A/N: Hey guys, sorry it's been so long. Anyway, I got an idea from a song (imagine that) to write a fic about the day that Ash, Misty and Brock split up. It's a (rather long) Pokeshipping one-shot songfic, although the song really only applies to the earlier part of the story.

It will help if you have seen episode 273, "Gotta Catch Ya' Later!" in which Misty leaves.

It was hard to believe that it was really time to leave. There was so much she wanted to say, so much to get off of her chest. How could a simple bike be the end of it all? She supposed it was sort of ironic, since a bike was what started it all in the first place.

When those three bozos showed up and Ash and Brock had come to her rescue, she had felt a feeling of belonging; one that had instantly vanished when she learned she would be going home. It just felt right to be there with them – with him.

And yet here they were inching closer and closer to the fork in the road that she knew would define the rest of her life. She kept waiting for something – anything – to stop them. It seemed so natural for everything to fix itself, at least when they were with each other. Everything just seemed like it would be okay in the end.

But not this time. It was impossible to tell why, and it hurt more than anything in the world, but somehow she knew that this was really it. She couldn't let him know, though. He couldn't be allowed to see her cry.

"So Ash, don't forget your morning rituals," she said to him, "take a bath and brush your teeth!" It was almost as if she could see the emptiness in her words, flowing out of the fake smile she was forcing.

I know there's something in the wake of your smile

I get a notion from the look in your eyes

"I'll remember!" He replied. It was funny, she had expected his voice to be different somehow. It surprised her when he spoke and everything came out just as it would any other day. A welcome surprise, though; it helped her to remember their time together, which was the only reason she was able to smile now.

You've built a love, but that love falls apart

Your little piece of heaven

Turns to dark

"And make sure that Pikachu doesn't eat too much."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu squealed from Ash's shoulder. She knew he would be the one to answer. Another piece of everything that led to this moment, something she knew she would need to help her stay strong.

"Now Brock, try not to get too distracted by all the girls." Misty's instructions conjured a short chuckle out of Brock. Everything was as it should be. At least it would be, for a short time more.

"One more thing…"

"That's enough!" Ash insisted. It struck her that he was trying to absorb these moments just as much as she was.

"It's just something that I feel I need to tell you…"

"Okay." Ash replied nonchalantly. The lack of compassion in his voice shattered every bit of confidence she had built up to this moment. She was so ready to spill her heart out, to let him know everything she had ever felt for him.

Perhaps that was for the best. Perhaps Ash knew that. She couldn't have picked a worse time to feel the need to be with him. It was all so rushed though…she was still trying to figure out how she could ever get through that thick skull of his.

"Just keep on…doing your best…" Those were the first words that came to mind for her. Not necessarily the strangest thing to say, but an eternity from what she wanted to hear herself say.

"Whaddya mean?" Ash asked. The meaning was obvious, she knew he was fishing for something more.

"Well you know…without…me there…"

Listen to your heart

When he's calling for you

Listen to your heart

There's nothing else you can do

I don't know where you're going

And I don't know why

But listen to your heart

Before you tell him goodbye

Flashbacks as clear as day began to flood her conscious thoughts. The day they met, the fights they had, the breakdowns, the rejoicing; all leading, once again, to the moment at hand. This couldn't be the end, it wasn't fair.

But this was it. The three of them continued down the ominous path they were on. She didn't know to do anything but attempt small talk from that point on. Brock pointed out to her that it was fate for them all to meet, and Ash agreed, saying they were meant to be best friends, forever.

Best friends forever. If only it were so easy.

Brock practically slapped himself in the face when he realized he also had to leave. That was it then; three of them, three paths, three destinations. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, they were leaving. She had to give him something before she left. She reached in her pack and found a handkerchief. What better to represent the way she felt?

She returned to where he was standing, arriving at the same time Brock did. His head was down and he was crying. He had held it in just as much as she had, but this was no time for her to break down. Brock handed him a lunch and some silverware, and she topped it off with the handkerchief.

