<- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ->
The Pokemon Center had finally calmed down after a long day of hard work and injured patients. Nurse Joy’s feet began to throb painfully from the long hours of standing up without any break. Seeing as how there were no trainers in sight she decided it was the most opportune time to take a break before more trainers came in so she began to pack up.
She hung up her dress in the back room and started to remove her stiff shoes from her aching feet when she began to here a commotion coming from the front desk.
“Where is she?! I need Nurse Joy RIGHT NOW!”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t even
work here!”
“Don’t play games with me miss, my pokemon is badly injured!”
“Ash, I
really don’t think she works here…”
“Alright what’s all the noise here?! Don’t you realize that this a
hospital?!” Nurse Joy walked outside wearing a tight lime green shirt with black stripes on her shoulders as her hands clung on her hips, a look of annoyance
clearly present on her pale face.
“There you are! My Pikachu needs some medical attention right now!” Ash said thrusting his pokemon in front of her. She glanced down and gasped in horror.
His Pikachu wheezed and then began to gasp in short breaths of air, patches of dirt and bloody scratches spotting his entire body.
She sighed and even though she was tired and her feet were most likely blistered and calloused at this point, she knew she had an obligation as a nurse.
“Here, place him on the counter and I will call for a stretcher and have him taken care of immediately,” she said, slipping on some rubber gloves while running back to call for Chansey.
Ash smiled and immediately thanked her as he bowed his head. She turned around and smiled back,
“It
is my job after all! Don’t worry your Pikachu is in good hands, just give him some time and he’ll be back to normal.” She turned around once more before stopping once again.
She looked behind her and could see that Ash was still standing behind the counter with Misty waiting beside him as she stared back. On closer inspection, Nurse Joy could see the wear of their travels on them: their clothes were dirty and torn up and their faces were pale from having not eaten a shred of food since the morning.
“Um, there is a restaurant right next to us that makes very good food along with a comfy hotel right next door, you two are free to go there if you’d like as you wait.” Ash smiled faintly at the idea, but he shook his head much to Misty’s dismay.
“I can’t…I’d rather wait for Pikachu here until he gets out. Besides I’m really not that hun-” and as if by a force of nature, the infamous beast in Ash’s belly began to grumble.
He jumped in surprise and then began to laugh embarrassedly with his hand scratching the back of his head. Nurse Joy simply grinned smugly and shook her head, and after seeing that the battle had been lost, Misty began to push Ash away despite his protests. As she shoved him away from the desk, her advice cut in between his groans,
“C’mon Ash, let’s go; besides there’s nothing you can do now so we might as well get some
decent food for once…”
<- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ->
As they waited to be seated inside the restaurant, Ash just remembered that they had finally arrived in Venox Village, where he could finally get his third Gym badge… Dante’s words snuck their way back into his head, but he shook them away and began to think about other things…like the “village” they were currently in.
From the looks of things, Venox Village was anything,
but that. Yes 90 % of the town was made up of swamp water and the only means of walking across town was through patches of land in the middle of the swamp or by walking on manmade wooden bridges that hung over the water (or on small row boats, but that was another story).
But, there were still tall buildings, large shopping malls that stretched for yards and newly built parks as the town continued to expand farther into the forest. Yes it seemed that business was beginning to thrive in Venox as he bumped into quite a fair amount of people running to the Center earlier on. He predicted that after a year or so…there wouldn’t even be a swamp to speak of once all the construction was finished.
A young waitress dressed in red and dark blue with a blue sailor’s hat finally found them a table and Ash and Misty followed her to their table beside a window overlooking the famous dank swamp. After they sat down and their menus were brought to them, Misty decided to break the silence that had been plaguing them since they left the Center.
“Ash what’s the matter? It seems like something’s been on your mind…which is a pretty big surprise when I think about it,” she added with a smirk. He smirked but largely ignored the remark and continued to look out the window, further worrying Misty.
