My Real Quest (An Ash and Misty fanfic) FINISHED

Chapter 11

Ash searched blindly through the fog in hopes of finding Misty. God I messed up bad, he thought as he called her name. Finally he saw her form walking towards him.
     "Misty..." He said and hugged her fiercely. She tensed and then relaxed and hugged him back. "I'm so sorry..." He whispered and a tear rolled down his cheek and dropped into the ground.
     "It's okay. I'm sorry too for saying all those hurtful things. I went too far." She said breaking the hug.
     "I heard that Roran guys voice. What happened?" Ash asked. He saw Misty rock on the balls of her feet and then she took a deep breath.
     "I can't tell you only because I fear for your safety. And whatever happens I need you to trust me, k?" Ash nodded uncertainly. She let out a sigh of relief and clasped his hand.
"Let's go to Saffron City so you can beat the gym and get the badge!" Misty said and took off towards the Pokemon Center where Brock was waiting. 
     Once they reached the Pokemon Center, the Haunter that Ash hadn't caught was gone. It's time to amend what I failed at, Ash thought and pulled out a pokeball and held it out on his hand.
     "Haunter? Listen I'm sorry for acting that way. I was just sad because my friend died so suddenly and I couldn't say goodbye." He choked up and took a deep breath to continue. "I want to challenge the Saffron City Gym and I'm going to need your help. What do ya say? Will you help me?" He asked it.
     "Haunt!!!" Haunter trilled and touched the pokeball. It was enclosed in the pokeball and it wiggled three times and a click was heard. Ash picked up the pokeball and released his new friend. Haunter swirled around him and Ash laughed.
     "Let's go challenge that gym!" He exclaimed and tossed all of his belongings into his backpack and hurried to the door.
    "Ash wait!" Misty called. He turned around to see her frantically packing her things. Brock was also packing his things and when Misty and him finished, Ash waved at them impatiently.
     "Come on you two Slowpokes! We gotta reach there by tomorrow!" He said as they all ran out the Pokemon Center door.
     They had camped in a clearing had a small opening to the sky. Trees loomed around them and they all sat by the fire, exhausted. They had made it almost to Saffron City before Ash had almost collapsed from exhaustion. Ash was lying down in his sleeping bag, not fully awake but not asleep either. His senses remained active so he caught what Misty and Brock were talking about.
     "You know, you really need to tell him how you feel, Misty." Ash heard Brock say.
     "I know but you don't understand how hard it is to tell the person that you love, how much you mean to them. And plus he already has a dream; he's going to be a pokemon master, remember? I don't want to distract him from his dream." He heard Misty say. Ash's breath caught in his throat. Misty loved him? Impossible! But it explained everything. How right it felt when they kissed and how right it felt to be holding her.
     "You can always change your dream if you really want to. That's what I did at least." Brock said.
     "But he's also going to permanently be 10 forever. And that means that we can't date as much as I'd like to." Misty sighed.
     "Didn't he see Ho-oh? I heard that when you see Ho-oh, you will have eternal happiness and I believe that to Ash, it's being a pokemon master." Brock said. Ash kept listening, eager for more information.
     "Yeah but I doubt you can change what eternal happiness means to you." Misty said.
     "You never know; it can always change." Brock said and silence befell the two. The crackling campfire started to lull Ash to sleep as the gears in his head started to turn. Eternal happiness to me is being a pokemon master, right? He thought. But Misty always makes me happy too...Ugh why is this so hard? He groaned internally. Sleep crashed like a wave over Ash and his dreams were filled with confusion as he slept.