last time?" he asked.

Ash shrugged. "Uh, well, nothing that I can think of. Everything has been pretty much the same as last time. I mean, except for the stuff with Gastly. But I definitely don't miss that."

Very slowly, a smile started forming on May's lips. "Well, there is one thing," she said knowingly. The boys turned to her in confusion. She smirked. "You were with Misty last time."

Ash's frown deepened. "What does she have to do with anything?"

"Yeah May, why would..." Max trailed off, suddenly understanding. "Ooooh," he said with a grin. "Now it makes sense."

Ash pouted. "What are you guys talking about?"

May beamed, her eyes twinkling in a way that Ash really didn't appreciate. "Isn't it obvious?" she asked. "You like Misty!"

Immediately, Ash's face turned bright red. "I do not!" he exclaimed, but May wasn't having it.

"You're blushing!" she squealed. "I can't believe I didn't notice it before! You're always talking about her and when you traveled together, and how good she is at training water pokemon. It makes sense you would have had more fun with her at the festival!" She clutched her hands together under her chin, tilting her head at him affectionately. "Aww, you should have told us, we could have invited her!"

"I don't like Misty!"

Max chuckled, shaking his head. "I dunno Ash, it sure sounds like you do."

"Well, I don't! So let it go, would ya?!"

May and Max shared a smirk, much to Ash's annoyance, but May cleared her throat and did her best impression of 'letting it go'. "Okay, okay, fine. Just one thing?"

Ash eyed her distrustfully. "What?"

"You'll invite me to the wedding right?"

"I don't like Misty!!"

Giggling, May grabbed her (also laughing) brother's hand and dragged him back out to the dance floor, leaving Ash to his pouting, blushing self.

May was crazy, he decided. Just because he had an amazing time hanging out with Misty at the festival, and really liked how she looked that night all dressed up, and okay yeah, maybe he did talk about her more than was entirely necessary, and thought about her and how she was doing at the gym every night before he went to sleep, but that... didn't...

Oh.

Oh no.

He liked Misty.

oOo

Read the Others: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7

#Pokeshipping Week #pokeshipping week 2018 #pokeshipping #Ash and Misty #pokemon #car's fanfiction

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ultimatebman · 7 years ago

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Pokeshipping Week Day 2: Jealousy

Alright Day 2! It turned out a bit more emotional then I planned, I tried to balance it out in the end though. This day also wasn’t my strong suit and I was pretty tired when I wrote this, but I gave it a go anyway. If possible I’d love feedback. Thank you and have a good Pokeshipping Week Day 2!

Ash and Pikachu stood on the sidelines of arena in the Cerulean City gym. It had been a long day for Ash. His rematch with Misty had ended in a loss, and the ensuing humiliation had pushed him farther than usual. Ash’s losses were finally starting to catch up to him. He watched Misty’s battle with contempt for the gym leader. This wasn’t something that had just begun, it came from a long history of unfair treatment towards Ash. He had known Misty for years, and still couldn’t figure out how she could be a gym leader while he was still just a lowly trainer. Misty had always known Ash was jealous, and his attitude had always been fairly relaxed about it. Seeing Ash glaring at her for over an hour now was starting to wear on her, and as she finished a particularly intense battle the adrenaline pushed her to confront Ash.

“Are you just going to sulk in the corner forever?” Misty finally said.

“Maybe I will” Ash snapped back.

“Not in my gym you aren't.”

“Can’t have me ruining your nice gym right? I couldn’t make it any worse anyway.” at Ash’s words Misty’s rage started to boil.

“What was that you little...?” but before she could finish Pikachu tried his best to calm them down. He hopped down from Ash’s shoulder to speak.

“Pikachu-pi pikapi pi-ka-chu,” Pikachu motioned to the both of them as he spoke.

“I’m fine pikachu, she’s the one with the problem.” Ash said as he sent a glare at Misty.

“I didn’t start this Ash, you did.” Misty crossed her arms and returned Ash’s glare.

“All you ever do is complain about me.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this right now. I respect you Ash, but not if you’re going to be like this.”

“You always beat me, and you have your gym, and… and I never win anything. Admit it, you like to see me fail.”

“Maybe your ego is just too big” Misty said matter-of-factly.

“You’re the one who keeps bragging about being the best gym leader ever.”