“I’m still thinking about that jerk Dante and what he did to Pikachu… I just can’t believe he’d put his pokemon through that kind of fighting! I mean, what decent person would just
let their pokemon get hit?!” He fumed at the thought of Dante’s smug face as he let Igriff mercilessly attack Pikachu even after he had fainted…but there was still something else on his mind…
“If you expect to do well in the Muntein league, you’re going to have to battle way
better than that! There are going to be trainers there who you can’t even begin
to fathom how much training they’ve gone through just to prepare for that moment
; trainers native to Muntein and visiting, just like you
…”
Has he trained enough for this league? Was it a good idea to start off fresh again instead of taking his more experienced pokemon with him? Questions popped up left and right in Ash’s head and the answers that he was providing for himself weren’t exactly helpful. But he didn’t want to talk it over with Misty because if he told her that he was starting to have doubts already, she might begin to think he wouldn’t be cut out for the league! And that’s the last thing he’d want her to consider…
“He’s been staring at that rock for five minutes now…” Misty said to herself in her mind.
“There’s definitely something else on his mind, he just doesn’t want to tell me…”
Feeling slightly hurt from his actions she chose to occupy herself with a napkin on the table while Ash continued to drift off in thought wondering how he would rank in the upcoming tournament
if he even made it that far.
Balancing two freshly cooked plates of food, the waitress greeted the pair and presented each of them with their food.
“Will that be all?” the waitress said, looking earnestly at them from her light blue eyes. They each shook their head and she politely dismissed herself, leaving the two in silent company of each other once again.
Glancing quickly at Misty, Ash then tore away savagely at the food served before him, gnawing at the breaded pork chop until there was no meat left on the bone, then moved onto the tomato soup and disposing of it in one gulp. Soon after, the bowl of rice served before him didn’t last more than 30 seconds, defeated between the squeeze of two chopsticks.
Misty looked back at him with disgust wide-eyed in horror as she held her spoon in hand, not having even
commenced with her bowl of soup.
Despite Ash’s loud feasting though, neither of them was conversing and the table remained emotionally quiet because of this. Unwilling to bear this silence, Ash began to mutter about Dante and how arrogant he was, pointing out his obvious vain nature, among other things. Misty decided to focus on eating her food since she still felt hurt at his distrust in her and would occasionally nod just to give Ash the idea that she was listening to him when she really wasn’t.
<- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ->
Every minute or so Ash would complete his plate and order another one, keeping the waitress on her toes as she brought back plate after plate after plate with a stack of finished bowls accumulating on the table. Needless to say, Misty was astonished at how much Ash was eating and was beginning to grow worried about the amount of meals he was ordering and whether or not they would have enough money to spend.
After twenty five minutes of gorging, Ash was finally satiated as he leaned back on his chair heavily with his hand on his potbelly. Ten plates were stacked on top of each other on each side of him and Misty looked back at him in awe as she
just finished with her original order.
“Ash! Do you even have the money to pay for all this?!” Misty whispered frantically as she gazed at the towers of plates before her. He held back a burp and then replied,
“Of course I do, don’t sweat it Misty!” He reached into his jacket and felt the inside pocket where he usually left his wallet. His eyes widened in terror as they came across nothing and he stood up and began to frantically search himself for the wallet until he stopped, coming to a startling revelation, placing both of his hands on his head.
“I left the wallet at the police station when they confiscated it!” He sat back down on the chair and rested his head on the chair, slightly banging the back of his head on it in frustration. Misty looked back at him with wide-eyed disbelief as her heart leapt up into her throat.
“Ash, you can’t be serious!” She dropped her gaping expression and rested her elbows on the table as she massaged her temples. “I don’t have the money for all this food!” she said with disdain. He looked back at her hopelessly and despairingly.
“Are you sure? How much money do you have on you?” he asked fearfully. She counted the bills in her wallet and then responded,
“600 yen.” His eyes widened in horror.
“Each plate was worth at least 150 yen!” He looked around quickly in panic, only
imagining how astronomical the bill would come out to be.
“Here you are sir,” the brunette waitress muttered as she attempted to balance the stack of plates with just one hand as she laid the black book carefully on the table. He nodded quickly and she quickly left almost losing her balance in doing so as she hopped on her left leg.
