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crywonder · 8 years ago

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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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crywonder · 8 years ago

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Reblogging this from my fanfic blog because my personal blog was listed (obsessive-ninja) but all of my fanfic is on here :) (Except one chapter that I posted to my personal by accident)

I don’t know if she posts to her tumblr but @mistycaribbeanflowers has some lovely fics on ffnet

Attention Pokeshippers!!!

Wow, this blog has become a lot less of pokeshipping and more of everything else with my OTP sprinkled in every now and then!!! So, if anyone has any FanFiction stories, fanart, headcannons, or fankids. Whether you’re new to the fandom, or a long time veteran, let’s all get to know each other!! I’m going to tag some people just to get started: @warlordess, @animatedaaron, @hollylu-ships-it, @chikahoshi, @putridpastries, @n-i-n-t **this post is MAINLY for pokeshippers, but don’t feel left out, feel free to share anyway!!

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crywonder · 8 years ago

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The Fire That Keeps On Burning: Part 2

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

**This particular chapter contains Wishful and Amour**

Read it on: FFnet || AO3

Keep reading

#i posted this to my personal blog by accident #and i cannot be bothered reposting #mine #pokemon #pokeani

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crywonder · 8 years ago

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STORYTIME: 100 LUSH BATH BOMBS?!?!?!?

or, Alternatively: Jake and Amy discover the beauty and terrifying power of Lush.

#rec #brooklyn 99 #please guys it will change your life

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crywonder · 8 years ago

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The Fire That Keeps On Burning: Part 1

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

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 normally envision Ash to be pretty well settled at age 30, but that wasn't the story I wanted to write. A lot of the scenarios that come up in this are ones that directly contradict my headcanons, or things I don't even like seeing in other stories. But the themes that this explores are ones that have been really important to me, personally, so it was essential for me to write this. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did creating it! :) )

It was high in the afternoon when he first caught sight of Pallet Town. It warmed his chest as he soaked it in – the houses dotting large, green fields, the road leading up to Professor Oak’s windmill, and a glimpse of the glittering blue ocean that met Pallet Beach. He was glad that he still remembered it so perfectly, despite having not visited in three years.

“Well, Pikachu?” He looked to his partner perched on his shoulder, “We’re finally home.”

“Pikachu,” the pokémon breathed. Ash could relate. The older he got and the further he travelled or settled away from Pallet Town, the more coming back would take his breath away. Especially lately, after living in Lumiose City for so long. City life, he’d come to realise, would never suit him.

“I’m almost tempted to run all the way home,” Ash thought out loud. Like he used to when he was a kid and still a travelling trainer. Especially when he saw his mother’s home, he’d get so excited at the thought of his mother’s cooking that he’d let his body get the better of him.

“Pika…”

“Like you’ve got anything to complain about! You’ve been sitting on my shoulder this whole time.”

“Pikachu!”

“Fine. Freeloader.”

It wasn’t like Ash was going to run anyway. He wanted to prolong his walk as much as possible, because if he was being honest, he was a little scared. It was a long time since he’d seen a lot of his friends and family back home, and while they were no doubt caught up on his whereabouts thanks to Delia, he still wasn’t sure how they’d react. Tracey and Daisy had been with his parents at the Orange Islands the last time he’d visited, so he didn’t even get to meet their kids. Gary had been doing some on-site research elsewhere, so he only really saw his mother. He hoped they were all here this time.

He hadn’t really called ahead to let them know he was coming.

The dirt path leading up to and past his mother’s house hadn’t changed at all, except for the car. He was pleased to see it; it was small and unassuming, but that was all his mom needed anyway. He’d pushed her to get one after he paid off the mortgage so that she wasn’t stuck at home all day. The flowery bush just opposite the road was still there – what was it called? Baby’s Breath? He could never remember the name. It didn’t matter, he decided, as he stooped over to gather a bunch in his hand. Pikachu jumped off of his shoulder and scurried over to the letterbox.

“What’ve we got, buddy?” Ash asked after he was done, when Pikachu jumped back on his shoulder. The mouse shuffled through each envelope, giving Ash enough time to look at them. “Junk mail, water bill, electricity bill, a letter? Oh, that’s just from her friend down the road.”

It was nothing interesting, so Ash decided to stop stalling and open the door. It was unlocked as usual; there was no need to keep your house locked in a place like Pallet Town.

“Mom?” he called as soon as he stepped in. He could hear pots and pans clanging in the kitchen, so she probably couldn’t hear him.

“Guess we’re heading into the kitchen,” he muttered, and turned to take off his shoes. But before he could do anything, he was slapped twice across the face.

“OW! What the hell?!”

“Mime!” Mr Mime recoiled before him and quickly grabbed for Ash’s cheeks, rubbing them gently as if to soothe them.

“Ash!” His mother finally came out of the kitchen and started running towards him. He met her halfway and pulled her into the bear hug of a lifetime. “Oh, my little boy’s home! Mr Mime must not have recognised you under that beard!”

“I’m not really a little boy anymore…” he groaned, while Pikachu giggled on his shoulder.

“I know, but,” she pulled away, but kept her arms firmly around his waist, “You’re always going to be my baby. Even if you’re nearly a foot taller than me.” She placed her hands on her hips. “But you didn’t tell me you were coming home!”

“I wanted to surprise you.” He finally pulled away and let Pikachu leap into Delia’s arms for his own set of cuddles. He handed her the bouquet of flowers he was holding, and watched her expression relax. “I would’ve just hung out at Professor Oak’s if you weren’t home.”

“Ash, there are lovely, but did you get these from the bush across the road?” He grinned sheepishly, and Delia shook her head. “I suppose that doesn’t matter. It’s wonderful to see you! Especially now, after you’ve started travelling again. Serena told me you hadn’t dropped by since you left Kalos.”

Ash’s smile dropped slightly. “I still call. I guess things got a little crazy the past year.”

“I suppose some things never change.” He noticed his mother’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, but he decided not to bring it up.

“You weren’t busy, were you?”

“Of course not! Little old me is never busy, especially not on a Sunday afternoon. You know how much I like having those to myself. Unless it’s you, of course.”

“And Mimey,” Ash pointed out.

His mom chuckled, “And Mimey. Say, sweetie, are you hungry?”

“Yes,” he breathed, sending Delia into a fit of giggles. He could almost taste her Pallet noodle special, and from the look on Pikachu’s face, he could probably taste it too.

“You’re probably tired from your journey, right?” his mother asked, turning around to head into the kitchen. “You can go ahead and sleep in your old room. If you can still fit – I haven’t really changed the bed. You can take my room if it’s too small for you.”

“Nah, I want to spend time with you first.” Ash wrapped an arm around her shoulder and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “I missed you a lot.”

“Then find me a vase to put these in. And shave that mess off of your face!” Delia stood on her tiptoes and placed a light kiss on his nose, and smiled warmly up at him in a way that emphasized the new smile crinkles around her eyes – ones Ash hadn’t even noticed before. “And I missed you too, Ash.”

* * * * * * * *

Ash took a short nap after eating and catching up with his mom and Mimey, which went well into the evening. He would’ve slept longer if it was more comfortable, but he only just fit into his bed. His head touched the wooden headboard and his feet stuck out the other end. He could barely stretch without half of him falling off. Pikachu was fine – he went to rest comfortably on Ash’s old Snorlax doll after seeing there wasn’t enough room on the bed.

Ash decided against waking him up before trudging downstairs. In the living room, his mother sat on their couch reading a magazine. The smell of her famous noodle soup came wafting in from the kitchen.

“You look nice. What’s the occasion?”

“I called Professor Oak to tell him you were back, so Gary’s coming over.” Delia placed the magazine on her lap and smiled up at him. “He can’t really make the trip down himself anymore.”

Ash grinned internally. Professor Oak was in his eighties now, and wasn’t supposed to walk so much, but the old man never let that stop him. He supposed he would avoid a trip if it meant his mother’s anger, however.

“Is Tracey coming?”

“No, he and the family are in Viridian for his exhibition. But they should be home tomorrow. Oh!” She clapped her hands together, “You haven’t met their youngest, have you?”

Ash shook his head. “A girl, right? With some flower name.”

“It’s Clover. You remember all their names, I hope? Clover, Angelo and Ivy?”

Ash snorted, and she furrowed her brow. “What?”

“Nothing.”

He could never forget Ivy, or the story behind her name. Tracey and Daisy were still stuck on what to call their first child, and Misty had convinced them that Ivy was perfect. They regretted the decision as soon as they announced it to Brock. Thankfully Misty had caught it all on camera so he could be a part of the action.

“When is Gary getting here?” Ash asked before his mother could question the grin on his face.

“Soon! He should be here about…”

Right on cue, the door burst open. Ash had to roll his eyes at Gary’s timing.

“Mrs K!” Gary boomed, “You look stunning. Did you do something with your hair?”

“Oh Gary!” his mom giggled, and Ash bristled. “You always were a sweet talker. I thought I asked you to start calling me Delia.

“Sorry, sorry. Force of habit. But seriously, you look especially beautiful today. What’s your routine?”

“I’d appreciate it if you stopped flirting with my mother, Gary,” Ash grunted, stepping into the other man’s view.

“Ash, is that how you greet your guests?”

“Aw, it’s okay.” Gary grinned, “Ashy-boy’s just jealous because he’s a taken man, and I can hit on whoever I want.”

“You cannot hit on whoever you want,” Delia said sternly, and Gary stood at attention.

“Of course not!”

“Hmm.” Delia crossed her arms. “Well, come on in! I assume you want some coffee? Black with no sugar?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Delia vacated the living room, and Gary pulled Ash in for a hug. “It’s been a long time, Ash.”

“It’s good to see you again,” Ash agreed, patting his friend on the back. “I missed you the last time.”

Gary pulled away, rubbing the back of his neck. “I wanted to make it, but I was too close to finding Mew.” He frowned. “Or at least, I thought I was.”

“Have you tried the forest near Cameran Palace?”

Gary’s arm went slack as he stared at Ash in shock, but he shook it off soon after. “Should’ve known you of all people would know where to find a legendary pokémon. You wouldn’t happen to know about Ho-Oh too, would you? That’s who I’m researching now.”

Ash chuckled, shaking his head. “Sorry.”

“Still useless when it counts, huh?” Gary laughed as he dodged Ash’s fist. “Anyway, how long are you in Pallet this time? I heard you haven’t been back home in a while. Kalos must miss you.”

The mention of Kalos had an almost immediate effect on Ash – his shoulders had sunk and his hand had shoved themselves into his pockets. He could almost hear Pikachu’s concerned “chu” despite the pokémon not even being there. He sneaked a look at Gary’s raised eyebrow and cursed himself for being so transparent.

“Here’s your coffee, Gary,” his mother called out, walking into the hallway. “And I made that Pallet noodle special you really like, since you’re staying for dinner.” She stopped short when she saw them. “Ash? Sweetie, are you alright?”

“Hey, Mrs – Delia?” Gary slapped a heavy arm on Ash’s shoulder, almost causing him to flinch. “Is it cool if I borrow Ash after dinner?”

* * * * * * * *

Gary’s friend still hadn’t shown up by the fourth bourbon. Or was it the fifth? Gary kept buying and Ash wasn’t keeping count. All he knew was that he was clearly more buzzed than Gary was, but that probably had something to do with the fact that Ash hadn’t had a drink since he was twenty one.

He’d even expected to do shots when they walked in. Shots.

“Shots, Ash? What are you, a teenage girl?” Gary had asked, and Ash was about to point out that Gary had no problem with taking shots when they were younger, despite him never having been a teenage girl, but Gary had already moved on to another topic. Which was just typical. He always had to have the last word.

Ash held his empty glass to his face. The bar was hot and stuffy, and the glass felt cool against his skin. “Who’s your friend again?”

“I told ya, you’ve met them.” Gary held a finger up at the bartender to order another round.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m gonna remember them,” Ash pointed out, jabbing his glass in Gary’s direction and fumbling when a block of ice almost fell out onto his lap.

“You’ll definitely know her.”

“Oh, so it’s a her!” Ash rubbed his chin, which eventually led to scratching at his chin because he’d done a terrible job of shaving his beard off and it was bugging him.

“Damn! And that was a crucial detail too.”

“Who is she?”

“She’s a babe.”

Ash rolled his eyes. “Gary, if it’s one of your old cheerleaders –”

“It’s not –”

“And if you’re trying to set me up with someone –”

Gary scoffed. “Why would I set you up with someone when I could hook up with her myself? ‘Sides, like anyone would wanna go home with you when I’m around.”

“I don’t want to go home with anyone except myself.”

“I should’ve known I’d stumble into a weird conversation with you around, Oak.” Ash turned around to the source of a new voice and found a vaguely familiar head of messy red hair.

“I wouldn’t mind going home with her,” Ash mumbled before he could place who she was, though he ended up being louder than he thought he was. She had clearly heard him, and when he realised that the ‘she’ in question was actually Misty, he wanted to sink into his seat until he disappeared.

Gary snorted long and hard. “I don’t know whether to laugh at him or at the fact that you’re wearing mom jeans, Misty.”

Misty scowled at both of them, face flushed and arms crossed. “I just threw something on. I didn’t realise I was supposed to dress nice.”

“I think it’s very you,” Ash offered shyly, and immediately regretted opening his mouth for the second time that night when she glared at him.

“I mean, it suits you,” Gary agreed, “But it’d look better on Ash’s bedroom floor.”

Ash slammed his head against the counter of the bar, and from the corner of his eye watched Misty rub her temples. “Okay, what round are you guys on?”

Ash answered “four or five” while Gary answered “six”. Misty groaned. “And when did you start?”

“Right before we called you.”

“That was half an hour ago!”

