63The First Awakening
Chapter 2
Ash opened his eyes, then immediately shut them again. The light was positively blinding after what had happened last night-whatever it was. Ash couldn't remember at the moment. At first, he couldn't remember where he was, but it suddenly came back to him.
Team Rocket attacking.
Getting separated.
Coming here, to the Pokémon Center.
Getting a room.
And, most recently, going to sleep.
Slowly, the black haired teen opened his eyes again, rubbing the exhaustion from them. He sat up and looked around. "Pikachu?" He asked the room. A yellow Pokémon hopped onto Ash's bed from the end.
"Pikapi!" Ash smiled, relieved that his starter Pokémon was safe. He rubbed the top of its head fondly.
"Have Brock and the others come yet?" Pikachu's smile turned down, and it looked away. Ash frowned as well. "Guess not. Well, we can always visit Adan, maybe take in a show..." Pikachu brightened.
"Pikapi, Pika-a pi kachu. Pi cha-a pi chu-u pika." Ash scratched the top of his head as he tried to translate Pikachu's language.
"You're saying Adan's not here anymore? And there are...two others we know that're here instead?" Pikachu nodded. Ash scratched his head; this wasn't getting any easier to figure out. "Someone else? Who else do we know in Hoenn?" Pikachu seemed too excited to answer. Instead, it prodded Ash's back, forcing him out of bed. Then it nudged him towards his backpack, opened it up, and pushed Ash's clothes towards him. Ash laughed at Pikachu's over-eagerness.
"Okay, Pikachu, okay! I'll get dressed! Just as long as you don't force me..." Ash trailed off. Pikachu got a glint of mischief in its eyes. Ash's eyes, on the other hand, widened with fear. "You couldn't..." He started. "You wouldn't...AAGH!" Apparently, Pikachu could, and would.
A few minutes later, Ash stumbled out of the room, fully dressed, but slightly charred. He handed Nurse Joy the key, and asked her to keep a lookout for Brock, Max, and May. With Pikachu leading the way, the duo headed out the door, down one street, up the next, and made a left so they were right in front of a large building. Ash looked down at Pikachu.
"This is where the person we know is?" He asked, unsure. Pikachu shook its head in the affirmative, they continued inside. To Ash's surprise, the building was actually a gym. "It's certainly not Adan's gym...this place is no mansion." Pikachu rolled its eyes and dashed inside the main area. Ash followed through the double doors, and stood still, right in the doorway. The room had three different battlefields; a water, an ice, and a normal one, all regulation sized and in perfect condition. "It's still huge, though. A lot more impressive, if you ask me, Pikachu. Pikachu?" For Ash had noticed that Pikachu was no longer in front of him. He quickly looked around the room, and saw a yellow splotch in the water field. He sighed. "Come on, Pikachu, there's no time for a swim..." He approached the field, when he noticed there weren't one, but two yellow Pokémon in it. "What...?" Ash wondered out loud. Pikachu lifted its head and noticed Ash.
"Pikapi! Pi! Ka pipika cha chu!" It called, waving Ash over. Ash came over, wanting an explanation, when the other Pokémon turned around.
"Psy yai yai? Duck." A Psyduck said, getting out of the water. It tried to take off its water wings, failed, and looked at Ash. It placed both wings on either side of its head as best it could with the water wings on either wing. Then it tilted its head to one side as its way of showing that it was confused.
"Pipika, pi chu Pikapi." Pikachu said to the confused duck Pokémon.
"Psy yai psy?" Psyduck queried. Pikachu nodded. Psyduck smirked, then waddled off sneakily, as if trying to make itself less noticable. It failed miserably, what with all the squeaking and loud 'Duck's and 'Psy yai yai's it said randomly. Pikachu jumped off its inner tube and onto the tile pathway around the pool, gesturing towards the Psyduck.
"Pikapi, pi ka Pikachupi Pipika." Ash's eyes widened, and he jumped up into the air.
"She's here!" He exclaimed. Pikachu shook its head in the affirmative.
"Pika."
"I can't see her now! Not yet!" Quick as Pikachu's agility, Ash grabbed Pikachu around the middle and raced out of the room.
"Psy yai yai. Duck." Psyduck called out in a short good-bye, waving one waterwing-entangled wing towards the doorway. Light footsteps could be hear from another entrance, getting steadily louder.
"Who were you talking to, Psyduck?" A red haired girl walked into the room. She was wearing a yellow shirt with no sleeves and a hood that was at the moment lowered. The girl had a white belt tied tight around her waist, a pink Luvdisc-shaped buckle holding it together; the belt was holding up a pair of very dark blue denim shorts. For footwear at the moment she had nothing on, but she was holding a pair of burgundy-colored sneakers and a pair of tall white socks like you'd see in a Japanese school uniform. She was holding them instead of wearing them so that, if water spilled out of the pool, they would remain dry.