He stared at the closed book and sighed deeply as his heart raced faster and faster. Misty stared at him as he reached out to open the book, his face turning pale and sweaty. Before he opened the book calmly, he closed his eyes and sighed to calm down his nerves. He opened them and looked at the bill. The book fell out of his hands and onto his lap as he collapsed onto the table.
“Ash! Are you OK?!” He muttered something unintelligible and Misty looked at him puzzled. “I’m sorry, what?”
“6,300 yen…plus tip,” he cried with a deep heaviness in his voice, staring up at her apologetically with his brown eyes. Her eyes widened to the point that they could have shot of her eye sockets.
“Si-six thousand three hundred?!”
“Plus tip,” Ash added remorsefully. Misty exhaled deeply then ran her hands through her hair and then once more before joining them both in front of her lips.
“Ash…how the HECK ARE WE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS?!” Misty exploded as she slammed both of her hands on the table, making Ash jump as well making several neighboring people turn.
“I-I don’t know Misty, how should
I know?” he replied desperately as a vein began to throb in Misty’s head; he knew he was in for it now.
“Ash, if you weren’t such a
pig then maybe we could’ve gotten off easier! But no,
someone had to stuff their face full of food that could feed this whole town!” She was fuming and clenching her fists as she couldn’t even bring herself to look at him now.
He remained quiet feeling extremely guilty for having lost control of himself and lowered his head in shame. After a few seconds or so though, he got an idea. He quickly raised his head and began to look all around him. The exit of the restaurant was right in front of them and the only people around were seated behind them. There was no cameras, no security, no waitresses around; even the hosts were busy at the moment! This was their chance; they could leave now and not get caught as well as not having to pay anything at all!
Ash looked briefly at Misty and he could see she was still trying to find a way how to inflict pain on him so he got up and looked around once more. Still no one yet… But he knew sooner or later someone would show up; it had to be now or never.
He slowly edged his way out of the table and began to walk towards the door when a voice stopped him in his tracks that sent chills running down his spine,
“Ash, where are you going?” Misty said with a not-so-subtle hint of anger. Ash immediately turned around and dropped to his knees and began to plead with her.
“Misty, we have absolutely
no money on us! How do you expect to pay?! There’s no one around right now and we could make our getaway! All we have to do is leave the restaurant and-”
“And WHAT?!” Now Misty was on her feet and the whole restaurant fell quiet as they turned around to look at who was screaming.
“Leave the restaurant and make a run for the exit out of town until you eventually realize that you’re next Gym badge is in here and you have to return?! Then you’ll just
drag me back here just so we can get
arrested and wind up in jail all over again! You must
really be enjoying yourself aren’t you Ash Ketchum?” Misty placed her clenched fists on her hips and glared down at Ash as he looked back up at her blankly.
“So…does that mean you’ll do it?” he said questioningly. That was the last straw. She screamed and shoved a still kneeling Ash out of her way as she walked past the staring onlookers.
“Misty! Where are you going?”
“Outside! I need some fresh air!” she roared back as she continued to head for the back exit.
The waitress, having heard the whole dispute and not looking too happy, whispered something in Ash’s ear.
“Oh okay…Hey Misty! Don’t take too long okay? We’ve got to start cleaning dishes to make up for the bill and I want to get this done as fast as we can so I can get my next Gym badge!” Misty clenched her fists even harder and it took every single fiber in her body not to turn around and send Ash soaring through the ceiling of the restaurant.
She exited through the double doors leaving behind Ash, a very unhappy waitress since she couldn’t receive her tip now especially after handling all of those plates, and a mysterious scarlet-haired woman as she refocused all her attention on Ash upon seeing Misty leave the restaurant.
<- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ->
She sighed deeply as she felt a small cool breeze pass in front of her face upon exiting the restaurant. She laid her hands on a wooden railing and stared off into the murky green swamp that was in front of her. The back of the restaurant was a wooden observation deck of sorts where people could eat while enjoying the view around them
After a few minutes of dazing off, Misty began to observe her surroundings to occupy her mind. For having such a big population, Venox was pretty calm around this time. The sun was already starting to lower after reaching the apex of its cycle so Misty knew they didn’t have a lot of time to spare. If Ash needed to get his Gym badge today he’d need all the help he can get. She sighed and began to turn around when she spotted something very peculiar off to the side.