She had thought somehow that her return would be the moment she was waiting for, that time when everything turns out alright in the end. But here she was again, on the road to cerulean, alone.

Time passed whether she wanted it to or not. When it really came down to it, she didn't care if it did. She found it hard to focus on anything without her thoughts returning right back to the three of them and their adventures. She even saw Togepi as her last piece of them, the one thing she was allowed to hold onto that could bring all of those memories back in a flash.

Before she knew it she was rounding the top of a hill with Cerulean in sight below. Only now did she actually begin to think about being a gym leader again. She knew she'd have to retake her exams to prove she still qualified. After that there would be plenty of paperwork to certify her to hand out gym badges. It all seemed like too much, and every bit that she imagined seemed to push him further and further away.

Lost in her thoughts, Misty was caught off-guard when the annoying trio of brothers jumped into the road in front of her. They did their lousy introduction again, only with less fervor.

"Look you three," Misty said firmly, but not without pain in her voice. In an odd way, these three provided her with her last glimmer of hope when Ash came to cheer her on against them. "I wasn't in the mood for your funny business before, and I'm really not in the mood for it now."

"No funny business, we promise!" Kail said with a bow, "We overheard you guys talking and when we found out you're the Cerulean Gym leader, we wanted to come and formally apologize."

"And after we apologize," the Kim said, "we were hoping we could start the Pokemon League challenge, and would like to challenge you to an official league match; by the books of course."

Misty let out a deep sigh. Although it was nice to see them wanting to reform themselves, she didn't want to think about battling right now.

"Hey, where's your friends? They're not gonna jump out and blindside us, are they? We ain't doin' nothin' wrong."

"They're gone. Look, if you want to challenge me—"

"Gone?" The tall one interrupted her, "Like, for good? You three seemed alright together."

"Yeah well, things change. It was time to move on." It hurt Misty more than she thought it would to hear herself say those words.

"Well, you don't seem too happy about it." The three of them tilted their heads, pondering.

"You're not always happy about the way things work out, but that doesn't mean there's nothing you can do to fix it," Misty started preaching, "You can't hold on to childhood dreams forever. Do you three really think you're going to be together for the rest of your lives?"

"Yes." Kai said. Just like Ash's response earlier, his nonchalant tone took her by surprise. "Why not?"

"Because…it's not that simple."

"Who says it's not? We want to stay together and battle pokemon for the rest of our lives, so we're going to do it," Kail responded. Misty was finding it harder and harder to come up with excuses as to why they couldn't.

"But then what happens when one of you can't? What happens when one of you has something important to do and has to leave?"

"Then we do what we have to to stick together," Kim said.

"It's not that easy, though," Misty answered.

"Well of course it's not," Kai spoke up, "why do you think we teamed up with those bad guys? Sure we've always been good at fighting dirty, but we were never thieves. We needed the money, though. We know better now."

"But no matter what," Kail said, "we stick together and help each other through everything. I mean, I thought that's what family was for."

For reasons she couldn't explain, Misty suddenly saw an image of Ash in her head. His back was turned, Pikachu perched on his shoulder, and he was walking away. He turned around and looked at her, and then held up a hand and beckoned her to follow.

It all hit Misty at once. Family: that's what they had had. The reason things always seemed to work out when they were together was because they were together. Now it was her turn to make sure things turned out alright. She had to get back to Pallet Town; she had to find Ash.

And there are voices, that want to be heard

So much to mention, but you can't find the words

The scent of magic, the beauty that's been

When love was wilder than the wind

Listen to your heart

When he's calling for you

Listen to your heart

There's nothing else you can do

I don't know where you're going, and I don't know why

But listen to your heart

Before you tell him goodbye

Misty whipped her bike around and hopped onto the seat. "Thank you guys, and I'm sorry, but I have to go!" She set her foot on the pedal, preparing to take off.

"Wait! What about the gym?" Kail yelled.

Misty's heart stopped when she remembered why she had left in the first place. Cerulean Gym was the most well-known water pokemon gym in the Kanto and Johto region; it couldn't be left without a trainer.