The bartender chose that moment to place their next two bourbons down. Ash sat up, ready to get more of the cool liquid into his system. He saw Misty starting to protest so he took a gulp before she could say anything, and Gary lifted a finger.

“You’re not here to babysit, you’re just our designated driver. Besides, Ashy-boy’s had a rough day.”

“More like a rough past eight years,” Ash muttered under his breath.

Misty sat down on a stool next to him, and Ash couldn’t stand the concerned look she was giving him. It was like she actually cared, and that was giving him ideas. “What happened?”

Ash took another swig of his drink, which was now already half empty. “Nothing happened. Being a pokémon master sucks. I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

“I’ve been trying to get him to drink until he spills,” Gary explained.

Misty rolled her eyes. “That’s the best way to go about this? Really?”

“Well even if he doesn’t, it’s cathartic,” Gary mumbled into his glass.

Misty sighed. “Is that why you haven’t returned to Kalos for so long, Ash?”

“I’m on hiatus,” he murmured.

“Your hiatus was meant to last two months. You’ve been gone a year.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I don’t think alcohol’s going to do it, Gary.”

“We’re not leaving till he’s getting wrecked.” Gary downed a third of his glass. “I didn’t ask you here to interrupt my therapy session, Misty!”

“Wha –” Misty stood up, her face fuming. “The nerve! I came all the way out here on my night off – and therapy? Are you serious?!”

“You’re really hot when you’re mad,” Ash blurted out. His eyes widened when he noticed Misty’s startled face turn to him. “Oh, did I say that out loud? Whoopsies.” Ash was ready to scull the rest of his liquor when he felt a few drops fall on his knee, courtesy of Gary spitting out some of his drink. “Dude!”

“What kind of grown man says ‘whoopsies’?”

“Any grown man?” Ash sneered at his former rival before turning to his best friend, not fully registering the fact that she had her head in her hands. “Did you see what he just did?”

“At least buy me a beer,” she said dryly.

Gary lifted a finger in the general direction of the bartender. “One glass of your strongest tequila for the lady –”

“I said I wanted a beer. I’m not drinking that, I have to drive!”

“– In that corner over there.” Gary pointed at a girl in a short skirt standing alone at the counter on the other end of the room. “Misty, there’s no way I’m buying you a drink. That’s what you have Ash for.”

Ash watched Gary saunter off for a while before turning his attention back to Misty, who hadn’t stopped glaring at the other man.

“I don’t mind buying you a beer,” Ash told her. He flinched when she turned her glare at him.

“If you think that’s going to get me in bed with you, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“I can’t go to bed with you. I have a girlfriend.”

“I was wondering when you would remember that.” She placed both of her elbows on the counter and pinched the bridge of her nose. Ash was used to seeing her with bunched up shoulders and gritted teeth over the years, especially when he was the cause. Normally he felt a mix of things – a sense of victory, a bit of excitement, and only a tiny hint of guilt. Now he just felt sad.

“I’m sorry I pissed you off.”

When Misty looked back at him, her expression had softened, and he couldn’t stand it. “It’s not your fault, Ash. Gary shouldn’t be encouraging you to drown your problems in alcohol. I know you don’t do that on a daily basis.” She paused. “I’m a little concerned that that’s the first thing Gary thought of to help.”

“Yeah, you should probably send Gary to therapy.”

She chuckled, “You actually sound smarter when you’re drunk. How does that work?”

“I’m actually a genie.”

“A genie?”

Ash scrunched his face together. “…Genius. But I guess genies would have to be geniuses if they can make all your wishes come true.”

“I take back what I said.”

Ash placed the empty glass against his nose, leaning back into his stool. “Do you ever miss me?”

She shot him a look. “What?”

“You’re my best friend. I miss you a lot.”

She stared at him through narrowed eyes before looking away. “Of course I miss you, Ash.”

“But you never call me!”

“You never call me either.”

“Because I thought you were mad at me.”

“Why would you think I was mad at you?”

Ash slid the glass up to his forehead and closed his eyes. “I’unno. Maybe I did something.”

Misty reached over, taking the glass from his face and placing it on her other side. “You haven’t done anything wrong. We’re terrible at keeping in touch, alright? We’re both pretty busy lately.”

Ash quirked an eyebrow. “You didn’t come to my engagement party.”

Misty froze for a second, before pulling away from his gaze and turning around in her seat. “Like I said, busy. I would have loved to be there, but …” She shrugged. Ash wanted to tell her he didn’t believe her, but some small, stupid, sober part of his brain was keeping his lips sealed.

“To be frank,” she continued, “I’m too tired to talk to anyone on most days. Or travel, or anything.”

He took this as an opportunity to relieve the tension, giving her a watery grin. “Really? Why couldn’t you be like that when we were travelling and I couldn’t get you to shut up?”

Misty threw a punch at his shoulder, which made Ash yelp out in pain. The alcohol heightened any physical contact he experienced. Or was it the age? Maybe both.

“I don’t even like this whole bar thing,” Ash grumbled. Misty pulled her stool closer to him and rested her chin in her hands.

“Then why are you still drinking?”

“Because it’s hot.” Although having Misty around was making him feel much hotter under the collar than the bar itself. But he wasn’t going to tell her that.

Or had he told her already? “Did I say that out loud?”

“What, that it’s hot? Yeah, you did. It’s pretty stuffy in here.”

“Oh yeah. Stuffy. Yeah, it’s real stuffy in here.”

“I don’t think I want to know what you were really thinking, Ash.”

“You definitely don’t.”

“Why not?” Gary’s unwelcome voice asked as he took his old seat next to Ash, “Honesty is always the best policy.”

Misty grinned, “What happened to your nightly conquest?”

The question immediately destroyed Gary’s smug expression. He even pouted, much to Ash’s delight – just like a toddler. “She was dumb. Like twenty, or something.”

Ash nodded. “She said you were too old, didn’t she?”

Gary spluttered and Misty burst into beautiful chiming peals of laughter. Ash felt a sense of accomplishment at both sights – it was like he was seeing some lifelong subconscious dream finally come to fruit, him embarrassing Gary and making Misty laugh.

“That was a good one,” Misty heaved, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

“Whatever.” Gary shifted in his seat. “Can we go home? I’m done here.”

“Hey!” Ash complained, “I thought this drinks thing was for me!”

“About time, too.” Misty rose out of her seat and stretched her elbows behind her back. “You guys have clearly drunk enough.”

“And I was going to buy you a beer, too,” Ash added quietly.

Gary wiggled an eyebrow. “Did I interrupt something?”

“No.” Misty gave them both a light slap on the arm. “C’mon, let’s get you boys home.”

* * * * * * * *

Ash woke up to the sun shining through his window, the pidgey singing and Pikachu snoozing comfortable atop his stomach.

And he felt like shit.

“Are you awake, Ash?” his mother called very, very loudly from what sounded like underwater. Confused, he attempted to stick his head into the air, and saw her standing in the doorway – definitely not right next to his ear and not anywhere near any water.

“I am now,” Ash wanted to say, but what came out of his mouth was a series of grumbles. He frowned when Delia started laughing.

“Oh honey, you know getting drunk in your thirties is a bad idea. That hangover is going to last a few days, I’m afraid.”

“Aren’t you mad?” This time somewhat coherent – even if his voice was deeper than he was used to – he lifted himself up slowly, disturbing Pikachu’s sleep. After a string of curses from the pokémon, the critter crawled up to Ash’s pillow to rest there.

There go my chances of going back to sleep, Ash thought.

“I can’t be mad at your age, can I? You’re an adult. You’re responsible for your own choices.” She crossed her arms. “Though I do hope this won’t become a regular occurrence.”

“It definitely won’t.” He slid down his bed and its ladder, but his knees buckled upon landing and he found himself face first on the floor.

“Are you alright?!” his mother gasped, but Ash barely heard it over the sound of his own stomach churning. It twisted in a strange way that sent a terrible taste up to his throat and –

“Bathroom,” he growled, and got to his feet and ran. The feeling of hurling his guts into the toilet bowl, combined with a nasty, throbbing headache that only got worse as time wore on, made him feel even more like shit. His only solace was his mother rubbing his back in soothing circular motions.

When he stood up to flush the toilet, his every muscle felt sore. He felt like he’d tried to climb Mt Silver in an hour, and then jump right off of it. “I’m never drinking again,” he groaned.

Delia giggled, “That’s my boy! Do you want me to bring you breakfast in bed? I made sausages and pancakes and scrambled eggs and grilled cheese sandwiches and egg noodle soup.”

Ash placed a sloppy kiss on her forehead, which made Delia wince. “Love you, mom, but I think I can make it downstairs okay.”

“If you say so, but please brush your teeth first.”

Ash did as he was told and even went the extra mile and threw a quick shower. He threw up again halfway through it, and no doubt he’d throw up after breakfast too, but at least he wouldn’t smell terrible. He tried waking Pikachu up, but not even the temptation of ketchup would rouse him; he’d spent all of the past evening with Gary and Tracey’s pokémon at the lab, and it looked like he’d really tired himself out.

He trudged downstairs and into the kitchen – with great difficulty – to find his mother setting multiple plates of everything she had promised and Misty watching her, one eyebrow raised and a mug of coffee halfway to her lips. Or away from it. He didn’t really care.

He was glad to see her, but a little anxious at the same time. Last night was the first time he talked to her in years, and his time in the bathroom had slowly brought back some hazy memories of him trying to hit on her, like he often saw Bonnie or Brock do to other girls at bars and big parties. It wasn’t quite Full Brock, but it was close enough as far as Ash was concerned; he never intentionally flirted with anyone. Not to mention his current state was a mess – his hair a frizzy tangle from the shower, and dark bags under his eyes that wouldn’t leave no matter how much water he splashed onto his face.

“Water and hydrodol?” Misty asked when he practically collapsed into his seat. She popped a full glass of water and a pill down in front of him before he could even respond. He didn’t mind, though, popping the medicine into his mouth and greedily downing the whole glass. His mother ruffled his head.

“I’m gardening out the back, so you two yell if you need me!” she chirped, before disappearing out the back door. From the window, Ash could see that Mimey was already in the garden waiting for her.

“Morning,” he grunted at Misty, before digging into his pancakes.

“Good morning,” Misty replied. He was acutely aware of her narrowed eyes, her pursed lips and the long finger tapping against her jawbone. Her hair was still mussed from having woken up, and she was wearing an old shirt of his that fitted her like a dress. Probably lent to her by Delia.

“How come you stayed here?”

“Your mom offered.” Misty reached for a nearby jug of water when she noticed his gaze flick to the empty glass, and she poured him another one. “I was supposed to stay at Tracey and Daisy’s, but I forgot he had his exhibition last night. And the spare key Daisy promised wasn’t where she said it would be. I’d rather be here than at the lab.”

“You and my mom are still close, huh?”

Misty snorted. “Of course we are. I got close to her when you weren’t around. That’s not going to change, considering you’re still never home.”

Ash paused his chewing for a moment. It seemed like it could be a loaded statement, but she said it as if it didn’t matter. And not in that passive-aggressive way he’d so often seen her use, but in a way that suggested she genuinely didn’t care.

He wasn’t sure if that was worse.

“I’m busy,” he started after he swallowed, “I just –”

Misty held a hand up. “We had this discussion last night, remember?” She squinted at him. “Do you remember?”

He sighed. “Yep.”

“Good. So I’ve been visiting much less often than I used to.”

“Huh.” She was being strangely nice. She wasn’t even teasing him; she was just being…pleasant. It was unsettling.

Because he knew Misty would only act like that if she thought he was having a tough time. And if so, how did she know?

Deciding he needed to stop thinking so much, he reached for a sausage and bit half of it off in one go. “How come Gary called you to drive us home? Do you guys keep in touch or something?”

“Oh jeez.” Misty rolled her eyes. “Seriously? Yeah, Ash, we’re friends. But he called me because it was my night off, and because he was taking you out for drinks.” She pointed a finger at him. “Because you have some major issues. You don’t have to get so jealous.”

“I’m not jealous,” Ash replied far too quickly, earning an incredulous look from her. Alright, maybe he was a little jealous, but it wasn’t because of what she thought. It was weird seeing all the people that he’d introduced to each other bonding and moving out without him. It was strange enough finding out that Misty had become good friends with his mom. There had been a pang in his chest when he heard them swap inside jokes that meant nothing to him. And now Misty was probably doing that with Gary?

It was a complex and complete enough reason to be jealous as is, and therefore it definitely wasn’t what Misty thought.

And what Misty thought irked him, since it definitely wasn’t true.

“Sure you aren’t.” She rested her chin on a fist, and rested her elbow on the table. “How’s the wife?”

“She’s not my wife,” Ash snapped, and immediately froze when he realised what he’d said. He was glad his mother wasn’t around, for she’d have skinned him alive for speaking like that about Serena. “Er…well she’s not…I mean, we’re engaged so she’s not technically my wife – and I think I want to end it because I don’t think I was really in love with her in the first place, but I guess that’s not what you were asking…”

Ash trailed off, and looked back at Misty to see her staring at him incredulously. She blinked once, then twice, and finally looked away to clear her throat. “Okay,” she exhaled, “You’re going to have to start from the beginning and catch me up here.”

(A/N: I want it to be clear that there will be no Serena bashing in this fic at all! And I also want to stress that I actually know nothing about the Kardashians. I unfollowed Buzzfeed on Facebook right before that Taylor Swift debacle and I don't want anything more to do with them ;) )

#Pokeani #Ash Ketchum #Misty Waterflower #pokemon fanfiction #pokeshipping #(sort of)#this is going to be a long process my friends #but i did promise myself i'd have the whole complete story up by april 1st #so here goes #mine

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crywonder · 8 years ago

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Your Character’s Personality

Personality is the most important thing about your character.