“I do not.”

“Do to.”

“Do not.”

“Do to.”

“Pikachu! Pika pikachu-pi!” Pikachu said, sounding more disappointed than angry. The pair went silent after pikachu spoke. Ash stared at pikachu in shock, his anger towards Misty rising even higher.

“You too Pikachu?” His gaze darted back to Misty “Why don’t you just turn all my friends against me? I’m sure Brock will be on your side!” His voice cracked as he berated his friends.

“No Ash, you’re just being a jerk right now. Stop it!”

“You constantly tease me, you don’t even respect me. I train everyday and you don’t tell me I’m a good trainer until after I win.”

“Maybe you don’t deserve any praise.”

“Well maybe you don’t deserve to be a gym leader!” Ash yelled, his voice was hoarse and his eyes were burning with rage for his former friends.

“Ketchum out. Now!” Misty pointed furiously at the gym door but Ash didn’t move. Instead he stomped his feet down “No! You can’t make me.”

“Ash, stop being a child.” Misty stomped her own foot down.

“Why can’t you be more like your sisters, they don’t boss their friends around.”

“Why can’t you actually win anything and not be such a total loser?”

“Why can’t you get out of my life?”

“Fine, I will!”

“Well goo…” before Misty could finish Pikachu released a thunderbolt on both of them, ending their argument. A thick silence hung over the trio as Ash and Misty stared at each other, their faces still filled with rage. Ash’s eyes shifted away from the gym leader. He turned around so Misty could not see him. Misty wanted to yell at him for being such an idiot, but she stopped herself from starting the argument again. Ash was a lot of things, Misty knew that outside of Gary Ash never held grudges, and even then he couldn’t ever hate Gary. Why would Ash suddenly get to angry though, had it been because of their battle earlier? Misty pondered these questions as she watched Ash from behind. Pikachu slowly approached Ash, she could her Pikachu’s soft voice try to reach Ash. Ash muttered something back and Pikachu came in close to him, Misty couldn’t see it but their eyes must have met. Pikachu then went to hug Ash’s leg, the pokemon looked to Misty and she could she his eyes starting to well up.

“Ash are…” What was left of Misty’s anger drained from her as soon she saw Ash shaking. He slowly turned around to look at her, his face was flush with tears. He ran to Misty and overwhelmed her with a hug and a mix of emotions. She could feel her own tears starting to flow too as she held Ash close to her. Pikachu was still attached to his leg and had joined them in crying. They embraced for what seemed like several minutes, by the time Ash spoke her shoulder was wet from his sobs.

“I...I… I-I’m” Ash struggled to get coherent words through his endless sobs. “S-ssorry, I d-didn’t mean it.” Misty could feel Ash's fingers digging into her back, trying to hold onto her.

“I-I know, I-I didn't m-mean it either.”

Their hug continued on for several more minutes without a word from either of them. Ash finally let go after the sobbing stopped, the tears still continued though. They each got a chance to look at each other, both of their faces were red from all the crying. Ash tried to put in a smile. After the tears came to a close Misty promised to come right back with something that would help calm them and told Ash to go sit down in their living room. Ash watched her as she left him, the tears almost returned but he held them back. He made his way with Pikachu walking alongside him to a small living room close to where the Waterflower’s bedrooms where. The aqua blue sofa was quite soft and helped to relax Ash. When Misty returned she was holding three mugs of hot chocolate, one for each of them. Ash was glad his drink was just warm, he didn’t think he could handle a drink that was actually hot. As Pikachu enjoyed his drink Ash rubbed his pokemon’s head, Ash relaxed a bit knowing that Pikachu wasn’t upset at him. In between sips he watched the swirls of the hot chocolate as his fingers traced the dancing fish in the pattern on the mug. He looked up to Misty, finally ready to speak.

“Thank you Misty” were his only words at first. “I mean for not leaving me.”

“Of course Ash, I’d never stay upset at you for long.” She smiled at him, and he smiled back at her. Misty spoke again, “I know I can be hard on you sometimes… I’m sorry if I hurt you.” Ash furrowed his brow at her words.

“It’s… It’s not your fault, I-It’s just hard to get so close to winning, but never actually do it.”

“I’m sorry” Misty said as she wrapped her arm around his shoulders.