As her hopes dwindled, the image of Ash appeared in her mind again. Only this time, he was walking off into the distance alone.

Without thinking, she reached into her pocket and fished out her keys. "Do you boys have any water pokemon?"

"Yeah, we've each got a tentacruel."

"Congratulations," she said as she tossed them the keys, "you've just been made the Cerulean City Gym leaders!"

Kail snatched the keys out of the air absent-mindedly and looked at them. The three of them grinned and jumped for joy.

Misty had already taken off on the road back to Pallet Town. "Be there early in the morning for your exams and paperwork!" Misty yelled back. The three of them ran back down the hill and out of sight.

Misty pushed as hard as she could, putting everything she had into each kick of the pedals. Togepi ducked back into the backpack, holding on for life. Misty hadn't paid any attention to the scenery the first time around, and she wasn't about to now. Her focus was solely on the road in front of her, making sure to cut as many corners as possible and not waste any time.

She came upon the fork in the road sooner than she had expected. Just earlier that day, it had seemed like such an ominous figure looming in the distance. Now it just seemed like an annoyance as she had to slow down to make the sharp turn down the road to Pallet.

Her heart leapt into her throat as Pallet Town came into view. She saw Professor Oak's lab high atop the hill in the center of town and made a bee-line for it.

She cut into the fields behind the lab, taking no time to ride all the way around to the front. She knew this would have been the first stop Ash made when he got back into town. She found a small break in the fence and sped through, straight up the hill.

As she reached the lab she hopped off of the bike, dropped it to the ground and made a run for the door. She burst in calling his name. "Ash! Ash, are you here?"

Tracey stepped in through one of the doorways. "Misty, hey! Long time, no see!"

"Hey Tracey, is Ash around?"

Professor Oak made his way in through one of the other doorways. "Ah, Misty. It's good to see you doing well. You seem a bit tired."

"Hi Professor, yes, is Ash here?"

On cue, Delia Ketchum followed behind Professor Oak. "Misty! How good to see you! You look so adorable!"

"I need to talk to Ash!" She yelled to the three of them. They stood with their eyes wide open, shocked at her assertiveness.

"Well he was here," Tracey said, "but that was some time ago."

"Yes, he and Gary both suddenly felt inspired and left all but one pokemon to go and start their journeys anew," Professor Oak added.

"How long ago? Where was he headed?" Misty blurted as soon as Professor Oak finished speaking.

"He said he was going to the Hoenn region. That must have been a good half hour ago." Delia answered. "He was heading for the docks to take a ferry. At the rate he walks, he'll barely get there in time. I'm not sure if you could catch him on foot…"

"Don't worry, Mrs. Ketchum, I've got a way." Misty headed back out the door and headed for her bike with Tracey, Delia and Oak following close behind. As she stepped outside, Ash's herd of tauros went stampeding past, creating a giant cloud of dust. Everybody shielded their eyes as rocks were strewn everywhere. As soon as the tauros passed, the four of them could see Misty's bike mangled and broken in the field.

Despair began to set in again, only this time Misty wasn't going to let it. She wasn't going to let anything stop her; not when she'd come so far. Oak, Tracy and Delia watched as she handed them her bag with Togepi inside, threw a pokeball into the air and released Staryu. The two of them stormed head-first into the cloud of dust in front of them where the tauros had just gone. They might have thought to stop her had they known she apparently had a death wish.

With nothing to do but watch and wait, the three of them grew more and more anxious and the dust cloud hovered ominously in front of them. Moments later they heard rustling and crying from the tauros. One of them shot out of the cloud, and then another in the opposite direction, followed by two more. They scattered in every direction, fleeing from some great force in the dust. The cloud began settling and the three of them saw one final tauros bucking wildly. On top they saw Misty, hanging on for life as Staryu pelted it with water gun. Misty reared back and yanked on the tuft of fur on the tauros' neck, digging in with her heels. The pokemon came to a halt, submitting to the force that he was obviously not going to win against.

