There's an afterword about time at the end of the fic, so be sure you read it.
C&C welcome,
--Komodo
A session with a fortune teller:
"I see you with a house, a dog, and 2.5 kids."
"Two kids huh?"
"No. 2.5. The dog ate half of the third one."
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Keep/5268/
***********************
Sunday, at least for the Tendo/Saotome household, was peaceful. Which was
fine by Kasumi. She spent most of the day in her room, thinking.
At the moment, she was staring at the Jacket hung on her bedpost. It was a
sort of grayish white with sleeves made to adjust to the arm length of the
wearer. The fabric was made with some Kami knew what material that was
virtually indestructible and darkened or lightened to blend with the current
light conditions. A Sphere, divided in half horizontally with the top half
red and the bottom white adorned the back. Pockets were scattered across the
inside and out.
Every Gym leader had one. Brock kept his in storage. As did Ash. She had worn
hers on and off throughout their adventures. Everything else she had left
behind in Cerulean City.
Well, she amended, everything but the jacket, and the picture on her night
stand.
Standing up, she snatched the jacket off the bedpost and slipped it on before
moving to stand before the full length mirror in the corner of her room.
It was a little tight in the shoulders, she thought as she pulled on the
fabric, trying to adjust it. Well, that was to be expected, she was a lot
smaller when she got it.
Still, it was comforting to wear it. Like taking the hand of an old friend.
In fact, it didn't seem so tight anymore.
It fit. . .perfectly.
With a startled gasp, she pulled it off and held it at arm's length. It was
definitely larger.
"What in Kami-sama. . ." She whispered as she dropped it on the floor and
backed away.
Upon reaching her bed, she sat on the floor and stared at the jacket for a
very long time.
***********************
For the rest of the Tendo household, the day passed smoothly. Ash and Brock
spent the day learning about some of the finer points of Nerima living.
"How often does she come after you?" Ash asked as he, Brock, and Ranma walked
towards the Dojo. Behind them, smoke curled up lazily into the air, a
souvenir of an encounter with a fiancee
"At least once a week," Ranma snorted. "I think they have some kind of deal
set up where they take turns."
"How many are there?"
"Ask pop, half of 'em are his fault."
***********************
Ash and Brock stood in the courtyard.
"We can't wait any longer."
"But we're close! I can feel it."
"I'm sorry Ash, but we don't have any more time. If you want to get Raichu,
Ivysaur, Charizard and the others back, we have to leave soon."
"But. . ." Ash looked up into his friend's face. "Yeah. . ."
"Look. We can always come back when we're done. We'll bring Growlith, maybe
he can sniff her out."
Ash nodded his silent agreement.
***********************
"Where's Kasumi?" Ranma asked as they sat down to a meal of take-out.
"She's been in her room all day." Nabiki supplied.
"I'll go get her," Akane said, starting to stand.
"Kasumi has some decisions to make." Soun said stiffly. "I suggest we leave
her to make them."
Akane sat back down.
***********************
The daylight streaming in through her window had begun to fade. But Kasumi
didn't notice. She didn't want to get dragged back into the Pokemon League,
back into the craze of Pokemon Trainers trying to be the best, the danger. . .
And yet, the thought of being on the road again stirred her blood. The call
of the adventure.
One more time, one last adventure.
But she had built a life here. Tofu, her sisters, the house, Tofu. . .
The open road, Pokemon. . .
Tofu. . .
Why? She had finally managed settle in, to put the person that was Misty of
Cerulean City behind her.
"I don't want to go back." She whispered into the stillness of her room. "I
can't go back." But above it all, something kept going through her mind.
'Because Misty would kill us if we didn't.'
What was so important that they would follow her across time and space?
***********************
Ash picked at his food. His mind was not on the conversations swirling around
him, but on the past.
***********************
Cerulean City Gym. . .
Four years ago.
"You what?" Ash asked.
"I have to go home."
"But you are home!"
"My real home Ash." Misty said as she stood up. Her hair, once bright red,
had darkened to a more brownish color and was longer. "I'm adopted, you know
that."
"Yeah, but. . ."
"Ash, please don't make this any harder then it is. What I have here, with
you, is special. But I can't take it anymore. My life. . ." She clenched her
fists and stared out the window. "I'm sick of my life being in danger, I'm
sick of those two psychopaths coming after you. I can't. . .I can't take it
anymore."