“It’s not just that, it’s… well… It’s just that you’re a gym leader and I don’t have anything to show for what I’ve done.” Ash squeezed his mug. “I guess… I’m just jealous. Before I even knew you, you were doing things I’ve never been able to even after so many years of trying.”

“Ash… I didn’t know it bothered you so much.”

“I wish it didn’t.”

‘Pikapi,” was all Pikachu said as he nuzzled his trainer. Ash started giggling as Pikachu’s fur tickled his arm.

‘Hey stop it, you’ll make me spill my hot chocolate.”

Ash’s words and giggles finally broke the tension, Misty and Pikachu joined in on his laughter. It was a long time before the laughter died down, and when Ash noticed the time he felt sorry for keeping Misty busy for so long.

“Nonsense, I think we both needed this more than we knew.” was all she said.

Misty decided that Ash should stay the night, and that they needed to have a “Best Friend Night.” Ash loved the idea after all the trouble he put her through. The trio would go on to use up all the hot chocolate in the building, Misty ordered both of them a pizza, and Ash picked out some of his favorite movies for them to watch. Pikachu got more than enough love as his two favorite trainers got to share him for a night. The pizza was good, the movies were better, but Misty was the best. Even after all the years of teasing each other and Ash’s outbreak earlier that day, Misty never stopped being his best friend. The pair promised each other that they needed to have more “Best Friend Nights” in the future, Pikachu included of course. When morning came and the three of them woke up on the couch together Ash had completely forgotten the previous day's argument.

#pokeshipping week #pokeshipping week 2017 #day 2 #pokemon #pokeshipping #ash ketchum #misty #misty waterflower #AAML #fanfiction #pikachu

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11jj11 · 7 years ago

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Upon Our Sea - Pokeshipping - Chapter 1

This story is going to be Pokeshipping (AshXMisty) along with BrockXLillie (Do these two have a ship name?).

Just to note-- the Vulpix Brock has in this story is not the same one from the original series! Brock's only had this little guy for a year now. Where this Vulpix came from will be said next chapter. And while this story is for Pokeshipping week, Brock will be a major character just like Misty and Ash, so his side of the story will be explored just as much.

Chapter One – Ten Years Gone

“A Ponyta, Brock!” Misty groaned. “He brought a freaking Ponyta to the gym battle! The poor thing couldn’t even stand on the floating islands provided for land Pokemon! It kept slipping on the pool edges– and the trainer kept it battling!”

Brock smiled slightly as Misty continued on with her rant, bringing his mug to his lips. The coffee was quite hot, and far from refreshing as they sat in the sun of the outdoor cafe. But with the long hours he worked at the Pokemon Center, coffee was at times the only thing that kept Brock going throughout the day. Working full time as a Pokemon doctor was something Brock had always dreamed of doing, but it was far from an easy job. Stress and pressure were a constant companion, with him performing much more complicated surgeries and procedures than the average nurse. And since he covered as the Pokemon doctor for three different cities, he often found himself rushing between Centers throughout the week.

So a lunch break listening to Misty’s gripes was something he honestly found relaxing.

Misty’s Marill was at her ankles, poking hopefully around at the ground for some crumbs– despite the bowl of Pokemon food in front of her that Misty had ordered. Brock’s Vulpix had turned his nose up at even the mention of Pokemon food that came from someone other than Brock, and so he was currently napping on his lap instead.

“Did they win the badge?” Brock asked as Misty paused to catch her breath.

Misty smirked. “Of course they didn’t– Golduck took care of them.”

“You used Golduck in a gym match?!” Brock cried, choking slightly as he took another sip of coffee. He coughed, quickly sitting up, earning a glare from Vulpix as his nap was disturbed. “You know that you’re only suppose to use certain Pokemon depending on how many badges the trainer has–”

Misty rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and we’re also supposed to judge and challenge a trainer’s skill. If they’re reckless enough to send a Pokemon like Ponyta against a water gym– and not even have the raw power or moves to back them up as reasoning– then I’m going to show them just how serious gym matches can be.”

Leave it to Misty to use some of her strongest Pokemon in a gym battle. Brock smiled to himself, personally glad that she hadn’t allowed a reckless trainer even a chance at the gym badge, even if the league probably wouldn’t agree with her action.