So, whenever I see character sheets, most people just put a little paragraph for that section. If you’re struggling and don’t know what your character should say or do, what decisions they should make, I guarantee you that this is the problem.

You know your character’s name, age, race, sexuality, height, weight, eye color, hair color, their parents’ and siblings’ names. But these are not the things that truly matter about them.

Traits:

pick traits that don’t necessarily go together. For example, someone who is controlling, aggressive and vain can also be generous, sensitive and soft-spoken. Characters need to have at least one flaw that really impacts how they interact with others. Positive traits can work as flaws, too. It is advised that you pick at least ten traits

people are complex, full of contradictions, and please forgive me if this makes anyone uncomfortable, but even bullies can be “nice” people. Anyone can be a “bad” person, even someone who is polite, kind, helpful or timid can also be narcissistic, annoying, inconsiderate and a liar. People are not just “evil” or “good”

Beliefs:

ideas or thoughts that your character has or thinks about the world, society, others or themselves, even without proof or evidence, or which may or may not be true. Beliefs can contradict their values, motives, self-image, etc. For example, the belief that they are an awesome and responsible person when their traits are lazy, irresponsible and shallow. Their self-image and any beliefs they have about themselves may or may not be similar/the same. They might have a poor self-image, but still believe they’re better than everybody else

Values:

what your character thinks is important. Usually influenced by beliefs, their self-image, their history, etc. Some values may contradict their beliefs, wants, traits, or even other values. For example, your character may value being respect, but one of their traits is disrespectful. It is advised you list at least two values, and know which one they value more. For example, your character values justice and family. Their sister tells them she just stole $200 from her teacher’s wallet. Do they tell on her, or do they let her keep the money: justice, or family? Either way, your character probably has some negative feelings, guilt, anger, etc., over betraying their other value

Motives:

what your character wants. It can be abstract or something tangible. For example, wanting to be adored or wanting that job to pay for their father’s medication. Motives can contradict their beliefs, traits, values, behavior, or even other motives. For example, your character may want to be a good person, but their traits are selfish, manipulative, and narcissistic. Motives can be long term or short term. Everyone has wants, whether they realize it or not. You can write “they don’t know what they want,” but you should know. It is advised that you list at least one abstract want

Recurring Feelings:

feelings that they have throughout most of their life. If you put them down as a trait, it is likely they are also recurring feelings. For example, depressed, lonely, happy, etc.

Self Image:

what the character thinks of themselves: their self-esteem. Some character are proud of themselves, others are ashamed of themselves, etc. They may think they are not good enough, or think they are the smartest person in the world. Their self-image can contradict their beliefs, traits, values, behavior, motives, etc. For example, if their self-image is poor, they can still be a cheerful or optimistic person. If they have a positive self-image, they can still be a depressed or negative person. How they picture themselves may or may not be true: maybe they think they’re a horrible person, when they are, in fact, very considerate, helpful, kind, generous, patient, etc. They still have flaws, but flaws don’t necessarily make you a terrible person

Behavior:

how the character’s traits, values, beliefs, self-image, etc., are outwardly displayed: how they act. For example, two characters may have the trait “angry” but they all probably express it differently. One character may be quiet and want to be left alone when they are angry, the other could become verbally aggressive. If your character is a liar, do they pause before lying, or do they suddenly speak very carefully when they normally don’t? Someone who is inconsiderate may have issues with boundaries or eat the last piece of pizza in the fridge when they knew it wasn’t theirs. Behavior is extremely important and it is advised you think long and hard about your character’s actions and what exactly it shows about them

Demeanor:

their general mood and disposition. Maybe they’re usually quiet, cheerful, moody, or irritable, etc.

Posture:

a secondary part of your character’s personality: not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Posture is how the character carries themselves. For example, perhaps they swing their arms and keep their shoulders back while they walk, which seems to be the posture of a confident person, so when they sit, their legs are probably open. Another character may slump and have their arms folded when they’re sitting, and when they’re walking, perhaps they drag their feet and look at the ground

Speech Pattern:

a secondary part of your character’s personality: not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Speech patterns can be words that your character uses frequently, if they speak clearly, what sort of grammar they use, if they have a wide vocabulary, a small vocabulary, if it’s sophisticated, crude, stammering, repeating themselves, etc. I personally don’t have a very wide vocabulary, if you could tell

Hobbies:

a secondary part of your character’s personality: not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Hobbies can include things like drawing, writing, playing an instrument, collecting rocks, collecting tea cups, etc.

Quirks:

a secondary part of your character’s personality, not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Quirks are behaviors that are unique to your character. For example, I personally always put my socks on inside out and check the ceiling for spiders a few times a day

Likes:

a secondary part of your character’s personality, not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Likes and dislikes are usually connected to the rest of their personality, but not necessarily. For example, if your character likes to do other people’s homework, maybe it’s because they want to be appreciated

Dislikes:

a secondary part of your character’s personality, not as important as everything else. It is advised you fill this out after. Likes and dislikes can also contradict the rest of their personality. For example, maybe one of your character’s traits is dishonest, but they dislike liars

History:

your character’s past that has key events that influence and shape their beliefs, values, behavior, wants, self-image, etc. Events written down should imply or explain why they are the way they are. For example, if your character is distrustful, maybe they were lied to a lot by their parents when they were a child. Maybe they were in a relationship for twenty years and found out their partner was cheating on them the whole time. If their motive/want is to have positive attention, maybe their parents just didn’t praise them enough and focused too much on the negative

On Mental and Physical Disabilities or Illnesses

if your character experienced a trauma, it needs to have an affect on your character. Maybe they became more angry or impatient or critical of others. Maybe their beliefs on people changed to become “even bullies can be ‘nice’ people: anyone can be a ‘bad’ person”

people are not their illness or disability: it should not be their defining trait. I have health anxiety, but I’m still idealistic, lazy, considerate, impatient and occasionally spiteful; I still want to become an author; I still believe that people are generally good; I still value doing what make me feel comfortable; I still have a positive self-image; I’m still a person. You should fill out your character’s personality at least half-way before you even touch on the possibility of your character having a disability or illness

Generally everything about your character should connect, but hey, even twins that grew up in the same exact household have different personalities; they value different things, have different beliefs. Maybe one of them watched a movie that had a huge impact on them.

Not everything needs to be explained. Someone can be picky or fussy ever since they were little for no reason at all. Someone can be a negative person even if they grew up in a happy home.

I believe this is a thought out layout for making well-rounded OCs, antagonists and protagonists, whether they’re being created for a roleplay or for a book. This layout is also helpful for studying Canon Characters if you’re looking to accurately roleplay as them or write them in fanfiction or whatever.

I’m really excited to post this, so hopefully I didn’t miss anything important…

If you have any questions, feel free to send a message.

- Chick

#not sure I agree with ALL of these #but there's some good stuff!#ref

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crywonder · 8 years ago

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Fanfiction Questions

Fandom Questions

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

2. What is your latest fandom?

3. What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in?

4. Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms?

5. Which fandoms have your written fanfiction for?

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

7. List your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in.

8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

10. Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

Ship Questions for your Current Fandom

11. Who is your current OTP?

12. Who is your current OT3?

13. Any NoTPs?

14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

16. Are their any popular ships in your fandom which you dislike?

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

18. What ship have you written the most about?

19. Is there a ship which you wished you could get behind, but you just don’t feel them?

20. Any ships which you surprised yourself by liking?

Author Questions

21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

22. Is there anything you regret writing?

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

24. What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

25. What’s your most popular fanfic?

26. How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?

28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

29. Do you have a beta reader? Why/Why not?

30. What inspires you to write?

31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

32. Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you? If so, which band or genre of music does it for you?

33. Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics or huuuuuge epics?

34. What’s the word count on your longest fic?

35. Do you write drabbles? If so, what do you normally write them about?

36. What’s your favourite genre to write?

37. First person or third person - what do you write in and why?

38. Do you use established canon characters or do you create OCs?

39. What is you greatest strength as a writer?

40. What do you struggle the most with in your writing?

Fanfiction Questions

41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading:

41. List and link to 5 fanfiction authors who are amazing:

42. Is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

43. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

44. What is your all time favourite fanfic?

45. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

46. Archive Of Our Own, Fanfiction.net or Tumblr - where do you prefer to post and why?

47. Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why/Why not?

48. Do you care if people comment/reblog your writing? Why/why not?

49. How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction?

50. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

#meme post #??why not

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crywonder · 8 years ago

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Words to use instead of “very” . Useful in a polish among other things.

Thanks to TVWriter

#reference

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crywonder · 8 years ago

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Audience Participation: Fic-Writing Edition

#*shrug emoji* WHY NOT

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crywonder · 8 years ago

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We’re Good - Part 2

PART 2 OF 2 - PART 1 HERE

Ship: Champselyseeshipping (Serena/Misty)

Summary: So maybe things didn’t turn out the way you wanted. Just take it one day at a time, and you’ll see -- it’ll be okay in the end. Canon divergent. Two-shot.

FFnet || Ao3

She never liked how rough her mother’s Rhyhorn’s exterior was when she was a child, but her appreciation of it had grown in the years she’d lived by herself. Its coarse rock hide was once unpleasant to touch, and a major factor in being unwilling to race Rhyhorn, but now it felt like home.

She supposed her surroundings made her feel at home, too. Vaniville was supposed to be her hometown after all. But Grace’s job had meant that Serena had spent a substantial amount of her childhood travelling, so maybe it meant a little less. The musky smell of autumn was wonderful, as was the feeling of a brittle brown leaf between her fingers – but none of it was as familiar as Rhyhorn, who’d been with her everywhere.

“Fletchling, fletch!” chirped her mother’s other pokémon at her, and Serena chuckled. She couldn’t forget Fletchling, of course.

“You haven’t evolved yet?” Serena asked, holding out her hand and allowing the bird to perch on the side of her wrist. “When are you ever going to grow up? Ow!” she yelped, when he gave her knuckle an offended peck.

“Fletch!” he huffed, before fleeing off to his owner.

Serena pursed her lips. “Some welcome, huh?”

Rhyhorn grunted and shut her eyes, asking to be pet more, so Serena obliged.

“Serena!” her mother called out, “I didn’t know you’d be home this early!”

“Surprise!” Serena called back, giving her a little wave. Her mother ran out into the front yard and wrapped her arms tightly around her. Serena had always marvelled at Grace’s strength – she was well into her fifties now and had retired from racing, but she still looked and acted like she hadn’t aged a day past thirty.

“Well?” she asked. “Did you drop by Santalune? Did you get what I wanted?”

Serena rolled her eyes. “Is that all you care about?”

Grace chuckled. “Of course not, dear. Come on in!”

After a hearty lunch and an hour of playing around with Rhyhorn and Fletchling, Grace decided to let Serena share in another one of her new passions since her retirement: cross-country running.

Much to Serena’s dismay.

“This tracksuit is so comfortable,” Grace commented, “Very easy to run in.”

“Oh yeah?” Serena breathed, struggling to get air into her system. They’d only been running for ten minutes, but she wasn’t used to this kind of vigorous exercise. “I always … did pick out the best clothes …”

“Well, I’m not so sure about the colour.”

Serena threw her mother a wry look, not just because of the comment but also because of how she seemed completely unaffected by their run up a hill. “Maybe next time,” she took a deep breath, “You should come along.”

Grace turned her head to glance at Serena, and then slowed down to keep pace with her daughter. “Breath in and out through your nose. It makes it easier that way.”

“Easy for you to say,” Serena croaked, finally coming to a stop. She closed her eyes and grasped at her knees, focusing on taking deep breaths and getting the oxygen into her system again. Now that she stopped however, she noticed the soreness of her feet and started to cramp slightly on her side. “Ow …”

“The stitches.” Serena looked up to see her mother give her a sympathetic smile, one that was all too familiar and infuriating. “Stopping probably wasn’t a good idea.”

Serena scowled. “I see that now.”

She focused back on looking straight ahead of her – lifting her head to look up at Grace was proving too much of an effort. From the corner of her eye she could see her mother rummage through her fanny pack and pull out a small palm-sized water bottle; another trinket that Serena had brought to her mother from the stores of Santalune City.

“Have a drink,” she said, waving the tiny bottle in front of Serena’s face. Serena finally pulled herself straight, and downed half the bottle in one go.

“Thanks.”

Grace nodded over to a large boulder on the side of the trail. “We can rest on that rock over there, if you want.”

“Yes please!”

Serena had to practically crawl her way over, but the relief she felt once she sat down was immediate. She reached up to wipe the small beads of sweat that were starting to make her way down her forehead and found that strands of hair had fallen lose in front of her face. She quickly got to work undoing her ponytail and brushing her hair back and behind her ears.

Grace chuckled, causing Serena to look up at her with her hair tie caught between her lips. “You don’t have to worry about your hair all the way out here. There’s no one around!”

“You’re around,” Serena mumbled, taking the tie out from her lips and stretching it over the bun she’d bunched up at the back of her head. She pulled out a few bobby pins she’d stuck onto her shirt and started pinning her bun into place, bit by bit. Grace rolled her eyes.

“I didn’t say we could sit here forever.”

“Mom!” Serena glared up at her mother playfully. “I’m always quick with this stuff. I travelled around for ages!”

But Serena had thick hair, and eight bobby pins was apparently as far as Grace’s patience could go. “Alright,” she sighed, taking a seat next to her. Despite the chilly autumn hair, her mother was still radiating warmth. “Since we’ll be here a while, why don’t we talk?”

“If you wanted to do that, you shouldn’t have taken me on a run.”

“Serena.”

Serena couldn’t stop herself from giggling. “Alright, alright! We still have a lot to catch up on anyway. And you still haven’t lectured me on how I don’t have a real job yet.”

“Oh, I don’t care about that as long as you’re able to pay the rent. I was more interested in how your friend got you a table at Siebold’s restaurant.” Grace grinned. “You think she could do the same for me?”