Misty leaned forward and drove the tauros straight in the direction of the docks, bursting through the fence.

"Sorry about that, Professor! I'll fix it when I come back," she yelled as she disappeared over the hill. The three of them stared as she rode off, astonished and confused as to how she had even managed to survive.

None of that mattered to Misty, though. It might be a nice story to tell one day, but today she only had one mission, and she was going to complete it. She drove the tauros through the fields around Professor Oak's lab toward the path to the docks. As she approached, she noticed how they winded back and forth around hills and rivers. Wasting no time, she piled straight through the brush in front of her, making a bee-line for the ticket station.

What she hadn't anticipated was the thick jungle that waited just beyond, the one the path was made to avoid. A shiver ran down her spine when she imagined all of the bug pokemon and creepy-crawlies that would inevitably be lurking in such dense overgrowth. Fearing the worst, she closed her eyes, tightened her grip and dug her heels in, signaling the tauros to charge head-first and blind directly into the terror in front of them.

She felt leaves and branches as they brushed past them. She was also glad to feel that the tauros didn't slow in the least, taking every hit like a champ. The seconds drug on longer and longer as she waited to feel the like atmosphere of open air again. Every buzz and click caused her to cringe and grip tighter and tighter, her imagination running wild as to what could have possibly made the sounds.

After what seemed like an eternity, she was almost ready to give up and scream for mercy. When the urge arose, though, the first thing she saw was Ash on the trail again. This time he was laughing – no doubt laughing at her for her terrible fear of bug pokemon. Just like always, it lifted her heart so much more than it angered her, though she would never show it. Even if it wasn't really him, she knew that's what was waiting for her at the end of this torture.

She lifted her head, peering through the horns of the tauros. Even though it occurred that they may have turned at any point, she pushed the thought away and kept her eyes peeled for any sign of the jungle ending.

Off in the distance, a light appeared. It was small at first, but it grew larger and larger as they pushed forward. It spread all across the horizon, engulfing the trees as they thinned. At long last, they burst through, coming to a halt at the top of a hill. Misty and the tauros both gasped for air, thankful as ever for something as simple as sunlight.

Looking up, Misty noticed the ticket station on the shoreline only a few hundred yards away.

"Just a little bit further, we can make it!" She yelled. The tauros took that as his cue and jumped forward, gaining speed as they descended the hill. Thoughts were racing through Misty's head and every second that passed grew slower and slower. Anxiety and dread mixed with excitement and joy as she imagined what might possibly be waiting for her at the end of this journey.

She couldn't wait any longer, and as they approached the building she jumped off of the tauros and burst through the doors.

"Ash! Ash, are you here?" She shouted into the large building. Heads turned from seats and lines at the scene she was causing. She shot her gaze all around the room at the different faces and hairdos, looking for the unmistakable hat and the black hair. "Ash Ketchum!" The people then turned to one another as a small murmur arose, each person asking their neighbor if they knew what the crazy girl was talking about. Misty paid no mind as she rushed to the first person who looked like they knew what they were talking about.

"Excuse me," she started in a rushed tone, "can you tell me when the next ferry leaves for Hoenn?"

"Hoenn? I'm sorry ma'am, that ferry just departed a few minutes ago. There's another one tomorrow if you'd like – ma'am? Are you okay?"

Misty felt her heart as it ripped itself to pieces inside her, and it was obviously showing. After everything she'd done, after all of the things she'd risked, she had failed. Ash would have an entire day's head-start on her and, knowing him, would be miles away by the time she reached Hoenn.

She stepped outside, ignoring the looks of sympathy from the strangers she had no doubt just shaken up. The tauros stood waiting with an intrigued look on its face. When it noticed Misty's sullen face it hung its head and lay down.

Misty just walked. She paid no mind as to where she was walking nor why she might be walking there, she just took slow and deliberate steps. She wasn't sure what else there was to do now. Her steps took her around the side of the building with a clear view of the ocean. She lifted her head, hoping the water might give her some relief from the horrid pain she was feeling. Luckily for her, it did just that.