“...Has he come back to challenge you since?” Brock asked uncertainly.

Misty’s lips twisted. “Not yet, but it’s only been a week. If he’s training up Ponyta, or bringing a Pokemon that actually stands chance, then I’ll accept his challenge again. Fighting at a type disadvantage means that you have no idea what you’re doing, you’re backed into a corner with that battle, or you actually have power and strategy to accomplish a potential win.”

“Most Elites and gym leaders would fall into that last category,” Brock noted, looking down and stroking Vulpix.

“Yes– but not just any challenger,” Misty said. “Outside of those working for the league only a few people could actually consistently pull that off successfully and safely, you know? People like–”

She paused mid sentence, and Brock raised his head. He could see the name on her lips, the hesitancy in her eyes. She took in a breath, as if considering to say his name, before closing her mouth. She pressed her lips together, looking away. Her Marill quickly hopped up onto her shoulder, patting her head.

“Like Ash?” Brock finished, and Misty glared at him.

“Yeah, just like Ketchum,” She muttered, stroking her Marill as it attempted to comfort her.

Silence hung between them after she spoke, and Brock set his mug down, wondering if it would be worth breaking the silence. He could see the conflicting emotions on her face– bitterness, sorrow, longing. There was a bit of happiness too, unvoiced memories that always brought a smile to her face, but still there was pain. He knew that often it wasn’t the best idea to prod Misty when she was like this, but Brock truly wanted to know how she felt.

“Miss him?” Brock asked, deciding to keep the question short and simple.

Misty’s eyes narrowed. “I would say yes– though I’m quite sure he doesn’t miss us. It’s been what– over a year now since we’ve last seen him? And that was basically him just dropping in to say hi! How long has it been since we’ve last spent quality time with him Brock? The last time we’ve had a meaningful conversation– even one on the phone?! At least two full years!”

“You know how Ash is,” Brock said, trying to loosen the tension around them. “He just gets distracted, he’s probably out on some adventure right now doing... what Ash does. You know he thinks about us– he’s always happy to see us after a long time away!”

Misty gritted her teeth. “Sure– but I’m guessing that he won’t even realize what’s coming up.”

Brock frowned. “Coming... up?”

Misty froze. “Don’t tell me you don’t know either!”

Brock quickly racked his brain– it couldn’t be her birthday, that had long passed. One of her sister’s birthdays...? Why would she care if Ash remembered that? He gave Misty an uncertain glance.

“Um...”

Misty slapped her hand to her forehead, groaning. “Of course, leave it to you to forget as well! And if you don’t remember, then that means of course it’s going to be hopeless with Ash!” She gritted her teeth. “Honestly, I was hoping all three off us could do something to celebrate, but I might as well accept that’s not going to happen.”

“What’s coming up, Misty?” Brock asked, shifting under her glare. “Could you at least tell me? You know I have a very busy schedule.”

She sighed, though she was still tense. “It’s going to be the ten year anniversary of when we first met,” She muttered. “Something I was kind of excited for, but apparently that doesn’t really mean much to you guys.”

Brock paused, brow narrowing as he quickly did the math in his head– this year would indeed mark ten years since he had first met Ash and Misty. He glanced up at the twenty year old in front of him, hardly believe that so much time had passed since she and Ash had been ten year olds tromping around Kanto, with him tagging along.

A smile flickered up onto his face, of course this would mean a lot to Misty. He recalled all too well the five year anniversary– Misty forcing Brock to skip one of his college classes to come to the Cerulean Gym to celebrate with them. And now with ten years under their belts she’d of course want the entire old gang together.

“Heh, can’t believe it’s been that long already,” Brock muttered, and he sat up a bit, stroking Vulpix. “No Misty, I agree, that is actually pretty exciting. Sorry I didn’t realize what you meant until now.”

Unfortunately his words had done nothing to brighten her attitude. She moodily stared down at her lemonade, pushing the straw around the glass.

“At least that makes two of us,” She muttered. “And you’re the smart one– Ash isn’t going to remember.”

Brock hesitated. “You don’t give him enough credit– I’m sure he’ll call!”

Misty rolled her eyes. “Yay. One call, then he vanishes off to some remote part of the world for a decade– if we’re lucky.”