“Now I get it,” Serena smirked. “You made me run all the way up here so you could tire me out, and then get that reservation out of me.”

Her mother threw her hands into the air. “You got me! That really was my plan all along.”

Serena stifled a laugh. “I’m sure I could ask Misty to pull some strings. Was there anyone you wanted to go with? Your old racing buddies?”

“Actually,” Grace said, placing both hands in her lap, “I wouldn’t mind a nice night out with the two of you.”

“… The two of us?”

“You and Misty. You two seem close, and I’d like to meet her.” Grace smiled. “You’ve mostly been talking about her all day, so I need to see what all the fuss is about, don’t I?”

“Um.” Serena suddenly found herself unable to look her in the eye and fighting the heat rising to her face. She didn’t understand why the idea of Misty meeting her mother made her feel so nervous. It was only Misty after all – just another one of her friends, and all of her close friends had met Grace at some point. Heck, even Ash had met her, back during the height of Serena’s crush on him. So what was the deal?

“Serena?”

“Huh?” Serena jumped. “Oh! Um, I-I’ll give her a call and see what she can do.”

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine!” Serena waved her hands. “Really!”

Grace frowned. “Do you not want us to meet?”

“Th-that’s not it at all! I’d love for you to meet her, she’s wonderful. You’d like her a lot.” Serena muttered under her breath, “I hope.”

Serena felt a warm hand squeeze her shoulder. “I know I will. You’ve always kept the loveliest people around you. Even Ash.”

Serena gave her mother a grateful smile. “I know.”

Grace tilted her head. “It’s nice to see you not getting upset over that boy anymore.”

“Hm? Upset?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

Serena shifted in her seat, pursing her lips. “I guess I haven’t thought about him in a while.” She hesitated. “But uh … Misty’s helped a lot actually.”

“She has, has she?”

“Mhm.” Serena stared down at her thumbs, carefully tracing the contours of her hand with her thumbnail. “She was … well.” She shifted in her seat. “She loved him too.”

Grace raised an eyebrow. “Oh, is that why you spend so much time around her? I thought she was your new girlfriend.”

Serena nearly fell off her seat. “Wh-what?!”

“Well I did! You were gushing about her so much, you can’t blame me for jumping to conclusions.”

“Gushing about – mom!” Serena’s cheeks were searing uncontrollably now, as much as she was willing them to stop. “It’s not like that!”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure!” Serena stood abruptly, suddenly feeling the urge to move around and do something physical. “Are we going to run back home or are we just going to sit around here?”

“Wha –?”

“Let’s go!” Serena turned on her heel and started running back down the hill.

“Wait, we were supposed to go all the way up!” Grace’s voice grew closer, but Serena started to pick up the pace. “And just because you’re not dating Misty doesn’t mean I don’t want to meet her! I still do!”

“I’ll see what I can do! Now try to keep up!”

----------------

“Are you sure I look okay?” Misty asked, poking at the slight pouf in her hair. Serena laughed lightly swatting her hand away.

“You look fine!” She smoothed down the few strands that had gone stray thanks to the redhead’s fidgeting. “You really don’t have to worry.”

“I just want to make a good impression!”

“Oh, Misty, it’s not anyone you haven’t met before.”

“I know, but,” Misty sighed, exasperated, “All your friends are so beautiful, and I mean …”

Serena raised an eyebrow, but waited for her to continue. She’d never known Misty to be so self-conscious about these things. She’d met four of Serena’s closest friends from her showcases – Shauna, Nini, Miette and Aria – and she didn’t care then what she looked like.

Then again, Misty had worn dresses to those four meetings, and that wasn’t something that happened very often …

“If I’m going to be your … plus one,” Misty said carefully, and Serena’s lips tightened, “To this party, I want to look as good as you, you know?”

“Oh,” Serena laughed, waving her concern away, “It’s only Nini’s birthday party! She doesn’t care about being fancy. I won’t be dressing up too much, and I don’t think anyone else will either.”

“You don’t need to dress up. None of your friends do. That’s my point.”

“And you think you do?”

Misty remained silent, refusing to meet Serena’s eye in the mirror of her dressing table. Serena bit her lip and knelt down so she was eye level to the girl, forcing her to swivel around.

“Misty,” Serena started, “I thought this whole makeover was for fun. I didn’t realise it was because you thought you needed it.”

Misty opened her mouth to speak, but Serena squeezed her shoulder. “And you don’t. You’re beautiful. And I don’t just mean right now, I mean always.”

It took all of Serena’s strength not to look away or stutter over her words. She knew it wouldn’t mean anything if she did, so she held her ground. She didn’t want to give Misty any room to think she was lying.

With satisfaction, and a bit of a thrill, Serena noted Misty’s ears were turning pink and was glad that she hadn’t caked her in pounds of makeup like the redhead had initially wanted.

“And besides,” Serena added, “I asked you to be my plus one because everyone likes you. That’s not because of how you look.”

She wasn’t close enough to feel Misty’s breath on her face – thank the stars, because there was no way Serena would’ve been able to deal with that – but she was close enough to hear her breathing quicken for just less than a second. Her lips formed a small ‘o’ before pressing shut.

“Do you really mean all of that?” Misty finally asked.

“Of course I do.”

Misty opened her mouth to speak again, but she never got the chance as the doorbell rang. Serena lost all her resolve in a snap, and leapt backwards onto her feet.

“Ah!” she yelped, scurrying backwards out of the room, “That’ll be the girls!”

The walk to her door wasn’t enough to think up an explanation for the flush on her face, but neither Miette or Shauna questioned in when she let them into the house. It made Serena nervous.

“Hi!” she chirped a little too brightly, “You two are early!”

“We wanted food,” Shauna explained.

“And we decided it was cheaper to eat at yours,” Miette finished for her, Shauna slapping her on the arm.

Serena giggled. “I have a few leftovers from dinner.”

“Is Misty here yet?” the brunette asked.

“Uh …” Serena blinked, “Yeah, she’s been here a while. To get ready.”

Both her friends swapped a look that justified Serena’s anxiety, and her face burned as she stomped her foot. “Guys!” she hissed, “She’s in my room, so don’t be weird!”

Miette smirked, “Is she now?”

“N-not like … Miette!” She hid her face in her hands, “She just wanted some clothes and makeup, that’s all!”

“Hi Shauna, Miette,” she heard Misty announce, and Serena wanted to die. How much of that had she heard?

“Wow!”

“Oh Misty, your dress!”

“Nice.”

“I love your hair, did Serena do that for you?”

“You look hot.”

“You look really good!”

“Thanks,” Misty said shyly, and Serena rolled her eyes. If she’d just asked Aria for a ride, it wouldn’t be this embarrassing. Aria was her first choice, actually, but she was busy with a photoshoot right before the party, and Serena’s apartment wasn’t on the way. Then she’d called Shauna, and Shauna was fine on her own, but pair her with Miette …

Not to mention that she was a little put off by Miette’s blatant flirting. But that was only minor, of course.

“Hey,” Serena snapped, calling for everyone’s attention. “You guys are here for food, right?”

“You know that’s not all we’re here for,” Shauna sighed.

“Yeah, you give us food, and we give you a ride.” Miette hooked an arm around Misty’s. “And Misty gets to ride free of charge!”

“It’s my car, Miette, and I’m driving. By the way, I’m sorry if we’re intruding, Serena. We probably should’ve called first.”

“No, no, it’s fine!” Serena rummaged through her fridge for tonight’s dinner. “It’s not like I’m ever busy, you guys know that.”

“Hey, why is that?” From the corner of her eye, she saw Miette untangle from Misty and take a seat at the kitchen table. Her expression was sombre; she didn’t look like she was teasing at all. “I thought you were pursuing modelling. What happened to that?”

“Oh, I was never pursuing modelling. I only do it for Shauna.” She pulled out a few Tupperware boxes, and looked through her cupboards for some bowls. “Just helping a friend out. And it pays the rent.”

“Then what are you doing?”

Serena froze for a second that she hoped no one else in the room noticed. Gritting her teeth, she slowly started spooning the pasta from the Tupperware into a bowl. “Nothing … at the moment. I’m still trying to figure out what I want.”

“She’s Pancham’s manager,” Misty provided, and Serena flushed.

“Oh, that’s not really a big deal. Pancham’s interested in acting, so I’ve been training him up and sending him out for auditions.”

“And you were getting Sylveon into dancing too, weren’t you?” Shauna asked.

“That one’s not working out so well. People are more interested in groups of dancers than just one lone pokémon. Even if I was to join her, there wouldn’t be a huge audience.”

Miette frowned as she contemplated the conversation. “Why don’t you compete again? Showcases are back next month. You have time.”

“Um …” Serena bit her lip. Truth be told, as much as she loved performing, she wasn’t sure she could do it anymore – at least not competitively. She’d already achieved her goal, so all the fire that was driving her forward was gone. She loved watching it, and she’d still think up routines with her pokémon and dance around with them at home, but it felt like more of a hobby nowadays.

Which made her feel terrible, but she still couldn’t motivate herself to compete again.

“I don’t know,” she finally said. “Maybe.”

The room was uncharacteristically silent as Serena placed the pasta in the microwave and punched it in for two minutes. The microwave was loud enough to make up for it, but it didn’t make it any less awkward.

“Hey, you wanna know what my favourite showcase of yours was?”

“Wh-what?” Serena wasn’t sure she’d heard Miette right. Was she really going to compliment her? Even after all their years of friendship, it was rare for her to do that. It was more likely a joke – although Serena wasn’t sure what Miette had to gain from that.

“That one you organised right after the Team Flare attacks,” Miette continued, as if Serena hadn’t reacted at all.

“Oh, yeah!” Shauna exclaimed clapping her hands together, “Right before Clemont lit up the Lumiose Tower! That one was fun.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t even there but I wish I was.”

“That?” Serena gave the performers a funny look. “I didn’t even practice for that one! I-I mean, it was just Shauna and me and Jessilee playing around.”

“That’s probably why it was so great,” Miette persisted. “I mean, competition puts so much pressure on you, you can’t even have fun sometimes. Even if you’re enjoying yourself, if you don’t win it’s suddenly not as great. But when there are no stakes, you don’t really care.”

“And you did it for all those people, even though you didn’t have to,” Shauna added. She nudged Misty, “Hey, did you ever see it?”

“N-no,” Misty stuttered. Serena had forgotten about her being around, so she flushed immediately, thankful that serving the dinner onto plates involved facing away from the girls on the table. “You really did that?”

“Y-yeah … just a little thing, you know …”

Miette snorted. “Don’t sell yourself short. That’s only one of the times you’ve proved you’re a better person than all of us.”

Serena spun around immediately. “Miette, you’re so extreme!” But she suddenly met Misty’s gaze and found that she couldn’t pull away.

“Miette’s right,” she said quietly, almost to herself, “That sounds amazing.”

Internally, she was screaming. Misty’s eyes were sparkling, her hands were clasped tightly and her shoulders were bunched up like she was holding her breath. Serena didn’t think the performance was such a big deal, but she didn’t want Misty to stop looking at her the way she was so she didn’t say anything. She could’ve stood there staring like an idiot forever, but Shauna cleared her throat and ruined the moment.

“Sorry, food!” Serena remembered, and quickly turned around to get back to what she was doing. She didn’t need to be watching to know the looks Shauna and Miette were probably passing each other. They probably brought Misty into this on purpose.

But admittedly … they had given her something to think about.

----------------

“Politoed, toed!”

“Oh, I’m glad you like my poké puffs, Politoed!” Serena chuckled. “I made sure they’re super sweet, just the way you like them.”

“Toed!” The pokémon threw the puff into his mouth and started dancing around, sending Serena scrambling backwards on all fours.

“Politoed!” his trainer commanded, “Control yourself!”

Politoed, predictably, did not stop dancing, and from the corner of her eye Serena saw Misty crouch down next to her. “After all these years …”

Serena stifled a giggle. “I think it’s cute.”

“You would think it’s cute,” Misty groaned.

“He’d be great in a showcase.”

“Are you offering to take him off my hands?”

“Misty!” Serena finally turned to face the girl fully, and saw her with her chin in her hand and elbow resting on her knee. She had that funny kind of smile on her face that Serena was only just starting to get used to.

“What?” she smirked, “If I had to trust Politoed with anyone, it’d be you.”

Serena flushed. “With me?”

“Uh, because you’re good with pokémon, of course!” Misty recoiled, tucking a rogue strand of her fringe away behind her ear. “Look at you, running back and forth for Pancham just because he wanted an acting career – a-actually, forget it! You’re never getting Politoed because you’d spoil him rotten!”

“Are you going to make up your mind?” Serena deadpanned.

The doorbell rang before Misty could give an angry retort, and the redhead shot into the air and ran out to answer it. Serena didn’t realise she was expecting company at this time, and felt bad for coming over. It had been a surprise lunch on Misty’s day off – partly to test out her new poké puff recipe on Politoed, partly just to spend time with her. The trainer was getting busier and busier lately, and was getting a lot more attention from the higher-ups in the League. But she supposed she couldn’t be the only person Misty spent her time with; surely her other friends wanted to spend time with her too.

“Like, hiiiiiiiiiiiii!” a loud voice squealed, forcing Serena to give in to her curiosity and stride over to the living room. There she found Misty lost in a jungle of long, beautiful blonde hair. A man slightly older to Misty watched affectionately as he slumped under the weight of two large pink duffel bags, three more brightly coloured suitcases at his feet. Serena recognised him as Tracey, Ash’s friend who’d been working for Professor Oak back in Pallet Town. It’d been years since she’d seen him, but he looked exactly the same.

“Daisy!” Misty coughed out, “What are you doing here?”

