Author’s Notes: Here’s where thing get a little interesting. Ash actually snaps and yells at Misty, leaves her in the room, and goes somewhere secluded to some time to think (Him? Think?)

Until next time…

SHADOW

Musical Muse

Ch. 2: The ripple reaches the surface.

“Ahh. Finally, we made to the Celadon Grand Hotel!” Misty was practically dancing with joy as she and the others took in the gargantuan building. “I’ve never been in a hotel this fancy!”

“What’s wrong with the Hard Ground Motel that we all know and love?” Ash joked as he nudged Misty playfully with his shoulder. It didn’t take long for Ash to roughly nudge the ground, courtesy of Misty’s mallet. Brock and Pikachu sweat dropped at the impact. Misty had gotten stronger since they had last seen her…

“N-no one can take a lil’ sarcasm anymore, huh?” Ash shakily got up. He really got hit hard, seeing that he saw three of everything for a few seconds.

“Whatever,” Misty said as she walked into the hotel. Then suddenly Ash quickly walked passed her, bumping her shoulder and not apologizing for it, with Pikachu at his heels. Misty was about to chew him out when Brock put his hand on her shoulder.

“What now, Brock?!” Misty was obviously pissed off with both men’s actions.

Brock sighed. She still didn’t get it. “Oh, come on, Misty. Be open minded. How do you think We can afford this hotel?”

Misty was about to retaliate when she finally thought about the fact of how did they get to go to this place? Ash had gotten back from Hoenn when he suddenly said that the three of them were going to the Celadon Grand Hotel, which was notorious for it’s prices and fancy guests.

“Well, Brock, now that you mention it…how exactly are we gonna be able to stay?”

“He’s paying for it. All of it. So be grateful that he’s tolerated you for all this time, ‘cause he doesn’t have to do this, you know? He’s doing this because he wants to treat us.” Brock explained.

Misty was in disbelief. How could Ash do this and not say a word to her? Wasn’t she his friend? This was going through her mind when another thought entered.

“Brock, how is he paying for this? Where is he getting the money?”

“Sorry, but that’s something that you gotta have him answer for you.”

Misty sighed. ‘Damn you, Brock. Now I’m never gonna find out,’. Misty used this as fuel in order get herself mad at Ash for not telling her. ‘Who does he think he is by not telling me? Well, I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind!’

Misty and Brock were walking into the hotel. It was spectacular. Beautiful paintings lined the walls, delicious scents were coming from a restaurant on the other side of the lobby, and a dazzling chandelier hung in the center of the lobby. Under the chandelier was Ash, who had a large package with him that he didn’t have earlier, and Pikachu, who was sitting on his hat.

“Well,” he said as the other two met up with him, “I got two suites. Here you go Brock. I remembered you’re afraid of sharing a room, so-”

“Thanks, man,” The older male said as he grabbed one of the key cards that Ash was holding. He was surprised that Ash had remembered that; he ahd only mentioned it once when they first started their journey. And with that he was off, leaving Ash and Misty by themselves.

Ash shuffled his feet as he scratched his head. “Oh! Uh, Misty, here’s one of the cards to our room.”

‘Our room,’ thought Misty as she snatched the card, putting up a façade of irritation to keep certain feeling in check. ‘Oh, I hope I can get through this…’

On the way up to the suite, neither of them said a word. Even Pikachu seemed quiet. Misty had made it clear that she was angry at Ash and did not wish to speak to him. It was only after getting inside the room, exploring it’s amazing interior and putting their luggage away that Misty broke the ice.

“There’s only one bed.”

Ash looked where she was and saw that there was, in fact, only one. He sighed and shook his head.

“Well, now we know who’s sleeping on the floor.” He meant himself, but Misty took it as she was the one being sent to the floor. She took this as her chance.

“You’re an asshole, you know that?”

Pikachu watched in interest as Ash replied. “Such hostility! Why am I an asshole? What have I done? If you want an apology for the shoulder bumping-”

“You didn’t tell me that you were paying for this!” Misty shouted. She didn’t seem to care about the bed anymore. “You told Brock, but not me! What, you can’t trust me now, Ash? Am I not your friend? What, did you think I was gonna get mad or something?”

Ash’s eyes narrowed. “This is coming from the girl who flew into a rage when her ‘friend’ asked her-very politely, I might add-to lower the volume of her iPod.”. For some reason, he getting flared up quicker than he ever does, and it was rising even faster. Pikachu noticed this and quickly left. He had only seen Ash lose his temper once, and he never wanted to see that happen again.

Meanwhile, Misty retaliated with a voice that she knew Ash was extremely annoyed. “Oh, there you go, bringing that up again! Who bring up stupid crap like that? You were just being a big baby. You need to grow up and be a man! Right now, you‘re just a dense, idiotic, selfish, jer-”

Ash let out a roar of frustration and yelled “Enough!”. His eye seemed to flash violently for a second. Misty seemed to turn more pale. She sat down in one of the chairs so that her knees weren’t buckling. She had never seen Ash get mad before, and now she knew why. He had gone from sarcastically calm one second to more terrifying than hell the next. Misty’s eyes watered, but Ash didn’t notice.