Brock looked down at his Vulpix helplessly, not sure of what to say. He didn’t want Misty to be feeling this way about Ash– but he also knew she had a good point. Ash wasn’t exactly the most reliable person. Yes, his heart was always in the right place, but Ash was one that was easily distracted. Unless someone was there to remind him, Brock highly doubted that Ash would even realize that it had been ten years since they met– or just how upsetting it would be to Misty for them not to all be together to celebrate.

Brock studied Misty, finding her anger almost interesting. Yes, she was mad at Ash– but it was because of how much she valued their friendship. She didn’t want to lose the bond they had all once held with each other, and was upset because of how distant Ash was being. But at the same time Brock knew that Ash never wanted to come off that way– he was simply an adventurous soul– and it would take an earth shattering event for something to ruin the friendships Ash always valued.

Brock opened his mouth, but he had no response. Ash saw time and distance as nothing that could hinder friendship, while to Misty it clearly meant everything. Brock understood how both of his friends thought and accepted that, but it seemed that they didn’t see things that way. He closed his eyes– only for the watch on his wrist to start vibrating.

“For Mew’s sake...” Brock muttered, quickly turning off the alarm. “...I hate to cut our conversation here, Misty,” Brock said, gently scooping up Vulpix. “But my lunch break is almost over– I need to get back to the Pokemon Center.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Misty muttered, unsurprised. “I should probably get back to the gym, I have a gym match at 1:00...”

Brock stood up, gently cradling Vulpix in his arms. “Does next Wednesday still work for you?”

Misty was recalling Marill to a Pokeball. “Yep.”

Brock gave her an uncertain smile. “I’ll see you around then.”

“See you,” Misty grunted, shouldering her purse.

Brock sighed as he turned, walking away from his friend. He honestly didn’t want to leave on such a note, but each had schedules to stick to. Brock was personally glad that Forrest was the official gym leader of Pewter now– there was no way that Brock would be able to stay on top of everything alongside his job as a Pokemon doctor.

“Hmm...” Brock muttered, reaching into his pocket, pulling out a blue Pokegear. He hesitated for a moment, pausing at the corner of the street. He pressed a few buttons on the device, hesitating once more before pressing ‘call’.

“The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Either the number was dialed incorrectly, or their device is out of range. Please try again at another time,” Brock sighed as the robotic voice crackled through the speakers, and he stuffed the Pokegear back into his pocket.

“You know, Misty’s right,” Brock muttered. “It’d be nice if you’d call us once in awhile, Ash.”

With that Brock continued on his way, deciding that he’d need to speak to his boss once he got back to work. He’d need to schedule some time off if he was going to spend some time with Misty to celebrate their friendship of ten years.

And he most definitely was going to need time off if he was going to find Ash before then.

#pokeshipping week #pokemon #pokemon fanfiction #pokeshipping #pokeshipping week 2017 #BrockXLillie

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warlordess · 7 years ago

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Pokeshipping Week : day seven : “midnight conversations”

So my day seven is basically the same as my day one. I ended up thinking back to an old fic that fit this theme perfectly and decided to draw a crappy art based off of that. Lol. Alongside the art, I’ll be including an excerpt from that fic - titled “Kids”, part of my Ash and Misty one-shot series, “Our Best”.

Sorry that this ended up being a day late and super sorry that I was only able to contribute so much during this year’s annual Pokeshipping event. I really wish I had the time and imagination to do more but… at least I tried, right?

Anyway, here ya go!

“What are you doing?” she finally hissed, her voice catching breath as a laugh tickled her throat, Ash jumping from the shock of not having noticed her before now.

“M - Misty, uh, why are you… ?” he started, gulping back his own breath as he stared at her feet, apparently too ashamed or embarrassed or maybe even too scared to stare her in the eyes, “… Why are you up?”

“I needed a quick drink of water. What’s your excuse? Are you really so egotistical that you’d have to spend all night looking through your old championship home videos?”

She stepped a little closer to him but he still refused to look at her clearly. She was getting more and more annoyed by that. Maybe he really didn’t want her here after all. Perhaps he was too worried about what she’d have to say to him about these stupid habits of his.

“I, uh, I wasn’t really watching them…”

“Sitting alone in your living room at nearly one in the morning, lights off, television on and DVD playing… Yeah, Ash, I believe you.”