Serena’s eyes widened as the blonde backed away, identifying her as one of Misty’s sisters. She’d only ever seen her in photographs, and she could never focus on the pictures as a whole because she’d always get caught up on the similarities between Misty and the rest of her family – Lily had Misty’s small, delicate nose; Daisy and Violet clearly had Misty’s thinner lips. Every single one of them had those same striking sea-green eyes.

But seeing Daisy standing next to her sister in person made Serena realise they really were as different as night and day. Where Misty was strong and athletic, Daisy had an hourglass figure that a girl could die for. Misty had ever-thinning hair from all her time spent in the pool, while Daisy’s was still thick and lush and flowed all around her shoulders.

But as Daisy reached out to tuck a flower in Misty’s ear, just as she had one in her own, the similarities that she’d noticed earlier started to hold more weight.

“Here, I, like, picked this from Professor Oak’s garden.” Daisy toyed with Misty’s hair, twisting and tugging it into something a little more organised. “Tracey and I both had a week off, so we thought we’d, like, surprise you!”

“Can you stop messing with my hair?” Misty bit her lip. “Why didn’t you say anything? I could’ve been at work today!”

Tracey coughed quietly. “I did suggest calling first.”

“You totally did not!”

“It’s okay, Tracey,” Misty snickered, “I believe you.”

Tracey rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly before shifting his gaze to Serena. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Oh, I didn’t realise you had a guest over, little sister!” Daisy leaned forward, her lips twisted into a pout. “Wait a sec, haven’t I seen you before?”

Serena suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, like she was standing under a spotlight. Misty’s words from when she met her mother came to mind: I feel like she was judging me. What did you even say to her?

Serena understood now. She’d never met anyone this close to Misty. The trainer had her friends in Kalos, of course, like her co-workers and the staff at the café she frequented, but Serena was far more established in the region. All of Misty’s closest friends were back in Kanto, where she was from.

“This is Serena,” Misty sighed, striding over to place a small hand on her back that had Serena’s back stiffen and her heart race a little. “Ash’s friend from Kalos. I told you about her, remember?”

“We met when she came to Pallet Town a few years ago,” Tracey added. “I’ll never forget your poké puffs! I know they’re meant for pokémon, but I tried one myself and they’re excellent!”

Serena was ready to wave the comment away and insist they weren’t even her best work, but she was interrupted by Daisy. “Wait a minute … so you’re Serena?” She placed her hands on her hips, “Like Misty, you never told me you were dating a supermodel!”

Rarely did Serena’s mind ever go completely blank, but apparently this was a rare moment. Her brain wasn’t sure what to address first – the ‘dating’ or the ‘supermodel’? But her body reacted when her brain didn’t, and she was vaguely aware of her face burning.

“We’re not dating,” Misty hissed, and Serena turned to find her just as red as her hair. “Serena is not my girlfriend.”

“Really? Because you –”

“Not my girlfriend!” Misty roared, and she stomped over to Tracey, yanked the two large duffel bags away from him and marched off into her spare bedroom.

“What did I say?” Daisy whined, turning to her partner. Tracey winced.

“Well –”

“I’m not a supermodel,” Serena blurted out, apparently unable to control her mouth or any other part of her body. Her face burned hotter under the gaze of the couple. “I mean, a little bit but that’s not my main job … ah, are you guys hungry? I made extra lunch. It was going to be leftovers for Misty, but …”

“Are you sure?” Daisy gestured for Tracey to pick up their suitcases. “Not about, like, the lunch, because we’ll totally take you up on that. I always see you on those billboards advertising Shauna’s new clothing line, since it like just got to Kanto and all. What was it called …?”

“Oh, Shauna’s just my friend, I’m helping her out.” Serena moved out of the way and let them make their way further into the living room, noting the way Daisy took one of the heaver bags off her partner when she saw him struggling. It was strange that they had three big suitcases for a week’s holiday, but she supposed she shouldn’t be too surprised if Misty’s stories were true. “I’m actually in the business of organising showcases. But, um, for children in hospitals and remote areas. Well, I only just started, actually.”

“That sounds pretty awesome.” Tracey’s eyes scanning the room, probably to see where he could keep the luggage. She was about to offer to take it herself before Misty swooped in and grabbed hold of them herself.

“I suppose.” Serena carefully avoided Misty’s eyes as she came and went. “I’ve only just got the green light for my project. There’s still a lot more things I need to plan and details I need to work out. I don’t know how successful it’s going to be.”

“I’m sure it’ll turn out great!” Tracey reassured her, and she decided she liked him already.

“So you’re not going to work for Shauna anymore after you get that started?” Daisy asked.

“I think I will! Like I said, we’re friends.” Serena shifted on her feet. “Her brand’s doing really well, and we have similar styles anyway –”

“You’re wearing her now, aren’t you?” Daisy nodded to her feet. “Like, the boots.”

Serena glanced down at her feet and back up at the blonde. “How did you –”

“Misty might not be able to recognise a designer brand if it slapped her in the face, but she’s always been the runt of the litter.”

“I don’t care about brands!” Misty called from the bedroom, “I just buy what looks cute and has pockets!”

“Like I said, the runt.” Daisy winked. “We both know what’s really important though, don’t we?”

It struck Serena that this was Daisy’s way of trying to get along with her. Serena had never been deprived of a conversation about the things that she could never properly talk to Misty about, like fashion – it wasn’t that Misty didn’t like clothes too, but she didn’t have the same interest in runways and haute couture that Serena did. She supposed Daisy probably had plenty of outlets herself. They didn’t need each other for that, so this was clearly Daisy trying to make an effort to bond with her. It warmed her heart and her chest as she watched Tracey gently chastise Daisy for calling Misty a runt, and Daisy retort back that she was just joking and Misty knows it. The tired smile that Tracey gave her made her feel like she’d known them as family for years. She felt like she could belong with them.

Her gaze shifted a few degrees to the right and caught Misty’s eye, which she’d been trying so hard to avoid. She caught a split second of a maelstrom of emotions before she turned away – happiness, relief, a little bit of alarm and an expression that she couldn’t name, but was often on her face when Ash did well in his tournaments.

She supposed she’d stay for dinner as well.

----------------

Serena’s goodbye party was the previous night, but Misty had insisted on visiting in the morning before she took off. She’d be up early for training, and it was on the way.

Serena knew it wasn’t on the way, but she decided not to bring it up. Selfishly, she wanted Misty to come regardless. She wanted the opportunity to spend time with her alone, apart from everyone else, right before she left. Not that she didn’t value any of her other friends just as much, but she’d grown to value Misty in a different way.

And some tiny part of her mind was starting to think Misty might feel the same.

“You double checked everything, right?” the redhead asked as soon as she entered Serena’s apartment. “It’s always good to check right before leaving, in case you forgot something.”

“Triple-checked,” Serena nodded. “I made a list so I wouldn’t forget.”

“Your toothbrush? Face creams?”

“In my hand luggage.”

Misty nodded, though her brows didn’t relax. She held out a small brown paper bag. “I got you breakfast. I wasn’t sure if you had any.”

Serena winced. “Did … did you make that?”

“No! I bought it from a patisserie on the way here. I wouldn’t want you to get sick while travelling.” Misty frowned, “Speaking of which …”

“I have catering arranged for the whole crew and our pokémon, so it’s not likely we’re getting food poisoning. Besides, our first stop is Vaniville Town, so my mom’ll be around if anything happens. But I haven’t had time to eat breakfast,” Serena confessed, accepting the package, “So thanks.”

“But if you need anything, you can call me, okay?” Misty wrung her hands together. “Does anyone have your spare key?”

“Clemont. But I’ll tell him to give it to you if I need something and he’s too busy.”

“Clemont is responsible,” Misty murmured, running a hand through her hair.

“Vee!” her sylveon called, gesturing to the window with one of her ribbons. “Sylvee!”

“That must be the cab!” Serena rummaged in her pockets and pulled out three of her pokéballs. “We gotta go, guys! Return!”

“Did you really need to call a cab?” Misty huffed, running after Serena as she grabbed her phone and keys on the way out the house. “I could’ve just – oh, let me grab that!” Misty swatted at Serena’s hands when they grabbed for her big suitcase, and Serena relented. “I could’ve just driven you to the office myself, it’s not that far.”

“It’s on the other side of the city, Misty.” Serena waited for her to lug the bag outside, finally shutting the door and making sure it was locked – once, twice, and then a third time. You could never be too careful. “You didn’t even need to come this morning.”

“I wanted to make sure you were ready for today.”

Serena chuckled as she moved in front of Misty and walked down the stairs, pacing a little slower to keep in time with both Misty and the suitcase. “You seem more stressed about this than I do.”

“S-someone has to be!” Misty groaned, “Gosh, what’s in this bag?!”

“Everything you insisted I pack for my trip,” Serena smiled sweetly. “I really didn’t need ten different jackets, but since you insisted …”

“I get it.” With a final thud, Misty dumped the bag on the tiles of the ground floor and rolled it out towards the cab. Serena greeted the driver and let him pack all her luggage into the boot.

“You know,” Serena said softly, turning to Misty once the driver was out of earshot, “I’m glad you came. Even if you didn’t have to.”

Misty’s cheeks were still flushed as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She had a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’ll miss you.”

Serena bit her lip. “I’ll miss you too.”

“You’ll have to call me.”

“Of course. But I’m not leaving forever.”

“Eight months is a long time.”

Serena pursed her lips, and reached for Misty’s hand.

“Ready whenever you are,” the driver called before she had the chance to say anything, and disappeared into the cab.

“I guess that’s my cue,” Serena breathed. Reluctantly, she let go of Misty’s hand and adjusted her ponytail.

“Hey, wait a second.” She looked up to see Misty with a funny look in her eyes, like she couldn’t focus on looking at any one thing. “First, I wanted to say that I’m proud of you.”

“Wha –?”

“You’ve come such a long way since I first met you, and the initial problem that brought us together … isn’t really a problem anymore. So I’m really proud of you.”

Serena coughed, a little embarrassed, “Well, thanks, you too–”

“I’m not done.” Misty closed her eyes. “I also think that … what you’re doing right now, with the hospitals and the children … that’s really amazing. And selfless. My goal is just to improve myself, but you want to spend your entire life making other people happy and I really, really admire you for that. And,” she took a deep breath and reached into her pocket, “Um, y-you’re going to need something to wipe off after you’re done with that breakfast, so …”

With both hands, she held out something blue and white and folded, with little starmie on it, and Serena bit her lip and breathed out sharply through her nose. It was funny how everything tended to fall into place all at once.

“Thank you,” she whispered, as she slipped the handkerchief out of Misty’s hands and into the front of her shirt. She was ready to turn around and head into the car – there was nothing more she really needed to do after all – but one look at Misty’s watery face made her stop for a moment.

So she kissed her without a second thought.

And it was liberating.

----------------

Serena hadn’t expected raised eyebrows when she strode into the bar. Sure, she had locked fingers with Misty Waterflower, but no one seated in Ash’s player box during the championship had said a thing. Most of those people were some of Misty’s closest friends, so she figured if she didn’t get anything from them, she wouldn’t get anything from anyone.

But apparently the water-type trainer was acquainted with half the people at this party, and their relationship wasn’t common knowledge the way it was back in Kalos.

“They’re only staring because they recognise you from the billboards,” Misty whispered in her ear.

“Oh.” Serena cleared her throat, a little embarrassed that she could be read so easily. “Thanks.”

“Let’s just ignore everyone that’s here from the League and find Brock. I bet some girl needs rescuing from him, and I don’t know if his croagunk is around –”

“Shouldn’t we try to find Ash? We’re already pretty late.”

She felt Misty’s fist clench around her hand, probably involuntarily. “He’s not going anywhere. We’ll check on him later.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Is something going on with you and Ash?”

“No!”

Serena narrowed her eyes. “Are you seriously still not over him?”

“What?” Misty let go of their hands, “Of course I am!”

“Then what’s the big idea?”

“What is your problem?” Misty barked, finally turning around on her, “Ash is going to be around for ages! He’s probably knee deep in League officials right now, and they’ll leave in an hour, so what’s the urgency? Maybe you’re the one who’s not over him.”

“Are you even listening to yourself?” Serena hissed, glancing around at the people who were starting to take more interest in their argument. “And you’re causing a scene!”

“You started it!”

“Aw, c’mon Misty, leave poor Serena alone!” They turned to find May with her hands on her hips, glaring playfully at Misty, “Not everyone’s ready to handle your temper.”

“I can take care of myself, thank you,” Serena snapped, and then finally realised who she was talking to. “Oh! May … sorry, I think I let my anger get the better of me.”

“It’s cool, we all have our moments.” May beamed, “So, I was off to find Ash, you two coming?”

Serena fixed Misty with a hard look, and she scowled. “Fine,” she relented, and Serena crossed her arms and looked away.

Surprisingly, it didn’t take long to find him. Ash wasn’t surrounded by League officials, as Misty had suggested, but he was sitting at the bar with Pikachu on his shoulder, as always. Iris, Dawn, Gary and a few others she didn’t recognise were taking shots as both trainer and pokémon watched on warily.

“Ash!” May called, waving for his attention, and he brightened up as soon as he saw them.

“May! Misty! Serena!” He ran over to them and Serena was struck with how much he’d grown. She hadn’t seen him since she’d travelled to Pallet Town almost six years ago. He was taller than she remembered, his hair was a little shorter and he shaving scars on his chin.

“Pikachupi!” Pikachu cried, and jumped onto Misty’s shoulder, scampering across to each of the three girls for a nuzzle. He finally settled in Misty’s arms, much like he had when she met Misty for the first time.

“Congratulations, Ash!” May breathed, reaching over to give him a hug. “I never got to say it today!”

“Us too,” Serena agreed, gesturing to herself and Misty, “We barely even saw you after you left the field!”