A man dressed in a
very worn red vinyl jacket that had patches and tears everywhere was fishing by the swamp solemnly. The people who had decided to sit outside had seen this man and avoided him as a whole set of unoccupied tables surrounded him, isolating him further from the scene.
By the way he seemed so calm and undisturbed by his movements, he seemed unreal and surreal to her all at once. Yet she knew he was there, for no obvious reason to her knowledge than to sit on a deck and fish in a dirty swamp. She likened him to an irregularity on an otherwise perfectly serene image, a sort of spectral being come down to the realm of the living to fulfill his purpose then disappear back into obscurity.
She neared him until she could inspect him closer as if to unveil this mystery of a man simply by gazing at him. Yet the more she looked at him, the more ordinary he seemed by the minute: his clothes were completely torn, old, and dirty as well as severely faded; his red jacket, a once prominent and proud scarlet red, was now a whitewashed rose. His navy blue carpenter jeans were smudged with mud and almost completely ripped in half and the black galoshes he had on had holes that exposed every one of his toes and heels.
And hidden underneath a very worn and flimsy light yellow fisherman’s hat, was a mess of dirty blonde hair that fell over his eyes and his ears, leaving only visible the rugged yet unwrinkled face of this man and the slim line of blonde facial hair that ran from the bottom of his chin to his lower lip.
She glanced at him then looked back at the swamp, and then she looked back at him again then turned away quickly. She kept stealing glances at him for some odd reason; she just couldn’t figure out what was drawing her to this man. Before she knew it, Misty had already approached the man and stood behind him, waiting for him to turn around, for no apparent reason other than the fact that she had the sudden impulse to get nearer to him. She stood still and quiet not really knowing what to do or say until a low rumble of a voice spoke out,
“Why do you approach me? Can you not see I don’t wish for any company?” Misty gasped louder than she wanted and covered her mouth. The man, with his back still turned to her, felt her…approaching him? The hair on her neck stood on end and she felt as if she was being shaken by an unseen force as chills went up and down her body.
“W-who are you? What are you doing here…by yourself?” She gulped and waited for his answer with rising tension, her heartbeat increasing with each second.
His head turned slightly and he was now looking at her over his shoulder, his hat completely blocking his eyes as well as his identity.
“Should I be expecting someone? Should I be expecting you?” He had lightened his voice now and the sound coming from his mouth was velvety in her ears.
“N-no of course not… I was just wondering why you were out here all by yourself, behind a restaurant no less,” Misty said regaining a bit more confidence in her self and it apparently reflected in her actions because the man’s attention was completely centered on her.
“Sometimes the actions that we carry out are not of our own decision,” the man said cryptically as he turned around again and bowed his head in thought as Misty looked at him in wonder. The more she spoke to this man, the more intriguing he became to her.
“Besides, I would not want to associate myself with the people of this town; they’re all soulless corpses that walk on two legs,” he spat with disgust in his voice as he stiffened his upper lip.
“Aren’t you from around here though?” Misty asked, taking a seat right next to him. He quickly glanced over at her then looked at the other side of the swamp, towards the part where they were reconstructing and knocking down trees as they spoke.
“I wish I still had the pride in myself to regard this town in such a high manner…but I do not, therefore I
will not.” He shifted closer to her and began to explain it to her all the while facing the swamp directly as if he were explaining it to the unmoving surface of the dank water.
“You see the problem with this town is that all the citizens have lost the sense of love; what it means, what it feels like…what it should really be.” Underneath the shadow of his hat, his gaze over the placid pond was stony yet rivaled that of a seer’s, peering into what was not perceivable to the human eye: the past and the future.
“They’ve all sold their souls to the loveless demons of modern society and replaced them with new ‘loves’: the love to be materialistic, the love of big business, the love to
destroy. They’ve all forgotten the loves of our past: the love of nature and its natural beauty, the love of tranquility, the love
to love…and I hate it so much…”
He bowed his head and shame as the fishing pole stiffly remained in his grasp, never as much as bulging an inch throughout his whole monologue, mirroring Misty’s expression as she looked on in awe.