“I wasn’t. I mean, I wasn’t really paying attention. That was just what was in the DVD player already. I guess my mom had been watching them while waiting for me to come back home,” a quick sigh for his overly-affectionate mom and he continued, “I was just trying to… distract myself, I think. It was working pretty well too, until you came along.”

“Wow,” of all the rude, insufferable things to say! “Fine then, I’ll just leave you to your distractions, Mr. Pokemon Master.” And she turned on her heel and was resolved to march straight back upstairs and into bed, but Ash wasn’t finished yet.

“Wait, wait! That wasn’t what I meant, Myst, I mean it, it’s just… I said wait!” But she definitely didn’t care to hear him out. In fact, there was only one thing she wanted to hear from him now…

“Jeez, I’m sorry, okay?”

[read more]

She turned back to him and struck an agitated pose, legs bracing her shifting weight, arms crossed over her chest, eyebrow quirked, though the tiniest smile at having forced his hand with an apology playing at her lips. Maybe this trip all the way out to Pallet Town hadn’t been a complete waste for her after all. Ash didn’t say anything else to her though, even as she slowly stepped closer to him again and noticed the gaunt expression in his eyes.

Okay… maybe something really was wrong with him.

And, with that thought, she felt her arms slide down to her sides again, the faint traces left from her smirk vanishing in the dark.

“Alright, what’s wrong, Ash?”

He shook his head, muttering something along the lines of, “nothing”, or else “none of your business”, or maybe it was closer to “I love you”… Hey, she was tired! And a girl can dream, right?

Misty clucked disapprovingly and felt her tongue trace the back of her teeth before stepping around one side of the couch and plopping down beside Ash, who slowly twisted back around and followed suit. Then, for some reason she wasn’t entirely sure of, he picked up the nearest remote and switched the television off, despite the DVD player still being on.

The two of them sat alone in the dark of the living room without the courage to say anything to one another for a fair few minutes before Misty knew she had to break the ice or lose her mind.

“Kinda desperate, aren’t you?”

“What?” His gaze snapped up immediately, or else, she thought it might have, considering his incredulous tone.

“Apologizing to me, Mr. Pokemon Master, just so I won’t leave you all alone down here. That was a pretty desperate move. Kinda sleazy, really.”

“I can take it back if you don’t want it-”

“-No,” she voiced quickly, quite possibly a bit too loud as well, “I’ll just make a mental note and apply it to the list of things you’ve yet to apologize for. Three down, three hundred and eighty-seven more to go.”

“You’re telling me that in the five years we’ve known each other, you’ve been keeping track of the number of times I should have apologized to you? And the few times that I actually have?” He faltered for a second, apparently working the math, before begging the last question, “How could I possibly owe you three hundred and ninety apologies?” he yelped afterwards.

“Because you’re dense, tactless, one-track-minded, rude, immature, insulting, stubborn, danger-prone…” She would have been more animated had she been able to see him, listing off each of these on her fingers, maybe showing off a few charts and diagrams, but it was pretty much pointless with it being so dark and all.

“… Oh, so that’s what you think.” And he fell silent again.

Misty blinked, biting her lip. She had really expected Ash to leap up in arms, maybe list off all her faults as well, possibly claim that she owed him twice as many apologies as he supposedly owed her. But poor, little Ash Ketchum seemed to be in a far greater slump than what she’d thought. Apparently a cheap laugh wasn’t enough to pull him out of it.

Ugh, that meant she’d have to take it a step further and… talk it out with him.

Ew.

“Okay, fine, tell me what’s wrong. And if you say nothing again, I’ll punch you in the nose.”

Ash, perhaps after taking an extra moment to decide if it was worth it or not, seemed to shake his head and strive forward.

“I don’t really think about it much but it’s always hardest falling asleep right after it happens.”

“… After what happens… ?”

“And you think I’d be more tired, right? After all the crazy things I sometimes have to do to save the day, but it’s impossible to sleep right after. I don’t think about it, I try not to, but after what happened today, it’s kinda just hit me, you know?”

“No, no I don’t, Ash. Care to explain?”

Ash took a deep, shuddering breath and Misty was sure she saw his silhouette bracing itself against the faint strips of moonlight filtering through the blinds in the nearby window, his face in his palms and his head shaking as though he couldn’t seem to find the words.