"So you're running away?"
"No!" Misty yelled turning to face him, her eyes ablaze with anger. "I mean.
. ." She trailed off again and took a deep breath. "If I don't get away, I'm
going to go crazy. I have to get away and I have to do it alone."
"But-" Ash stared to say. She placed a finger on his lips and shook her head,
smiling.
"What we had Ash, I will always treasure. But this isn't my world," She
leaned forward and kissed his forehead. "and where I have to go, there's no
place for a Pokemon Master." She squeezed his hand and then walked out of the
room.
***********************
Two days later. . .
Ash stood at the door with the Sisters, their parents, and Brock. Misty,
wearing her traveling clothes and Gym Leader jacket, slowly moved down the
line.
"Ash? Brock?" She said when she was done. "I want you to promise me
something."
"Anything."
"No matter what. Don't try to find me. No matter what."
"But-"
"Promise me!" She half yelled.
"We promise."
She nodded and then walked to her bike, climbed on, and rode out of their
lives.
***********************
Tendo Dojo,
The Present. . .
"Ash?" Hey Ash!"
"Huh?"
Startled, Ash looked up from where he had been staring into his food to see
Ranma looking at him.
"I said, you wanna come with me to the Arcade tomorrow after school?"
Ash looked at Brock and sighed.
"Actually, Brock and I have to leave tomorrow." Ash said. "We're grateful
that you let us stay here while we searched, but our time is up. We have to
go home."
"Aw. That's tough man. Wish you coulda stayed longer." Ranma said.
"So do we." Brock said. "You've all been most gracious."
"Hey," Ranma said as he looked at the ceiling," Whaddya suppose Kasumi's
trying decide?"
"My life." Turning to look, they saw Kasumi standing at the base of the
stairs, a grayish-white piece of fabric slung over one arm.
"Nabiki, Akane, Ranma? Would you please take care of the dishes?" Soun asked.
The three named nodded and began to clear the table. "How about a game of
Shogi Saotome?"
"Sure." Genma said, picking up on the suddenly changed mood in the room.
Within moments, the room was empty except for Ash, Brock and Kasumi.
"I wanted to speak with you." Kasumi said as she moved to sit across the
table from them.
"Of course." Brock said, then his mouth dropped as Kasumi held up a Gym
Leader Jacket.
"Now then," she said her voice taking on the distinctive Cerulean City
accent. "What's so important that you two idiots had to break your promise?"
"Uh. . ." Was Ash's response.
"Well?" She asked, looking at Brock.
"Uh. . ." Was all that came out of Brock's mouth.
"Well, what is it?" She asked, her tone flat with anger. "Is there another
clone of Mew? Team Rocket steal all the Pokemon?"
"Actually," Ash said, finding his voice. "There's no more Pokemon."
***********************
Afterword about timelines:
It has been repeatedly noted there seems to be a discrepency about the the
time Kasumi spent away from her family. Here's how I see it:
Kasumi disppeared at around age 9.
Now, according to the Manga and the Anime, by the time Misty and Ash met,
Misty was, (or so she claimed, and let's assume she was telling the truth,)
12. Now, we do know that she was a Gym leader at the time, and it has been
hinted that she's older then she seems. But let's say 12 for the sake of this
fic.
That means she had to have made her Pokemon Journey already and racked up
some experience in the Gym.
If we assume that the first season of Pokemon ended with the Pokemon Leauge,
and that the first season was approx one year, then Misty would be nearly
thirteen.
Let us also assume the Pokeuniverse uses the same calender we use, and
therefore, her birthday would fall on the same day that it would in the
Ranmaverse.
Okay. Now, if we were to go by the (badly)dubbed Anime, which is what I'm
doing, we can safely assume that there's at least another two years worth of
adventures. That would make Misty roughly 15 and Ash 13 when it all over.
The Tendos speak of Mrs. Tendo as though she had recently departed. Let's say
a year.
If Kasumi came back at age 15, that gives her up to two years to
reacclimatize herself to Nerima life before her mother dies. If Mrs. Tendo
was in poor health, and died of cancer like it sounds, we can also assume
that Kasumi was running the house well before her death, making it seem
longer then it actually was.
So you see, it all works out.
Got all that?
Good. Now explain it to me.
--Komodo