“And yet the only reason why I’m staying in this loveless town is
because of love, the love of another…person…Ironic, isn’t it?” he added with heavy sigh as he shook his head, scratching the back of his head as well as shifting the hat upwards.
“Yeah I guess…” Misty interjected sympathetically, but with hopes to raise his mood, she curiously asked him,
“But if the person you love is here, then why aren’t you doing anything about it?” He turned to her and his eyes were finally revealed: a clear yellow tint that resembled that of the moon on a starry night. He glanced around awkwardly, but with a familiar weariness in his eyes.
“This is all I can do little girl; watch time slide across the glassy surface of this swamp until that day comes…” It was then that Misty realized the swamp was completely vacant minus the murky water. There was no fish to be caught or anything else for that matter, only a false pretense to make it seem as if he was spending his time wisely. This touched a nerve in her and she was going to make sure he got a
piece of her mind.
“So all you’re going to do is wait then?” she asked with a hint of desperation in her voice. “Why don’t you get up, take action? Instead of wasting your time stupidly fishing in empty waters?!” She stood up from the log and began scolding him as he turned away and looked back at the swamp.
“Sit down and save your breath little girl. Though we may not be far in years from each other, you still have a lot to learn experience wise.” Misty couldn’t believe how he was giving up so easily so she stood standing up with fiery defiance…until his words melted her with cool heat in each of his syllables.
“We are all just fishermen sitting by the water, waiting for that lucky catch just so we can feel happy about it by the end of the day and then return home.” He then turned around abruptly and stared at her with fierce intensity shooting from his eyes.
“But what if we don’t catch anything for the whole day? A whole week? What about a couple of months? What happens to the spirit of the fisherman who’s been waiting by the water diligently for years yet nothing ever comes to him except for a fish that slipped from his hands and never returned?!” Now he was the one standing up, scolding the sitting person as Misty looked up at him, regretting the fact she had ever stepped out of the restaurant.
Yet there was something about this man that seemed familiar to her; she just couldn’t put her finger on it.
The fire blew away from inside his pupils and he was back at his seat, hands firmly on the fishing pole once again as he peered out over the pond.
“The fisherman can do nothing but wait, his whole life directed by what flows around him. If something is amiss, even the
tiniest, miniscule object… The fisherman drowns in the irregularity.” He finished his sentence with a foreboding sense of ominousness and then he locked his gaze once more upon the swamp.
Misty quietly observed him: he was a turmoil of emotions inside, hidden underneath that faded red jacket of his and his peaceful guise. She then stood up from her seat once again and began to make her way back to the center once she was convinced her time was done. Before she left though, she turned around and looked at the man.
“The fisherman who waits forever though has all the time for himself, but none for others. If all the fisherman does is wait for misery to flow over him…then what’s the whole point of waiting?” She shrugged and sighed deeply as her question floated about in the air. She stayed to let her words sink in a bit more then she turned around and entered the Center, not knowing if she would ever see that man again or not…
<- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ->
“Well are you ready to go now,
sir?” the waitress snappily stated as she tapped her foot, her face contorted in an icy glare. Back in the restaurant just as Misty left in anger, Ash now had to deal with this new problem; the
right way much to his irritation.
Maybe his jail time
was rubbing off on him…
“Yeah I guess,” Ash said with a sigh, not really excited to having to spend the next few hours in a kitchen washing dirty dishes. As he stood up though and began to walk away with the waitress, a sultry voice spoke out from behind them, stopping them as if a rope tied around their neck had been pulled on.
“Hold on a second, miss, let me speak to the boy for a brief second.” Ash’s eyes widened and he turned around as well as the waitress to see who had spoken to them.
He could not believe his eyes at the person he was looking at.
It was a scarlet haired woman and the way that she was looking at him instantly set his heartbeat going at a hundred miles per hour. Her emerald green eyes which carried a hint of brown in them stared deeply at him as her long wild hair partially covered the left side of her face. She flicked her head slightly to remove the hair obstructing her view of him only to throw him a wink causing him to gulp nervously. The way her tight brown jacket, which seemed like a miniature trench coat, complimented her bust as well her figure was jaw dropping. She seemed as if she was taken directly off of a magazine and placed in this town that lied in the middle of nowhere.