"Psy? Duck." Psyduck commented, holding its head in its hands. The girl sighed. Her Psyduck was so predictable; always confused, and always making a huge fuss of itself.
"I could've sworn I heard someone in here, besides you, Psyduck." She quickly pulled off her shorts and top to reveal a red bathing suit with green ruffled edging. The girl dove into the water field, dropping her shoes by the side. After surfacing and treading water for a time, she began to do laps, speaking to her Psyduck when she did the backstroke. She might as well have spoken to a wall; Psyduck was gorging itself on a bag filled to bursting with Pokémon food and paying no attention to anything else.
"...I must be imagining things..." Abruptly, her trailing thought was interrupted by a loud 'CHU,' a burst of light from out in the hall, and a familiar cry of pain. "...on second thought, maybe not. I know that voice," the girl said softly. She quietly slipped out of the pool and started moving towards the double doors. About to open them, she heard the familiar voice speak.
"...I just can't talk to her yet, Pikachu."
"Pika, Pikapi. Pi pika chu Pikachupi pi Pipika pi Pipipi! PIKACHU!" The boy talking to the Pikachu was illuminated in the burst of light that came when the Thundershock hit him.
"Ow...fine...if you're going to get so violent, I'll tell you." The boy muttered, trying to flatten some of the hair that was raised and crackling thanks to the electric curent that had just flowed through him. The Pikachu's cheeks continued to spark as a warning. "I promised myself when she left, that before I talked to her next, I would understand what that handkerchief meant."
"Pika, Pikapi - "
"Let me finish, Pikachu. I wanted to be able to respond to whatever it had meant...and you know how well I understand it now. I can't talk to her until I know what that handkerchief meant!" As the boy and Pikachu walked off, the girl smiled. She headed back to the pool, humming a sort of off-key song to herself.
"Adan told me had already battled Ash; then he left to explore the world, and I never found out more. I never thought I'd see him again. And suddenly here he is; no warning and no consideration for all the trouble he'd put others through to keep him safe and sound until he left again. Just like old times." The girl sighed deeply before diving back into the pool and swimming a few more laps, finally just floating on her back, drifting across the pool. Psyduck waddled over to the side of the pool, its mouth closed only barely, small brown pellets of food falling from its mouth with every step it took. The water type opened its mouth further to say something, and the pellets fell down its throat all at once. It gagged, spun around, and fell on its back into the pool.
The red head surface dove to get speed and reach her Pokémon in time to save it. She pulled it out of the water, first pressing down on its stomach until water squirted out of its mouth, and then moving its head to help it swallow. Eventually the skin beneath its feathers turned back to its natural light-yellow shade, and the duck Pokémon woke up. Psyduck popped up off the ground, flashed the peace sign at Misty, then dove back into the food. It popped back up with a wad of pellets choking it, then raced around before falling into the pool. Psyduck then panicked even more, running around in circles so fast that it was almost literally 'running on water.' The aqua-eyed girl looked on as her Pokémon got itself out of the pool and breathing correctly, having swallowed all the Pokémon food as it dashed around with its mouth open as wide as it could go.
It flashed the peace sign once more, then finally said what it had been trying to say. "Psy...duck?" The girl sweatdropped heavily and pushed the water type back into the pool. The Psyduck panicked and flapped its wings furiously. The redhead sighed again, sweatdropping even more heavily.
"Why can't you learn to swim, Psyduck? Return." She held out a Pokéball, and Psyduck disappeared inside of it, leaving the girl to her thoughts, which were many and very confused...
"It's not like you, like, have anything else to do, li'l sis...""Yeah. That, like, boyfriend of yours is already gone, so you, like, have no reason to not go where we say..."
"How many times do I have to tell you! Ash isn't my boyfriend! And I'm not going to Sootopolis!"
"Like, sure you're not, Misty..." Misty almost brightened up at Violet's words.
"I'm not? Then what's with all the talk of leaving the gym 'like I wanted to'?" Lily replied, explaining nothing in a sentence, as usual.
"Yeah, you're going to go help Wallace!"
"He's off traveling, looking for new water Pokémon to train. Since you've traveled all over with your boyfriend, you could be a big help for him to find some new ones..." Misty growled. Her sisters could always find an exception to anything she said to them, then would just throw it right back at her.
"What's this? Daisy saying the runt is useful?" Misty's voice was filled with anger and scorn. "And Ash isn't my boyfriend!"
"Hey. Remember li'l sis; we trusted the gym to you. We wouldn't have trusted anyone else."
"...maybe they should have..." Misty muttered. Psyduck popped out of its Pokéball and tilted its head to one side.
"Psy? Psy duck." Misty smiled; although Psyduck could be a pain, it still had enough confidence in her to be able to assure her that nothing bad could happen to ruin her 'grand master plan.'