“It’s just… I mean, like I said, I’ve never really thought of it before now… It always came naturally… Righting wrongs, fixing the bad, standing up for what I believe in, fighting crazy, maniacal thieves and collectors and - and… I just always told myself, without a doubt, this is the right thing to do. I still don’t think I’m wrong but…” Misty didn’t notice that she’d automatically begun shaking her head in the dark. Ash hadn’t seemed to notice either (though it was barely possible for him to do so, of course).

“I never really thought of it as playing hero, I never realized that this seemed to happen a little bit too often to be realistic. But when it did, when it does, when it will in the future… should I have… should I just sit back and wait for someone else to do something when I’m right there?”

“Ash…”

“Misty,” he started, though he still wasn’t looking at her as he spoke, “why are you shaking your head?”

“Oh, uh…” Darn, so he had noticed. “I don’t know. Maybe because I think you’re wrong? Or maybe because I’m surprised you’re thinking about this at all. I thought I was the only one.”

“Yeah,” she could just see the wry grin on his face, even if she couldn’t really, “I guess Ash Ketchum should be too dense to think about these kinds of things. I’m not serious enough for this topic, huh?”

“Ash!” she snapped, “I didn’t mean it like that at all!” Honestly, she really just wanted to smack him! “I was just thinking earlier today about this stuff too. I’m only surprised that it seems we’re on the same page without me having to beat it through your skull first!”

“Oh… is that all? You agree? End of discussion, then, I guess.”

“No, no it’s not! Because you make a lot of valid points too! If you’re standing right there and you have the power to help… All of the things you’ve been through, all of the things I remember going through alongside you when we journeyed together, I feel like I was given a reason to worry about you constantly. You’re on my mind a lot, but even more-so now after May told me about the extent of your adventures in Hoenn. Ash, why couldn’t you have been the one to tell me, huh? Do you know what it’s like hearing these kinds of stories from anyone other than you? I feel like…” It was hard to force the words past the lump in her throat so she faltered and hoped Ash would catch on.

True to his character, however, Ash remained blankly curious, his earlier morbidity fumbling as he heard the sniffle in Misty’s tone.

“You feel like what… ?”

“I just… I feel like…” she slipped, before drawing breath and leaping to her feet, the words running from her mouth slightly louder than they probably should have, “Just don’t shut me out, okay?”

“Huh? I’m not doing that!” Ash nearly shouted back, then he stopped, cleared his throat, and waited for Misty to breathe deeply in a few times before regaining her seat beside him. She wouldn’t look him in the eye though (even though she couldn’t see him clearly anyway).

“You are, though! I mean, maybe! But… it’s like… I haven’t seen you in a while… And I know it’s not all you, so don’t interrupt, but it’s. . . I feel like we only talk about day-to-day stuff, shallow stuff, stuff you can talk to your mom about so she doesn’t have to worry about you. Although I know she’ll worry anyway, but you wouldn’t give her an excuse to chase after you in fear of your life… But me… You shouldn’t be hiding these things from me, Ash, when I traveled with you for three years, after I experienced some of it already! Nothing you’re going through now could possibly scare me away! In fact, all I really want is to stay involved with you!”

Her declaration was met with silence, minus the faint shuffling of their bodies as the heat grew between them from their almost-fight.

“I didn’t really notice… I didn’t mean to…” But none of those words seemed to get across to her what he was trying to say, “… Sorry.”

She didn’t say anything back at first until, finally, two minutes later, “Three hundred and eighty-six.”

“Huh… ?” Ash gaped, confused, before cottoning on, “Misty!”

She smiled softly, didn’t laugh, but she did smile. It seemed to be enough for now. Well, they were getting somewhere then.

“I never meant it that way. I never thought much of it until today when May was talking about it all… W - we never, ever talked about any of the things we had to go through or the battles we had to fight. We just ran around and fought our hearts out, and we won and then moved on. I didn’t know we were supposed to talk about it.”

“It’s alright, Ash. We know now, right? It’s just… Don’t you remember that day I had to go back to Cerulean City? We were on the outskirts of Viridian and you told me how there had to be more to our meeting than coincidence. It was fate. So you can’t ever push me away, okay? It’s my obligation as your best friend to worry about you even when I can’t follow you around and keep your head above water. It’s my duty to be there for you. Just like it was yours to remind me of the definition of our friendship that time. I’m counting on it.”