She was resting her black boot that ran up just below her knee on her thigh, crossing her legs to hide what she was wearing underneath her black leather miniskirt. As her elbows rested on the table, she motioned to Ash to come closer with her fingers as she smiled coyly, making him feel unbelievably nervous yet flattered at the same time. He wasn’t
completely sure why he was behaving this way,
especially in the middle of a restaurant for crying out loud! But he
has felt this way before…it’s just been a long time since he last experienced such powerful yet deceitful emotions.
In two quick leaps, he was already seated directly across from her causing her to giggle slightly. She bit her lip then smiled sideways at him, observing him from the corner of her eye until turning her attention to the waitress. The waitress having seen the woman’s signal immediately responded by snapping to attention.
“Oh! Right away Miss Valentina, I’ll-I’ll be back shortly!” she said stuttering as if she was addressing a drill sergeant after having just caught his subordinate in the middle of something embarrassing.
Once the waitress was gone, the fiery headed woman turned to look at Ash who hadn’t taken his eyes off of her for a second.
“Let me tell you what’s going to happen right now, okay?” she said sweetly, but almost in a demanding manner. He simply nodded willing to listen to anything just to have her attention.
She opened her mouth for a brief second as she looked elsewhere on the table, pausing as if she was still debating about whether or not she should speak her words or not.
“I’m going to pay
completely for the bill, including the tip,” she said calmly looking at Ash straight in the eyes with her exotic colored ones.
His eyes widened to point where it hurt and he quickly shut them to ease the pain. He opened his eyes and stared at her in disbelief. From the expression on her face, he could tell she was being
quite serious.
He still couldn’t find the words or the expression to tell her what he was feeling: elation, gratefulness, profound relief, and…confusion.
Finally coming up with something to say he opened his mouth to ask her a question when she stopped him,
“There’s no need to thank me, I’m doing this from the generosity of my heart. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that I happen to be the Gym leader of this town,” she said with a wink.
His stomach did a complete backflip in his gut now and his mouth shot open so fast that he felt like he could have dislocated it.
“Y-
you’re the Gym leader of this town?!” he said his mind doing thousands of laps trying to suck in all of this information.
“Mmm-hm, and you can expect that I make a fair share of money,” she said with a devilishly seductive smile. Her attention was now deeply centered on Ash and he could feel her aura slowly envelope him, causing his heart to beat rapidly again as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“I
do want something in return though…” she said pleadingly moving herself slightly so that she was leaning closer to Ash from across the table.
“What do you mean?” he said shaking where he sat as she moved even closer.
“
Man, she smells so good…”
“I want you to meet me later, at the center of the swamp,” she stated simply. He raised his eyebrow briefly broken from her enchantment to process this thought.
“Wait, what?”
“You heard me, I want you to meet me later on during the night; preferably
alone,” she said with heavy emphasis on the last word, leaning over once more at him with a grin on her face. Her eyelids drooped over her eyes and she stared at him hoping to get an answer from him.
He laughed and turned away quickly realizing what she was trying to say. He just couldn’t help, but keep grinning, looking outside for a moment as he smiled, his heart rapidly palpitating in his chest.
The calm surroundings of the outside world seemed promising to him, almost like a sign that seemed to be telling him what to do…
“Alright,” he said still avoiding her gaze. She smiled more widely now and stood up from her chair only to search for something in her cream colored purse. She pulled out a small wallet and searched in it only to pull out a wad of bills and she laid them on the table.
He looked on in awe as she put her wallet back where it belonged. Her eyes were set on him the whole time and she began to walk towards the exit. As she passed by him, she whispered discreetly,
“See you later then…Ash.”
And she was gone through the front doors. Everyone around him, obviously residents of the town, focused their attention on him now, some people turning around in their chairs to look at him and shoot him smiles and congratulatory grins.
