Ash and Misty: Love Letters (A Pokeshipping Story)

Chapter 14: Choosing

Misty

I didn't even care about what happened on the blimp. For once, I wasn't scared. I was too upset over Ash to care. Too upset with myself for thinking this trip would turn out the way I wanted. Like life was some sort of fairytale.

Life didn't work out like that. I couldn't rely on anyone but myself.

The blimp landed in Saffron. I used my bike to get to Cerulean. It only took a day of pedaling, my thighs burning as my feet moved up and down, my tennis shoes sturdily gripping the pedals, fingers red from squeezing the handles too tightly as I careened up and down hills, twisting and turning through forests and plains, my breathing erratic as I kept going, refusing to stop and get even farther away from the idiotic, dimwitted, raven haired boy who had eaten up so much of my life.

The wheels spun and my feet kept pumping.

It felt like eternity.

I was alone. To stop from thinking of him I thought about my bike. The perfect red color, how I was as fast as a Ponyta bounding across an open meadow, or at least that's what I was until Ash burnt it to a crisp. And then my bike had become an excuse for years to stay with him. Because he owed me, I'd told myself. I'd told him so many times that's the only reason I was traveling with him-because I needed the bike back.

He had been so happy when it had been fixed. So wretchedly, stupidly, wickedly happy.

I took my frustration out on the pedals. My feet pushed so hard that my feet slipped, causing me to stumble off, my body unceremoniously hitting the dirt path. A huge scratch ran along my calf all the way up half my thigh. I was bleeding. If I wanted to walk, I'd have to limp. Not to mention my bruised and scraped elbow.

I didn't care.

But I also didn't get back up. I laid, sprawled on the road, and let tears fall silently as I tried to cry away the pain. The pain of my own stupidity for letting my heart get so wrapped around a guy.

The pain of loneliness.

When I had finished, I got back on my bike and kept going. I wasn't mad at my bike anymore. I didn't really feel mad at myself either, but it was because I was too numb to feel anymore.

I woke up the next morning sore. I'd ended up sleeping on the island at the top of the pool in the Cerulean gym. The pool was raised above ground for the water shows. It was a secret haven, to come up here and think. To be alone.

I hadn't meant to fall asleep up here.

I stretched, remembering why I was in so much pain as I gingerly ran my hand across the bandages on my leg and arm.

They would heal. It'd be alright. I wasn't worried about them.

Though it'd hurt for the meantime.

I descended the ladder to try to find breakfast. I was sure there would be something in the kitchen.

I looked at the clock by the fridge. Four in the afternoon? I blinked in surprise. I must have been really out of it. I opened the door, pulling out a jug of juice and pouring myself a glass. I'd have to go to the store later. Tomorrow the gym challengers would be coming. And I had to be ready to get back to who I really was- Misty, the Cerulean Gym Leader. That's who I was meant to be.

"Um, Misty?" One of the volunteers, Sarah, poked her head into the kitchen.

"Hey. Everything alright?"

"You're back," she said in surprise. "I thought-"

I held up a hand. "I decided to come back a bit early."