"Psyduck, I'm alright." She said reassuringly. And that was true. She had really enjoyed traveling through the three known regions, and it had really made her feel better. The trip had taken her mind off of some...issues she had been dealing with; namely, her self confidence and her determination to become a Water Master. Along with some...other worries that needn't be thought about at all. She was, at the moment, content and perfectly satisfied with herself, knowing that she was at the perfect stage for a growing Water Master, having been told by an expert where she should be by now.
Although Misty would never admit it, she had loved traveling with Wallace. They had gone everywhere, from Prima's summer home in the Orange Islands to get advice they couldn't get from anyone elsewhere to the Whirl Cup to talk with the overseer of the tournament, Maya. She had remembered Misty from one of the past competitions, and it turned out that they got along great. Although Misty hadn't caught any Pokémon while they traveled, she did get to meet some that she had never heard of before, let alone seen. There was the Ancient Pokémon Relicanth, amazing in its power and its rugged form. Then they saw a flock of Psyduck evolve into Golduck at the same time, which had lit up the night sky; it was more breathtaking than the time she had seen Magicarp evolve into Gyarados with Tracey, Ash, and Quincy T. Quakenpoker (the fact that she wanted to hug all the Golduck to death had nothing to do with her preference for them over the Magicarp).
Over time, Wallace became fascinated by the varieties of Pokémon that he had been unaware of. He had had no idea that there were dark and water hybrids out there; Carvahna, Sharpedo, and Krawdaunt, as well as the many theories behind them, fascinated him. Misty, on the other hand, had been terrified to learn that there was a bug and water combination type; she had positively fled when Wallace showed her a Surskit nest he had found. Overall, they found that there was a water cross breed of water and every type of Pokémon there was with the exception of the following: fire, ghost, normal, steel. They were amazed to find that out, but there had been more than just one discovery during the trip.
Wallace had decided that he wanted to train water Pokémon of only one color. Misty had warned him that it wouldn't be as easy as he thought to accomplish his new goal. Unfortunately for Misty, Wallace was as stubborn and pig-headed as she was. Her case was lost against him, and soon he had dragged her all over the place, Pokéballs in hand, in search of these special Pokémon.
So now, the gym had been flooded with pink water Pokémon. Corsula, Slowpoke, Slowbro, Slowking, Goldeen, Milotic, and Gorebyss had been searched for and found by the duo. Misty had only barely convinced Wallace that trying to capture Suicune was not a good idea; however, she only convinced him by pointing out that Suicune was far more blue than pink. Luckily, Wallace already owned the last pink water type; it was one of his longest partners, and Luvdisc were extremely hard to find out in the wild; Wallace never revealed where he got his own Luvdisc in the first place, come to think of it.
As she was thinking about her adventures, a small yellow and white Pokémon waddled into the room, trilling and waving its arms from side to side. "Toge toge priii!" It trilled happily. Misty pulled herself onto the side of the pool and smiled at the antics of the baby Pokémon.
"Everything alright, Togepi?" Togepi suddenly looked sad, which was a change for the happy little Pokémon. She was able to understand the egg Pokémon perfectly well after all their time together since it had hatched, so they could converse perfectly well. "What's wrong?"
I've been called for.
"Wha'd'you mean called for?"
The supreme Togetic has spoken to me. It says I'm needed to solve a crisis.
"The supreme Togetic?"
Yes. Apparently, I'm the only one that can help. I must go immediately... Misty's face fell, as she understood.
"I see. And I can't leave the Sootopolis Gym...not until Wallace doesn't need my help anymore...and I don't know how long that will take. Well, if you must go..."
I must.
"Then go. But, hey," Misty said, trying to lighten the moment. "If you ever want to talk, you know where to find me." Togepi smiled.
I supppose so...and I suppose this is good-bye... Togepi prepared to Teleport, but Misty stopped it.
"Hold on just one second, Togepi." She tossed a few Pokéballs. Out came Goldeen, Gyarados, Staryu, Starmie, Corsula, Politoed, Psyduck, and Horsea. "You have to say good-bye to everyone before you go. It'd be rude not to." Togepi smiled slightly.
Very well. Togepi did so, some of the others getting a bit emotional about their baby Pokémon friend leaving them at last. Then, it was time for Togepi to leave. I'm sorry, but this can't wait any longer... With that, Togepi teleported out of the room, and out of Misty's life.
Little did she know, she would be seeing her egg sooner than she could ever have imagined...
Well, some comments:
Ri2: Yeah, I posted this on serebii. Just under a different name (think S - CoL). I've added some stuff, and made it more accurate to the anime series.
wolf-girl87: Last I checked, I'm still here! Just been doing more reading than writing. I'm glad you like, and I can't wait to read more of your stories. And I don't think it was a long review; as a matter of fact, compared to a lot of mine, it's downright puny!
FanFan Fan: Nice name. Thanks.
Hope y'all liked this chapter. Please review; I accept flames, if you're gonna give 'em. Comments and suggestions are more than welcome; I'd beg for them if it wasn't degrading. Jaa, mata!
gladdecease