“Oh, sorry,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “The crowd kinda drowned everything out. I tried to find you guys, I swear, but they kept taking me to this press meeting, and that press meeting –”

Misty laughed, and Serena saw her looking the happiest she had this entire party. “Gee, it’s so hard being the most famous person in the region, isn’t it?”

“Aw, Misty!”

“But congratulations,” she told him seriously, “I always knew you could do it.”

“Me too!” May squealed, before her phone suddenly started ringing. “Oh no, that’s probably Drew! I had to leave him in the hotel room because he got really sick. Would you give me a moment?”

“Yeah, sure.” Ash held his arm out for Pikachu to jump back on, and Serena watched May weave through the crowd and out of sight. “Hey, how come you guys were late, anyway?”

“We got caught in traffic on the way here,” Serena answered, and she saw Misty nod tensely from the corner of her eye.

Ash’s brow furrowed. “You came here together?”

Serena pursed her lips. She was fine with telling Ash about the two of them, but with the way Misty was acting –

“Yeah,” Misty said, a firm hand latching around Serena’s arm. Serena gave Ash a weak smile and stepped a little closer to her. Misty looked a little tense, her lips forming a thin line and one foot slightly behind the other, like she was ready to kick someone. Serena wasn’t sure what her angle was, but she’d bring it up later.

“Oh.” Ash’s brow furrowed further, and his bottom lip poked out. “Huh. I didn’t realise you two were that close. When did this happen?”

“Not too long ago,” Serena confessed.

Ash’s face relaxed into an easy smile, and Serena let out a breath she didn’t know he was holding. “Well, good! I wasn’t sure if you guys would get along, so this is great. I’m happy for you!”

Misty’s hand slipped down from Serena’s upper arm and back into her hand, and Serena looked over to see her smiling much more freely. “It’s not about us, Ash, it’s about you! How does it feel being Champion of Kanto?”

Ash’s eyes sparkled as he looked up at Pikachu. While he gushed about his win and how surreal it was, Serena felt Misty’s hand squeeze hers.

They found themselves at the snack table a few hours later. They’d ended up there with Ash, May, Misty and Iris having an eating contest, but May left halfway because she needed to take care of Drew, and Cilan had dragged Ash and Iris away to do … Serena wasn’t sure what. Misty heaved her way over to the seat next to Serena and buried her face in her neck.

“I guess you won that one,” Serena teased. Misty grunted in response and it tickled her neck, and Serena had to push her off laughing.

“Leave me alone!” Misty groaned, “I regret everything. I shouldn’t have done this stupid contest anyway.”

“Then why did you?”

“… I got competitive.”

Serena snickered. “Then you have no one to blame but yourself.”

Misty buried her face back in Serena’s neck and grunted again. Serena figured that was the end of the conversation. She was still a little mad at Misty for today – she still had no idea where things stood between them. Her girlfriend hadn’t explained her weird behaviour at all, and it was bothering her.

“About Ash …”

Serena jumped. “Can you read minds?”

Misty giggled and pulled away. “No. I can read you.” Serena didn’t answer, so Misty sighed, sitting up straight and rubbing her shoulder. “I was … nervous.”

“I figured that much.”

“But it’s not what you think.” Misty scowled at the ground, and Serena allowed her the time to think of what to say. “I was scared it’d be … awkward, meeting Ash like that. Together. Considering how we were.”

“… Oh.”

“I mean, it’s silly,” she continued, wringing her hands together, “But I thought, what if he doesn’t approve? Not that we need his approval, but he’s important to me. To us.”

“No, I don’t think it’s silly.” She reached over and placed her hand over Misty’s to stop her from fidgeting. “I was a little scared too.”

“You were?”

“Yeah. And I understand feeling awkward. I haven’t seen him at all since Pallet Town.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. We called and everything, but it’s different.”

“It is.”

Serena nodded. There was a silence again, but it didn’t feel as heavy now that they’d cleared things up. “It was probably pretty stupid of me to jump to conclusions, huh?”

Misty snorted. “Yeah. But I said some pretty stupid things myself.” After a pause, she added, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.”

Misty lips pressed against Serena’s temple, and she closed her eyes and focused on that sensation. It was a little sticky from lip balm – Misty was probably going to have to reapply again – and her nose dug a little into her hair.

“So are we good?” Misty murmured against her skin, and Serena felt herself smiling like a chansey.

“We’re good.”

#champselyseeshipping #Serena #Misty #Pokemon #Pokeani #i can't believe i've finsihed this godforsaken fic #do you know how good it feels #to know i wont have to look at it ever again #mine

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crywonder · 8 years ago

Text

We’re Good - Part 1

PART 1 OF 2

Ship: Champselyseeshipping (Serena/Misty)

Summary: So maybe things didn’t turn out the way you wanted. Just take it one day at a time, and you’ll see -- it’ll be okay in the end. Canon divergent. Two-shot.

FFnet || AO3

A/N: This was originally going to be a crack fic, but it turned into this monster and kept getting longer. It’s canon divergent because I started writing it before the Kalos League and the Team Flare arc, and I didn’t have the heart to change it. It’s a new writing style for me and I’m terrible at romance so I hope it’s alright!

Serena could appreciate a good silence amongst friends. Sometimes nothing needed to be said, and that was okay – it was comfortable, at times even more comfortable than when someone decides to speak up.

This was not one of those times.

Ash was scarfing down his meal, too busy to bring any conversation to the dinner table, so that left everyone else. Clemont was telling Ash’s mother, Delia, of his latest invention, while Bonnie provided her own additions of how they blew up. It was a conversation that she couldn’t find the opportunity to join after she’d commented on Delia’s cooking. So all she could do was eat in silence.

Or start a conversation with Misty Waterflower.

Ash had only ever brought up the redhead once on their journeys, when Bonnie had stumbled across a series of photos of his previous travelling companions on his pokégear. He’d described her as brash, hot-tempered and one of the strongest pokémon trainers he’d ever known. Perhaps that was what had made her the most interested in Misty – Ash wouldn’t have praised her skills as a trainer if she wasn’t worthy of it, and a good trainer was something Ash always had a lot of respect for. This girl must’ve been pretty special.

The redhead sitting next to her seemed nothing like the girl Ash had described. She was strong, sure – there was a clear muscle definition in her arms, and her crop top did nothing to hide her firm stomach. She looked like someone who could be hot-tempered but so far hadn’t shown it. Serena couldn’t speak for her battling skills, but she trusted Ash to at least be a good enough judge of that.

But Ash hadn’t mentioned how pretty Misty was either. It wasn’t immediately apparent, but if you looked closer you could see the freckles that dotted her cheeks and the gentle curves of her lips. Serena was especially jealous of her nose – it was small and delicate in a way that Serena’s nose was not, and hooked over on just the right angle. Serena’s nose was large and protruded too far out between her eyes.

Misty started to turn her head, and she realised she’d been staring; she whipped her head away right on time. She could see the other girl looking at her from the corner of her eye, but she didn’t dare turn back around.

“So,” Misty started, but it was obvious she was unsure how to continue that sentence. Serena didn’t care; she was too busy thinking about how even Misty’s voice was better than hers. She was probably a singer, too.

“Are you thinking of going for Kalos Queen again, next year?” Misty tried again. It caught Serena off guard – she hadn’t expected to actually begin a conversation.

“O-oh, yes,” she said, her voice sounding shakier than intended, “I came so close to winning this time, it doesn’t make sense for me to just give up now.”

Misty nodded. “There’s always room for improvement. Even if you make it to the top.”

“Right.” Serena wanted to say more, but she was at a loss for words. Misty had already spoken about her gym and there was nothing else to be said about it.

“So what will you do after you’ve achieved your dream? After you become the Queen?”

“Well, I’d have to defend my title the next year.” Serena toyed with her food, taking a quick glance around the table to see if anyone was listening. Ash was still engrossed in his food, and Clemont, Bonnie and Delia were still talking. “After that I was thinking … well, I could ask Ash if I could travel with him again.”

“It’s a good idea. If he remembers.”

“What?”

Misty gave her a wry smile. “You’re not the only one he’s left behind, you know.”

Serena looked back at the boy in question, who had caught his mother’s attention to ask for seconds. While he hadn’t quite left her behind yet, she knew it would happen. Coming with him to Pallet Town had been a last ditch attempt to stay with him a little longer. Had Serena won the title of Kalos Queen, she would’ve been happy to join him in Alola, but she had her goals to achieve and he had his. He always found new friends in other regions to travel with, and he may not have a place for her in his journey when she’s finally ready.

“We’ll see when it happens,” she muttered quietly, and Misty pursed her lips.

“If it doesn’t –” Misty paused to take a deep breath. She seemed to be forcing herself to say something. “If it doesn’t … you can always contact me. I know how it feels.”

Serena’s eyes flitted around the table again – no one was paying attention to their conversation. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m not sure you’d understand exactly how I’ll feel.”

“I lent him my handkerchief, too.”

This caught her off guard. She turned to look at the other girl directly for the first time that day. Was that a threat? No, it mustn’t be – Misty didn’t seem angry, especially if she was as hot-tempered as she’d been led to believe. Instead, Serena saw sympathy, understanding … she even looked a little sad.

Serena wasn’t sure how to respond, so she smiled instead. Misty smiled back, and she wasn’t sure if it was the genuineness of her smile or their previous conversation that made the heat rise to her cheeks.

She did have a nice smile.

----------------

“The thing is …” Serena began, fiddling with the ribbon on her chest, “Now that I’ve finally achieved my dream … I’m not sure what I want to do anymore.”

“Huh?” Ash asked, a little distracted with Pikachu running up his arm and around his shoulder. He moved in and out of Serena’s Holo Caster hologram as they tussled. “You don’t want to perform anymore?”

“No no, it’s not that! I love performing! It’s just that I’ve already achieved everything I want to achieve, you know? I could try for Kalos Queen again but it won’t be as special. Besides,” she sighed, moving her hands away from her ribbon and wrapping them around her arms, “I’ve been Kalos Queen for three years straight, now. And I wouldn’t want to take Miette’s title away from her.”

“Hm.” He rubbed his chin, deep in thought. “Well, it’s okay if you can’t figure it out yet. You didn’t know what you wanted to do when I first met you, and you worked it out eventually!”

She couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, Ash.”

“No problem. Hey!” He snapped his fingers. “I just had an idea! You remember those contests I told you about?”

“Yes?”

“My friend Dawn’s about to start competing in the Kanto Contest Circuit. You should go with her! I think you’d do real great as a coordinator.”

Serena wasn’t so sure about that. Coordinating was similar enough to performing that she wouldn’t feel the same fire she did when she used to, for the same reasons she felt she couldn’t do showcases anymore. Besides, none of her pokémon were that interested in the battling aspect of Contests anyway.

“I’ll think about it, alright? I’m not sure I could make such a big decision so quickly.”

“I understand,” Ash nodded. “Just give me a call if you make up your mind, alright?”

“I will,” Serena said. “Thank you, Ash.”

“Not a problem, Serena. You know I’m always here to help you with anything.”

“I know,” she smiled, but it was bittersweet. She knew Ash didn’t mean that romantically – it was something he’d do for any of his friends. Now that she knew him better, and understood the relationships he had had, she didn’t delude herself with thinking he cared about her in that way.

This call had almost been like a final test. She’d been waiting for the moment where Ash would ask her to travel with him again, now that she’d admitted she wouldn’t be performing anymore. She wasn’t about to ask him herself – she was tired of always making the first move. But Ash hadn’t bothered bringing it up, which he would have if he had wanted to. So that was that.

“I have to go …” she started.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, really.” Serena forced a smile. “I think I just need some alone time right now.”

“Sometimes that’s best. But Serena,” he gave her a solemn look, “I’ll be rooting for you no matter what you do, okay? It’s not over for you, so you can’t give up yet.”

Never give up till it’s over. That really made her smile. “Of course not! I have my whole life ahead of me.”

“That’s the spirit! I’ll call you later, yeah? Keep me updated on things.”

“I will.” She hesitated, before speaking up suddenly. “Wait! Before you go, could you give me Misty’s number?”

“Misty?”

“Yes, I just … feel like speaking to her.”

“Sure, I guess.” Ash frowned. “I didn’t realise you two got along.”

“I’d like to try. Is that okay?”

His face cleared immediately. “Of course! You guys are so important to me. It’d be great if you could be friends too!”

The call ended soon after, but she wasn’t about to put her Holo Caster to rest yet. Ash had given her the number to Misty’s personal pokégear, and it was cheaper to call through her own mobile device instead of the landline. Blindly, she dialled the number she’d been given into the touchscreen. She hadn’t intended on calling Misty today – or ever, in fact. But after speaking with Ash …

“Hello?” Misty’s voice buzzed through, pulling Serena out of her thoughts.

“Hi. It’s Serena.”

There was a long pause. “Hey. What’s up?”

“Well …” She clutched the hem of her dress, “I lost the title of Kalos Queen.”

“I heard about that. Are you okay?”

Serena chose her words carefully. “Losing the title didn’t feel as bad as I thought it’d be.”

“You’ve had a good run, haven’t you? Maybe it doesn’t feel so bad because you already got what you wanted.”

“I suppose.” She clenched and unclenched her fist, unsure of her next move. “I … I called Ash just before.”

“That’s how you got my number, huh?”

“Yeah.” She bit her lip. “He didn’t ask me to travel with him.”

“I didn’t think he would. Not because he doesn’t care about you enough,” Misty quickly added. “He’s just never asked. For anyone.”

“But the rest of you always have something to do,” Serena argued, “You’re all busy with something. I’m not.”

There was another long silence. Misty didn’t seem to know what to say, and it was getting awkward, so Serena decided to break the ice once more. “Ash suggested I travel with Dawn and try coordinating. She’s competing in Kanto this season. I was thinking, if I go along … maybe we could meet?”