“Well, I hope you plan on taking responsibility, then, ‘cause we might be in for the long haul.” Ash gave a quick laugh, seemingly appeased by her confession. “I don’t think I can be cured of my saving-people thing over night. There might be some long-term damage, I think I could even use a little rehab.”

“Fine, Ash, but just make sure your insurance can cover all of the expenses. My services don’t come cheap.”

They sat there, seeped in the quiet, for a little while longer. Misty held back a yawn. It was going on two in the morning and the tiredness was finally starting to weigh her down. She looked to Ash. He still seemed oddly alert but she supposed he was just getting used to the strangeness of actually talking to her about something serious without breaking out into a fight along the way.

Maybe they’d both grown up a little, something that nobody would have noticed had they not had the chance to sit down and just talk.

“Well, c'mon Ash, lets get to bed. We won’t get any sleep if we wait much longer…”

Misty rose from her seat on the couch, even turned in the opposite direction to go back upstairs, but suddenly felt the familiar tingling sensation that always accompanied Ash’s touching her.

He’d grabbed her hand to hold her back.

“Wait, Myst… I mean… About holding my head above water. . . Great comparison by the way… I was just… Maybe you’re right about that.”

“I’m… What are you talking about now?”

“It’s just, and I usually wouldn’t say anything because nobody else bothered to ask, but you did so I thought maybe this counted towards your offer but I don’t wanna go too far or maybe even scare you and it’s just…”

“Ash, stop rambling and just say it.”

And let go of my hand before my heart goes out.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning.” he finally blurted in one short breath. He stopped to inhale afterwards, as if he could barely breathe, hardly looking at her, but he wouldn’t dare look completely away. “And yeah, there are those times that have something to do with it but it’s more than that. The other things we never talk about, the losses, missing home, my mom, missing you, letting go when others would hold onto it even tighter… We never mention that either… Could we talk about that stuff too?”

Finally his grip on her wrist loosened and relieved itself. The tingling slowly faded from just beneath the surface and she gulped back the fluttering sensation that had overtaken it at the mention of Ash missing her. Of course he had, of course he would. They were best friends, after all, weren’t they? But they’d never really discussed that either.

“Ash, I don’t travel with you anymore.” she started rather sharply, and he gave a slight flinch but remained silent long enough to hear her out. “You have people closer to you now compared to when we did travel together. Even if you couldn’t necessarily count on May or Max, there’s Brock and he’s been your friend almost as long as I have. He’s a good ear to have available when you have something you really need someone to hear… And you could always call your mom too! She looks forward to every time you two talk and she’s so sympathetic because you’re her son. She loves you… But…

“But the fact that you would call on me, ask me to do this for you… Thank you, Ash. I was a little scared that you didn’t want me around anymore, that you couldn’t think of a reason to include me in your life, that you had enough people around after all and didn’t need me.”

“It’s not like that!” Ash started but she interrupted him with a slight grin.

“No, I know that now. I guess we just needed to say it out loud. It was just a tiny thing we needed to add to the list.” she noted. He still looked slightly confused but didn’t speak of it for now. “And another thing, Mr. Pokemon Master, perhaps you haven’t realized it yet even though we’ve known each other for over five years now but my specialty happens to be water.”

Ash sat there and stared for a second before finally saying it, “I don’t get it.”

Misty sighed and explained further.

“I mean, I’m a water-type trainer, I live in a gym with a giant pool, I pride myself on my swimming abilities! So the next time you feel like you’re drowning, just remember… that you’ll always have me to teach you how to swim. I can help you make it through anything.”

So, anyway, there’s my final contribution for the event. I’m sorry it was so blah but I didn’t have much time. I hope that anyone who likes it will feel inclined to reblog it though because reblogs spread the love and joy!

Happy end to Pokeshipping Week and I’m personally grateful to all of the talented artists (literary and graphic and musical and etc) who had a part in making this past week as fantastic and phenomenal as it was!

#pokeshipping week 2017 #day seven #theme: midnight conversations #pokeshipping #my art #fan fiction

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