He was still completely lost, but for some reason, all his troubles seemed to go away. The bill had been paid, he now had some idea of who the Gym leader was, and the best part of it all, was he didn’t have to do anything at all!
“
Oh man, I’ve got
to tell Misty about this!” He quickly climbed out of his chair and began to head towards the doors where Misty had left through when Ash clutched his stomach as he began to feel something move in the lower regions of his body.
“Oooh, too much food…” His stomach then made a weird squelching sound and he knew that could only mean one thing:
“I’ve gotta use the bathroom!” He sprinted away and flew through the bathroom doors, not aware of the fact that Misty’s figure could be seen from outside, seemingly talking to a man who was seated…
<- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ->
After having quite an
interesting discussion with the unknown man, Misty was definitely ready to get on with the rest of the day, not willing to run this moment repeatedly in her head. She entered through the double doors and quickly looked around for Ash so they could start on “repaying” their bill…But he was nowhere in sight.
“
Hmm, he’s probably already washing dishes by now. Better go to the kitchen then and join him.”
She walked past a couple of onlookers who began to whisper to each other. She glared at them before entering the kitchen door, dodging a waitress as she scurried past her with four freshly made plates.
As the swinging doors flapped behind her, she stood in place looking closely for Ash all the while slowly attracting attention. The busy kitchen suddenly stopped and Misty suddenly felt everyone’s eyes on her making her feel increasingly uncomfortable by the second.
“Umm…where do I go to start washing…dishes?” Everyone gave her strange looks and she felt her cheeks starting to turn red as she began to feel hotter and dumber by the second.
“Misty! There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you!” Misty turned around and sighed in relief at the familiar beaming face.
“Ash what are you…”
“You are not going to believe what just happened to me!” Ash said with shaking enthusiasm. She looked at him in surprise at his excitement and she could tell that he was extremely eager to tell her.
“Well go ahead then Ash, shoot,” she said intrigued by his behavior.
“Alright well first, let’s go somewhere a
little more private…” he said glancing around him as all the chefs and kitchen aids continued to stare at them intensively.
“Yeah definitely…” Misty said feeling everyone’s eyes on her back again and she shivered as if an unconscious attempt to shake off their eyes.
As the doors flapped again with their departure, the kitchen returned to normal as chefs began to yell for their orders, waitresses running to retrieve them and the mop boys cleaning up after all the mess the cooks were making.
<- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ->
They were now outside of the restaurant and standing in front of the double doors by a row of green shrubs. Misty, completely amazed at how they could’ve left the restaurant without being stopped by anyone, looked intently at Ash waiting for him to continue with his story now that they had their privacy.
“Alright Misty, you’re not going to believe it, but I
just met the Gym leader of this town!” She raised her eyebrows and looked at him in surprise.
“Oh! Well…that’s great Ash!” she said sounding just a
bit disappointed since it didn’t seem to be much of a deal to her.
“But that’s not it; they
also paid for the meal
entirely, including the tip for the waitress, which was pretty handsome if you ask me.” he said nodding his head then looking her straight in the eyes, subduing a smile as she looked back at him. He was practically bursting with excitement and elation by the way he was acting. Misty was at first shocked (and relieved that she didn’t have to get dish pan hands) at the news, but just by looking at him she could tell there was more to the story.
“That’s not it, is it Ash?” Misty said looking at him curiously, straight in the eyes trying to find the source of all his emotion.
“Nope; first I’ve got to tell you about this Gym leader though before I continue. First of all, it’s a she, no doubt about it!
Second of all, she is probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in this world!” He smiled widely as he said this. Misty’s stomach instantly sank to the undermost reaches within her body. She felt as if she was going to be sick ten times over again. Her face went completely pale and it was if her heart had stopped beating for a slight second as she couldn’t even seem to process this thought in her mind.
“I-is she then?” Misty said with a heavy lump in her throat.
“Yeah, she is…She has this long red scarlet hair that passes over her shoulders slightly, curling around the front of her chest like fangs. Her hair smelled so nice…like flowers…and it was so full and fluffy. Her face was the most beautiful part of her body though… She had these greenish-brown eyes that were unbelievable…They sucked me in instantly and I could just feel myself wanting to get closer to her.” He smiled warmly and sighed as if exhaling his spent emotions onto Misty since her aching heart was in need of some.