“Meet?”

“I just …” Serena stopped to take a deep breath and exhale slowly, pushing away the tears that were threatening to fall. “I need someone to talk to. Someone who understands.”

Misty went quiet again, and Serena was almost sure she was going to decline. “I-if you don’t want to, that’s fine –”

“I’m in Kalos.”

“…Wh-what?”

“I’m in Kalos. I’ve been living here for a year now.”

“Wh– how?!”

“I’ve been apprenticing under Siebold.”

Serena took the time to wet her lips. She certainly hadn’t seen this coming – Ash hadn’t said a word about Misty moving so close to Serena, even though he most certainly knew.

Then again, it wasn’t like Misty and Serena were friends.

“Where in Kalos are you staying?” Serena finally asked.

“Lumiose City.”

“That’s where I live!”

“I know.”

“Did … you want to come over?”

“… Send me your address.”

“A-alright!”

The shock of her discovery made Serena forget all her other problems of the day, but when Misty showed up at her door forty-five minutes later with ice cream and red wine, she felt like she was about to collapse. It was like the gravity of things hit her all at once. Maybe she hadn’t expected Ash to have feelings for her anymore, but they were still friends enough that she wanted him to take her back – and yes, maybe the fact that she wasn’t over him had something to do with it too, but the last thing she wanted is for him to push her away.

Which is exactly what it felt like he did.

Misty seemed to sense how she was feeling, because she set her bags down and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. The gesture was so similar to something her mother would do that Serena automatically threw her arms around Misty’s shoulders, without even thinking. She was a little cool to the touch, which was refreshing on a hot summer’s day. She smelt of razz berry shampoo and a hint of chlorine. The ends of her hair were wet. Serena was always good at noticing little details, even when she was too busy crying into someone’s neck.

Within an hour, they’d made their way to Serena’s couch, Serena struggling to get through a bowl of ice cream while Misty’s arm was thrown casually around the back of her seat. They’d pulled up some decade-old romantic comedy on Pokéflix, but neither of them were paying attention. At least, Serena wasn’t – she was too focused on the tear tracks still fresh on her face, the ice-cold glass of the bowl in her hands, Misty’s fingers brushing against her arm whenever either of them shifted a little. Misty’s lips brushing her scalp as she turned to look in her direction. Her shoulder jerk when she chuckled.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Misty grinned. “Just … you look like a mess.”

It was probably true. Serena had hardly had the opportunity to remove the makeup she had on for her showcase when she’d called her friends. She’d intended on leaving it on to attend Miette’s congratulations party, but … well.

“Do I have to be pretty all the time?” Serena sniffled.

“I didn’t say you weren’t pretty. But you’re a mess.”

Serena didn’t know how to respond to that, so forced another spoon of ice cream down her throat. It was difficult with the thin film of gunk blocking her throat – what was it called? Was it mucus? She suddenly wasn’t hungry.

“You know,” Misty started, her voice a lot softer than it had been so far that night, “The first time I ever told Daisy how I felt, I bawled my eyes out.”

“You did?”

“Yeah.” She licked her lips. “I didn’t do anything when I first told Ash my sisters were back and he didn’t ask me to join him again.” She laughed bitterly. “He was too busy travelling with May.”

“Aren’t you and May close?”

“We are now. But I hadn’t met her yet.”

“Oh.”

“But I never talked to anyone about it until later. I travelled with Ash for a few days right before he started challenge the Battle Frontier, and after I went home … I just knew that’d be the last time. And I guess Daisy sensed something was wrong.”

“You knew what would happen,” Serena mumbled. “That’s why you came.”

“Yeah. But my sister doesn’t know Ash like I do.”

“Hm?”

“Well …” she shifted, “She gave me that whole speech about how he’s a jerk and he’s not worth crying over … you know, usual breakup stuff.”

“Ash isn’t a jerk,” Serena said immediately. She couldn’t help herself – she still felt the need to defend him against anyone who spoke ill of him.

“He’s not.” Misty frowned. “Well … he can be. But that’s not why he didn’t ask me to travel with him when I could. I didn’t really like the gym back then, but … I think he could tell I was proud of how well I was doing there. And I think he was, too.” Misty smiled almost wistfully, her eyes not really focusing anywhere. “And in hindsight, I achieved a lot more being a gym leader than just going region to region with him. Not that I could have been as good as I am without him, but … I doubt I would be where I am now if I’d just kept going, you know?”

Serena did know. She’d learnt so much when she journeyed around Kalos with him; she wouldn’t be the same person if she hadn’t run into him again. Ash had a way of bringing out the best in people … but he was also very distracting. She didn’t want to admit that working on her showcases without him had felt almost liberating when she didn’t have to deal with the trouble that followed him around, or the gym battles he had to train for, or her feelings for him and whether he felt the same way.

“My feelings consumed me,” Serena realised.

Misty nodded. “You actually did better than I did. I only ever entered one water-type tournament in all three years of travelling with him. You almost achieved your dream!”

“And I couldn’t have done it without him.” Serena bit her lip. “But I don’t know if I could have done it with him either.”

Misty was beaming in a way that made her eyes sparkle. Along with her dimples, she looked years younger.

Serena could understand that.

----------------

One of Serena’s favourite sounds was the crack of a crème brulée. It was quiet and gentle, yet it still somehow managed to be immensely satisfying. And then she got to eat it, too.

“Okay.” Shauna placed her hands on the table in front of her, “Can I speak now?”

“You can,” Serena smiled.

“So as I was saying,” she said, closing the moleskine sitting in front of Serena, “I’ve hired a few people to help me manage and run the boutique, but I still need someone to endorse my designs. I’m spending a lot of money that I need to make back.”

“So you want me to endorse your clothing line?”

“You and your pokémon,” Shauna nodded. “Could you? I know you’d need to speak to your manager and all that, but I really need –”

“I’d love to,” Serena cut in. She hesitated. “I don’t need to talk to my manager.”

Shauna frowned. “You don’t? Are you sure?”

Serena only responded by helping herself to another spoon of her desert. Shauna raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t have a manager, do you?”

“Well …”

Shauna lips formed a tight, firm line. It scared Serena a little to realise she couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

“We’re worried about you, Serena,” she said quietly. “Me and Nini, and Aria too.”

Serena’s eyes widened. “You keep in touch with Aria?”

“She isn’t hard to get a hold of, now that she hasn’t been Kalos Queen in a while. You on the other hand …” Shauna pulled her notebook back to her end of the table. “It’s been two weeks, Serena. I know losing the title was tough, but it’s like you’ve cut us off completely.”

“It’s not that!” Serena said hurriedly. “It’s just that … well now that it’s over … I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Do? There are always plenty of things to do. A lot of former Queens go into modelling.”

Serena shook her head. “I’m not sure I want to be a model. It doesn’t have the same kind of agency that performing does.”

“You could always try showcases again.”

“No, there’s no point. I’ve already been Kalos Queen for three years straight. I don’t have anything to prove anymore.”

Shauna pursed her lips. “It doesn’t mean you have to shut us out. It’s bad enough with Miette being too busy for us now.”

“I wasn’t trying to shut you out.” Serena cupped her hands around her bowl, interlocking her fingers with each other. “It’s just really confusing right now.”

Shauna hesitated, and then placed a soft hand over one of Serena’s. “Okay. But you don’t have to be confused alone.”

“I haven’t been alone … not entirely.”

“Oh yeah?” Shauna withdrew her hand. “Clemont?”

“Sometimes.” Serena played around with her spoon. “Have you heard of a trainer named Misty Waterflower, by any chance?”

“I have, actually,” Shauna said, putting her sketchbook away. “I bumped into her while trying for the League last year. Water pokémon trainer, right? From Kanto?”

“That’s her. She’s training under Siebold, at the moment.”

“I remember. But how do you know her?”

“She’s actually a friend of Ash’s. His best friend.”

“Oh.” Shauna licked her lips, “I see.”

“Yeah.” Serena took a moment to take another spoonful of her crème brulée.

“So does he … are they …?”

“They’re not together. I don’t know how Ash feels about her, to be honest.”

“Serena, I’m really sorry –”

“No, I mean – it’s not that! She’s been visiting a lot.” She hesitated, “She understands it. The effect he has.”

Shauna sucked on her teeth. “That’s an unusual friendship.”

“I suppose. It’s not always comfortable, but … I enjoy our time together.”

Shauna hummed in response. Serena could feel her eyes on her as she dug into her crème brulée.

“I used to have a crush on you, you know.”

Serena nearly choked, the heat rushing up her neck and to her cheeks immediately. “What? I-I mean, you did?”

“Yeah. A pretty big one, too. I always thought you were so poised and beautiful, and so dedicated to your pokémon.” Shauna shrugged. “You’re a really attractive person, Serena. Even if Ash doesn’t notice it.”

“Um …” Serena searched her mind for something to say, but she wasn’t able to come up with anything coherent. “I’m sorry, but I don’t …”

“Don’t apologize.” Shauna waved her comment away. “You were too caught up in Ash for it to matter, anyway.”

“I’m still sorry.”

Shauna chuckled. “I used to have a crush on you, Serena. Not anymore. That’s my point – I moved on. I liked you a lot, but I moved on.” She leaned an elbow on the table, and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. “It’s pretty easy to do once you put your mind to it.”

Serena didn’t think Shauna understood the gravity of her feelings for Ash. If it were that easy to move on, she would have done so already. She’d accepted that Ash would never return her feelings, so she had no reason to keep being hung up over him. She didn’t choose this. She didn’t need this.

But she couldn’t stop it either.

----------------

“Cut!” Clemont popped up from behind the enormous camera lens. “Misty, I’m going to need you to hold that reflector a little lower.”

Misty groaned. “Lower, now? You wanted it higher last time!”

She was standing on the tips of her toes before, just to dull the harshness of the summer sun that had been falling on Serena’s face. The scowl had been a permanent mark on her face from about ten minutes into filming for Serena’s latest pokévid. At first, Misty was happy to help her and Clemont with the filming; now her face was reddening with anger, and Serena had a feeling she hadn’t even seen a slice of that famous temper Ash kept talking about.

“Sorry!” Clemont dived back behind his camera as Misty stood back on her heels. “The sun keeps moving.”

“Then maybe you should’ve gotten a bigger reflector,” Misty bit back.

“Sylvy …” Sylveon groaned, tugging at the flower crown on her head. Misty’s annoyance was clearly starting to get to her.

“It wasn’t in my budget,” Serena said, biting her lip.

Misty’s scowl didn’t let up. “You owe me big time, Paschall.”

“And I owe you big time, Paschall,” Shauna said teasingly, walking up to her with a few makeup brushes in her hand. Her ivysaur and floette followed behind holding the rest of her equipment. “Thanks again for agreeing to endorse my designs.”

“It helps that our styles aren’t too different,” Serena grinned, but immediately relaxed her face as Shauna came at her with a concealer stick. She felt a gentle pressure on the top of her head too, probably Floette adjusting her braid. The attention was odd – Serena was used to doing her own hair and makeup for her pokévids and just having Bonnie point out if anything went astray, but now that her videos were sponsored, Shauna wanted her to look immaculate at all times. Which Serena didn’t mind, but Shauna was a lot more particular than she was used to. And Serena didn’t blame her either – these pokévids were being made specifically to showcase Shauna’s work, so it was out of her hands how she wanted to look.

At least Shauna used brushes and blenders, which were a lot gentler than Misty’s prodding fingers – especially for Pokémon. The redhead was often enlisted to help with odd jobs while Serena made one of her videos. She could be careful when she wanted to be, and applying makeup was not one of those times.

“All done,” Shauna said, as she gave Serena’s braid a soft tug. Ivysaur had finished adjusting the flowers on Sylveon’s crown, making sure they looked as fresh and shiny as possible. As much as fake flowers could, anyway.

“So we’re ready for one more take?” Clemont asked.

Serena nodded. “Let’s do this.”

They continued on for another hour, taking breaks to deal with the changing outdoor light, fixing Serena’s clothes, changing Serena’s clothes, Misty grumbling and Clemont apologising. They finished right before the harsh afternoon sun took over, and they decided to have lunch at Shauna’s favourite café. It was small and had a crowd of customers for the lunchtime rush, but it was air-conditioned and relatively cheap, and Shauna insisted the coffee was amazing.

“I can’t believe Aria went out with you!” Shauna breathed, “And I can’t believe no one ever told me!”

“I-it was just one date!” Clemont laughed nervously, blushing slightly. “Bonnie was the one that set it up, actually …”

“Don’t worry, Clemont, I never expected you to ask Aria out yourself.”

Clemont hung his head, and Serena let out a small laugh.

“He was my date once too,” Serena pointed out.

Shauna scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, before her eyes widened. “That’s right, for Monsieur Pierre’s dance party! But wait, why didn’t you go with Ash?”

Serena felt her smile falter for a fraction of a second. Looking around, she didn’t think anyone had noticed except … Misty. The redhead had barely contributed to their lunchtime conversation. Serena had noticed her from the corner of her eye, diligently going through her galette, sometimes smiling at something brought up in conversation but generally looking pretty uncomfortable.

Like she didn’t belong.

“Well, Sylveon was still an eevee back then and she didn’t feel comfortable enough going with anyone other than Bunnelby.”

“Ash went with Miette instead,” Clemont added. “But I think he was just going to hang out with Bonnie if no one asked.”

“Ash and Miette, eh?” Shauna chuckled. “Of course. Miette used to take every opportunity to get you riled up.”

“Huh?” Serena asked.

“You don’t think she actually liked Ash, do you?” Shauna tutted. “Your crush on him was worse than I thought.”

Serena flushed red again, eyes flitting back and forth between Misty and the others. Misty was smiling a little this time, shaking her head.