“You know what? I don’t care. Yes, I didn’t say anything, and I’m sorry. But please, no more fighting. I’m sick of it! You don’t have to be such a bitch about it!” He couldn’t contain his voice. He was getting louder, and Misty was petrified with fear. The word he had just called her rang in her head and made her heart explode in mental pain.

“So go on. Go ahead. Turn up the volume full blast. I don’t frickin’ care anymore. I’m supposed to be relaxing, so I’m gonna relax somewhere else! Somewhere where you won‘t be able bother me no more!” He grabbed the large package he had received and headed for the door.

Misty couldn’t speak. Ash’s words had cut into her heart. The words ‘no more’ still reverberated inside the walls of her mind. She never knew that Ash was under stress. She knew by the sound of his voice and by how quickly he got mad. It would take a lot to even get Ash to frown, let alone pissed off. Although she should be mad at him, even terrified of him, she found it in her heart to forgive him.

She needed to tell him. Tell him why she has been more annoying to him. Tell him why she has been thinking about him. Tell him that she cares about him more than he ever realized. But by the time she could even get control of her voice, he was gone. She fell to the floor and curled up into a ball, her hands clutching her knees.

She couldn’t see. The tears obstructed her view.

“I’m so sorry…”

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

“I’m so sorry…”

He said these words over and over, out loud and in his head.

Why did he lose it like that? He moved his feet as they dangled over the ledge on the rooftop. He couldn’t believe how loose the security is around here, despite the hotel’s popularity. He got up and paced the roof’s perimeter, as he has done frequently over the past half hour. He was a confused wreck of a guy. He can’t believe he called her that horrible word. He didn’t mean it, of course, but he was in a more complex situation at the moment. He had been thinking of things that he had never really given much thought on when he was younger. Ever since he got back from Hoenn; ever since he saw her again…

‘Oh God. Her! Why do I keep thinking about her?!’ He grasped his hair in frustration. ‘Why am I thinking ‘bout her twenty-four seven? Somebody just tell me why!’

As he was thinking, a piece of paper flew by his face. His attention now focused on the new object, Ash’s eyes followed the paper until it flew into the distance and slapped into a billboard sign. Ash’s eyes grew wide as took a look at the ad on the board and read it out loud:

“Being in love can be very confusing, but saying you’re in love makes it simple.”

Ash couldn’t believe it. Could it really be that simple? “Well,” he reasoned, “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

He tried to relieve tension by shaking his arms and head, took a deep breath, and released it.

“I…l-lo-love…Missss..ty,” he said as slow as he can manage at the moment. He blinked. And he smiled.

“I-I love Misty. I love her! Of course! It all makes sense! I love her, love her, love her!” Ash was practically bouncing around with joy. “Oh, man, I love the sound of that!” he ran towards the roof’s front so that he was facing all of Celadon City. He took a deep breath once again, punched his fists in to the air, and…

“I LOVE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN ALL OF KANTO!!! I’M IN LOVE WITH MY BEST FRIEND! WHOOO!”

He got mixed reactions at that.

“Good for you!”

“Go be high somewhere else, idiot!”

“I love you too, baby! Call me!”

Ash’s common sense was finally coming back after being taken over by pure adrenaline. He looked down at the people staring at him from the ground. Some were even taking pictures of him. Realizing that through a newspaper was not the best way to tell Misty how he feels, he backed away from the edge and started to walk to the stairway door before security actually did some work.

“Okay, now what?” he said to himself as he made his way to the door. “I love her, so that mystery’s solved. The new enigma: does she love me? Oh, man, I hope she does. Then again, she probably hates me for going berserk on her earlier. And there’s the whole ‘bitch’ thing…” He stops and sighs heavily. “I gotta apologize. That’s the least I can do…but still,” he continued as he rolled his eyes and began slowly ambling again, “I absolutely dislike iPods. Listening to music has gotten too complicated.” He had finally gotten to the door. He chuckled at all that had happened up here.

“Hmm…maybe I could get her into eight-tracks,” he mused, remembering one of his old hobbies. He shut the door behind him and made his way back to his room. “People will go back to eight-tracks. They don’t know what they’re missing. They‘re gonna realize their mistake” He stopped. He had forgotten something. He raced back onto the roof and grabbed his mysterious parcel.

“Heh heh, it’s official: I am in love with her,” stated Ash. “If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have forgotten this.” He closed the roof door, package in hand.

Author’s notes: Okay, the ending’s a little ‘eh’, but I couldn’t really think of anything else, so, like I always do, I winged it. How do you think Ash would be like if he got mad? …..yeah, I don’t know, either. But this is called fan fiction for a reason, so that is my view of a pissed-off Ash. I’m not gonna tell you what’s in the package (actually, I don’t know myself. It just wound up in there). But I do know that it has to do with Misty going totally crazy for Ash at one point of this story. That’s about it for now. Review back to me at night_shademao@yahoo.com. Looking forward to it.

Until next time…