“I-i-it’s th-that bad then, huh? Almost like…l-l-love…” She choked on that last word and she could feel the need to cry coming onto her eyes. Tears began to swell as her heart moaned in her body at the cuttingly sharp blow it was taking.
“I…guess. I’m not sure yet to be honest…” A glimpse of hope seemed to shimmer for Misty as she looked up at him.
“I mean,
I’ve never really felt this way before…” Instantly, as if his words were a blow to the stomach, Misty hunched over in pain, gripping her stomach as it churned violently inside of her.
“Misty…are you alright?” Ash asked worriedly, looking at her closely. She raised her thumb, still hunched over as she spoke to him.
“Nope everything’s okay; it was just a s-stomach ache,” she lied with a smile as fake as the ones on a mannequin.
“Oh, okay then. Well I’ve gotta go Misty, I’ve got somewhere to be,” Ash said glancing quickly at the clock on the inside of the restaurant.
“Wh-what? What do you mean you have somewhere to be?” Misty said looking up at him, predicting instantaneously what the news could be.
“Well I’ve got a date with that Gym leader I was telling you about,” Ash said looking down at her with a dumb smile that could only spell one thing to her. She looked away not willing to bear that face anymore.
“Well, I’ve
really got to go Misty, she said I had to meet her in ten minutes and I already wasted five talking to you…We might see each other again later on tonight if I have the time… But if not, we can just meet up to tomorrow at the Center, alright?” he said thoughtfully, glancing down at her, making her feel smaller by the second.
He turned around and began to walk away from her when he suddenly remembered something.
“Oh Misty, I almost forgot! I was wondering if you could please pick up Pikachu from the Pokemon Center for me. I’m sure he’d be better off with you for now in the meanwhile…” He smiled widely at her again and turned around, taking a footstep on the bridge. He almost couldn’t feel it though since he felt so light-headed that he thought he was floating across the bridge.
As the sun’s falling rays fell on Ash’s silhouette walking across the bridge, Misty felt as if her world were getting darker by the second. Tears welled in her eyes and she let them loose from their holding place, seeing as how she was safe to show her true emotions now that he had left.
The drops of water slid down both of her cheeks and fell onto the ground as Misty watched them drip onto the ground. Her lips squirmed in place and she let a sob escape loose, her hands clasping over her eyes as she curled up into a ball in broad daylight and in front of everyone.
For once, the real Misty was exposed and pouring her emotions out in front of everyone…and Ash was nowhere in sight to see…
Well that's it! Kind of ended on a downer, but as you can tell there will be a second part to this chapter. Now on with the Author's notes...
Author's Notes:
Well first off, I originally wanted to have this chapter available on this fic's first year anniversary! Yep, AJOS is a year old as of October and I really didn't do anything... Whoops... BUT! I guess I'll take the time now to thank you all that have been reading my story and staying patient with me since I know I'm horrible at updating... So thanks to all my loyal readers who have left me reviews (and those others that prefer to stay in the shadows...) and here's to one more year in Muntein!
So anyway, onto the chapter: I like this separate story arc that's developing here in this town. Granted it'll only last for these two chapters, but from I've got planned, it'll be pretty interesting... >
And another note, the whole part with the yen and everything, let me direct you to a page from Bulbapedia:
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pokémon_Dollar. So on that page it states that the official currency of the Pokemon world is the Pokemon Dollar or the PokeDollar. However, interestingly enough, the PokeDollar and its symbol was created only for the US translations of the game and the Japanese version uses yen so I’ve opted to go with that instead of PokeDollar since the latter sounds kinds of cheesy, at least to me. :/
Title Explanation: It comes from the saying "There's plenty of fish in the sea," which basically means that you shouldn't hold yourself back just because of one person. What does that have to do with this chapter? You'll see...
Igriff: (Eh-gRIF) comes from the combination of Ice and griffin. For some odd reason though it reminds me of igloo...
Well that's it for now. Now I've got to work on Chapter 17!