“Shauna--!” Serena hissed, but thought the better of saying anything more.

“Oh come on,” Clemont said, waving his hands in front of him. “Ash is an admirable person, it isn’t hard to see why some people would be attracted to him.”

“R-right!” Serena stuttered, “And besides, I’m over him anyway.”

Misty snorted, the least graceful noise Serena had ever heard come out of her mouth. Although the more time they’d been spending together, the elegance disappeared. She could finally see the brashness and strength that Ash had described to her all those years ago. Back then, she wasn’t sure Misty was the kind of person she could ever get along with.

Sometimes she still isn’t sure.

“So, Misty,” Shauna said, taking a sip of her coffee, “Surely you have a lot of stories about Ash from when he was travelling with you?”

Misty blinked. “Um …”

“Yeah, tell us.” Clemont smiled good-naturedly. “What was he like as a trainer?”

“Well, he wasn’t actually a good trainer at all,” Misty started, pursing her lips. “He didn’t know anything about type advantages and weaknesses, or battling, or even taking care of pokémon.”

“Really?” Serena asked.

Misty grinned. “Yeah. That moron tried catching a pidgey with a caterpie, and he tried battling Brock’s rock-type gym with only Pikachu. He didn’t even earn half his badges in Kanto – he just got them ‘cause people felt sorry for him.”

Serena looked around the table and saw that Shauna and Clemont looked as shocked as she felt. Ash had mentioned once or twice that he hadn’t always been as good a trainer as he’d been in Kalos, but he’d always been very vague about it. And between Serena and Misty personally, the water trainer had never brought it up.

“I find that hard to believe,” Clemont frowned.

“You would, because you weren’t there.” Misty had a hint of a smile on her face. “My sisters gave him a badge because he helped stop Team Rocket from destroying the gym. He was about to lose to me, too.”

“And he just accepted it?”

“He accepted them all,” Misty nodded. “In Viridian, the Earth badge fell into his hands by accident. He took it and ran.”

Serena exchanged a look with Shauna and Clemont. “But was he … nice?”

“Not at all!” Misty scoffed. “He was a huge jerk. He never listened to anything I had to say unless I yelled at him. And he’d go out of his way to annoy me, too. And when we got lost, he acted like it was my fault when he was clearly the only one holding the map!” Misty stopped to take a breath. She took a furtive glance around the table, and flushed slightly. “… Sorry. I just … feel very strongly about this.”

“He couldn’t have been all bad, right?” Shauna asked.

“Of course not. He still loved pokémon back then – more than I’d seen anyone do.” She smiled, much brighter and much more honestly. “That part never changed.”

There was a comfortable silence at their table for a few moments. Serena bit back a grin. Sometimes she felt like the Ash she had known and grown close with wasn’t real, because he was so different to the person many of his other friends described. It was nice to see she wasn’t entirely wrong about the kind of person he was.

“I want to hear more about how Ash screwed up,” Shauna finally said.

Serena watched in awe as Misty’s face spread into a deliciously sly smirk. “Where do I begin?”

----------------

Serena closed her eyes and stretched a hand out into the water, feeling how her skin cooled as it moved up and around her wrist. She’d have preferred to plunge her whole body into the pool to escape the heat, but she wasn’t willing to put in the effort it took to stay afloat. Not today. Not on her day off.

“Isn’t it great to be lazy?” Misty called out, floating past her on a pool tube, drinking rosé straight out of the bottle so she wouldn’t spill it in the pool.

Admittedly, it was. Serena wasn’t good at being lazy – she was a fretter and a worrier, and if she didn’t have anything to do with her time, she panicked. Even if it was something as simple as having a nice dinner, she needed the physical action of leaving her apartment to get it. She spent her spare time doing her laundry or dusting her furniture, baking, creating, anything to keep her busy. Serena didn’t want to lounge around, she wanted to be immaculate, put together and presentable at all times, lest someone – her mother – assume she was anything less than.

She practically had to be forced to do this. “We’re just going to the pool,” Misty had told her, “And we’re not going to do anything. We’re not going to swim, we’re not having any meaningful conversations, and we’re not going to exercise anything. We are floating around and doing nothing.”

So far, Serena was doing well.

“Sure,” Serena hummed, peeling an eye open to see Misty floating right past where her arm was lying. So of course, she that moment to whip her hand out of the water and splash her right on the face, mid-gulp.

“Mmlg!” Misty struggled to stop herself from spitting her wine right out, eyes widening in alarm. Serena couldn’t stop laughing as Misty tipped her tube right over and fell into the water, and she laughed even harder when she noticed Misty still holding her bottle safely above the surface. The other girl swam over and draped her top half across Serena’s legs, waggling her eyebrows. Serena was alarmed.

“No, Misty, you’re going to –”

“I know,” Misty grinned, hoisting the rest of the body on the edge of the lounger, and suddenly they were both under. Serena could barely see underwater, and didn’t care to as she pushed blindly at Misty and kicked herself up above the surface, limbs flying in all directions.

“Hey!” Misty chuckled, “You splashed water in my rosé!”

“Oh, give me that,” Serena huffed, snatching the bottle out of Misty’s hand and swimming toward the pool’s edge, where she left her stuff.

“Where are you taking it?”

Serena ignored her, pushing herself up and onto the dry ground, reaching for a small plastic wine glass she’d left near her bench.

“Arceus,” Misty breathed. She’d swum all the way over now, leaning over the edge. “A glass? Are you serious?”

Serena turned her nose up at the redhead. “I’m a lady.”

“And I’m not?”

Serena laughed softly, placing a hand over her mouth. She could almost see the tic growing at the end of her eyebrow. “I’m only joking, Misty. You’re just as much of a woman as I am.”

“You’re damn fucking right I am,” Misty grunted, flopping down on the bench. Serena felt her face heat up. She had to stop herself from staring. Misty was just her friend, but she couldn’t help herself; she never knew what to do when an attractive person just laid themself down in front of her like … that. All toned stomach and long legs and …

The moment was interrupted by the shrill ring of Misty’s pokégear. It rung once, then twice, but the swimmer made no move to pick it up.

“You’re not going to get that?” Serena asked.

“Nope.” Misty popped her lips. “It’s my day off.”

“What if it’s important?”

“It’s my day off.”

Serena was almost impressed with how unfazed Misty was – she would’ve dropped everything to answer that call on the first ring. Her fingers were itching to reach for it now, no matter that it wasn’t her call to take.

“Hey, this is Misty, leave a message after the tone.”

Beep.

“Hey, Misty,” said an all too familiar voice, and both girls suddenly sat up straight. “I’m having a problem with this girl I started travelling with and – what? I wasn’t talking about you.” They heard a loud female voice prattle on about something indiscernable. “I’m having a private conversation here, so can you just leave me alone?” The girl yelled some more before her voice faded completely, and there was only a low groan. “Listen, Mist, can you just call me back? I really need your help. Thanks.”

“Pika!”

Beep.

Serena could see the tension in Misty’s jaw and shoulders as she stared the pokégear down. It was still there as Misty leaned back against the back of her bench, staring pointedly up at the ceiling.

“You should call him back,” Serena said softly.

“No.” Misty frowned. “It’s my day off.”

Serena bit back a sigh.

Ash. That was someone she hadn’t thought of in a while – at least, not in a way that caused her to stop what she was doing and just think. And part of it might have been the fact that she was keeping herself busy enough that she wouldn’t have the time, but it was definitely Misty too. It’d been a year since the former gym leader first showed up at her apartment, and slowly but surely, it had helped. She could talk freely with Misty, go right down into the deepest pits of her feelings and still feel like she was valid. And somewhere along the line, they became genuine friends outside of their relationship with Ash. It was unlikely, sure – Misty with her brashness and her temper, Serena with her frills and a much calmer disposition – but somehow it worked.

It worked perfectly fine.

She didn’t fail to notice her heart leap into her throat at the sound of Ash’s voice, though.

“Do you think she’s going to be the one?” Serena finally asked, after a minute of silence.

“No,” Misty said, but she hesitated. “She seems too much like me.”

“He still cares for you.”

“But not like that.”

“You’re not over him, are you?”

Misty gave Serena a look, and then turned on her side, away from her. “It’s not like I haven’t tried.

“It’s okay if you aren’t.” Serena placed a soft hand on her shoulder. “I’m not. And it’s hard, especially when you two are such good friends.”

Misty didn’t turn around, nor did she acknowledge that Serena had said anything. “You wouldn’t understand,” she finally said.

That got on Serena’s nerves. She wouldn’t understand? What was she, a can of pâté? She’s spent all this time trusting Misty because she thought they shared a connection. Their entire relationship was formed on it.

“Try me,” Serena said, much more firmly this time.

“You wouldn’t.”

“And why not?”

“You’re not … well, you didn’t …”

“Didn’t what?” Serena stood up and crossed her arms. “Didn’t have the same kind of relationship as you and Ash did? So I’m somehow less?”

Misty turned around, a fierce look in her eye. “Now you’re putting words into my mouth.”

Serena didn’t back down. “Then what?” Misty refused to say anything, and Serena nearly growled. “You gave me all of that advice to help forget about Ash and you’re not following a word of it yourself.”

“I don’t have to!” Misty yelled, “And I didn’t even want to help you! I only came over because you insisted and wouldn’t leave me alone!”

Serena’s breath hitched, but she acted fast. She shot out of her seat and grabbed her bag and towel. “Enjoy your day off,” she spat.

Misty refused to look at her now, but Serena didn’t care. She wrapped her towel around herself and slung her bag over her shoulder, heading for the showers. She stopped just before leaving the pool area.

“You know, I really looked up to you,” she said carefully. “You helped me a lot. I haven’t thought about Ash in a while, and …” She wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence, so she left. She didn’t even bother with a shower. She didn’t want to stick around and argue with Misty more, because she knew the girl could argue for hours without stopping. Serena didn’t have that kind of energy, and she didn’t care enough anyway.

But she did, she realised, as she lay in bed hours later, staring up at the ceiling much like Misty had earlier at the pool. Neither of them had made an effort to contact each other, and it was driving Serena nuts. Having the time to think, Serena went from anger to sadness and all the way to guilt all in the space of an hour.

And now she was still stuck on guilt.

Serena eyed her Holo Caster. She’d wanted to call Misty for a while, but she hadn’t out of fear of Misty trying to reach her and the both of them failing.

Delphox appeared at the side of her bed with a plate of macarons, left over from yesterday’s baking. She was balancing it very carefully with one hand and placed it right next to where Serena was laying.

“Thank you, Delphox,” she said softly, moving to sit up straighter and reaching for a salted caramel macaron. “Pancham’s not getting up to any trouble is he?”

“Phox,” Delphox shook her head. She’d let her team of three out of their pokéballs for the night. Delphox and Sylveon knew how to take care of themselves, but Pancham still had a penchant for mischief. Most of the time, the other two could take care of him, but there’d still be days when Serena would come home to a broken vase or a torn curtain.

She was pulled out of her reverie when she noticed Delphox place her Holo Caster in front of her. Serena’s face softened.

“I’m being ridiculous, aren’t I?” she said softly. “I should just call her.”

“Delphox,” the fire-type nodded, and Serena placed a hand on its shoulder.

“Thank you again,” she said. Delphox took her leave. Serena stared at the device for a good ten seconds before finally reaching for it and dialling in Misty’s number.

One ring turned to two, then three and four. Serena grew anxious with every single one. She was ready to hang up, when the call finally connected.

“Hey,” Misty said. She kept the hologram off, so Serena couldn’t see her, and her voice sounded hoarse – so different to the more melodic tones she was used to hearing from the girl.

“I’m sorry,” Serena said immediately, before she could change her mind. It made a weight lift off of her chest that she didn’t even realise was there.

There was an audible gulp on the other end of the line. Misty was taking her time to respond, and Serena could feel a sweat coming. This should’ve been easy; she didn’t beat around the bush, she got right to the point and she apologised. And Misty was supposed to accept, because surely an apology was what she’d been waiting for, right?

It wasn’t meant to be this awkward.

“I’m sorry too,” Misty finally said, letting out a breath of air that came across as static over the phone. “I didn’t mean what I said. I was being an asshole. Maybe I didn’t really want to talk to you that day, but that doesn’t matter now because we became really good friends and –”

“I know,” Serena breathed. And she smiled because she was right after all – this was easy.

“And you’re doing well, Serena,” Misty continued. “You’re doing really, really well. And you’re right, I do hold onto things –”

“No,” Serena interrupted her, “Stop. I’m holding onto things just as much as you are. We all take our own time, alright?” She bit her lip. “I’m sorry I pushed you.”

“Me too.” She paused. “I called Ash back, by the way.”

“You did?” Serena reached for another macaron, anxiety averted. Funny, she was more worried about her friendship with Misty staying intact than Misty’s conversation with Ash.

“Mhmm. The new girl just started her journey. She’s only ten, or thereabouts. Ash just needed babysitting advice.”

Serena giggled. “Ash? Babysitting?”

“Right? I can’t wait till he screws up and I can rub it in his face.”

“I’m sure he’ll do fine. He took care of his Noibat really well when we were travelling with him.”

Misty snorted. “Right, fine. A Noibat isn’t an angry pre-adolescent girl.”

“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?”

Misty remained silent for a few seconds. “Nice one. Didn’t know you had it in you.”

“I have my moments.”

Misty chuckled. “You have a dark side, Paschall. Somewhere deep down, you’re pure evil.”

Something in the tone of Misty’s voice when she used her last name made her heart soar. She knew Misty well enough to know that it was now a term of affection, more than anything else.

“So are we good?” she asked.

Serena could almost feel Misty’s smile over the phone. “We’re good.”

#champselyseeshipping #serena #misty #pokemon #i mean it's probably not good this is really not the kind of story i'm used to #but i tried and that's what counts

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