There on the water was the ferry, only a few hundred feet from the end of the dock. It was so close, in fact, that she could still make out the outlines of people as they stood and looked over the edge. She'd raced in the water before, this would be a piece of cake.

She ran down toward the dock, reaching to her belt and pulling off a pokeball. She drew her arm back and prepared to throw it into the air.

"Misty?"

She stopped. It wasn't that someone had called her name, it wasn't the fact that something was said at all. If all she had heard was a dull moan, she would have stopped. It was the voice that had caught her attention.

It was his voice.

She whipped her head around, sure it was just her mind playing tricks on her, and she had no time to waste. Sure enough, there he was. He was dressed differently than before, but she would never mistake his face, nor the pikachu on his shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I was…" She hesitated, taking a moment to think. "How did I beat you here?"

"Oh, Pikachu and I were feeling tired so we decided to stop and take a nap."

Misty wasn't quite sure what she was feeling at the moment, all she knew was it was building quickly. "You do realize that…you missed the ferry…right?"

"Oh, we did? Oh well, guess that means we get to take a longer nap!" Ash said with a smile.

Misty's face turned red as her rage boiled over. "A nap? I just made a complete fool out of myself in front of an entire building full of strangers because you took a nap! Honestly, I leave for one day and you can't even manage to be responsible enough to make it to the ferry on time!"

"Well it's not like it's a huge deal!" Ash retorted. "We can always just go tomorrow! Besides, it's not my fault you embarrassed yourself, I didn't ask you to come here!"

"Nobody asked me, but that doesn't change the fact that I was here before you and even I would have missed the ferry, and I came all the way from Cerulean!"

"So why are you here then, huh? To nag at me for taking a nap when I was tired?"

The two of them pushed closer and closer into the other's personal space growling as they went. Neither of them would dare back down from the other. So close to him after almost losing him, Misty did the only thing she could possibly think of. She closed her eyes and leaned in, planting a soft kiss on Ash's lips. It lasted much longer than she had anticipated, and she could only imagine the look on his face, or Pikachu's.

She pulled away slowly, opening her eyes. In front of her Ash's cheeks had grown bright red. He looked both surprised and relieved, though she wasn't sure which one he was really feeling. Pikachu had covered his eyes.

"Oh…well, uh…that explains things a little." He tapped the back of one foot with the other, not sure of what to say. "I thought you wanted to go to Cerulean and be the gym leader?"

"I wanted all of us to stay together," Misty answered, "but it didn't seem like I had a choice, and you and Brock were so okay with the idea. I ran into…some people, and they shed some light on the situation."

"Well I kinda always thought we would stay together, but you seemed so happy when we were leaving, I didn't want to say anything to upset you. As for…what just happened…I kinda always thought it was like that, just without…that." He scratched his head nervously, not sure of how to voice what he was feeling.

Misty, however, was more than capable of showing how she felt. She threw herself into him and wrapper her arms tight around him, truly appreciating that he was here with her. He was hesitant at first, but slowly returned the hug and allowed himself to rest a head on her shoulder. When it was over, the two of them began walking back toward the ticket station.

"So, how did you get here so fast?" Ash asked.

Misty laughed nervously. "It's a bit of a long story, but we'll have to make a trip back to Professor Oak's to take your tauros back."

"My tauros? What's my tauros doing here? And where's Togepi? And what about the gym?"

Misty laughed again, not entirely sure where to begin. "The gym's taken care of – I hope – and as for the rest…why not save it for the ferry ride tomorrow?"

"You mean you're coming with me to Hoenn?" Ash asked excitedly while Pikachu chirped and perked his ears up.

"And anywhere else our journey leads," Misty replied with a smile.

Ash laughed and returned the smile. "Let's not do this again."

"You got it." The two of them began on the path back to Oak's, the tauros following close behind. As they walked, Misty reached a hand down and wrapped it around Ash's, gripping it tight.

"Just so you know," she said, "you owe me a new bike."